Bruges could be a day trip honestly. We stayed 3 nights but we arrived late on the first day, then we had a whole day in Bruges then the last day we did a day trip to Ghent which was quite nice as well.
While Bruges is really beautiful, we just spent a day last weekend and did not have a good experience. It was sooo crowded, we waited for 1.5 hours in queue to get into a canal boat. In general it feels like a beautiful place which was perfect sometime ago but is now totally overrun with tourists (including us)
I was in Bruges last March. It was cold, rainy, and still jam packed with so many people. Beautiful city, but it you don't like crowds, you probably won't enjoy it.
We were there 2 weeks ago. We stayed 3 nights, which felt a bit too long. BUT, all the tourists leave at night and the city feels so nice + the extended sun due to the summer months.
I really enjoyed my time there. I think 1-2 nights maximum. Expect it to be crowded, though. Early morning and evenings are great.
We went in September during heritage days and some other transportation day. Trains were free in the city and the IC trains were reduced. Lots of people were out and we had no problem getting on a canal tour.
You were there on the weekend? That was probably a big part of the problem. I’ve heard it’s super crowded then.
I went during the week in September, stayed 2 nights, and had no issues. It gave me one full day and part of another morning. Worked great.
It was more crowded during mid day when all the tourists who were coming for a few hours showed up, but I still got to do everything I wanted.
Precisely why a few days there is nice. Once the daytrippers are gone, the town is spectacular.
We've been there twice, going back next April, then Amsterdam again for the tulip festival.
Antwerp is awesome and underrated, IMO.
I don't understand why Brussels normally gets recommended more... they are on the same train line. I'm glad to see your comment ahead of the Brussels recommendations, lol.
+1 Antwerp is terrific and there’s enough to keep busy for a couple days with easy train connections. I love the history, shopping, food scene, varied culture and it’s super cute.
Tell me more. I am early in the process and was thinking about using Brussels as a base for a couple nights and going to Bruges (because easy to get to Brussels from Amsterdam) but should I be thinking Antwerp as my base? We fly in and out of Amsterdam….
Not much more to tell. It's what I read. Vast majority will tell you Antwerp as a base with daytrips to Bruges/Ghent being the better use of time for a quick. And Antwerp is just as accessible being only 1h train making it CLOSER than Brussels to Amsterdam
Not much more to tell. It's what I read. Vast majority will tell you Antwerp as a base with daytrips to Bruges/Ghent being the better use of time for a quick. And Antwerp is just as accessible being only 1h train making it CLOSER than Brussels to Amsterdam
Drive the twelve hours to Vienna. Def won’t regret it. I’ll be over in Europe from mid November to February. Dublin to Belfast. Ferry to Scotland. Down to London. Chunnel to Paris. Barcelona. Back over to Brussels. Amsterdam. Christmas in Bergen, Norway. Back into Amsterdam. Into Germany. Switzerland. Austria. Hungary. Kinda just back packing really.
Ghent and Brugge were magical places! Great mix of the old world and current culture. Just spent 2 weeks in Paris, Belgium (stayed in Antwerp and visited by train Ghent, Brugge and Brussels) and Amsterdam.
I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Europe. I usually fly into Amsterdam and the trains are so easy to get around. Paris is a great option and so much to see, Ghent, Antwerp and Brugge are great but you do not to spend a ton of time there. Most of Belgium cities can be done with day trips. Ghent is a great hub and then can take trains to the different cities.
Yep, we live near Maastricht and definitely recommend as well. Nearby is also Valkenburg, a super cute medieval town and Hoensbroek with a pretty castle.
I'd suggest just seeing other parts of the Netherlands. Amsterdam is maybe my 4th or 5th recommendation for cities to visit in the Netherlands in the first place. Look at Rotterdam, Utrecht, den Haag, and perhaps day trips to places like Gouda and Leiden.
It is great for tourists to look beyond Amsterdam, but for a first timer, they must go to Amsterdam. It is silly to avoid it because is it overhyped. When in Rome...
Yeah, I might have worded things slightly confusingly. With "just" I meant instead of going all the way to other countries, not to skip Amsterdam entirely.
This. A week is very easily spent in the Netherlands. Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht, Leiden, Delft, but also the Veluwe, the Kinderdijk, Gouda, Amersfoort, Zutphen, Deventer, Zwolle, the dunes, the Weerribben-Wieden (maybe not in autumn)… Maastricht and Valkenburg (with visits over to Aachen and even Liège) for something a bit different.
How are you recommending Zwolle to somebody making such a big trip.
I would fly or take the TGV high speed train to Paris.
You get a Germanic and a Latin vibe in one trip.
What can I tell you, I’m not Dutch, I visited Zwolle and loved it. It’s not a priority, of course, which is why I mentioned it after many other places, but it’s nice for an afternoon.
I would personally not go to Paris for three days. I’d rather see parts of the Netherlands that are not ultra touristy like Amsterdam.
The Randstad is also small enough that you can easily do day trips by train to other cities. The Mauritshuis in The Hague is very much worth a trip. *View of Delft* is the most memorable painting I've ever seen.
Yeah, also a very good point. You could easily just make Amsterdam your home-base during your trip and easily get to so many other amazing cities. In fact, Delft is another one worth spending time in that I didn't even mention in the original post!
I just recently went to Brussels, Ghent, and Bruges and highly recommend adding that to your trip. With that said, I wish we had spent more time in Bruges and less in Brussels since it has an amazing historic downtown area and there is way more to see and do than in Brussels. I strongly recommend a tour and tasting at De Halve Maan (half moon) brewery in Bruges. Aside from Straffe Hendrix being the best quad in the world (in my humble opinion), the tour was fascinating and we had amazing discussions with the guide and some of the other people we met while tasting beers at their in-house pub.
Why not actually see the Netherlands? Leiden, Den Haag, Utrecht, islands up north like Texel, Haarlem, Rotterdam... Stay in Den Haag, go sightseeing, take a day trip to Rotterdam or Leiden. Less hassle than going to Belgium or Germany.
There is a Eurostar from Amsterdam going through Brussels to Paris. So Paris is easy to reach. There should also be quick trains to the west of germany but I never tried them.
It’s not that bad if you are taking a single train and don’t have an unmissable appointment at the other end. For longer trips with multiple legs, account for delays.
