Amsterdam or Prague?
 

Trying to decide which city to go to. We'll be in Europe early June and have an extra few days to visit another city. Things we like to do:

- visit craft breweries and drink craft beer or any beer events
- nature stuff, like hiking and parks (nothing too crazy)
- visit museums possibly
- eating vegetarian/vegan food
- just walking around and taking it all in

I don't expect we'll be back in Europe for at least a few years after this trip.

Thanks!

It's a difficult choice, for what you are looking, both are good options, I would go for whichever is easier to get to from where you will be before.
Prague would be much cheaper to visit, so maybe that is also a factor for you and will help you decide.

Once you decided which one, I can recommend some craft breweries/pubs to visit ;)

Go to the city that is closer to you as you save traveling time. Both are worth a visit.

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Thanks all. Either we'll but in Bruges or Brussels. It looks to be better to be in Brussels and it's either a 90 minutes, $30 flight or a 2 hour train ride. I know dealing with the airport will make the flight longer, but I'd say that neither are particularly difficult.

Sounds like we can't make a bad decision and we'll just have to do the other city the next time we come over.

Go with Amsterdam then. Better museums but, in my opinion, beer is not as good as Prague :). Both are great walking cities.

The main reason is location. You're thinking of just this trip, but if you go back in a few years you may want to try Prague and combine with other locations nearby. Plus, Brussels to Amsterdam gives you the option of stopping for a day or half day somewhere like The Hague or Delft right along the way if you want.

I'd guess that vegan/vegetarian food would be easier in the Netherlands. Also, more English is spoken, so it's easy to ask and get accurate answers.

Yep, renting a car and driving Brussels-Amsterdam with some stops on the way can be a nice option.

You can also get off the train to see stuff, although this isn't practical for small villages or rural attractions.

There are some pretty seaside villages near the border, for example Damme.

Yes that is also possible, if you have no luggage with you ^

But be aware that one-way rentals between countries are prohibitively expensive. I'd take the train. You get to see the countryside, have a relaxed, comfortable trip, and get to the city center at least as fast as you would if you flew.

You might pay 200€ instead of 100€ for a long weekend rental, I would hardly call it prohibitively expensive, especially considering the train is also costing money.

I should have gotten prices before posting. I've just confirmed that the one-way fee can be modest between Belgium and the Netherlands - just eighty-some dollars with Avis.

If you don't want to rent a car, the Netherlands is easy by train. Trains are frequent, distances are short, most stations have luggage lockers (all the main stations do), and there's even a fairly affordable way to book a combined train & taxi ticket.

I've been to lots of places there without ever renting a car. Even rural places are often reachable by bus, but of course that won't work well if time is short. Still, Dordrecht, Den Haag, Delft, Leiden, etc., are all worth visiting and easily workable by train between Brussels and Amsterdam. There are easy day trips from Amsterdam, too, but honestly I think there's plenty in Amsterdam to occupy a few days (but then, I'm big on museums).

I'm usually a big cheerleader for the train on this route, but would consider a car at that price.