We are scheduled for the RS Belgium/Amsterdam tour starting April 17. The tour starts in Ghent and ends in Amsterdam. We're flying round trip in and out of Amsterdam arriving the morning of April 12. We have 5 nights before the tour starts. We're thinking of taking the train to Brussels for 1 or 2 nights. Ideas for remaining days?
We're staying 2 extra nights in Amsterdam at the end of the tour.
We're in our mid 70's.
Posted by
West Chester, PA
14 posts
We did that tour 2 years ago and really enjoyed it. We flew into Brussels and spent 1-1/2 days there. We then took the train to Antwerp and spent 2 days there before heading to Ghent. We stayed in the Old Town section of Antwerp and had a great time there. While there, we enjoyed the Red Star Museum and Snijders & Rockoxhouse Art Museum. Our favorite restaurant there was Bomma, the food was excellent, and it has a nice setting looking out at the water. Check Antwerp out in the RS guidebook.
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
898 posts
I have great admiration for anyone in their "mid 70's" looking for travel adventures. Good for You!
I'm in that age group and I'm looking to get a rocking chair, inspite of Hoagy's musical warning.
Posted by
981 posts
We are taking the same RS tour (different dates). We did a multi-city flight and are flying into Paris and spending our time there and in the Normandy region and then will take the train from Lille to Ghent to start the tour. I'm fairly certain the Eurostar does a direct train from Brussels to Paris and only takes 1-1/2 hours. Going in an entirely different direction, I've noticed the RS tour doesn't visit Kinderdijk near Rotterdam, and I think that would be wonderful to see.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14852 posts
I would do at least 2 nights in Brussels ahead of time and also 2 nights in Ghent ahead of time. I spent the extra time in Ghent going to the art museum there and also doing a separate visit to the Ghent Altarpiece. They have a very cool Augmented reality program in the church crypt before you go upstairs to see the Altarpiece and I enjoyed that both visits. IF you have any interest in Waterloo, I'd do a day trip from Brussels out to the battlefield. I'd looked into it pre-Covid and have not checked to see if the tour company has started back since then. It's also fairly easy to get there with public transport.
You could spend 1 night in Leiden after you land. Many here have enjoyed it this last year so there are some good trip reports.
This is a wonderful tour! I did it in 2019 and had a great time.
Posted by
2 posts
We took this tour 2 years ago and thought it was great. We flew into Brussels and took the train from the airport to Antwerp. We spent 2 nights in Antwerp and there was plenty to see. If you are a foodie, there are many amazing Michelin star restaurants to try. We then took the train back to Brussels for another 2 nights and could have used another half day there. I wish we had planned ahead and gotten tickets to the EU parliament (Parlamentarium) ahead of time, as we ended up taking the last tour of the day and only got to see part of the House of European History Museum, which I found very interesting. We left Brussels the late morning on the first day of the tour and quickly traveled by train to Ghent.
WRT Amsterdam, we also had 2 days after the tour and spent them going to museums that were not part of the tour and exploring the Vondelpark.
Have fun!