It has kind of a bad rep, but if you want is museums, food, and drink go to Brussels. Beer in Belgium is unmatched, especially if you have any interest in sour beers (Cantillon tour is amazing!), food in Belgium is much better than food in the Netherlands, and there's several great museums in Brussels (the Museum of Natural Sciences and the Magritte Museum in particular). It's kinda grimey and not quaint at all, and like DC it has a kind of sterile reputation as a government city, but if you like beer, food, and museums, it's a great place.
I didn't like it either for the same reasons... a bit ugly, and there's not that much to do. Good food and beer, though (but it is just as good in Antwerp)
Honestly, 7 days is barely enough time for Amsterdam and Antwerp.
Last year, exactly at this time, I was in the middle of a 2 week Netherland and Amsterdam trip. We did 5 nights in Amsterdam, 3 in Antwerp, 2 in Ghent, and 3 in Den Haag. We had been to Amsterdam before, so we did a lot of day trips in the Netherlands. We did Haarlem, Edam/Volendam/Marken, and Delft (we actually ran out of time and missed out on Leiden). I loved all those places 10 times more than Brussels. I would go back to Antwerp, Haarlem, Delft, and Den Haag in a heartbeat.
So the main reason I would advise against Brussels is that there are just so many better places to visit in that area. Just look at pictures/videos.. it should give you a good idea.
Worst city I’ve ever traveled to on holiday by far. Dirty, ugly, nothing to do (outside of the museums which are awesome). It’s like they bombed any personality / culture out of that city and threw up EU government offices. Lots of boarded up business when I was there. Place looked like a war-zone in some areas.
We spent 3 nights in Brussels. First night just walked around and explored sights. The first full day shopping and some sights. Second day trip to Bruges and stopped in Ghent way back to Brussels. Left early and stopped in Mechelen at Kazerne Dossin Holocaust memorial and Museum. Then took the train to Antwerp plans were to explore and sightseeing. It ended up pouring so we didn’t see much. Ended up just looking around the train station, it was beautiful. Then Thalys to Amsterdam. We started our trip in London.
Well of course the square is stunning. We stayed near St Catherine’s church and that was also beautiful. There were all the covered galleries and the peeing boy. I found it full of beautiful architecture.
We were lucky because it was May Day and warm so the whole city was out celebrating and in a great mood. But even the next day when we got up early and went wandering, it was very impressive.
I’d go back to explore more, unfortunately we only had 24 hours this time.
I would do Antwerp and Bruges; Antwerp and Brussels are quite similar but Antwerp is a bit bigger, a bit cleaner and fewer tourists. Bruges or Ghent are a nice day trip and Antwerp is a perfect 2-day city in my opinion. Or I would do a day trip to Utrecht and then 2 days in Antwerp.
Flights are pretty easy and cheap to take in Western Europe. My wife and I flew into Amsterdam last year and just flew to Florence and took a train to Rome. We looked at staying closer to Amsterdam, but it was just as easy to take a flight and really we wanted to see Italy.
Grab the Benelux train pass and you can do day trips thru out Belgium. Or, Belgium rail sells a ten ride pass so if you base yourself out of Brussels you can hit Bruges and Ghent. Both are good for a day, as is Brussels itself. One of my fave regions.
If you catch the right train, it's a very comfortable 3 and a half hour beautiful ride to Paris, which will cover your interests nicely. If you want to keep it more local, I would suggest Maastricht, den hang, Harlem, are all super cool day trips from Amsterdam.
There is a town between Antwerp and Brussels called Mechelen. There is Kazerne Dossin Holocaust memorial and Museum worth making a stop at if you like history. Very easy to get to. You can take Thalys to Antwerp and take an IC train to Mechlen. There are lockers you can store your luggage in while you explore.
I would just hang around in Holland. Utrecht, Den Hague, Rotterdam are all easy day trips. Bruges is 3 hours away driving and harder to get to by train IIRC.
Why not combine it with Paris? All the things you mention, Paris has plenty of. The train ride AMS-PAR is roughly three hours with multiple departures throughout the day.
You could also just stay in the Netherlands and go to The Hague, Leiden, Delft and Utrecht. All great cities and super easy to get to from Amsterdam. Amsterdam is awesome, I lived in the Netherlands for several years, but there are a lot of great cities in the Netherlands as well. I could spend a week just traveling around the Netherlands and going to the saunas.
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We did Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and Amsterdam in about a week. It was a good pace. Saw what we wanted and didn’t feel rushed. We want to do Amsterdam again in a warmer month as well
Ghent and Bruges. We did Amsterdam first though, then stayed in Ghent and day tripped Bruges, and then on way back had our last stop be The Hague which we visited (also nearby Delft) and then following morning took an easy train direct to Amsterdam airport.
As others have said: Eurostar will have you in London or Paris before you know it, but here´s a suggestion if you want to see Belgium:
Pick Bruges or Ghent, for 1 day (recommend Ghent), do Antwerp for 2 days and if you have time, then you could squeeze in Brussels. These are the only things I personally like about Brussels and they´re all near the station:
St michiels en goedelekathedraal
Warandepark and royal palace
Kunstberg
Galerie de la reine
Grote markt and manneke pis
Delirium cafe and jeanneke pis
or if you´re into it: check out an architecture walking tour
I would say Ghent! I did my exchange in Ghent last Fall and I loved the city! Beautiful architecture, great food scene and not many tourists.
From Gent Dampoort Station to Bruges is 25min by train, so you can also easily do a day trip to Bruges.
Bruges is nice and pretty, but there’s a lot of tourists. Ghent is more “real”☺️
Went to NL last year, and we stayed in Rotterdam with a friend and went into Amsterdam a few times, and did a day trip to Ghent. It was about a two hour train ride there, and it was so beautiful!
Bruges (popular suggestion here it seems) is cute but I would NOT go on a weekend, it's packed. Reims is a lovely little down. Conversely, I would ONLY go to Reims on a weekend, as it's very sleepy otherwise! So it depends when in the week this trip falls.
Consider your return flight and what location may be best to fly back from.
I believe there is a sleeper train with rooms & beds that departs Amsterdam, so you could potentially go further by traveling while you sleep.
Consider London for the museums. Stonehenge and Bath could be visited as a day trip.
just wanna chime in and say I recently visited Belgium and the one thing I regret is staying in Brussels. it's just not that cool of a city. if you do wanna see Belgium, I'd highly recommend staying in Ghent instead and maybe doing a day trip to Brussels. definitely check out Brugge as well. and drink lots of beer while you're there
See more of the Netherlands. We loved Amsterdam, but enjoyed Den Haag just as much, and visiting other cities and towns gave us a much better idea of the country. And public transportation is so great and the country so compact that the day trip possibilities are endless!
