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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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).[/quote]

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?[/quote]

My son and I did 17 days in Benelux and we skipped Brussels (I've been, and don't think it was great).  Split our Belgium time between Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp.  Ghent is more about the city and there is less to see there than the other two.  Your Amsterdam day is really unrealistic, especially if it is the day after you arrive.  I would choose either the Netherlands and Belgium or France, and slow it down to vary your experiences a bit.[/quote]

Would the windmill tour bus option be better for the day after we arrive then? Its about 6 hours between 3 nearby towns I think with 30 min on a bus each way and we don't have to anything much besides walking around the tiny villages, watching an edam cheese making demo and hearing some information about the villages.

So far I think we may do 3 day trips - the 6 hour Zaanse schans trip, 8 hr Giethoorn trip that starts 10am and ends 6pm - 4 hours in a bus and 4 hours in Giethoorn (one of my kids saw the youtube video and showed interest) and Keukenhof (I want to see it but rest of fam don't care much - so if we do it, its a third day. It might actually be relaxing for them since they will just hang out, eat, and walk a bit, sit down while I go around). Then one day for just walking around Amsterdam, taking a 1 hour canal cruise, going to Bloemen floating market, dam square, palace and damrak (I'm assuming we can do these in 1 day - would appreciate a suggestion as to what I can club together if it is not possible to see all these in one day - I can tweak my itinerary a bit).

Antwerp - what is something that is a must visit there?

May I know where you stayed in Amsterdam - which area is safer? I read somewhere that Amsterdam East is not so good. What did you do on the first day after you arrived - trying to get an idea of what is realistically possible.

Just to give an idea of what my family could do in a day:
When we were in NYC - 
Day 1 - we reached in the evening at 7, had dinner at Bryant park, went up the Empire State building and called it a night.
Day 2 - We started only at 10, went to Times Square, hung out a bit, got on the hop on hop off, then went to China town, it was not what we expected so got on the next bus and went to the Met. Saw the crowd there, backed off, and went to Central Park. Had hot chocolate there after going up that tiny castle. Walked a bit then went to Columbus square on the bus and had something to eat. Finally an evening tour for an hour on the hop on hop off. It was my favorite part of the trip. Then we went to Rockefeller center, kids skated at the rink while we watched them, and we called it a night after getting street food in that area.
Day 3 - At 10am, we took the Hop on Hop off at Times Square, a short walk from where we stayed, went to the Brooklyn Bridge, then went to Wall street, saw the bull, had lunch there in a park in between all those tall buildings, caught the Staten island ferry to see the Statue (no tickets available then), finally the M&M store when we got off at Times Square, dinner at Bryant Park and Wax Museum.

I was dead tired since we were out for 12 hours but kids still had energy left and were upset that we called it a night. I think 10 hours outside is optimal for me. My kids' favorite thing in the short 2 day trip was the Staten island ferry both ways (And this is the reason why I am planning the Giethoorn trip and the canal cruises in both Amsterdam and Ghent/Bruges - they actually enjoy it and it will be a good way to see the city).

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