Belgium and Netherlands, June 2026 - Bikes and Art

I'd hoped to bike on Thursday evening, but the weather forecast was for rain, so we headed out to bike that morning after a late start. It had been easy enough to create a couple of Blue Bike accounts (bike sharing service and each account could rent 2 bikes) but we wanted electric bikes to go out to Castle Ooidonk. The app showed us which points had electric bikes docked and we took the bus there and found 4 bikes which were charged. I'd tried to identify the route using the Fietsknoop app, but didn't have the right starting point, so we switched to Google maps. That got us biking through a park and then along a river and over the river and down a three-tiered circular ramp and through another park and to Sint-Martens-Latem where I spotted a bakery (van Hecke) and decided we needed lunch. The weather was looking iffier and some of us would have turned back, but others are stubborn and on we went. It was only 20 minutes away. Google led us through a road under construction in a village, but we found Ooidonk and walked around the grounds and took a few pictures. It is very pretty, but only the gardens are open on the weekdays. About the time we went back to the bikes, the heavier rain started. And my phone wasn't connecting, but we sort of knew where we were going as we backtracked. It connected again intermittently and there were signs for cyclists, and we made it to Sint Pieters station where in theory we could dock the bikes (in the Gent region, Blue Bike lets you return to a different station). But although Google tells us we're at the bike parking lot, we don't see it because it is underground below us. The entrance to get underground is about a block away. And once we're underground, the Blue Bike app did not want to connect so that we could lock the bikes and end the ride. We finished the day with showers to warm up and eventually dinner.

There were so many app's for this trip: Belgium trains (SNCB), international train (SNCB international), Netherlands trains (NS), 9292, Blue bike, Fietsknoop, airline, two of the hotels, booking.com, Airbnb, Rijksmuseum, Mauritshuis, WhatsApp. And so this was our first time using esims. I looked at various posts here and picked Bcengi, hoping it was going to let me have one set of funds for multiple devices, but it actually required $10 assigned to each device as a minimum as far as I could tell. They are all on the same account for me to manage and aren't limited to a strict time period, so in theory, we have money remaining for future trips. Most of the time it worked, but when it didn't, it was difficult. When Google maps wouldn't work, the 9292 app generally would show us which bus or tram to take in the Netherlands.

We chose Gent over Brugge because of preferring less crowded cities and because I really liked the visit.gent.be website, but I was still curious about Brugge and we decided to go on Friday before ending the day in Brussels (yes, it's the opposite direction). In Belgium, you can reserve a locker at the train station in advance online, so we planned to take our luggage with us and put all 4 carryons and 3 backpacks into an XL locker (yes, they do fit). We again took the train from Dampoort to St Pieters and then the train from Gent to Brugge was the most crowded of our trip and we didn't have seats as we were keeping track of our luggage. As we got out of the train in Brugge, older kid says "I don't have my backpack. I must have left it at the train station in Gent." So we find the ticket office and start talking to a helpful employee about the lost baggage information and at some point I realize my phone wasn't connected when it reconnects with a message from the hotel that we left a backpack there sitting on the couch. We arranged to pick it up later in the afternoon on the way to Brussels, stowed our luggage, and tried to recapture an interest in exploring Brugge rather than saying how could we miss that.

On a commercial street, we pass a store selling only rubber ducks and one selling only plastic hair clips. Child has the Brugge chapter of the Rick Steves guidebook and wants giant waffles at Lizzie's, but they aren't open yet so we go and gawk at their Belfry and the Grote Markt and Burg square. When we went back to Lizzie's for waffles, the woman serving us picks up our guidebook and hugs it telling us how much she loves how it brings her customers. We bought a small box of chocolates at Dumon and, for about the same price, 5 boxes of chocolate truffles at the Artisan Maison Belge chain after being offered a free sample. We did some more wandering and backtracking and walked back to the train station past Minnewater. The Brugge station was very crowded and I thought we'd be standing again but since the train started there, there was enough room for almost everyone to sit down to Gent. Leaving husband and younger child with our luggage, we set out to retrieve the backpack. The bus there is no problem. Getting back involves changing buses at a transfer point and I get us on a bus going the wrong direction, so we head back to the transfer point and try again and eventually reach the train station and then Brussels and then walk to our AirBnB. Kid later asks why we can't take a taxi from the train station.