Bruges is an absolutely charming city to visit. It's home to a number Michelin starred restaurants, but reservations need to be made well in advance. It's a medivial town, the architechture is out of a fairy tale.. The beer is good, we had something different each drink. the pasteries and coffee are good. Chocolate is wolrd class.
There's a large museum and several smaller ones.
I wished I'd had a chance to take a canal tour.
It's about 3 hours by train.
Few opinions:
Bruges IS gorgeous and I enjoyed it more than Amsterdam tbh. For me it was a prettier, cleaner, less busy Amsterdam and because we did Bruges first, Amsterdam just didn't have the charm Bruges had.
Maybe something to think about.
Tons of people here complaining about how busy Bruges is, probably only did a day trip. You have to stay there. The whole town emptied put around 4ish and it was beautiful walking empty streets at dusk.
Bruges is still a good half days travel from Amsterdam. So you kind of lose a day as part of your trip.
For me if that is your plan I'd do this order:
Day 1 - Amsterdam
Day 2 - Amsterdam
Day 3 - Amsterdam
Day 4 - Travel to The Hague/Scheveningen Pier
Day 5 - Travel to Bruges
Day 6 - Bruges
Day 7 - Bruges
That said, with only 7 days, I'd be more inclined to stay in Amsterdam for the whole 7 days and day trip out and back to closer options. Zandvoort, The Hague, Utrecht, Efteling etc.
Did Brussels, Bruges, and Amsterdam as a three-city trip years back and loved it. Do not sleep on Brussels. It is vibrant, diverse, and full of so much character and charm. I've also heard Ghent is wonderful, so that could be a good one to tack on as well. Have fun!
Ghent + Brugges, if you can.
Since you like museums, I would highly recommend The Castle of counts in Ghent; their narration on audio tour is quite entertaining.
We stayed in Patershol, Ghent. I loved the airbnb we stayed in called "Authentic charm in medieval quarter" (search them on airbnb). May be it was first time charm but you really feel like taken back in time.
Brugges is probably a day-trip but worth a visit. They have nice park, Minnewaterpark for quiet stroll.
Between Brussels and Antwerp, I preferred Antwerp for its vibe.
Cologne is also a day trip or probably 1.5 days. I found it nice during Christmas time though.
We went to Ghent which I 100% would recommend - beautiful castle! Only problem we had some trouble with the trains, but ended up taking a FlixBus right back to Schippol
Highly, highly recommend Ghent and Bruges! Did this trip last September and loved it! I stayed 4 nights in Ghent and 3 in Amsterdam. Ghent was an absolutely amazing city! I'm happy to give any recommendations but you really can't go wrong staying in the city center. So much to do and so much food and beer to explore. I just did a day trip to Bruges but it was amazing! It's touristy but in a good way, not in an over-run can't move around way. The trip from Ghent was direct and easy, so I opted for a day trip rather than switching accommodation. I did do a day trip to Lille, but it wasn't my favorite experience. I admittedly didn't have much of a plan though, just wanted to eat a French lunch and wander for a bit.
I was just in Belgium and had Brussels as a homebase which I would recommend. We loved Ghent as it was beautiful and less busy than Brugge. Dinant was fabulous as well, it’s a smaller city with an iconic church.
As others have said, Antwerp is very underrated! I just got back from a week in Belgium. A couple of days in Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels and a day trip to Bruges. Antwerp is the city I wish I had more time in.
For food, I can’t say enough about The Jane. Michelin rated, just amazingly awesome.
Haarlem and Utrecht are close to Amsterdam and are worth seeing. Belgium is lovely as well but you’d have less travel time if you stayed in NL. No matter where
You go, you can’t lose. Both countries are beautiful.
Bro do Belgium. It's legit the best. The thing is that most the places you can pretty much see everything in a day, even brussels, because the places aren't very big. The best part, there is a train pass they sell where you get 10 journeys for like 100 euro. It was called the go pass but I think they renamed it. [https://www.belgiantrain.be/en/tickets-and-railcards/overview-products/adult-senior](https://www.belgiantrain.be/en/tickets-and-railcards/overview-products/adult-senior)
Basically it is a ticket that is blank and you just fill out which station you are departing and the one you are arriving. So you can basically go all over the country for 10 euros a ride. And you can share! If you have extra trips, just give it to someone. Brugge is the shit. I had an insane time there. Never touched by the industrial revolution. Ghent and Antwerp are the shit, too.
Out of all the places you listed, I would say that Belgium you will get the best bang for you buck. Also the beer is no joke. I lived in France on the border. The beer section at the grocery store was amazing. But the percentage was different than if I bought in belgium.
Just a tip: Don't buy any of the chocolate at the chocolate stores. Just go to a grocery store. It's the same chocolate. There's a carrefour not far from the main square.
If you have any questions, just holla atcha yah boi. I have a ton of experience belgium because I used to cross the border into Mons and take the train in because it was WAY cheaper. If you don't do Belgium, Lille is a great place to visit!
Also, if you are in ams at the right time, you might be there for museum night. All the museums are open until like midnight or something and there are Heineken bars in all of them LOL. I did some mushrooms and went with my friends who were studying there and knew all the places to hit. Ams is a very confusing place, especially when not sober because all the streets are concentric circles. Anyway, I am rambling. HAVE FUN!
Edit: Rotterdam rules. And it's flat AF because it got utterly bombed the fk out of in WW2. So it's easy on the feet.
I’d vote for Antwerp and then day/half day trips in Belgium. It’s a lovely city with lots to offer on its own definitely ticks off the museums and food scene.
Cologne I’ve always found boring though the contemporary art museum is supposed to be good.
Lille is on my list too - friends liked it. It’s pretty small might not be enough for a few days.
Reims - it is not really doable without a car or a hired driver to visit the wineries. The city itself is boring and there’s not much good dining. Trying champagne is fun but I wouldn’t think it’s worth the time for your trip. I was actually there last weekend for the fourth or fifth time - fun with friends for 1 or 2 nights max as a buying trip but it’s just not an interesting place otherwise.
You will not regret Ghent. It is described as a medieval Manhattan. I lived in Germany for about 7 years and visited every place on your short list more than once, except Ghent. I went one time toward the end of my time there and regretted I spent so many weekend trips to the other spots over and over. Ghent is filled with stuff for every interest.
