Paris to Amsterdam by Rail: Brussels, Bruges and Ghent

1. Day 1: Arrive in Paris

   Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to your hotel, then an evening walk along the Seine

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Paris
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), about 35 km north of the centre, and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the drive to your hotel, about an hour depending on traffic. If you land early, the afternoon is yours: the Tuileries Garden, a café on a quiet square, or a nap. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week: how the trains work, what to pack in your day bag, and which mornings start early. Then we walk down to the Seine and cross to the Ile Saint-Louis as the lamps come on along the quays, which UNESCO lists with the river banks of central Paris. The welcome dinner is at a neighbourhood bistro nearby, a chance to meet the people you will share the trains and the tables with for the next week.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk along the Seine to the Ile Saint-Louis
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Land by about 3 pm to reach the briefing; the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary.

2. Day 2: The Louvre at opening, the Ile de la Cité and the Seine

   The Louvre and the Tuileries, then Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame, then the Seine by boat

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

   We are at the Louvre for its 9 am opening, with timed tickets, and walk straight to the busiest rooms first: the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace on its staircase and the Venus de Milo, before the tour groups arrive. Your guide then picks a quieter wing, the French paintings or the medieval moat under the palace, for the rest of the morning. We cross the Tuileries and walk along the river to a sit-down lunch on the Left Bank. In the early afternoon we go over to the Ile de la Cité for Sainte-Chapelle, consecrated in 1248, whose upper chapel is walled almost entirely in stained glass, best seen in daylight, then Notre-Dame, reopened in December 2024 after the fire. The late afternoon is free. At dusk we board a boat on the Seine for an hour on the river as the monuments are lit.

   Included

   • The Louvre at opening with your guide, on timed tickets
   • Sit-down lunch on the Left Bank
   • Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame on the Ile de la Cité
   • An hour on the Seine by boat at dusk

   Optional experiences

   • The Musée d'Orsay in the free afternoon (closed Mondays), ticket at cost

   Easier option: Leave the Louvre after the three headline rooms and rest at the hotel before Sainte-Chapelle.

   More active option: Walk the free afternoon from the Latin Quarter to the Luxembourg Garden with your guide's map.

   Free time: Late afternoon and dinner free

   Activity: About 10 km on foot over the day, much of it on museum floors.

3. Day 3: Montmartre early, Eurostar to Brussels, on to Bruges

   Montmartre, then Paris-Nord by Eurostar to Brussels-Midi, the Grand-Place, then by train to Bruges

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bruges
   Day 3 details

   Your bags leave the hotel by van after breakfast and next appear in your room in Bruges. We take the metro up to Montmartre before 9 am, when the steps below Sacré-Coeur are nearly empty and Place du Tertre has more painters than visitors, and walk down past the Montmartre vineyard. From Gare du Nord the Eurostar reaches Brussels-Midi in about 1 hour 25 minutes. Lunch is moules-frites at a sit-down table near the Grand-Place. The afternoon is Brussels on foot: through the Marolles, past the street art under the railway on Rue des Brigittines, up to the Grand-Place with its gilded guild houses (UNESCO, 1998), through the glass-roofed Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert and to the Manneken Pis. We finish at the Mont des Arts for the view over the lower town. At about 5:30 pm the intercity train from Brussels-Central takes an hour to Bruges, where your bags are waiting.

   Included

   • Montmartre with your guide: Sacré-Coeur, Place du Tertre and the vineyard
   • Eurostar from Paris-Nord to Brussels-Midi, seats reserved
   • Sit-down lunch in Brussels
   • Brussels on foot: the Marolles, the Grand-Place, the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, the Manneken Pis and the Mont des Arts
   • Intercity train from Brussels-Central to Bruges
   • Luggage sent ahead by van from Paris to Bruges

   Easier option: Take the funicular up to Sacré-Coeur instead of the steps, and sit out part of the Brussels walk in a café on the Grand-Place.

   Free time: Evening free in Bruges

   Activity: The longest day: about 12 km on foot with two trains between. You carry only a day bag.

   

4. Day 4: Bruges from the top of the Belfry

   The Belfry and the Markt, the Burg and City Hall, then the canals by boat

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

   We walk to the Markt for the Belfry's first timed slot of the day and climb its 366 narrow steps past the carillon to the top, for the view over the red roofs to the coast on a clear morning. The belfries of Belgium and France are listed together by UNESCO, and the whole historic centre of Bruges is on the list as well. A few minutes away on the Burg, City Hall's Gothic Hall has a vaulted wooden ceiling and murals of the city's history, and next door the Basilica of the Holy Blood keeps a relic brought back, by tradition, from the Crusades. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the Burg. Then we take a canal boat from the Rozenhoedkaai, the quay with the classic view back to the Belfry, and walk on through the Begijnhof, the quiet courtyard of white houses by the Minnewater. From mid-afternoon the town is yours.

   Included

   • The Belfry of Bruges on a timed ticket
   • The Gothic Hall of City Hall and the Basilica of the Holy Blood
   • Sit-down lunch in Bruges
   • A canal boat from the Rozenhoedkaai
   • The Begijnhof and the Minnewater

   Optional experiences

   • The Groeninge Museum of Flemish painting (closed Mondays), ticket at cost

   Easier option: Skip the Belfry climb and wait with a coffee on the Markt; the rest of the morning is flat.

   More active option: Cycle the canal path to the village of Damme in the free afternoon, about 7 km each way, bike hire at cost.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The Belfry is 366 steep, narrow steps with no lift.

