Multiple Cities-Amsterdam, Paris, Belgium

If the 10 days includes travel days on each end, you have 8 days to spend between your 2 major cities - 7 if you are planning to spend a day in Brussels. Are you flying in and out of the same city so you have to backtrack, or did you purchase an open jaw ticket? You could easily spend the entire time in just Paris alone with a day trip thrown in, or you could go to Amsterdam and spend 5-6 days and do a couple of day trips to Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp or Ghent if you want to slip Belgium into the mix - or do a day trip to Brussels and then maybe go to Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam, etc. for a 2nd day trip within the Netherlands. But if you are flying open jaw and want to keep with your original plan, then I would say 4 days in Paris, a day trip to Brussels and then 3 days in Amsterdam.

Brussels is mid-way between Paris and Amsterdam on the Thalys high-speed train line. So on your way to Amsterdam you could spend the day in Brussels, after your done seeing the sights pick up the train again and head to Amsterdam. To get the cheapest price on the Thalys you need to book in advance (90 days allowed) at http://www.thalys.com

I agree with the first poster...4 days in Paris and 3 in Amsterdam. That'll give you a great overview of both cities. If you haven't bought tix yet fly open jaw...it will save you lots of time and allow you more to see what you came to see!

If you stop only one day in Brussels a good way to 'see' as much as possible is to take one of the bus tours. I never used to do it because I always thought they were over-priced and had poor commentary, but recently I did in Brussels because the ticket office for a tour company was directly next door to the hotel I was staying in. I literally walked in minutes before the tour and there was space available. I think it was the company at the following link (the address on the brochure is right) - it was opportunistic on my part so frankly I didn't pay much attention to the company name, etc. I just plunked down my €€ and started the tour minutes later. I got to see places in the city I would not otherwise have had time for. http://brussels-city-tours.com/sites/brussels-city-tours.com/themes/bct/images/BROCH-BCT-2013.pdf The tour I was on started from the ticket office, a one-minute walk to the Grand Place, a short walk to board the bus which had to wait outside the pedestrian-only zone, then the rest of the city tour. Not a huge amount of commentary, but a good overview. I did the 'Brussels Grand City Tour' but later spoke to people who did the tour that included the Visitors Center of the European Parliament and they said that was good too.