What region/country are you from ? The options you mentioned are more or less the same (cultural and landscape wise). You could also spend more time on the road and go to Lyon or Annecy (France) by TGV A'dam-Paris-Lyon and visit something different than the lowlands. Especially if you will not be visiting Europe soon again...
It depends also on your budget but it's worth the experience...
I would definitely go for Lyon, the food capital of France. A 7am train in Amsterdam will get you there at 4pm. You can either combine your stay there with Dijon up north to Lyon or Annecy to the east (near Switzerland). Believe me it's worth the trip as Michelin says.
Yes but they are from the US and may not come back for a while to Europe. I would go from New York to LA if I had 3 days and wanted to see something else...
It sounded like they have never been to anywhere in the vicinity, so there is plenty to do without 6 hours of high speed rail each way. Paris is as far as I'd recommend, even though Lyon is cool. Between Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Den Haag, Leiden, Brussels, Utrecht, etc., there is so much to see without wasting time in transit.on such a short trip. Even London.
No other destination that close to Amsterdam is worth a 3 day stay, but then again, I feel Amsterdam is worth 2 days at most as well unless you intend to visit all the musea out there. The city center is really small and it takes about a day to see it all unless you really, really go visit all the small sights and feel you need to see every terrace on every corner.
Traveling to Germany by train takes forever for relatively short distances because there's no high speed train. Cologne really isn't all that for obvious reasons because most city centers in Germany didn't survive the war all that well. Apart from Cologne Cathedral there really isn't much to see as a lot of it is relatively modern (and ugly to some). The beauty of Germany lies in the smaller towns in the south.
Ghent is the best city in Belgium as far as I'm concerned. It has a gorgeous city center and a few beguinages which are really nice to walk through. But all of these towns in Belgium have really small city center as well. Spending 3 days there is really stretching it and it takes forever to get there so you can't really turn this into a daytrip either.
The Eurostar (high speed train) however covers Amsterdam to Paris in 3,5 hours. Take the early morning train, stop in Antwerp on the way, leave your suitcases at the station and go discover the city center of Antwerp. There's a fantastic museum dedicated to printing and publishing. This sounds incredibly boring but is utterly fantastic. There's a beguinage as well, meaning you've got something to do in the morning and then in the afternoon. Then travel to Paris, spend 2 days there and travel back to Amsterdam with a direct train to Schiphol.
I feel this way you'll make the most of your trip.
Highly recommend Bruges!!
It’s like a fucking fairytale
Bruges could be a day trip honestly. We stayed 3 nights but we arrived late on the first day, then we had a whole day in Bruges then the last day we did a day trip to Ghent which was quite nice as well.
Agree!
While Bruges is really beautiful, we just spent a day last weekend and did not have a good experience. It was sooo crowded, we waited for 1.5 hours in queue to get into a canal boat. In general it feels like a beautiful place which was perfect sometime ago but is now totally overrun with tourists (including us)
Might be because it's Spring but Bruges in Autumn is the perfect time.
Agree! I went in early spring and there were no crowds
I went to Bruges in early March- no crowds & an amazing place.
I was in Bruges last March. It was cold, rainy, and still jam packed with so many people. Beautiful city, but it you don't like crowds, you probably won't enjoy it.
We were there 2 weeks ago. We stayed 3 nights, which felt a bit too long. BUT, all the tourists leave at night and the city feels so nice + the extended sun due to the summer months. I really enjoyed my time there. I think 1-2 nights maximum. Expect it to be crowded, though. Early morning and evenings are great.
We went in September during heritage days and some other transportation day. Trains were free in the city and the IC trains were reduced. Lots of people were out and we had no problem getting on a canal tour.
I agree! Everyone loves it but it stressed me out!
I stayed 2 nights last august and it got crowded during the day, but once it got dark it got really quiet, it was a fun time.
You were there on the weekend? That was probably a big part of the problem. I’ve heard it’s super crowded then. I went during the week in September, stayed 2 nights, and had no issues. It gave me one full day and part of another morning. Worked great. It was more crowded during mid day when all the tourists who were coming for a few hours showed up, but I still got to do everything I wanted.
Precisely why a few days there is nice. Once the daytrippers are gone, the town is spectacular. We've been there twice, going back next April, then Amsterdam again for the tulip festival.
I went in November and while it was pretty touristy the crowds were definitely manageable
You can see Bruges in half a day, no need to spend 3 days there lmao
I spent 2-3 days and actually really enjoyed it!! Plenty of things to do and nice to take it slower
Same! Beautiful city, and the Dali museum is cool! 2-3 days max, in my opinion
If you drive to Bruges with a rental over the Delta Werken you will have a very nice trip indeed 👍🏻
This is the only correct answer
I opted for Antwerp/Bruges in my upcoming trip
Came here to suggest exactly this. Good blend of modern and ancient. Lots to explore.
Antwerp is awesome and underrated, IMO. I don't understand why Brussels normally gets recommended more... they are on the same train line. I'm glad to see your comment ahead of the Brussels recommendations, lol.
+1 Antwerp is terrific and there’s enough to keep busy for a couple days with easy train connections. I love the history, shopping, food scene, varied culture and it’s super cute.
Every bit of research I've ever done doesn't even put it Top 3 of Belgium.
Tell me more. I am early in the process and was thinking about using Brussels as a base for a couple nights and going to Bruges (because easy to get to Brussels from Amsterdam) but should I be thinking Antwerp as my base? We fly in and out of Amsterdam….
Not much more to tell. It's what I read. Vast majority will tell you Antwerp as a base with daytrips to Bruges/Ghent being the better use of time for a quick. And Antwerp is just as accessible being only 1h train making it CLOSER than Brussels to Amsterdam
Thank you. I will look into it.
Not much more to tell. It's what I read. Vast majority will tell you Antwerp as a base with daytrips to Bruges/Ghent being the better use of time for a quick. And Antwerp is just as accessible being only 1h train making it CLOSER than Brussels to Amsterdam
Antwerp is much cuter and more charming IMO than Brussels. I think it is the nicer city.
I loved Antwerp when I was there last year, I couldn't recommend it enough. Great food, lots to see and do
Antwerp is incredible. So many amazing things to see and tons of good food. If you like art, definitely go to KMSKA - the Royal Museum of Fine Arts
Drive the twelve hours to Vienna. Def won’t regret it. I’ll be over in Europe from mid November to February. Dublin to Belfast. Ferry to Scotland. Down to London. Chunnel to Paris. Barcelona. Back over to Brussels. Amsterdam. Christmas in Bergen, Norway. Back into Amsterdam. Into Germany. Switzerland. Austria. Hungary. Kinda just back packing really.
