Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Belgium and the Netherlands
We are planning on a trip to Belgium and the Netherlands in October of this year. It will be our honeymoon but we're more interested in exploring a new country than relaxing together. I thought I would get more extensive feedback here than on TK since this is a semi-nontraditional honeymoon destination.
Right now the itinerary is as follows:
Brussels - 2 nights
Utrecht - 3 nights (using this as a base to go to Hoge Veluwe, a folk museum and the race mentioned below)
Amsterdam - 2 nights
Bruges - 2 nights
Return to Brussels for one night before flying home the next morning.
The itinerary is a bit wonky because we need to be in Utrecht a certain evening to attend a cyclocross race. FH is a big cycling enthusiast which is part of the reason we're making this trip. Aside from that does it look OK?
I have done a fair amount of research and looked at older threads here about these two countries. However, any additional information would be greatly appreciated.
I'm particularly interested in recommendations of things to see that are a bit off the beaten path, places to eat, and places to stay. We on a bit of a budget so opulent hotels and restaurants aren't in the cards for us! We have already booked the Hotel Mitland in Utrecht because of the race, but we are not locked in and are able to cancel that booking if necessary.
Any practical advise on getting around would also be helpful. We're planning on traveling by train for the most part and bus when necessary.
TIA!
Re: Belgium and the Netherlands
Blog Sale
<a href="http://s582.photobucket.com/albums/ss262/hzswanson/?action=view
We LOVE Bruges. I cannot recommend a place called Huis Koning enough. The woners are great and the wife is a trained chef. Everyday she would leave treats in the room that were fabulous. They also have bikes you can use instead of renting. We took a bike trim out to the next town over and it was just wonderful. Honestly, I would never stay in Brussels again but that is just our opinion. I would much rather stay in Bruges and take the train. I would highly recommend being in Bruges on a market day because it is not to be missed!
Also, is it possible to just leave 2 days later or whatever instead of being in Belgium, leaving and coming back? I am just trying to see if there might be a way for you to not waste time traveling?
You probably don't have time but Delft and Den Haag in The Netherlands was wonderful too.
All I can answer to is Amsterdam. We went there one week after we were married (10/10) for a mini-moon. I had a work meeting in Noordwijk and then we went to Amsterdam for a four days. We stayed at a B&B called West Violet. I booked it on booking.com. It is nice, conveniently located near the Anne Frank house. We had the large room on the bottom floor (with pictures of Marilyn Monroe). The other rooms including the kitchen are up a narrow flight of stairs. The breakfast part of the B&B is fix it yourself from a kitchen stocked with breakfast foods. The plus side is you can use the kitchen whenever you like. We had a big breakfast and packed sandwiches to take with us for the day. A couple of times we brought take out in from corner stores or the farmers market just down the street (on Saturday) to eat in the kitchen. The owner is very nice and accomodating. To see AMS I recommend the iAmsterdam card (includes admission to most popular museums plus unlimited transport on trams/buses for the specified duration and a canal trip.) The card does not cover Anne Frank house though. There is a lot to do in AMS. More than you can do in 2 days. DH was exhausted after our 4 days there. Hope you have better weather than we did - 40's and rainy.
I also recommend Deft and Den Haag but have not been to the other destinations you are planning.
DH and I went to Brussels and Bruges on our honeymoon. In Brussels we stayed at the Marriott which was fantastic and just a block and a half from the Grand Place (I know some American chain hotels can be expensive in Europe but the rates are significantly cheaper on the weekends when the hotels are not at full capacity due to the diplomats returning home). Another hotel I considered was the Welcome Hotel (it's boutique style, but each room is themed after a region of the world).
In Bruges we stayed at Hotel Patritius which was a cross between a bed and breakfast and hotel. It was charming and nicely redone (the building dates from the early 19th century).
I can't speak for Amsterdam, but there is almost hourly train service between Bruges and Brussels and takes just about an hour too.
Bruges is extremely near to Ypres, site of a major WWI battle so it might be a neat place to visit. I also recommend renting bikes in Bruge and biking to the village of Dame.
Enjoy, Belgium is a beautiful country!
Maui, November 2011
I totally fell in love with Amsterdam, so for me, I don't feel like 2 nights is enough. I was completely surprised and swept away by the city. It's so charming and romantic and diverse. I'd try to fly open jaw if you can and spend an extra night in Amsterdam rather than backtracking to Brussels.
We did Amsterdam for part of our honeymoon, and we had an amazing time. My piece of advice for HMs is to rent apartments rather than staying in hotels. We had complete privacy that way, better amenities for less money (free WiFi, full kitchen, etc.) and were able to experience the city from more of a "locals" perspective.
I've used both homeaway.com and Trip Advisor vacation rentals to rent apartments with good luck. This is the place we stayed in Amsterdam and I can't recommend it highly enough. Very nice and private, close to the tram, near a lot of good cafes and things, etc.
http://www.linnaeussuite.nl/index.php?lang=eng
We are going to Belgium this summer, so I can't speak from experience yet, but we've reserved an amazing looking apartment right in the city center of Brussels for only 90EUR/night. We found it on homeaway.
Not really off the beaten path, but if you're a little less reserved, go to a sex show in the RLD. It was a fun and interesting part of our trip - we felt we had to go since it was the HM and all. ;-)
Thanks for all the feedback!
The plane tickets are booked so that is one of the only big things that cannot be changed. We saved a significant amount of money by flying in and out of Brussels so it is worth the inconvenience for us.
We'll definitely check out Huis Koning, Linnaeussuite and some of the other hotels mentioned here.