I have a friend living in Europe who could meet us in Brussels for the weekend, so we had found an apartment for five with two bedrooms plus sofa bed. We stayed up talking and ate some of our chocolate.

On Saturday, we walked from Saint Catherine's church to the Grand Place to ooh and aah at more intricate, elaborate, amazingly tall buildings and watched a wedding party wave to the crowds. Then on to the Musical Instruments Museum. The audio guide had clips of the instruments being played and sometimes videos - watching the miniature harmonica was especially amusing - and I may have danced a little when my kids weren't watching. Le Roi Chocolat café next door had tasty waffles and hot chocolate and comfortable chairs upstairs, so some more talking and then more walking. At Parc de Petit Sablon, the kid who had been taking AP geography discovered a statue of Mercador.

On Sunday, we reserved lockers at the Brussels train station and left our luggage before having brunch at Croix100 and being proud of ourselves for realizing it was a French play on words (for Croiss - cent and the croissants were good). We walked through the Galerie St Hubert, but did our shopping at second hand stores Episode and Think Twice.

To change countries from Brussels to Rotterdam involved a train ticket with a specific time. And then there was work on the line so we would need to change trains. And then a few days before, there was more work scheduled and we'd now need to change trains in Roosendaal, get on a bus in Dordrecht to the metro stop at Slinge and take the metro the rest of the way to downtown Rotterdam. The train was delayed getting to Roosendaal, so we missed the connection and waited another 20 minutes. It took a couple of extra minutes to get our QR codes working to get out of the station at Dordrecht, so we missed that bus and went on the next, but eventually we got to HostelRoom.

This was our first ever hostel stay. We had a private "family" room with bunk beds and our own bathroom and shower, so it still wasn't the hostel sharing a room with strangers experience. The staff were very friendly and helpful and after our travel delays we were quite happy to get pizza and cheese toasties in the lounge. They also had a good breakfast for 7.50 Euro, did laundry for 10 Euro, rented bikes (and discussed the route), and had a shared kitchen where we stored leftovers for a later meal. And it was a great location. We also, as I had hoped, spent some of our down time in the lounge watching World Cup games or doing a puzzle.

On Monday, we biked to Kinderdijk. This time we were on a dedicated bike route getting out of Rotterdam and I had discussed the route not only here on the forum but also at the hostel. Instead of following Fietsknoop through a town, we went along a path between fields. We wanted to take a water break and saw a roadside farmer's stand. I was expecting berries or vegetables or baked goods, but there were 2 vending machines - one with cheese and yogurt (refrigerated dairy) and another with ice cream. So we bought cheese for later and ice cream for a snack and then continued on to take the small ferry (maybe a dozen cars and a few other cyclists) across the river. At Kinderdijk, my family would have been content to just ride along and view the windmills, but I wanted to see inside, so we bought tickets and looked at the big gears and limited living space. We decided to take the direct Water Shuttle back to Rotterdam and easily bought tickets on my phone. There were maybe 20 people on board (and seats for at least 100) and there were bike racks at the back of the boat. I enjoyed the experience of being on the water and going past barges that were so low in the water. Many of the barges had one or two cars on the back of the barge; I'm guessing that was so the pilot and crew could drive places when they docked. There was also a good view of some of the modern architecture. Our boat docked a couple of blocks from our hostel. Later, we took the bikes and went to see the Kijk-Kubus and have dinner at the Markthal.

Tuesday, we had reservations for the Mauritshuis in Den Hague. We took metro line E all the way from Rotterdam Leuhaven station to Den Hague. My husband and I got Museum cards (for five museum visits). The 18 year old sometimes had free or reduced entry as a child, sometimes as a student, and was sometimes an adult for museums. We enjoyed the museum for a couple of hours. It didn't feel crowded, but there were always other people around, including an adult tour group, a high school group, and a preschool (?) group. I only heard one temper tantrum from the little ones and I was impressed at how good the museum guide was at engaging their interest. We then took the tram to Scheveningen beach. It was a few days before it got hot and wasn't crowded, but we had decadent pancakes and splashed in the ocean and watched the gulls following the fishing boats as we walked along.

