Belgium and Holland in the Spring/Amsterdam Tips
The itinerary for 2026 has changed with less time in Brussels which is probably a good change. We arrived multiple days early into Amsterdam and then made our way to Brussels for the start of the cruise.
Pretour Day 1: Arrived at Schipol direct from the US on KLM. It took 45 minutes to clear passport control, baggage claim and customs. Faster than the last time. Since we were not starting the tour in AMS, we were on our own for transportation. We knew we were going to be using regional trains and public transportation in AMS so we preordered a regional train card (OVD) which we redeemed our voucher for right at baggage claim(you can also purchase train tickets and other cards from the kiosk in baggage claim.) The Amsterdam card is not valid for transport from the airport. We could have also used our credit card or Apple Pay to tap in/out of public transportation. If you use the train/metro/trams you need to tap in and out. Don't forget the tap out part. There are 8 trains per hour from Schipol to Amsterdam Central. The train platforms are located one level down from the main plaza at Schipol. Before heading down there are 36 inch high yellow poles between the stairs and escalators where you tap in. In the plaza area there is train ticket counter and well as an I Amsterdam store. The train take about 16 minutes.
We chose to stay at the Kimpton de Witt which is 5 minute stroll from the Central Station. It's clean, comfortable and convenient with courteous staff. We arrived at Schipol at 630 AM and by 815 we had checked in at the hotel, done a quick wardrobe change and were back at the train station. We headed to Haarlem which is a 15 train ride and a short walk to the city center. Trains run every 10 or 12 minutes. The trains are listed by their last stop, so going to Haarlem you take the train going to Zandvoort. On the way back, Central station is the terminal stop. By Lima is a great cafe for brunch or a snack. Saw the sites including the Fran Hals Museum and the Corrie ten Boom House(Anne Frank house is better.) It's a great city just to wander. Then back to AMS to crash.
Pretour Day 2: Full day of sightseeing. We used Mark Law from That Dam Guide and he's excellent. He met us at our hotel. We did both of his walking tours in Amsterdam and went to places we otherwise would have walked right by. Total time was 6 hours. We had originally planned to go to the Van Gogh Museum, but they have changed their policy regarding tour guides. In the evening we did a sunset canal cruise with Amsterdam Boat Adventures which left from the canal next to the HART museum. Advantage is that it is a small boat with 14 passenger(we only had 4), a captain/tour guide, heated seats and blankets(we were toasting warm despite the 48 degree temps) and the ability to go through the smaller canals. Tram back to the hotel. The trams are great. If you are going to the Van Gogh museum or the Anne Frank house, tickets should be purchased as soon as they are available on line for the date you wish to go.
Pretour Day 3: Packed, checked out and left the luggage at the hotel. General day of just wandering but we did have tickets to the Church in the Attic which was very interesting and they have a great audioguide. Mid afternoon we collected our luggage and headed to the Centraal station to take the Eurostar to Brussels. Eurostar recently bought Thalys so they are one company. Reservations are required. We chose Eurostar plus seats. You will need to arrive 20 minutes early. If you are using the Eurostar train to London then you need to arrive 40 minutes early and need to go through passport control. Typically the Eurostar trains leave from platform 15 which is on the water side of the station. Once on the platform there will be a monitor with a picture of a train. Your carriage number will be listed above a lettered loading zone which is the approximate location where your carriage will be when the train arrives. There are luggage racks in each carriage for larger items. These can fill up fast. There is a USB A port to recharge your device. Travel to time Brussels Midi(Zuid) is 2 hours with stops in Rotterdam and Antwerp. We met our Tauck transfer driver in front of the PRET which is located across from the large Belgium Rail Ticket area and the Chunnel Eurostar passport control area along the west side of the station. Travel time to the Hotel Amigo was about 10 minutes.
One note is that when using the Belgium trains is that the stops/destination are in Dutch and French.