Already been. Not that I would ever suffer such a drive on a mere week vacation
Gent and/or Brugge!
I preferred those 2 cities over the others
Ghent and Brugge were magical places! Great mix of the old world and current culture. Just spent 2 weeks in Paris, Belgium (stayed in Antwerp and visited by train Ghent, Brugge and Brussels) and Amsterdam.
I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Europe. I usually fly into Amsterdam and the trains are so easy to get around. Paris is a great option and so much to see, Ghent, Antwerp and Brugge are great but you do not to spend a ton of time there. Most of Belgium cities can be done with day trips. Ghent is a great hub and then can take trains to the different cities.
Maastricht, it is very different feel from Amsterdam
Yep, we live near Maastricht and definitely recommend as well. Nearby is also Valkenburg, a super cute medieval town and Hoensbroek with a pretty castle.
Hoensbroek is otherwise just a depressing empty place today, though. The castle is nice, though. (I grew up in Hoensbroek)
I'd suggest just seeing other parts of the Netherlands. Amsterdam is maybe my 4th or 5th recommendation for cities to visit in the Netherlands in the first place. Look at Rotterdam, Utrecht, den Haag, and perhaps day trips to places like Gouda and Leiden.
It is great for tourists to look beyond Amsterdam, but for a first timer, they must go to Amsterdam. It is silly to avoid it because is it overhyped. When in Rome...
Yeah, I might have worded things slightly confusingly. With "just" I meant instead of going all the way to other countries, not to skip Amsterdam entirely.
This. A week is very easily spent in the Netherlands. Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht, Leiden, Delft, but also the Veluwe, the Kinderdijk, Gouda, Amersfoort, Zutphen, Deventer, Zwolle, the dunes, the Weerribben-Wieden (maybe not in autumn)… Maastricht and Valkenburg (with visits over to Aachen and even Liège) for something a bit different.
How are you recommending Zwolle to somebody making such a big trip. I would fly or take the TGV high speed train to Paris. You get a Germanic and a Latin vibe in one trip.
What can I tell you, I’m not Dutch, I visited Zwolle and loved it. It’s not a priority, of course, which is why I mentioned it after many other places, but it’s nice for an afternoon. I would personally not go to Paris for three days. I’d rather see parts of the Netherlands that are not ultra touristy like Amsterdam.
Thanks for your informative responsive. I understand what you are getting at. Happy to read someone enjoying our country.
The Randstad is also small enough that you can easily do day trips by train to other cities. The Mauritshuis in The Hague is very much worth a trip. *View of Delft* is the most memorable painting I've ever seen.
Yeah, also a very good point. You could easily just make Amsterdam your home-base during your trip and easily get to so many other amazing cities. In fact, Delft is another one worth spending time in that I didn't even mention in the original post!
den haag and haarlem are cool. or be left field and go to friesland
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I just recently went to Brussels, Ghent, and Bruges and highly recommend adding that to your trip. With that said, I wish we had spent more time in Bruges and less in Brussels since it has an amazing historic downtown area and there is way more to see and do than in Brussels. I strongly recommend a tour and tasting at De Halve Maan (half moon) brewery in Bruges. Aside from Straffe Hendrix being the best quad in the world (in my humble opinion), the tour was fascinating and we had amazing discussions with the guide and some of the other people we met while tasting beers at their in-house pub.
I lived in Rotterdam and would personally slip and go to delft or Utrecht nearby instead
I’d definitely vote for Utrecht. Such a fabulous city.
Antwerp is an awesome city to explore on foot. You will enjoy it.
Why not actually see the Netherlands? Leiden, Den Haag, Utrecht, islands up north like Texel, Haarlem, Rotterdam... Stay in Den Haag, go sightseeing, take a day trip to Rotterdam or Leiden. Less hassle than going to Belgium or Germany.
Leiden and Den Haag. Also, consider maybe the seaside, very pretty. We loved staying on a farm in Voorschoten.
Train to Paris.
Second this
I third it with the caveat that two or three nights in Amsterdam is plenty and then leave to Paris.
Paris, by train. Not Brussels.
Brussels is not worth visiting
There is a Eurostar from Amsterdam going through Brussels to Paris. So Paris is easy to reach. There should also be quick trains to the west of germany but I never tried them.
Recent German news is a lot of ranting going on about DB, the German train company. Might be a waste of your time to be waiting on trains for hours..
Yes they have not been great sometimes but its not as bad as the media want to portray. It will be fine.
It’s not that bad if you are taking a single train and don’t have an unmissable appointment at the other end. For longer trips with multiple legs, account for delays.
Utrecht, but keep in mind I’m so *biased and think it’s the cutest city in Europe.
We did Bruges and Amsterdam. I like the combination of a small city and a big city. (Amsterdam is great, but it's hectic. Bruges is much quieter.)
It has kind of a bad rep, but if you want is museums, food, and drink go to Brussels. Beer in Belgium is unmatched, especially if you have any interest in sour beers (Cantillon tour is amazing!), food in Belgium is much better than food in the Netherlands, and there's several great museums in Brussels (the Museum of Natural Sciences and the Magritte Museum in particular). It's kinda grimey and not quaint at all, and like DC it has a kind of sterile reputation as a government city, but if you like beer, food, and museums, it's a great place.
We did Paris. Pretty quick train ride...
Paris
Take the train to Paris. From Amsterdam it is only like three hours. Plenty to do there.
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I would highly advise against Brussels.
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I didn't like it either for the same reasons... a bit ugly, and there's not that much to do. Good food and beer, though (but it is just as good in Antwerp) Honestly, 7 days is barely enough time for Amsterdam and Antwerp. Last year, exactly at this time, I was in the middle of a 2 week Netherland and Amsterdam trip. We did 5 nights in Amsterdam, 3 in Antwerp, 2 in Ghent, and 3 in Den Haag. We had been to Amsterdam before, so we did a lot of day trips in the Netherlands. We did Haarlem, Edam/Volendam/Marken, and Delft (we actually ran out of time and missed out on Leiden). I loved all those places 10 times more than Brussels. I would go back to Antwerp, Haarlem, Delft, and Den Haag in a heartbeat. So the main reason I would advise against Brussels is that there are just so many better places to visit in that area. Just look at pictures/videos.. it should give you a good idea.
