Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, Paris Trip Planning

[max105]

My girlfriend and I are planning a trip from 4/25/09 - 5/4/09 to see Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges and Paris.

Itinerary (so far):
4/25/09 - Depart from San Francisco (SFO) to Amsterdam (AMS)
4/26/09 - Arrive in Amsterdam (AMS)
4/27/09 - Amsterdam sightseeing
4/28/09 - Amsterdam sightseeing
4/29/09 - Train from Amsterdam to Bruges (possibly take few hours layover to see Brussels)
4/30/09 - Bruges sightseeing
5/01/09 - Bruges sightseeing
5/02/09 - Train from Bruges to Paris (possibly take few hours layover to see Brussels)
5/03/09 - Paris sightseeing
5/04/09 - Depart from Paris (CDG) to San Francisco (SFO)

Prices:
Airfare (SFO to AMS, CDG to SFO) = $687 per person (KLM @ Orbitz, Expedia)
Hotel (Amsterdam) = $96/night x 3 = $288 = $144 per person (Eden Amsterdam Centre Hotel @ Hotels.com)
Train (Amsterdam to Bruges) = $107 per person (@ RailEurope.com)
Hotel (Bruges) = $136/night x 3 = $408 = $204 per person (Hans Memling Hotel Bruges @ Orbitz.com)
Train (Bruges to Paris) = $72 per person (@ RailEurope.com)
Hotel (Paris) = $129/night x 2 = $258 = $129 per person (New Hotel Saint Lazare @ Venere.com)
TOTAL = $1343

Questions:
1. How much time should we invest in seeing Brussels? Is a few hours of layover between cities enough?
2. How hard is it to buy train tickets at the station versus booking ahead?
3. Have we allocated the proper amount of time in each city?
4. Since we've both been to Paris before, we thought about replacing that with a Normandy/D-Day trip. How doable is this?
5. Are our prices fair? Any better ideas or deals to help us save money?

[Eagle]

max105, welcome to GFE!

Your proposed Itinerary looks fairly well organized, but I'd suggest a slightly different number of days in each city. The first thought that comes to mind is that not enough days have been allocated for Paris. Even though you've been there before, it's an important city with lots to see, but you've only allowed about a day and a half?

One other thing to mention is that the cities you're visiting are all relatively close, so you won't have to use a full travel day to get between them, especially if using the Thalys or other fast trains. You might enter all your rail trips into www.railsaver.com as it would be interesting to see what combination of rail passes and P-P tickets the site recommends?

To answer your numbered questions:

1.) I'd probably tend to focus on Bruges and just visit Brussels for a day trip. I'm sure the others will have some suggestions on that as well.

2.) I would definitely buy the train tickets at the station, rather than pre-booking as it's usually less expensive that way. I usually purchase my tickets a day or two before I'll be travelling. Note that some tickets will include compulsory reservations (this usually applies to the fast trains such as the TGV).

3.) As mentioned above, I'd probably try to add at least a bit of time in Paris.

4.) If you'd rather forego Paris this time, Normandy is certainly an option. However, keep in mind that the D-Day sites are quite "spread out" so it's difficult to get to the beaches unless you have a car or unless you take a tour. If you'd like to take a tour, I'd highly recommend www.battlebus.fr. They're a bit on the "pricey" side but they provide incredible full day tours! Two things to note if you'd like to consider this - first, it will be necessary to spend at least one night in Bayeux, as the tours depart from there promptly at 08:00 (you could also see the famous Tapestry while you're in Bayeux); second, it will be very important to make reservations as especially as even at that time of year, they could be booked up. Keep in mind that this year is the 65th Anniversary of the landings, so I'm sure people will be starting to trickle into the area in May to get ready for those, and lodgings will be at a premium.

For Normandy, you'll also have to allow some extra travel time to get to and from that area. You'll be travelling from Gare St. Lazare, so on the way back you'll have to allow enough time to get to Paris / CDG for your flight home. That should be a straightforward trip - train to Gare St. Lazare, Metro to possibly Chatelet les Halles and then RER to CDG.

5.) I'd have to do some checking to find out whether your prices are "fair". It would help to know where you got the amounts for Hotels? If you haven't checked already, you might want to have a look at a few Guidebooks as they usually have lots of listings in different price ranges. If you want to reduce the costs for lodgings slightly, you could consider Hostels.

I'm sure the others will be along shortly with some comments and suggestions.

Good luck with your planning!

[madamtrashheap]

I concur with Eagle on his points. And as you've already noted in your itinerary, your plan to spend a few hours in Brussels before heading to Brugge is a good one. You could take the 9am train from AMS and have a good portion of the day to see Brussels (depends exactly what you want to see precisely, but time for quite a bit) before taking the train to Brugge (these are very frequent throughout the day).

Your AMS hotel is in a good location - close to Leidseplein (trams, cafes, nightlife) and the Museum Area (Rijks, Van Gogh) as well as Vondelpark if you feel like feeding the ducks and watching the people in the day (wouldn't recommend it at night, however!). It used to be a Tulip Inn, not sure when it changed name, but is still fine. The Brugge hotel is also in a great location - right in the heart of town so close to everything and great for evening stolls along the canals. It's a bit of a hike from the train station to the centre of town (around 20-30mins depending on baggage/walking speed), but if the weather is fine then it's a nice walk. Both are fair prices for where they are located and what you're getting.