Pretour Day 4: Brussels has great train connection. Easy day trips to Brugge, Ghent, Leuven, Antwerp, and even Lille France. If you can stay after your tour or come in several days early, I would suggest spending a night in Brugge. It is markedly less crowded before 10AM and after 3PM once the day trippers have left. The Brussels Centraal station is 10 minutes from the Hotel Amigo. We opted to go to Antwerp which is 40 minutes. There were things we wanted to see or spend more time that we didn't think we could do with the tour. This was a good choice. The Antwerp train station is masterpiece. It is a mile walk along the main shopping district to city center. We had time to spend 2hours in the Red Star Line, have a relaxing lunch at Elfde Gebod, and take a in depth tour of the Cathedral of our Lady(made through the cathedral website.). The Cathedral tour included the south tower(187 steps,)the area above the nave, the church with the Ruebens paintings. This was well worth the time. We were back in Brussels by 630PM.
Tour Day 1: Luggage pull at 10AM. Breakfast was included. Checkout 12 noon. Bus pickup at the hotel to go to the ship was 3PM. We had prebooked a tour with Christophe through With Locals and the tour was excellent. We started the tour a 9 AM and had enough time to grab lunch and wander a bit. As usual the ship and crew as well as the tour directors and cruise directors were all fantastic.
I will post the others days soon
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Food tips: Belgium beer tends to have a higher alcohol content. Mussels are awesome in Belgium. Flemish stew(Carbonnade flamande), pork knuckle, or stamppot are great choices for a dinner. Frites should be eaten with Belgium mayo not ketchup. The best fries in Amsterdam if you don't get enough in Belgium is at Vleminckx. Belgium waffles look like the standard waffle you see in the US and are typically eaten with powder sugar. Liege waffles have enough sugar already in them and are to be eaten plain. If you see a shop with liege waffles with toppings keep walking.
Tour Day 2; Tours of Brussels. Beginning in 2026 this has been changed for an extra day in the Netherlands.
Tour Day 3: Antwerp: We dock just 15 minute walk from the city center and a straight shot right down the street from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. We bused the 1/2 mile to start the walking tour. 9 am start. You will go into the Cathedral for a brief tour and you will see all three Rubens Paintings. Walk or bus back to ship for lunch. The beer crawl was fun. Great just to hang out with our new Tauck friends. We actually docked overnight in Antwerp do to a docking issue in Ghent. If we had wanted we could have gone into town in the evening.
Tour Day 4: We needed to bus in from Antwerp therefore the coach departure time was 8 to 830. Having been to Brugge before we went to Ghent. The Brugge tour group said that it was really crowded hence my previous recommendation to try to stay over night or at least past 3 PM when the crowds decrease. Ghent was great. We started at the STAM(Ghent Museum for a guided tour) then waked 3 blocks to grab a canal taxi for a short cruise and they drop us off in the center for a walking tour which include the Ghent Altarpiece which is spectacular and photos don't do it justice. We had free time to eat, shop and wonder. The water taxi took us back to the museum area where we had been previously for a short walk to the bus at three and then an hour back to Antwerp. We managed to miss rush hour.
Tour day 5: We sailed into Dordrecht where we dock immediately adjacent to town. It was a 15 walk to the bus to go to Kinderdijk. The bikers where on one bus and the walkers where on the other bus. The walking tour of the windmills does include a tour of one windmill and a canal cruise. We chose biking. The bike shop is 10 minute walk from the bus stop area(bathroom stop is included). The bike are not e bikes. Three speeds with hand breaks. We did tour the same windmill as the walkers but then had an easy 5 to 7 mile ride. It is mainly flat but you do need to ride up and over the canal bridges. You can stop and walk the bike over the bridges and stop for photos when ever you want. The ride is the better option if you can ride the bike. Lunch was on the ship. Then there was a choice. Either stay on the ship and cruise to Rotterdam or take a walking and canal cruise through Dordrecht which is picturesque and then bus the hour to Rotterdam. We did the latter. You are divided into groups of 14 and either walk first or canal cruise first. You can opted out of either and just meet the buses at the meeting point.
