Benelux: Amsterdam, Bruges, Ghent and Brussels

1. Day 1: Arrive in Amsterdam

   Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to your hotel near the canal ring, then a canal-side walk

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Amsterdam
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS), about 20 km south-west of the centre. A driver meets you in arrivals and takes you to the hotel, about 30 minutes by road. Plan to land by about 2 pm so you are settled before the walk; if you arrive early, leave your bags at the hotel and head out. At about 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week: how the train day works, whether your dates fall in Keukenhof's season, and which mornings start early and why. Then we walk out along the canals while the light is low: the Herengracht and its merchants' houses with hoist beams under the gables, the Brouwersgracht, and the small bridges of the Jordaan, keeping off the red bike lanes. We end at a welcome dinner of Dutch dishes near the water. Tomorrow starts at the Rijksmuseum, so tonight is for sleeping off the flight.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening canal-side walk through the canal ring and the Jordaan
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the late-afternoon briefing

   Activity: The walk is about 3 km and level.

   

2. Day 2: Amsterdam: the Rijksmuseum and the canal ring

   Museumplein to the Nine Streets and the Jordaan, then by boat on the canals

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Amsterdam
   Day 2 details

   We are at the Rijksmuseum when it opens at 9 am, on a timed ticket, and go straight to the Gallery of Honour while it is still quiet: Rembrandt's Night Watch, Vermeer's small interiors and the portraits of the merchants who paid for the canals. Afterwards we walk north through the canal ring, listed by UNESCO in 2010, along the Prinsengracht and into the Nine Streets, the shops and cafés on the cross-streets between the three main canals. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the Jordaan. In the early afternoon we board a canal boat for an hour on the water, under the bridges you crossed on foot last night and out to the wide IJ behind Centraal Station. The rest of the day is yours. If you want to visit the Anne Frank House, we buy your timed ticket as soon as the museum releases them, about six weeks ahead, and it is in the price.

   Included

   • Rijksmuseum, timed entry at opening, with your guide
   • Walk through the canal ring and the Nine Streets
   • Sit-down lunch in the Jordaan
   • One-hour canal boat
   • Anne Frank House, individual timed ticket where available
   • Public transport tickets for the day

   Easier option: Take the tram from the Rijksmuseum to the Jordaan instead of walking, and rest at the hotel after the boat.

   More active option: In the free afternoon, take the free ferry behind Centraal Station across the IJ to Amsterdam-Noord and walk the waterfront.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free after the boat

   Activity: About 7 km on foot, mostly level. Anne Frank House tickets sell out fast; if we cannot get your slot we refund its cost.

3. Day 3: Keukenhof in spring, Zaanse Schans the rest of the year

   Amsterdam to Keukenhof and Haarlem (late March to mid-May), or to Zaanse Schans and Edam (the rest of the season)

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Amsterdam
   Day 3 details

   Today depends on your dates, and both versions use our own vehicle and driver. From late March to mid-May we drive about 45 minutes south-west to Keukenhof, near Lisse, and walk in as the gates open at 8 am, on timed tickets, ahead of the coaches. You have about three hours among some seven million tulips, hyacinths and daffodils, with the bulb fields in flower around the park in a good year. Then it is about 20 minutes to Haarlem for a sit-down lunch near the Grote Markt and its great church of St Bavo. Outside tulip season we go north instead, about 30 minutes to Zaanse Schans, where working windmills stand on the dyke along the Zaan; we go inside one and see the Zaans Museum. Lunch is in Edam, a small harbour town whose 18th-century cheese weighing house still stands. Either way you are back in Amsterdam by mid-afternoon with the rest of the day free.

   Included

   • In season: Keukenhof, timed entry at the 8 am opening, and lunch in Haarlem
   • Out of season: Zaanse Schans with a windmill visit and the Zaans Museum, and lunch in Edam
   • Our own vehicle and driver for the day

   Optional experiences

   • Bike hire at the Keukenhof gate for an hour among the bulb fields (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Stay on the benches by Keukenhof's ponds, or in Edam's harbour café, while the others walk on.

   More active option: Ride the bulb-field lanes around Keukenhof on a hired bike for an hour before lunch.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Amsterdam

   Activity: About 5 to 6 km on level paths. Keukenhof's season dates change a little each year; we confirm which version your departure gets when you book.