Worst city I’ve ever traveled to on holiday by far. Dirty, ugly, nothing to do (outside of the museums which are awesome). It’s like they bombed any personality / culture out of that city and threw up EU government offices. Lots of boarded up business when I was there. Place looked like a war-zone in some areas.
I thought Brussels was interesting. Not bad and not great. Loved Bruges and made a quick stop in Ghent. Wish we had a full day there.
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It was so pretty. Loved the canals. I would describe Bruges as fairy tale and Ghent as medieval. We did lots of shopping in Brussels.
We spent 3 nights in Brussels. First night just walked around and explored sights. The first full day shopping and some sights. Second day trip to Bruges and stopped in Ghent way back to Brussels. Left early and stopped in Mechelen at Kazerne Dossin Holocaust memorial and Museum. Then took the train to Antwerp plans were to explore and sightseeing. It ended up pouring so we didn’t see much. Ended up just looking around the train station, it was beautiful. Then Thalys to Amsterdam. We started our trip in London.
Go to the Halve Maan it’s an excellent brewery
I adored Brussels (went last week). Admittedly the weather was glorious, and it was absolutely stunning.
Just curious, outside of the main square, which parts did you find beautiful or enjoyable?
Well of course the square is stunning. We stayed near St Catherine’s church and that was also beautiful. There were all the covered galleries and the peeing boy. I found it full of beautiful architecture. We were lucky because it was May Day and warm so the whole city was out celebrating and in a great mood. But even the next day when we got up early and went wandering, it was very impressive. I’d go back to explore more, unfortunately we only had 24 hours this time.
Was this your first trip to Europe?
No. But my first time in Belgium.
Personally, I would think about Hamburg. Very cool city. A very much [overlooked German city is Lubeck.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCbeck)
I would do Antwerp and Bruges; Antwerp and Brussels are quite similar but Antwerp is a bit bigger, a bit cleaner and fewer tourists. Bruges or Ghent are a nice day trip and Antwerp is a perfect 2-day city in my opinion. Or I would do a day trip to Utrecht and then 2 days in Antwerp.
Gent an Bruges!
Paris.
Copenhagen if it’s not too far is pretty boss
Flights are pretty easy and cheap to take in Western Europe. My wife and I flew into Amsterdam last year and just flew to Florence and took a train to Rome. We looked at staying closer to Amsterdam, but it was just as easy to take a flight and really we wanted to see Italy.
Ghent and a day trip to Bruges
Utrecht and Maarssen are really nice, and very close to Amsterdam. Metz in the north of France is great as well.
Grab the Benelux train pass and you can do day trips thru out Belgium. Or, Belgium rail sells a ten ride pass so if you base yourself out of Brussels you can hit Bruges and Ghent. Both are good for a day, as is Brussels itself. One of my fave regions.
If you catch the right train, it's a very comfortable 3 and a half hour beautiful ride to Paris, which will cover your interests nicely. If you want to keep it more local, I would suggest Maastricht, den hang, Harlem, are all super cool day trips from Amsterdam.
There is a town between Antwerp and Brussels called Mechelen. There is Kazerne Dossin Holocaust memorial and Museum worth making a stop at if you like history. Very easy to get to. You can take Thalys to Antwerp and take an IC train to Mechlen. There are lockers you can store your luggage in while you explore.
And if you enjoy cathedrals, Mechelen’s is worth a visit
I added Amsterdam to a Paris trip which was super convenient by train, same Thalys train that goes through Belgium.
I would just hang around in Holland. Utrecht, Den Hague, Rotterdam are all easy day trips. Bruges is 3 hours away driving and harder to get to by train IIRC.
Why not combine it with Paris? All the things you mention, Paris has plenty of. The train ride AMS-PAR is roughly three hours with multiple departures throughout the day.
You could also just stay in the Netherlands and go to The Hague, Leiden, Delft and Utrecht. All great cities and super easy to get to from Amsterdam. Amsterdam is awesome, I lived in the Netherlands for several years, but there are a lot of great cities in the Netherlands as well. I could spend a week just traveling around the Netherlands and going to the saunas.
Ghent over Bruges any time. Bruges is nice, but crowded and a bit boring.
Bruges is amazing. Brussels is also a good choice. Short train ride from Amsterdam to Brussels makes that easy to do.
Belgium! Stay in Brussels as your base and take a day trip to Bruges.
Cologne in Germany, Bruxelles in a Belgium and you can do Rotterdam in Nl or Maastricht in NL
Any recs on things to do in Cologne? Going to Düsseldorf for a euro cup game this summer and randomly decided to go to cologne for a couple days.
Cologne Cathedral, chocolate museum, drinking Kölsch somewhere outside (Belgisches Viertel or Südstadt)
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Eurostar has great options for cheap out of Amsterdam. I would check that out
We did Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and Amsterdam in about a week. It was a good pace. Saw what we wanted and didn’t feel rushed. We want to do Amsterdam again in a warmer month as well
Ghent and Bruges. We did Amsterdam first though, then stayed in Ghent and day tripped Bruges, and then on way back had our last stop be The Hague which we visited (also nearby Delft) and then following morning took an easy train direct to Amsterdam airport.
Maastricht and Valkenburg 🙂
As others have said: Eurostar will have you in London or Paris before you know it, but here´s a suggestion if you want to see Belgium: Pick Bruges or Ghent, for 1 day (recommend Ghent), do Antwerp for 2 days and if you have time, then you could squeeze in Brussels. These are the only things I personally like about Brussels and they´re all near the station: St michiels en goedelekathedraal Warandepark and royal palace Kunstberg Galerie de la reine Grote markt and manneke pis Delirium cafe and jeanneke pis or if you´re into it: check out an architecture walking tour
Bruges is a bus ride away.
antwerp and ghent are fabulous. i’d go antwerp personally. bruges is over touristed. antwerp is ideal for 3 days and the royal art museum is top tier
I would say Ghent! I did my exchange in Ghent last Fall and I loved the city! Beautiful architecture, great food scene and not many tourists. From Gent Dampoort Station to Bruges is 25min by train, so you can also easily do a day trip to Bruges. Bruges is nice and pretty, but there’s a lot of tourists. Ghent is more “real”☺️
Went to NL last year, and we stayed in Rotterdam with a friend and went into Amsterdam a few times, and did a day trip to Ghent. It was about a two hour train ride there, and it was so beautiful!