Rotterdam worked well as our day trip hub, but we didn't experience it much. On Wednesday, we headed to Amsterdam. This was our one Netherlands train journey that was pricey enough that the group off peak travel ticket would save money, but it has to be purchased online and when I tried in the app, it locked up at the payment screen. I got far too frustrated and forgot we could tap in and out, so we got tickets from the machine and decided which train to catch - I think we opted for a slower train that stopped in multiple cities but didn't require changes rather than switching trains at Schiphol or Leiden. There were a lot of options. Overall on this trip, we got where we were trying to go, but there were definitely delays and confusion.
I had had a (cancellable) reservation at a more central location, but when the two week forecast said it would be hot and Numa Amsterdam Docklands dropped their price, we decided to stay here. A separate bedroom and a sofa bed in the living room and air conditioning. Checkin was virtual, with a code to enter the lobby and access the elevator and our room and the supply room. We did some wandering before visiting the Anne Frank Huis in the evening. The presentation was given by a Jewish woman in her 20s and was both factual/historical, but also personal and included her experiences and concerns with modern antisemitism. I thought the audioguide provided good context as we walked through the huis.

On Thursday, we went to the Rijksmuseum. I had been monitoring the availability of time slots and we were able to buy the tickets when we arrived. We looked at the famous paintings, had lunch at the café, and looked at some of the additional galleries with model ships and doll houses and the library. The building itself is also quite spectacular and has good air conditioning. When they closed, we went on a mission to the Tony Chocolonely Super Store (although if you want to make your own custom bar, you have to be there earlier in the day). Kid was happy; I was underwhelmed. But it was near Aneka Rasa for Rijsttafel for dinner. Our server told us which dish was his father's favorite and his brother's and his. We went back to Amsterdam Centraal Station to catch the bus and on a whim spent a bit of time looking for the entrance to the underground bike parking, just wanting to see the vastness, but we were unsuccessful.

On Friday, we visited the Verzetsmuseum (Resistance Museum). I liked their combination of audioguide, reading, artifacts, and multiple viewpoints. There was a school group visiting the children's section of the museum with a sign asking to give them priority so we didn't go in that section, but in the museum gift shop I bought a book with many pictures and short captions that I suspect were taken directly from the exhibits. Air conditioning was also good here.
We had an extra hour before our timed tickets for the Van Gogh museum and sat in the shade in the garden by the Rijksmuseum watching younger children play in the water sculpture. Because our first European trip was when the kids were 7 and 9, I found myself noticing kids spots like that and the neighborhood playgrounds built out of branches. I love the color and fluidity of van Gogh and enjoyed the museum. Friday night was busy, but not crowded, and I felt like I could spend as much time as I wanted, even at the more famous paintings. It was a little warm on the top floor on this evening when the temperature outside was above 30C.

On Saturday, we went to the smaller city of Naarden because my husband was interested in seeing a star fort town. Naarden even has a fortifications museum. Since we were staying on the east edge of Amsterdam, an Uber took the 4 of us there in about 25 minutes for about 40 Euro. On the way back, we took a bus from the fort to the train station, a train to Amsterdam, and a tram to the hotel neighborhood, which took closer to an hour for about 32 Euro. Anyway, the fort museum is relatively small, but had three or four sections of tunnels we could enter with exhibits inside, multiple cannons, goats, and goat cheese toasties for lunch. The audioguide provided English information, but many signs were only in Dutch. In one of the tunnels, it was so humid that a squeegee had been left on the exhibit cases so that you could scrape off the condensation and look inside. For a relatively modest fee (maybe 75 Euro), you can arrange in advance to have a volunteer in Napoleonic costume fire a cannon, but my husband declined when I suggested it. After the fort, we walked further into town and got ice cream. We should have gone into the Grote Kerk and seen the painted barrel roof and climbed the tower to see an aerial view of the star shape, but I didn't see that suggestion ahead of time.