4. Day 4: By train to Bruges

   Amsterdam to Antwerp by high-speed train, then on to Bruges; the Markt, the Burg and the Rozenhoedkaai

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bruges
   Day 4 details

   After breakfast our driver takes the group and the bags to Amsterdam Centraal, and a reserved high-speed train runs south past Rotterdam and over the border to Antwerp. We change at Antwerp-Centraal, a domed station hall finished in 1905, for the intercity to Bruges, about an hour and a half more across the Flemish flatlands by way of Ghent. A van meets us at Bruges station for the bags, and lunch is a sit-down meal of Flemish dishes in the centre. In the afternoon we walk the old town, listed by UNESCO in 2000: the Markt under the belfry, then the Burg, where the Gothic City Hall, begun in 1376, holds a hall of painted vaults and murals of the city's history. Next door, in the Basilica of the Holy Blood, a relic is shown to visitors at set times each day. We finish at the Rozenhoedkaai, the bend of canal you have seen in photographs. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Hotel to station transfer in Amsterdam
   • Reserved train seats from Amsterdam to Antwerp and Antwerp to Bruges
   • Station to hotel transfer in Bruges
   • Sit-down lunch in Bruges
   • Old-town walk with your guide: the Markt, the Burg and the Rozenhoedkaai
   • Gothic Hall of Bruges City Hall
   • Basilica of the Holy Blood

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel after lunch and join the walk at the Burg, a few minutes away.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About three hours on two trains with one change, and about 4 km on cobbles in the afternoon.

   

5. Day 5: Bruges early, then yours

   The Begijnhof and the Minnewater, the Belfry and the canals, then the ramparts and the windmills

   • By boat
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Bruges
   Day 5 details

   Bruges fills with day visitors from about 10 am, so we start early. At about 8:30 we walk into the Begijnhof, the walled court of white houses where the beguines lived and Benedictine nuns live now, and along the Minnewater lake while it is still quiet. Then we climb the Belfry as it opens, on timed tickets: 366 steps past the carillon to a view over the roofs, as far as the coast on a clear day. Then we take a canal boat for about half an hour under the low bridges. The afternoon is free, with lunch your choice. Your tickets to the Groeninge Museum, for Jan van Eyck's Madonna with Canon van der Paele, and to St John's Hospital and its Memling paintings are included, to use when you like. In the late afternoon, if you want, walk with your guide along the eastern ramparts to the windmills on the Kruisvest, about 3 km, as the light goes.

   Included

   • The Begijnhof and the Minnewater with your guide
   • Belfry of Bruges, timed entry at opening
   • Canal boat
   • Groeninge Museum and St John's Hospital entries
   • Late-afternoon ramparts walk to the windmills with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • Bike hire for the canal path to Damme (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Skip the Belfry climb and have a coffee on the Markt while the others go up.

   More active option: Cycle about 7 km along the poplar-lined canal to Damme, a village of brick houses, in the free afternoon.

   Free time: Lunch and afternoon free; evening free

   Activity: About 8 km on foot, with the Belfry's narrow steps. The Groeninge Museum and St John's Hospital close on Mondays; small-group departures start on a Wednesday or a Friday, so day 5 never falls on a Monday.

   

6. Day 6: Ghent and the Mystic Lamb, on to Brussels

   Bruges to Ghent by our vehicle, then on to Brussels and the Grand-Place

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Brussels
   Day 6 details

   Our own vehicle and driver collect the group and the bags at the hotel after breakfast, so nothing goes into lockers today. It is about 45 minutes to Ghent, and we walk into St Bavo's Cathedral as the visitor centre opens at 10 am to see the Ghent Altarpiece, the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, finished by Jan van Eyck in 1432. Panels have been stolen several times over the centuries, and one, the Just Judges, has been missing since 1934. Then the Gravensteen, the 12th-century Castle of the Counts, and a walk along the Graslei and the Korenlei, where guildhouses face each other across the river Leie. Lunch is a sit-down meal with Ghent waterzooi, the city's creamy stew. In the mid-afternoon it is about 50 minutes on to Brussels. After checking in we walk to the Grand-Place, listed by UNESCO in 1998, in the early evening when the day groups have gone and the gilded guildhalls catch the last light. Dinner is your choice.

   Included

   • Our own vehicle and driver from Bruges to Ghent and Brussels, with the bags
   • St Bavo's Cathedral and the Ghent Altarpiece, timed entry
   • The Gravensteen
   • Graslei and Korenlei with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Ghent
   • Early-evening walk to the Grand-Place

   Easier option: Skip the Gravensteen's stairs to the battlements and wait at a café on the Graslei.

