how long to spend in amsterdam, den hague, bruges and brussels

I always a little reluctant to answer this type of question because it depends - so much - on personal preference. For me 5 days in the Hague is too much but if you use it for day trip OK. Rotterdam does not have a lot to offer because the Allies tried their best to reduce to a pile of rocks and did a decent job of doing so. But it is pretty, modern European city. Renting bikes and riding the canals around Bruges is fun. There is no wrong with what you have suggested.

Plan out what you want to do in each place so that you'll know if 5 nights is too much or maybe not enough. Five to six nights in Amsterdam is a good amount, but if everything you're only interested in only adds up to 4 days, then spend only 4 days there. Likewise, 5 nights in The Hague works if you have enough to do in that city and on daytrips. Do some research and again, if you find that you only need 4 nights in The Hague then stay there for 4 nights. It sounds like you have plenty of time to fit Antwerp into your schedule.

Rotterdam does not have a lot to offer because the Allies tried their best to reduce to a pile of rocks and did a decent job of doing so. Who bombed Rotterdam? I think there may be a small inaccuracy there. My knowledge, backed by this quote from the wiki: "The Rotterdam Blitz refers to the aerial bombardment of Rotterdam by the German Air Force on 14 May 1940, during the German invasion of the Netherlands in World War II."

Personally, I think Brussels is a great city with things to see (and even more things to eat and drink), but you can get your fill in no more than a day and a half. I spent only two days in Amsterdam, and would have liked a couple more -- the Rijks and Van Gogh museums alone will eat most of a day. We had to skip the Anne Frank house because of time constraints, for example...you don't want to do that.

Germans may have gotten the first shot in but it became a major German port and from 43 on the Allies were doing their best to make it unusable by the Germans.

Fair enough, Frank... I have friends from Rotterdam whose parents lived through the war in and near Rotterdam. They only blame one side for the destruction of Rotterdam - the Nazis. They understand that the Allied bombings were to move out the Nazis. However - our discussion does nothing for the OP. Back on topic - laya Just to help with spelling so you could more easily search the net. Keukenhof
is the spelling and it is best done in mid-April to mid-May. We often have people post here who have insufficient time at each of their destinations. I might say you have too much. I understand you are thinking of Amsterdam, den Haag (its den Haag or the Hague (in English) but never den Hague) and Brugge as home bases. Den Haag are really quite close together and 10 days in Noord Holland may wind up being quite a lot. Delft can easily be seen from Amsterdam (we usually stay in Haarlem) as can Denb Haag and even Rotterdam. Equally, Brussels is only less than an hour from Brugge and using one as a base you can easily see the other and Gent. 5 days is a lot. When you say the seaside, what sort of seaside do you want? Zandvoort and the dunes between there and Haarlem are quite different to Scheveningen. Not the seaside, but are you including Kinderdijk - the area full of windmills south of Rotterdam?

At last, a traveler who wants to stop and smell the roses. You will have time to explore the backways and byways that so many tourists miss. I went to Rotterdam on a day trip from Amsterdam and it filled up a day. The early morning flower auction at Aalsmer (?) was good, very near Amsterdam.

Add the town of Gouda, and the cheese market day at Alkmaar, riding bikes around De Haag, and Muiderslot castle near Amsterdam to your list of possibilities. 5 days in Amsterdam would have been way to much for me -- but others love it. If you are planning on 5 nights in Bruges -- you might consider staying at Bonobo Apt Hotel. It is a really convienient location to lots of Bruges sites. they even have a small park park if you have a rental car. I think you should consider a rental car. You will get to see so much more.

I haven't been to Rotterdam, but I think it's good for Modern Art. Maastricht is good for Contemporary Art. Consider Leiden and Amersfoort if you're nearby either of them. The latter is a charming little half-modern, half-medieval city, with some small canals and tiny museums. Rick covers Leiden in detail. Brussels has major museums, as does Antwerp. I know Antwerp has galleries, but I don't know Brussels as well. Since it has been an artist center for centuries, I'd expect more than Antwerp. Note that Ghent is on the train line between Bruges and Antwerp-Brussels. I don't want you to plan unrealistically many stops, but Ghent is very pretty, and the "Ghent Altarpiece" is a landmark of art. Edit: FYI, from April-October 2012, there will be a major, once-every-ten-years, horticultural (i.e. not just flowers) show in Venlo, Netherlands, the Floriade: http://www.floriade.com/

I'm glad that Eli stuck out his neck and said it. Although everyone will tell you that you missed the most important place in Belgium if you don't go to Bruges, there are cities that have 75% "of Bruges" with less than half as much crowding. Besides Gent, I love Mechelen - once (very long ago, after the cloth business fell off) the third largest city in Europe, after London and Paris. If you can afford an attractive, quiet, B&B in Bruges, I'm sure you'll be glad you stayed there. But if I were spending 5 days in the same small city, I'd stay in Gent and go to Bruges for just a day - a non-weekend day! I'm very prejudiced towards Antwerp, so I'd also consider staying there, and going to Gent and Bruges each for a day. (By the time you get to Belgium, all of Rik Wouters' paintings from the closed-for-renovation KMSKA museum in Antwerp will be in Mechelen-his home town. There are only a few in Brussels. He was a brilliant "fauve" painter almost unstudied in the US. I was glad to learn about him.)