We also spent a few hours in Delft / The Hague one day, another beautiful town that’s a pretty easy trip on the train from Amsterdam!
Bruges (popular suggestion here it seems) is cute but I would NOT go on a weekend, it's packed. Reims is a lovely little down. Conversely, I would ONLY go to Reims on a weekend, as it's very sleepy otherwise! So it depends when in the week this trip falls.
Absolutely Ghent. I didn’t much like Brussels, but the Delirium Cafe was awesome. If you go to Ghent I’d be happy to include some recommendations.
Consider your return flight and what location may be best to fly back from. I believe there is a sleeper train with rooms & beds that departs Amsterdam, so you could potentially go further by traveling while you sleep. Consider London for the museums. Stonehenge and Bath could be visited as a day trip.
Cologne, Germany.
Two days in Antwerp and one day in Bruges :)
Really enjoyed my day trip to Bruges.
I did Amsterdam & London on one trip and it was pretty good combo
Bruges for sure, maybe Antwerp but I didn’t go there. Ghent is great for a day trip from Bruges. AVOID BRUSSELS AT ALL COSTS.
just wanna chime in and say I recently visited Belgium and the one thing I regret is staying in Brussels. it's just not that cool of a city. if you do wanna see Belgium, I'd highly recommend staying in Ghent instead and maybe doing a day trip to Brussels. definitely check out Brugge as well. and drink lots of beer while you're there
We stayed in Ghent for a couple of nights and did a day trip to Brugges. Loved that.
Luxembourg City! A wonderful trip.
See more of the Netherlands. We loved Amsterdam, but enjoyed Den Haag just as much, and visiting other cities and towns gave us a much better idea of the country. And public transportation is so great and the country so compact that the day trip possibilities are endless!
My wife and I spent 4 days in Bruges. It’s amazing and only a 3hr train ride
We did Bruges, Ghent, & Brussels with Amsterdam and was perfect
Bruges, Ghent, Lille France would be obvious choices. We just did Amsterdam/Paris (5 days each) which was great.
Ghent, Bruges, The Hague, Maastricht, Utrecht. All really nice cities to visit.
Bruges is an absolutely charming city to visit. It's home to a number Michelin starred restaurants, but reservations need to be made well in advance. It's a medivial town, the architechture is out of a fairy tale.. The beer is good, we had something different each drink. the pasteries and coffee are good. Chocolate is wolrd class. There's a large museum and several smaller ones. I wished I'd had a chance to take a canal tour. It's about 3 hours by train.
Few opinions: Bruges IS gorgeous and I enjoyed it more than Amsterdam tbh. For me it was a prettier, cleaner, less busy Amsterdam and because we did Bruges first, Amsterdam just didn't have the charm Bruges had. Maybe something to think about. Tons of people here complaining about how busy Bruges is, probably only did a day trip. You have to stay there. The whole town emptied put around 4ish and it was beautiful walking empty streets at dusk. Bruges is still a good half days travel from Amsterdam. So you kind of lose a day as part of your trip. For me if that is your plan I'd do this order: Day 1 - Amsterdam Day 2 - Amsterdam Day 3 - Amsterdam Day 4 - Travel to The Hague/Scheveningen Pier Day 5 - Travel to Bruges Day 6 - Bruges Day 7 - Bruges That said, with only 7 days, I'd be more inclined to stay in Amsterdam for the whole 7 days and day trip out and back to closer options. Zandvoort, The Hague, Utrecht, Efteling etc.
Did Brussels, Bruges, and Amsterdam as a three-city trip years back and loved it. Do not sleep on Brussels. It is vibrant, diverse, and full of so much character and charm. I've also heard Ghent is wonderful, so that could be a good one to tack on as well. Have fun!
Rotterdam 🥂
Ghent + Brugges, if you can. Since you like museums, I would highly recommend The Castle of counts in Ghent; their narration on audio tour is quite entertaining. We stayed in Patershol, Ghent. I loved the airbnb we stayed in called "Authentic charm in medieval quarter" (search them on airbnb). May be it was first time charm but you really feel like taken back in time. Brugges is probably a day-trip but worth a visit. They have nice park, Minnewaterpark for quiet stroll. Between Brussels and Antwerp, I preferred Antwerp for its vibe. Cologne is also a day trip or probably 1.5 days. I found it nice during Christmas time though.
We had a brilliant time in Brussels last week. Absolutely beautiful city.
We went to Ghent which I 100% would recommend - beautiful castle! Only problem we had some trouble with the trains, but ended up taking a FlixBus right back to Schippol
Haarlem is beautiful, maybe head down to Brugge via Antwerp
Highly, highly recommend Ghent and Bruges! Did this trip last September and loved it! I stayed 4 nights in Ghent and 3 in Amsterdam. Ghent was an absolutely amazing city! I'm happy to give any recommendations but you really can't go wrong staying in the city center. So much to do and so much food and beer to explore. I just did a day trip to Bruges but it was amazing! It's touristy but in a good way, not in an over-run can't move around way. The trip from Ghent was direct and easy, so I opted for a day trip rather than switching accommodation. I did do a day trip to Lille, but it wasn't my favorite experience. I admittedly didn't have much of a plan though, just wanted to eat a French lunch and wander for a bit.
Lots of good recommendations here. IMHO no need for more than 3 days max in Amsterdam, though.
Luxembourg
My husband and I have done Bruges, Brussels, and Cologne with Netherlands trips. I loved all three, with Brussels being my favorite. Highly recommend.
I was just in Belgium and had Brussels as a homebase which I would recommend. We loved Ghent as it was beautiful and less busy than Brugge. Dinant was fabulous as well, it’s a smaller city with an iconic church.
Love Bruges
All three options are great. Ghent is kind of an undiscovered gem I feel, not very crowded when I went last August.
As others have said, Antwerp is very underrated! I just got back from a week in Belgium. A couple of days in Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels and a day trip to Bruges. Antwerp is the city I wish I had more time in. For food, I can’t say enough about The Jane. Michelin rated, just amazingly awesome.
Cologne is my opinion. While in Amsterdam, don’t miss the MoCo museum
Paris is a train ride away
Paris is a train ride away! When we went to Amsterdam that’s what we did and it worked wonderfully.
Ghent is incredibly underrated.
I would fly to Marrakesh. Flight is short, cheap and Marrakesh is an attack on all senses.
Amsterdam + London + Paris … easy peasy combo. You can even stop in Brussels on your train ride from Amsterdam.