The Maurithius was a highlight. Bus leaves around 530 or 6 for the 40 minute drive which is highly dependent on traffic. This is a special event and a dressy event. You have a champagne reception with a private tour of the museum. Then dinner at the exclusive club next door. I would have felt undressed with anything less than a blazer. You will get back to the ship around 10 PM. Do not miss this event. If you are running low on energy, skip the walking tour of Dordrecht.
Tour day 6: Rotterdam or Delft. We went to Delft. Left around 9. Traffic can be a pain. The factory tour is great. The hands on art class on tile painting is even better. lunch was included. 45 minutes to shop in the factory store. Then the option to go back to Rotterdam(ship is docked very close to the Market hall and cube houses) arriving back around 2 or something new is to stay in Delft. Delft is worth seeing. We returned to the ship around 430.
Tour day 7: All about flowers. You will leave the boat dock in Schoonhoven. Departure time 8 AM. Hour ride to the gardens. The gardens are large. The gardens are crowded. The gardens are selfie heaven. But you will love it. Lunch is on your own but I think they gave us Euros(they gave us Euros everyday we had lunch on our own.) There are multiple places to grab something to eat and to sit for a while. Plenty of restrooms. We left around 230 or 3 and met the ship in Utrecht about an hour on the bus.
Tour day 8: We arrived in Amsterdam as the sun was coming up. This time we dock to the west of the Centraal station which I think is better than on the east. You have a clear shot up the western canal belt to Jordaan and the Nines. We opted for the country tour since we had done the museum and canal tour before. They do run shuttles to the area around the HART museum and Jewish quarter all afternoon or you can grab a tram back on your own. The country tour left at 730. 40 minute bus ride to the main tulip farm complex for a danish, coffee and an interesting and very educational presentation on tulip farming. Then off to one of the fields for a photo op. The we went to a nearby town to visit the vegetable museum which does not sound interesting but was fantastic. They even had reenactment of a dutch auction with audience participation. Lunch was included and we arrive back to the ship by 145 and had the afternoon free.
Tour Day 9: Time to go home or extend your stay. You will be given your connection and transportation information on day 6. They will tell you what time to have your luggage ready. Our flight was at 1230 so we had to have our luggage ready at 8 and our transportation was a 9.. For those staying in Amsterdam, their times were the same as ours.
Weather: For April we had great weather. Low of 40 in the morning with a couple of days with highs in the 60s. But it can be very variable from year to year, from day to day, and from hour to hour. 50 cloudy, wet and windy is very different than 50 sunny and calm. Layers and a rain jacket are needed. We had two days when the sun deck was used.
Ben - thanks so much for posting this. We, along with another couple, just booked this for April 2026 so we can go to Keukenof.
I am sending you a PM.
Any comments about your on-board experience? Food? Service? Regional specialties? Entertainment? Do you recall the name of the hotel manager? Thanks.
Excellent review Ben. We too have stayed at the Kimpton and liked it. We're doing the Hidden Waterways cruise next month so I took note of areas the two cruises overlap. We too are scheduled to dock west of central station though I've always been happy with the east side. And yes, mayo with fries for sure. I'm a total convert.
Food was fantastic. We did have some regional specialties during the social hour. Service was exceptional. Evening entertainment: Dutch trivia night-fun, 1920 party- an absolute blast, one evening classical music trio, and a really great singing and dance trio. Don't recall the managers name.
Great review Ben. That was a wonderful cruise,
We just recently returned from this trip and had a wonderful time! We did a few different excursions than Ben, they all were wonderful, and we had plenty of time to wander the ports on our own as well. If I were to do again, i would make sure to go in April, we did May. The flowers in the gardens were beautiful, but the fields had already been cut, so we didn't get to see the plentiful fields of flowers that we had hoped to see. The food, staff and accommodations onboard were fantastic, as well as the entertainment! The Maurithius was a definitely a highlight as mentioned! The weather was definitely cooler than we expected, and packed for, but overall a fantastic time!