On Sunday, my husband and one of the kids headed home, while the other kid and I put our luggage into a locker at the hotel and visited a few more Amsterdam sights. We started at the Hortus botanical garden, one of the oldest in the world and a place where Linnaeus worked on the classification system. The walkways at different levels in the greenhouses gave a variety of views, although the one in the palm house not only seems precarious but has a sign prohibiting younger children. The map and signs highlighted many unique plants. Many of the paths were shaded and there was enough breeze to be pleasant. I could see how this would be a place to have a membership and visit at different times of year if I lived in Amsterdam.
Next, the Willet-Holthuysen house to appreciate a fancy canal house and furniture. Very pretty and impressive chandeliers. We went to the Katten Kabinet partly because kid loves cats and partly on a friend's recommendation. It's four rooms with art featuring cats, including photos of famous people and their cats, and a few cats live there to be petted and admired. It was amusing but also underwhelming; we only saw two cats. Further wanderings took us to buy more chocolate (which surprisingly did not melt), walk past the flower bulb and souvenir stalls, and the Sam and Julia mouse house store. Then we retrieved our luggage before the hotel's 8pm deadline, had dinner, peeked in the biking garage entrance in the building beside the station, and caught a train to Ede.

In Ede, we stayed at Hotel Reehorst very close to the train and bus station. We were there for the convenient connections. In our section, the room and furnishings were dated but there was air conditioning and it was clean and comfortable. On Monday, we took the train to Arnhem and then a bus to the Open Air Museum. It is buildings from different places and times going back a few hundred years and many types of buildings (farms, houses, boatyard, hospital, windmill). The weather was high 20s Celsius, but a lot of the area was shaded and there is a tram between sections and an ice cream shop. There is also an exhibit building near the entrance with air conditioning, but we weren't too hot outside and ran out of time before we ran out of buildings. We ate in Arnhem near the station before going back to Ede.

On Tuesday, we checked out and left our luggage at the hotel before talking the bus to the Kroller-Muller museum. The original request for activities on this trip were art and biking, so where better to finish? We took the first bus to a roundabout just outside of Otterlo. I thought we were transferring to another bus, but it was actually a black van with a handwritten number 106 in the window. That drove us into the Hoge Veluwe Park, stopping at the park entrance for our park tickets to be scanned. The passengers who didn't have park tickets had to get off and get in line to purchase those. We continued on to the park visitor center and found the bike parking area to take two of the free white bikes. We biked on the paved bike path to see the outside of the hunting lodge. You can tour the inside but need a timed reservation. The ride there was through a pleasant wooded area. We rode to the museum through a sandy, more open landscape. In the Kroller-Muller museum, we saw many more van Gogh paintings, as well as the Isaac Israels exhibit, with lunch at the museum café. We also went out to walk in the sculpture garden. Although the park stays open later, the van in the park doesn't run much later than the museum closing. And on our way back, the black van filled up. I do not know if they run more vans at busier seasons or if people are turned away. We could have ridden the borrowed bikes to the entrance of the park and then walked 15 or 20 minutes to the roundabout if we had needed to. After the bus back to Ede station, we got our luggage from the hotel and walked back to the station for a train. We were staying at the NH Amsterdam Schiphol and it seemed easiest to take the train to Schiphol, eat at the airport, and then use the hotel's shuttle. Our flight the next day was mid-morning, but I was glad to be that close to the airport and have a hotel shuttle because there was a transit strike until 8am that day (which was announced a couple of weeks earlier). I had made a SLOTS reservation for security, but we were there early and the line didn't seem too bad, so we just went through. We must have done EES, but I don't remember it.

Overall, Belgium has so many beautiful buildings - and thanks to algorithms, I'm being fed Instagram reels for even more - and we enjoyed the museums in the Netherlands. Especially with our transportation hiccups, my husband says he'd prefer moving less often next time and getting to know our way around one city better. In mid June, the most crowded thing we did was the train to Brugge, followed by the Anne Frank Huis. The Rijksmuseum had plenty of space between people, even in the Gallery of Honor, unlike some trip reports from April. That might be related to uncertainty this year, but it was also after tulip season and before summer holidays for kids in the area. Our first week was rainy and even a bit chilly, but the heat domes were starting by the end of the trip.

Great trip report! Thanks so much for sharing your trip.

Ah, I remember your interest in the star forts. Glad you found one! Very nice trip report.

Lavandula

Super read! We visited Belgium and Holland this April with the RS tour. Beautiful places! Sounds like you had a great time - wonderful! Thanks for the time and effort you took to share with us all!

~Mitzi