pfyffer

My husband and I are taking our daughter and her boyfriend to the Netherlands and Belgium to celebrate their graduation from college. We値l be departing from Charlotte, NC in early September. I致e read a lot of the posts and feel good about the itinerary, but always welcome suggestions. I知 planning on two nights in Bruges, two nights in Ghent, a half-day in Antwerp and five nights in Haarlem, sharing time with Amsterdam and a day trip to the Hague/Delft (all via train). I知 curious if there are any advantages to arriving in AMS flying out of BRU vs the other way around? (I知 thinking about the flow of the trip and ease of arrival/departure via train to/from the airport.)

J62

While BRU and AMS aren't that far apart and you easily backtrack to one or the other, I find it easier to fly into one and out of the other. That assumes all else is equal...

1. non-stop. vs connect. if they're both the same, then no advantage to round-trip vs multi city/open jaw...
2. cost. my last trip it was the same price regareless of roundtrip vs multi city/open jaw.

For BRU airport, there are frequent, direct trains from many places around Belgium right to the airport the morning of your flight, so no need to stay right near the airport or in Brussels. Ditto, or moreso for AMS and the Netherlands.

Anywhere from Rotterdam, to the Hague, to Leiden, or Haarlem, all have frequent, direct trains to AMS airport.

pfyffer

Thanks J62. I appreciate your helpful feedback.

michaelpianko

I flew into Amsterdam and departed from Brussels. It looks like it would be logistically more efficient to arrive in one of these airports and depart from the other. I stayed in Amsterdam, The Hague, Antwerp, and Brussels. The Hague and Amsterdam deserve more than just day trips. Antwerp has good museums. Yes both countries have a lot of train but see how to minimize the number of long day trips. Look at the map. Maybe staying in The Hague would be more time efficient than backtracking back to your hotel in Haarlem or Amsterdam and then taking another train back down past The Hague again on your way to Belgium. Harlem can easily be seen as a day trip in case you decide to stay in or closer to Amsterdam. I saw Ghent as a day trip.