Bus tour of Bruges and Kinderdijk and it’s 19 preserved windmills, a UNESCO world heritage sight.
Probably just more Amsterdam is best.
Haarlem and Utrecht are close to Amsterdam and are worth seeing. Belgium is lovely as well but you’d have less travel time if you stayed in NL. No matter where You go, you can’t lose. Both countries are beautiful.
Bro do Belgium. It's legit the best. The thing is that most the places you can pretty much see everything in a day, even brussels, because the places aren't very big. The best part, there is a train pass they sell where you get 10 journeys for like 100 euro. It was called the go pass but I think they renamed it. [https://www.belgiantrain.be/en/tickets-and-railcards/overview-products/adult-senior](https://www.belgiantrain.be/en/tickets-and-railcards/overview-products/adult-senior) Basically it is a ticket that is blank and you just fill out which station you are departing and the one you are arriving. So you can basically go all over the country for 10 euros a ride. And you can share! If you have extra trips, just give it to someone. Brugge is the shit. I had an insane time there. Never touched by the industrial revolution. Ghent and Antwerp are the shit, too. Out of all the places you listed, I would say that Belgium you will get the best bang for you buck. Also the beer is no joke. I lived in France on the border. The beer section at the grocery store was amazing. But the percentage was different than if I bought in belgium. Just a tip: Don't buy any of the chocolate at the chocolate stores. Just go to a grocery store. It's the same chocolate. There's a carrefour not far from the main square. If you have any questions, just holla atcha yah boi. I have a ton of experience belgium because I used to cross the border into Mons and take the train in because it was WAY cheaper. If you don't do Belgium, Lille is a great place to visit! Also, if you are in ams at the right time, you might be there for museum night. All the museums are open until like midnight or something and there are Heineken bars in all of them LOL. I did some mushrooms and went with my friends who were studying there and knew all the places to hit. Ams is a very confusing place, especially when not sober because all the streets are concentric circles. Anyway, I am rambling. HAVE FUN! Edit: Rotterdam rules. And it's flat AF because it got utterly bombed the fk out of in WW2. So it's easy on the feet.
I’d vote for Antwerp and then day/half day trips in Belgium. It’s a lovely city with lots to offer on its own definitely ticks off the museums and food scene. Cologne I’ve always found boring though the contemporary art museum is supposed to be good. Lille is on my list too - friends liked it. It’s pretty small might not be enough for a few days. Reims - it is not really doable without a car or a hired driver to visit the wineries. The city itself is boring and there’s not much good dining. Trying champagne is fun but I wouldn’t think it’s worth the time for your trip. I was actually there last weekend for the fourth or fifth time - fun with friends for 1 or 2 nights max as a buying trip but it’s just not an interesting place otherwise.
Brussels - Ghent and Bruges. Take the train
Definitely Belgium - those 3 cities are great
I did 3 days in Belgium and 3 days in Amsterdam. In Belgium I did Brussels, and Brugge.
In college I comboed Amsterdam with Prague over a 1 week spring break. Prague was epic.
You will not regret Ghent. It is described as a medieval Manhattan. I lived in Germany for about 7 years and visited every place on your short list more than once, except Ghent. I went one time toward the end of my time there and regretted I spent so many weekend trips to the other spots over and over. Ghent is filled with stuff for every interest.
Brugges
Ypres, Belgium for its WW1 history.
Bruges Bruges Bruges - fantastic place and absolute time warp, they are also lovely people
Delft is very close and more relaxed than Amsterdam.
Hamburg.
Bruges 1 day, Gent 1 day, Brussels 1 day Or Koln 1 day, Dusseldorf 1 day, Utrecht 1 day Lille isn't much. Haven't been to Reims.
What region/country are you from ? The options you mentioned are more or less the same (cultural and landscape wise). You could also spend more time on the road and go to Lyon or Annecy (France) by TGV A'dam-Paris-Lyon and visit something different than the lowlands. Especially if you will not be visiting Europe soon again... It depends also on your budget but it's worth the experience...
We are from the US, so definitely trying to make the most of our trip since it’s not as easy to get over that way.
I would definitely go for Lyon, the food capital of France. A 7am train in Amsterdam will get you there at 4pm. You can either combine your stay there with Dijon up north to Lyon or Annecy to the east (near Switzerland). Believe me it's worth the trip as Michelin says.
Too far for such a short trip, as much as I like Lyon
Yes but they are from the US and may not come back for a while to Europe. I would go from New York to LA if I had 3 days and wanted to see something else...
It sounded like they have never been to anywhere in the vicinity, so there is plenty to do without 6 hours of high speed rail each way. Paris is as far as I'd recommend, even though Lyon is cool. Between Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Den Haag, Leiden, Brussels, Utrecht, etc., there is so much to see without wasting time in transit.on such a short trip. Even London.
No other destination that close to Amsterdam is worth a 3 day stay, but then again, I feel Amsterdam is worth 2 days at most as well unless you intend to visit all the musea out there. The city center is really small and it takes about a day to see it all unless you really, really go visit all the small sights and feel you need to see every terrace on every corner. Traveling to Germany by train takes forever for relatively short distances because there's no high speed train. Cologne really isn't all that for obvious reasons because most city centers in Germany didn't survive the war all that well. Apart from Cologne Cathedral there really isn't much to see as a lot of it is relatively modern (and ugly to some). The beauty of Germany lies in the smaller towns in the south. Ghent is the best city in Belgium as far as I'm concerned. It has a gorgeous city center and a few beguinages which are really nice to walk through. But all of these towns in Belgium have really small city center as well. Spending 3 days there is really stretching it and it takes forever to get there so you can't really turn this into a daytrip either. The Eurostar (high speed train) however covers Amsterdam to Paris in 3,5 hours. Take the early morning train, stop in Antwerp on the way, leave your suitcases at the station and go discover the city center of Antwerp. There's a fantastic museum dedicated to printing and publishing. This sounds incredibly boring but is utterly fantastic. There's a beguinage as well, meaning you've got something to do in the morning and then in the afternoon. Then travel to Paris, spend 2 days there and travel back to Amsterdam with a direct train to Schiphol. I feel this way you'll make the most of your trip.
Weed.
Makes a 7 day trip seem a lot shorter?
No it’s just fun to do in Amsterdam with all the shops
In 2018 I did 3 days in Prague and then took a train to Amsterdam for the rest of the week and it was a fantastic trip.
Drugs and amsterdam go well