Paris to Amsterdam - Car or Train?

Well you be paying hundreds of Euro in a drop charge in a different country? The car has to be returned to France before it can be rented out again, so you will pay a high fee to pay for that.

Or are you planning on returning to Paris?

Do you know about the tolls?

You can go by Thalys train all the way to Amsterdam for as low a €66 combined for the two of you.

To break it into a combination of journeys will take me a little longer.

Are you under 26 years old?

Most hotels in Gent charge from €15 to €25 a night. What level of hotel are you looking at?

The problems with driving from Gent to Amsterdam (I have to do sometimes so I have experience) are the heavy traffic on the approach to Antwerpen, and then your decision to go clockwise which means expensive tunnels, somewhat complicated route finding, and then heavy traffic all the way through the Randstad; or anti-clockwise which means all the extremely slow traffic around Berchem and difficult highways through the centre of Antwerpen, and then the heavy traffic all the way through the Randstad.

Parking in Amsterdam is difficult, rare, and expensive, and then there are all those bicycles which have the right of way. Can I assume you will return the car, maybe at the airport, before going into town?

The Dutch invented the Gatso - the speed camera, and derivations of it, and they are absolutely everywhere in the Netherlands. A lot of the highways now have variable speed limit gantries - they reduce the speed and have cameras on the back side of the gantry - slow down before the gantry, don't take the new speed limit as the place you take your foot off the gas.

Driving in Gent is interesting because of all the ongoing road works on both the highways and in town. The hotel ring often has diversions (sometimes well marked, sometimes not) because of all the road and building works. It is best unless your hotel provides parking to park in one of the major car parks on the Hotel Ring. Rapp, or Vrijdagmarkt are often better than others.

The drive from Lille is fairly straightforward once you have left Lille. And before you get to Gent. Straight flat fairly uninteresting motorway.

Driving in Lille is like driving in Belgium. You need to expect no signals on cars before changing lanes, cutting you off and driving in your back seat. The speeds on the roads around Lille are restricted and variable so you often have enough time to see where you need to go. I stay in a roadside chain hotel in Englos, a suburb, but there is no bus or tram or train within walking distance. Parking is free, but to get into the centre you need to drive to a station at the end of Métro (free parking if you can find it) and then ride that into the centre.

I don't know much about Montreiul-sur-Mer - nearby yes, but not the town. The official toll website shows a cost of €36.99 from the CDG airport to there. That's a toll of €16.40 and probable fuel use of €20.59.

You should know that many of the Gilet Jaune protests started as protests against fuel cost increases.

The train, with this much notice, can be quite reasonably priced.

Train was reasonable and fast. I purchased tickets on line in advance. Not as much scenery but oh so easy.

Depends on what you want to do. If you are interested in getting from point a to b with stops along the train route, then take the train. A couple of caveats. Train stations are not always in town, requiring a taxi or walking. Another challenge is getting on and off the train. My experience is that orderly boarding is not done. You need to be as pushy as the locals. You will need to travel light. You will need to figure out we’re to sit. No serious issues, but all factors to consider.

With a car, you can chose your route and how long to stay in a spot. The toll roads are fast and efficient. Stay in the slow lane except to pass and you will be okay. On secondary roads, which I prefer, traveling is relaxed and slower, but more interesting.

There is no right answer; only your preference.

We have always traveled by car on our trips to Europe. That being said, take the train. The last time I drove in Amsterdam was 1973 and I swore I'd never do it again. I have driven around Paris on the periphery and that was bad enough. From Nigel's comment Ghent is no bargain either. One of the tricks to driving on the continent is to stay out of the big cities.

Yep, take the train.

Good replies. This drive has no particular scenic virtues and is long and tedious. The car is a hindrance in the cities and in Flanders in general. You might justify the car for rural locations or tiny historic centers with only two hours of sightseeing. You have to worry about car break-ins if you sightsee without a hotel unload.

We don’t like to change hotels every night, but I know that others feel differently. Certainly it’s tedious to schlep luggage on an unfamiliar tram from the station in three cities.

I suggest one night in Lille and two nights in Gent with a train daytrip to Bruges or Antwerp. Actually, three nights in Antwerp with easy train day trips to Gent and Bruges is less work, but I’m trying to honor your interest in Lille.

I went to Lille to see the Palais de Beaux Arts. But no one will ask you if you saw Lille (“little Paris”). They’ll ask about Bruges. And actually, the Brussels art museums are superior to Lille.

If you book a Thalys ticket from Paris to Amsterdam you will get a reserved seat, no need to worry about locals pushing their way onto the train.

Thank you all. Sounds like train is definitely preferable. Let me ask one more question:

If you could plan your ideal road trip from Paris to Amsterdam, with 2-3 stops along the way, where would you stop? We're definitely happy to go to smaller, idyllic towns, and avoid the bigger towns/cities. Any places that would be wonderful to visit, and perhaps harder to get to by train?

Answering second question:

Brugges makes a pleasant stop enroute. However, you really have first-rate options as day trips from Paris and Amsterdam.

In other words, instead of searching for places to stay on the way, get to and from quickly and use your extra time as day trips (to Ghent, for instance, or Rouen).

Second question: I happen to want to visit Louvre-Lens, but art isn't for everyone. Some towns that are easy to visit by car (but that are, nominally, touristic-ally inferior to Bruges and Gent - that's a classification, not a slam) could be Dunkirk, Ostend, Hasselt, Lier, Turnhout, The Netherland Delta Works, Arnhem, Deventer, Hoge Veelue national park plus its art museum, Amersfoort. It's out of the way, but I'd consider Monschau, Germany. We drove to Aachen for a half-day, but that is, nominally, a mistake (too urban) to drive to.

I urge you to tell us where you live and how far you drive to work. You seem (?) to be making a decision based on US Interstate highway travel, and it's not a good model for European travel, especially early in your travel-life. I don't care about hugging the whales, I'm talking about making the most of precious vacation days.

The train is excellent and fast.

If you want to drive, reread what Nigel wrote.

A different route could be done via Metz and Luxembourg City. Play with google maps if you want a drive through the smaller roads. heres a link to google maps.

Enjoy the planning and the trip!

It may be helpful to understand that most of the picturesque medieval towns you are interested in are surrounded by undistinguished, low-rise modern cities. When you get off the train (or park in the big lot) in Bruges or Gent, you could be anywhere. You have to take a tram about 2000 meters to the preserved historic core to "see the sights." While many Belgian cities have built underground parking lots, operated by a for-profit concession, there is little or no parking in most medieval centers, and many pedestrianized-only streets.

You should not think you are going to park in front of a building that is 500 years old and go right in to see the interior. Many of the medieval squares are exterior-only views, anyway.