Driving from Amsterdam to Brugge
 

On Sunday January 18, I am doing the 3 hour bus and boat tour of Amsterdam, (9:30 to 12:30) then driving to Brugge. I have the rest of the day to get there, would appreciate any places to see or go out of my way for.

I'll be at the Crown Plaza Amsterdam by the Main Station, then the Crown Plaza in Brugge.

How much time are you going to spend in Bruges?

I lived in Bruges for 25+ years, btw :)

36 hours is all I have. Wish it could be more. :(

We lived near Amsterdam and drove to Brugge. We stopped in Belgium along the way and had a marvelous meal at a tavern type place. Wish I could remember the name of the little town or the tavern.

Food in BE is 10x better than NL. Bear that in mind on your trip!

PS try the Belgian chicken soup called "waterzooi" it is wonderful.

Before you go, be sure to rent "In Brugge" a wonderful, if somewhat dark, movie set in Brugge. It gives a only slightly warped impression of what the city is all about - wonderful in small doses but quickly overpowering in a "twee" sort of way. You'll either love it or hate it.

You could drive from Amsterdam to Den Haag and Rotterdam and after that going south to Breda/Antwerpen/Brugge.

If you are going to Den Haag(The Hague), i could recommend a short walk thru the Binnenhof, that's where the Houses of Parliament and government offices are.

Rotterdam is famous about it's harbor, locate mostly outside of the city.
Big tourist attractions are the Euromast, Erasmusbrug and the Kubuswoningen.
The Euromast gives you a view over the city, just like this picture on flickr.

If you want to go shopping, I recommend the Lijnbaan and Koopgoot, both near the Coolsingel.

If you have questions about something in The Netherlands, feel free to PM me!

Wouldn't the OP spend half their time stuck in traffic doing that - and the other half looking for somewhere to park?

I don't live in the Netherlands - but spend a lot of time there, and know what the traffic is like. I wouldn't recommend driving into any major towns.

In fact if I were in the OP's shoes I wouldn't bother with a car at all but would do the trip by train. Much easier to get into Amsterdam that way. Much easier to get out of Amsterdam. Much easier to stop off in places like Den Haag on the way. And probably much quicker.

Aviatrix, on Sundays it isn't so busy on the Dutch roads. Also, parking isn't that hard in Rotterdam.

If you look at every single FT request for driving advice, there is always a post that says "Don't drive!". It's not helpful. I am very glad someone clarified Sunday traffic might not be awful.

As to the advice to arrive in Amsterdam by train, I wasn't aware this was an option from New York. Sounds exciting, but I'm going to pass.

HMV, thank you for your kind offer, I'll drop you a PM. I mentioned I have the entire rest of the day on Sunday, so the walk in Den Haag sounds great!

What exactly are your interests?
Let me know and I will tell you some things to visit in Bruges. Also, feel free to PM me.

hmv, my apologies, I failed to spot the reference to Sunday. You're right, Sunday traffic isn't all that bad - though not as good as it was before shops started opening on Sunday afternoons.

So you're going to drive from New York??!! :confused:

If you're arriving at AMS by air then you can hop on a train at the airport and be in the centre of town in less time than it would take you to pick up your rental car. And in the centre of Amsterdam a car is a hindrance, not a help... especially when staying at a hotel which has all of 45 parking spaces for 270 rooms.

If you want to drive to Brugge I would recommend collecting the car from the airport after your canal cruise. The airport is south of Amsterdam (i.e. in the right direction for both Den Haag and Brugge). Not collecting your car until after your visit to Amsterdam would make things a lot easier.

I you want a leisurely day, we had a good time driving sort of the back way along the coast, by turning west after Rotterdam. We drove past the massive dikes on the ocean, and from there found our way to Middelburg, a charming little town, and then on south - discovered that part of our route (from Vlissingen to Breskens) was by ferry - and then on to Brugge.

The ferry has been replaced by a tunnel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Scheldt_Tunnel

I made the first part already, starting from your hotel to Den Haag(The Hague).

Car Route, you could take the recommended(shortest) but the "sightseeing" route is also very nice.
The address I have used in Den Haag is Fluwelen Burgwal 54, with a parking(2,50 per hour).

I've made a small walking tour: thru the Binnenhof and then to Noordeinde(the working palace of our queen) and back, along the Hofvijver with a very nice view on the Binnenhof-building.

It all looks magnificent!

Thank you for all your effort.