   

5. Day 5: Ghent and the Ghent Altarpiece

   Bruges to Ghent by train and back

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bruges
   Day 5 details

   Ghent is a 25-minute train ride from Bruges, so there is no rush this morning. From Gent-Sint-Pieters station a short tram ride takes us into the old centre and to St Bavo's Cathedral, home of the Ghent Altarpiece, the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, finished by Jan van Eyck in 1432 from a design begun with his brother Hubert. We see it on a timed visit, with the restored panels close enough to read the faces. Next door the Belfry of Ghent, another of the UNESCO belfries, has a lift to the upper floors, and inside you can see the brass drum that plays the carillon's tunes on the hour. Lunch is waterzooi, Ghent's creamy stew, at a sit-down table. In the afternoon we walk the Graslei and Korenlei, the guild-house quays on the river Leie, and cross to the Gravensteen, the Counts' castle from 1180. The train back to Bruges is yours to pick.

   Included

   • Train from Bruges to Ghent and back
   • St Bavo's Cathedral and the Ghent Altarpiece on a timed visit
   • The Belfry of Ghent and its carillon
   • Sit-down lunch in Ghent
   • The Graslei and Korenlei, and the Gravensteen

   Optional experiences

   • A short boat trip on the Leie from the Graslei, ticket at cost

   Easier option: Skip the Gravensteen's ramparts and stairs and take an earlier train back to Bruges.

   More active option: Climb the Gravensteen's towers for the view over the rooftops, then walk to the Patershol quarter.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 8 km on foot. The Gravensteen has steep stairs and uneven floors.

   

6. Day 6: The Bruges windmills, then north to Amsterdam

   The Bruges ramparts, then by train to Brussels-Midi and by Eurostar to Amsterdam Centraal

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Amsterdam
   Day 6 details

   Before breakfast is cleared we walk out to the Kruisvest, the grassy ramparts on the east side of Bruges, where four windmills still stand on their mounds above the canal, quiet at this hour apart from cyclists heading to work. Then we pick up our cases for the train: about an hour to Brussels-Midi, then the Eurostar north through Antwerp and Rotterdam to Amsterdam Centraal in about 1 hour 50 minutes, with your guide handling tickets and platforms. We arrive in time for a late sit-down lunch near the station. In the afternoon we walk into the canal belt, the ring of 17th-century canals that UNESCO listed in 2010, past the narrow gabled houses of the Herengracht and Keizersgracht, then see it from the water on an hour-long canal boat. The evening is yours, in the Jordaan or along the canals.

   Included

   • Early walk to the windmills on the Bruges ramparts
   • Train from Bruges to Brussels-Midi and Eurostar to Amsterdam Centraal, seats reserved
   • Sit-down lunch in Amsterdam
   • Canal belt walk with your guide
   • An hour on the canals by boat

   Easier option: Skip the early windmill walk and meet the group at the hotel for the station.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: You lift your case onto two trains today; your guide helps.

   

7. Day 7: The Rijksmuseum, the Anne Frank House and a farewell dinner

   Museumplein and the Rijksmuseum, then the Jordaan and the Anne Frank House

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Amsterdam
   Day 7 details

   We are at the Rijksmuseum for its 9 am opening and go first to the Gallery of Honour, where Rembrandt's Night Watch hangs at the end of the hall and Vermeer's Milkmaid is a few rooms away, before the groups fill them. After a couple of hours your guide takes you through the Rijksmuseum's garden and back towards the centre for a sit-down lunch. The early afternoon is free: the Van Gogh Museum next door, a bike ride with a rental shop's map, or a slow walk through the Nine Streets. Later in the day we meet at the Prinsengracht for our timed visit to the Anne Frank House, the canal-side building where Anne Frank and her family hid from 1942 to 1944, now a museum of the secret annex and her diary. The last evening is a farewell dinner together at a Dutch restaurant in the Jordaan.

   Included

   • The Rijksmuseum at opening with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Amsterdam
   • The Anne Frank House on a timed ticket
   • Farewell dinner in the Jordaan

   Optional experiences

   • The Van Gogh Museum in the free afternoon, timed ticket at cost

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel in the free afternoon; the Anne Frank House is a short walk from the canal-belt hotels.

   More active option: Hire a bike for the free afternoon and ride out through the Vondelpark.

   Free time: Early afternoon free

   Activity: The Anne Frank House has steep, narrow stairs between floors.

8. Day 8: Depart Amsterdam

   Your hotel to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport or Amsterdam Centraal

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   The last morning is unhurried. Have breakfast, take a final walk along the canal outside your hotel, or go back to a market or museum you missed. If you are staying on in the Netherlands, your guide can point you to the trains for Haarlem, Utrecht or the Hague, and help you leave your bags at the hotel. For those flying home, a driver takes you from the hotel to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS), about 20 km and half an hour away, at a time set by your flight; the train from Amsterdam Centraal is just as quick if you would rather make your own way. Your guide checks everyone's departure plans the evening before, so nobody is left working out tickets alone. Book a flight leaving after about 11 am to keep the morning relaxed, or tell us and we can add a night in Amsterdam.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS)

   Free time: Morning free

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 11 am.

Wildlife and weather: Rain is possible in every month. April and May bring spring flowers and cool days, June to August long light and the biggest crowds, September and October softer light and fewer people. Some hotel rooms in these old centres lack air conditioning in a heatwave.

• Paris2 nights
• Bruges3 nights
• Amsterdam2 nights