   More active option: Climb to the Gravensteen's battlements for the view over the roofs and the three towers.

   Free time: Evening free in Brussels

   Activity: About 6 km on foot. The Ghent Altarpiece visitor centre opens at 10 am Monday to Saturday and at 1 pm on Sundays. Small-group departures never reach Ghent on a Sunday; on a private trip that does, we see the Gravensteen and the Graslei first, have lunch, see the altarpiece at 1 pm and reach Brussels about an hour later.

7. Day 7: Brussels and Waterloo

   The Mont des Arts and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, then Waterloo by our vehicle

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Brussels
   Day 7 details

   We start on the Mont des Arts for the view down over the old town to the Town Hall spire, then go into the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium as they open at 10 am. The Old Masters hold Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Census at Bethlehem, and next door the Magritte Museum has more than 200 works by René Magritte. We walk down through the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, glass-roofed shopping arcades opened in 1847, past the Manneken Pis to a sit-down lunch. In the early afternoon our own vehicle and driver take us about 30 minutes south to Waterloo, where Napoleon was defeated on 18 June 1815. The underground Memorial 1815 museum explains the battle, and the Lion's Mound, 226 steps up, looks over the fields where it was fought. We are back by about 5:30 pm, with time to rest, and in the evening we meet for a farewell dinner in the centre.

   Included

   • Mont des Arts with your guide
   • Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium: the Old Masters and the Magritte Museum
   • Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert and the Manneken Pis
   • Sit-down lunch in the centre
   • Waterloo: the Memorial 1815 and the Lion's Mound
   • Farewell dinner

   Optional experiences

   • Antwerp instead of Waterloo: a train of about 40 minutes for the cathedral's Rubens altarpieces and the KMSKA museum, on your own with tickets arranged by your guide (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Skip the Lion's Mound steps and stay in the Memorial 1815 museum and café.

   Free time: Late afternoon free before the farewell dinner

   Activity: About 6 km on foot plus the 226 steps of the Lion's Mound. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts close on Mondays; small-group departures start on a Wednesday or a Friday, so day 7 is never a Monday.

8. Day 8: The European Quarter and home

   The European Quarter, then Brussels Airport or Brussels-Midi station

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   On the last morning we take the metro with your guide to the European Quarter, where the European Union does much of its daily work. We pass the Berlaymont, the cross-shaped headquarters of the European Commission, and walk on to the European Parliament, whose visitor centre, the Parlamentarium, explains how the union works and is free to enter. The arches of the Parc du Cinquantenaire, laid out for Belgium's 50th anniversary in 1880, are a few minutes further if there is time. We are back at the hotel by late morning to collect the bags. Our driver then takes you to Brussels Airport (BRU) at Zaventem, about 15 km and 25 minutes by road, at a time set by your flight, or to Brussels-Midi for a train to Paris, London or Amsterdam. Your guide checks that everyone's transfer is arranged before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 2 pm, or a train from Brussels-Midi after about 1 pm (the Eurostar to Paris takes about 1 hour 25 minutes, to London about 2 hours), to join the morning walk.

   Included

   • Morning walk through the European Quarter with your guide: the Berlaymont, the European Parliament and the Parlamentarium
   • Drop-off at Brussels Airport (BRU) or Brussels-Midi station

   Easier option: For a morning flight we go straight from the hotel to the airport.

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 2 pm, or a train from Brussels-Midi after about 1 pm, to join the morning walk. The Parlamentarium opens at 1 pm on Mondays and at 10 am at weekends; on a weekend morning we go to the Cinquantenaire first and reach the Parlamentarium as it opens, and on a Monday (private trips only) we see the Parliament from the Esplanade instead of going inside. If you want more time in Belgium, we can add hotel nights.

   

Wildlife and weather: The sea keeps the weather mild and changeable: summer highs of about 20 to 23 °C, spring and autumn around 12 to 17 °C, and rain possible on any day. April and early May bring Keukenhof's tulips and the busiest weeks in Amsterdam and Bruges, which is why we go early. June and September are the calmest balance of long evenings and smaller crowds. From mid-May day 3 goes to Zaanse Schans and Edam instead of Keukenhof.

• Amsterdam3 nights
• Bruges2 nights
• Brussels2 nights