How is this itinerary? Doable or not? - Netherlands, Belgium, Paris
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Anonymous
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Fly into Schipol Amsterdam:
Amsterdam: Day 1 (day after flight): - Dam square, Palace - Anne Frank House (if we can get tickets) - Beginhof - Damrak - De Wallen - See the Van gogh museum, Rijk Museum from outside - Canal cruise Day 2: - Day trip (getyourguide) to Zaanse Schans, Zaandam, Edam, Volendam (or is doable on your own?) - Albert Cuyp market - Anything from Day 1 that we couldn't do Day 3: - Day trip to Giethorn (getyourguide) - Bloemen Market - Stroll around Jordaan and 9 streets neighborhood Day 4: - Trip advisor Day trip to Keukenhof and De Tulperij https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g188590-d17846736-Amsterdam_Tulip_Fields_Day_Tour_with_Lunch_and_a_Windmill_visit-Amsterdam_North_Ho.html Belgium: Day 5: - Take train to Brussels - check in hotel - Royal palace from outside (open only few weeks a year 21st July to early septemeber) - right in front of central station. - Royal garden of brussels - explore and see buildings nearby - grand place - waffle stop - Brussels waffles with chocolate and strawberry - maison dandoy - st Nicholas church - first godiva shop - cinquantenaire arcade - brussels stock exchange building from outside - Jardin du petit sablon - palace of justice - cathedral st gudula (where royal family gets married) - st Hubert gallery (mall) - fritland fries - mannequin pis Day 6: - atomium (can go inside 5 of the 9 balls) - mini Europe near atomium Day 7: - Day trip to Ghent by train - once you arrive in ghent, station is a little further from the city center - its a 30 min walk. hop on tram that is right outside and will take you in 10 min. - Gravensteen - castle from 10th century with a moat = 13 euros - Friday market - it is a beautiful plaza - Werregarenstraat - artsy graffiti street - Walk by NT Ghent a beautiful performing arts theater and continue on that road to st.bavo's cathedral for some stunning views - Belfry of ghent - bell tower - cost 11 euros - St.nicholas cathedral - Korenmarkt - Head to canal to see st.michaels bridge with church behind it. - Do a boat tour in ghent. 9 euros pp for 1 hour. - Head back to Brussels Day 8: - Day trip to Bruges from Brussels - 1.5 hrs from Brussels by train. city center is 20 min walk from city center. Debating whether to stay in Ghent or Brussels if we want to see all three (Brussels, Bruges and Ghent) - grote market (big square with iconic postcard townhome buildings) - belfry of brugges - 15 euros to climb 366 steps. If we have time only. - bruges city hall and basilica of holy blood in same plaza - cross the canal to rosary quay - a picturesque street - walk along river to Boniface bridge - see church of our lady in same plaza - minnewater park where two canals meet (end your walk). - Head back to Brussels Day 9: - Train to Paris, Check in - Train to Louvre (see from outside) - Train to Le Marais (15 min) - Train to Notre Dame - walk around the entire cathedral and visit inside (book online a reserved time slot). - Pont Neuf bridge - arc de triomphe from notre dame by train - 30min - arc de triomphe to Eiffel tower - 20 min Day 10: - seine cruise - Eiffel tower climb - Odeon st germain des pres - Luxembourg gardens - Montmarte - Sacre Coeur Day 11: Flight home Not sure whether to start the journey in Paris and end it in Amsterdam, cutting down something in between (Brussels) if we feel too tired. In Paris, I'm not interested in spending more than 2 days seeing the major city highlights. No one in my family is interested in museums so we would rather spend the time exploring the city than wasting a half day in an art museum (would love to see just the Mona Lisa though but half day seems too much). Is the Eiffel tower climb really worth it? People who have been there, help me cut down on something if this is too ambitious. I feel like Day 6 in Brussels is soemthing I could cut down if it isn't that interesting. Anyone been to those two? If any one day seems too packed help me move it to another day that makes sense practically. Thanks. |
Anonymous
OP. I wrote down the above from youtube videos so ignore the extra details like stunning views etc  I wrote it down exactly as in the videos based on my interests and so I could prioritize what to see when I am there.
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Anonymous
| This is too long to go into in detail, but many of your days are way too packed. You'll be rushing the whole time and not enjoying anything. But then your Day 6, by comparison is sparse (those each would take an hour tops and frankly both are things you should skip). |
Anonymous
| Tired just reading all that. Skip Belgium and Amsterdam, spend 5 days in French countryside and 5 in Paris and environs. |
Anonymous
| I'm exhausted! |
Anonymous
Thank you! This is exactly what I needed to hear from someone who has been there done that. I wasn't even sure if those are worth it but saw it on youtube videos. Have you been to Ghent and Bruges? |
Anonymous
| I might just skip Brussels entirely. It's fine, I guess, but I've been there for work and I wouldn’t list it as a must visit. |
Anonymous
I would skip Ghent and just go to Bruges. Take the canal boat tour there. |
Anonymous
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Why are you seeing so many museums from the outside? That doesn’t make any sense to me.
Your day 2 really doesn't make any sense to me. If you want to day trip from Amsterdam instead consider Leiden or Den Haag (maybe 45 min on the train). |
Anonymous
Nope. Both are in my must do list and based on all the videos I saw, I think whole family would enjoy seeing the windmills in Netherlands, kids would enjoy the Giethorn canal boat ride and I want to see the beautiful architecture in Bruges and Ghent. Besides I doubt my teens would like to just stay in a countryside in France. 5 days in Paris seems a bit much for me. Maybe I could up it to 3 days instead of just two. Eiffel tower is in my must do list so I tried squeezing that in since it is not that far from Belgium. I am open to cutting down some of the things to see in each place in Netherlands/Belgium though to make it less tiring and would love to hear from someone who has been there as to what to prioritize in each of the places I mentioned. |
Anonymous
Thank you. Good to know. I saw some videos saying Brussels was boring but it was the architecture that fascinated me. I will keep it as less priority and maybe go to Ghent from Amsterdam. Base myself in Ghent and then go on to Bruges from there. |
Anonymous
Museums - only to explore the area, view the architecture from outside - might skip the ones in Amsterdam entirely but Louvre is more of a photo op because it looks beautiful on the outside and we could walk around. Day 2 - there is a day trip available to see those 4 places near Amsterdam but it is more like a 5 to 6 hour thing so I want to see the market when we get back. It seems doable on our own by taking trains so I wanted feedback from anyone who had done that on their own. We couldthen explore at our leisure instead of a time constraint. Zaanse Schans is on my must do because it is a quaint windmill village. The others are nearby so just clubbing them in. |
Anonymous
Any reason why you don't like Ghent? The castle of the counts (gravensteen) looked very interesting since I have never been inside a real castle. |
Anonymous
Yeah I mean the courtyard around the Rijksmuseum is just a crowded kind of dirty courtyard. The building looks fine I guess. The Van Gogh museum is a modern concrete and glass building, definitely what you want is inside, not outside. I don't understand at all why you'd want to deal with the crowds and then not go inside. Same with the Louvre. Your itinerary on the whole just feels really off to me, like it's more about taking pictures than actually doing things and I wonder if it's because you planned this using social media. |
Anonymous
It just felt redundant. We liked everything about Bruges much better. |