Sunday, October 13, 2019

Tips for traveling to Holland and Belgium

I travelled to Holland and Belgium a few years ago and was recently asked for some tips. Below are the things I did to keep a 10 night trip (April)  to about $1700 CDN. including flights, trains and hotels.
1. Watched for sale prices on KLM.com (sign up for their offers) as they will offer the international flight to Amsterdam and a train to Brussels (instead of 2 flights), for a slightly lower price.
2. Stay in Belgium first as you will return out of Amsterdam.  I stayed at the Novotel hotel near the train station in Belgium as I knew I would be using the train station a lot. Also its only a 15 minute walk to the town center and a nice walk with lots to see.  The hotel was clean, let me check in early and had lots of places for breakfast including the food court in the station.
3. I learned from the Rick Steve's book on Amsterdam and Brussels & Bruges that it is cheaper to book station to station train tickets in both Belgium and Holland vs. a train pass and it was correct as it only cost $5 euro each way to Namur and Ghent.
4. Do day trips out of Brussels and Amsterdam.  I went to Namur by train (about an hour each way) and its a nice town with a castle you can walk up to (nice cafĂ© at the top). It was market day which offered some great fruit/veggies and baked goods. The river and town are scenic and historic.
I also went to Ghent (again an hour each way) and it was my favourite. I visited the Bell tower - one of the easier towers to ascent as their is an elevator for part of the way up and great views from the top.  Did a river boat cruise and walked around visiting galleries, etc.
I went to Bruges and stayed two-nights at a B&B, that I booked on Booking.com.   I like Booking.com as the reviews are trust-worthy as you have to have stayed at the hotel in order to review it.  I only go with properties with an 8 out of 10 or higher as the few times I did a lower score, the reviewers were right and the properties weren't good.
Bruges offers an inexpensive museum pass that is worth it.  I visited all of the museums, Bell tower ( a tougher walk up to the top - you almost have to crawl the last steps on the way up/down as its tiny.  I also visited a Brewery for a tour.  I liked this town but not as much as Ghent.
5. Stay in Brussels for a few days - there is a lot to see (the Cathedral, museums, town square/center etc).  Chocolate and waffles are sold everywhere.  I enjoyed the food and especially the various beers.
6. Take the train back to Amsterdam  - its only over an hour but I did it from Bruges (had to change in Brussels) so it was closer to 2 hours.  I stayed at Hotel Fita near the museum square.  I am going back to Amsterdam this spring but they are fully booked.
7.  Top places to visit in Amsterdam - the Rijksmuseum, Jewish Museum - it includes the museum. synagogue and an old theatre where the Nazi's held jews during world war 2. I did the tulip gardens and walked around. Note Amsterdam is very expensive for lodging so a B&B is a must. 8. Take the local trains to see other towns including Delf, the Hague, Rotterdam (all museums are free entry on Wednesdays). 9. How long should you stay - that depends on what you want to see - I should have stayed 3 nights instead of two in Brussels, and 3 was enough for Amsterdam, (unless you are going to do several short trips to other towns. 10.  Keukenhof Gardens is a must in April/May. If you stay near museum square, take the tram back to the airport and you can buy the bus ticket and entry on the bus. Its crowded first thing in the morning but on the way back the buses and lines are pretty empty.
11.  Pre-book the tickets for the trains online as you will get deals by pre-booking.  The trains in both Holland and Belgium were efficient, on time and had room for luggage.  I found the train staff all spoke English and were very helpful.
12. If the museum you want to see is really popular, pre-book on line (i.e. the Rijksmuseum and Anne Frank house require timed tickets). I didn't do it for the museum as I saw there was no line one afternoon and just walked in.
13.  Going in April/early May is a bit off-season so I got better deals for flights, hotels and trains.  Also nothing was really crowded and the weather cooperated with 12 to 15 degrees celcius with sun and some showers.
I then took the flight back from Amsterdam.
Hope this helps
Marcia

No comments:

Post a Comment

Beware - RCL USD to CDN$ exchange is bad and you can not book flights in USD on a CDN$ booking

 I just booked my flights for an upcoming cruise on Harmony of the Seas transatlantic.  After checking several websites (airlines, Expedia, ...