7 days unforgettable road trip to Belgium and the Netherlands

Posted on by Marta

Are you thinking about your next adventure? Are you already certain that you want to explore a little bit more of Europe? You want to experience the culture and habits of Belgium and the Netherlands? Well, I might have a few ideas about what you can do to explore the maximum number of places in the time you have.

Belgium is known as one of the centers of the European Union since it has many of the official buildings in Brussels. You might also know Belgium because of its chocolates and beers. But did you know that the world’s largest sand sculpture festival is hosted in Belgium (in the city of Ostende) or that it is the country with more comic bookmakers per square meter in the world?

The Netherlands on other hand is well known for its art, the canals, the windmills and the cheese, but maybe you would be surprised to know that dutch men are the tallest in the world or that it has the highest population density in Europe.

These two countries are in Northwestern Europe and together make up for 72 231 km2 of Europe and have more than 27 million people.

Overview

How to get there

The adventure begins with the choice of the city where you want to land. These countries have many airports thought their land from which you can pick. In Belgium, you can choose between 5 airports in different cities. Zaventem is the bigger one and is in Brussels. The other four are in Ostend, Charleroi, Liège and Antwerp.

On the Dutch side, you can pick between other 5 airports located in Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Kralendijk, Maastricht and Groningen.

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is from far the biggest of the 10. Another curiosity about this airport is that since the landing and departure runaways are on different sides of the highway so sometimes you can see huge planes crossing a bridge over it.

If you picked an airport near Brussels, you might have no problem at all to follow these suggestions in order. However, if you picked some other you might need to make little adjustments.

This itinerary was made considering that you rented a car but I’m sure that you can also adapt it to public transports such as trains since they are quite effective in these countries. In the Netherlands even are 100% powered by wind energy. Be also aware that parking in these two countries can be quite expensive specially in Amsterdam.

Day 1 – Brussels and Ghent

We landed at Charleroi airport, which is less than 1h from central Brussels. This city is the capital and the biggest city in Belgium. It is the center of the European Union and is rated as the seventh most important financial center in the world. This city is very diversified, having quite modern buildings side by side with more “traditional” ones.

After spending around 5 hours in the city we made our way to Ghent.

We chose Ghent to be our base because it is quite central since we wanted to go to Bruges and Antwerpen. Another reason for this choice was the fact that I’ve been previously to the city and loved it.

Ghent was in fact probably my favorite city of this trip, once again. You can get here driving or catching a train. It is located in less than an hour from Brussels.

This is a fairly old and picturesque city where medieval architecture remains intact. Considered by many a hidden gem of Belgium, the city center is compact so it’s easy to walk, which is the best way of seeing the city.

Day 2 – Bruges and Antwerpen

Our next day, we woke up early and made our way to Bruges. This city is 30min (by train) to 45min (by car) from Ghent and is known for its canals and handmade chocolates. Around the city, you can find amazing chocolate shops. We went into one, near the central square that had chocolates in the shape of quite realistic tools, which I found really creative.

The sun was shining the entire time that we spent in the city. However, just when we were about to leave the sky turned quite grey and a thunderstorm began. I went on summer so pay attention to the volatility of the weather in these two countries, you either can be lucky or have heavy rain, you’ll need to adapt.

From Bruges to Antwerpen is less than 1h30 either by car or train. Antwerpen is known by its port, central square, and Het Steen Castle. The latter two were in works, as were some other known buildings throughout both countries. So pay attention to that, because in the summertime you may not be able to visit some places that you wished.

At the end of the day we went back to Ghent for our last night in Belgium. From Antwerpen to Ghent you’ll spend around 50min by car or by train.

Day 3 – West Kappel, the Hague and Rotterdam

From Ghent (or Antwerpen if you rather stay there) we made our way north to the border. We needed to pick what route we wanted to take since we only knew that we wanted to end up in Rotterdam, where we would stay the night. Our options were either to spend the morning in the beautiful city of Breda or explore a bit of the Zeeland region. We opted for the later which provided us the opportunity to see for the first time the famous dams such as some of the Delta Works.

Our first stop was in Westkappele, a little seaside town in this province. Here it is supposed to be possible to notice that the sea is located higher than the town itself. The town is protected by a long dam that can be climbed. From the road, you can’t see the sea because of the dam and near the sea you can’t see the town for the same reason. However, on the top of the dam, you can see both and there you can try to see the sea level higher than the houses. I found this a bit hard to see because of the dam height.

To get to Westkapelle by train is a bit harder, taking almost 5h from Ghent and 4h from Antwerp. While by car you take around 1h20 from either of the cities. Therefore, you may want to skip this stop if you haven’t rented a car.

We kept going until we ended up in the Hague (after “following” the trucks until the Rotterdam port, the biggest of Europe).

We spent some time in the Hague walking around the streets and the squares, visiting the Binnehof, the Noordeinde Palace, and the Peace Palace. We also enjoyed a little while near the Pier.

From Antwerpen to the Hague is near 1h by train with a stop in Breda so you can opt for this choice instead of Westkapelle. Also, you may rather stop first in Rotterdam and after in the Hague.

At the end of the day, we went to Rotterdam, an amazing and multicultural city that quite liked. Our first stop was the Luchtsingel Bridge the famous yellow bridge that was made by crowdfunding. Then we went to Witte the Withstraat, a nice street with various restaurants, bars, and street art where we tried the famous and delicious Dutch croquette, known as Bitterballs.

Day 4 – Rotterdam and Amsterdam

The next morning we left for the central market and afterward we went to the famous cube houses in the city center where we’ve spent a while in that amazing, original, and calm “neighborhood”. These buildings were designed by the architect Piet Blom. You can visit at least one of the houses and you’ll feel a bit surprised because the houses have more spacious than they seem from outside.

Another super cool thing that you can do is actually stay in one of these houses! .

The time kept going and we made our way to Amsterdam. Here we’ve been to the flower market, the Bloemenmarkt. We’ve also wondered a bit in the bridges and streets.

In Amsterdam, we’ve opted to reserve our accommodation further away from the city since we were not planning to stay in Amsterdam for many days. However, after that, we conclude that picking the accommodation in the city center (or closer to it) would be easier because driving in Amsterdam is a bit hard (because of the bikes everywhere) and because the parking lots are really expensive in the city.

From Rotterdam to Amsterdam is 44min by train and around 1h by car.

Day 5 – Amsterdam

Today our principal plane was to see Van Gogh’s museum and Anne Frank’s museum. Between the two museums we also walked over the famous canals, we saw the Dam square, the Hagg and other famous landmarks of the city. You can enjoy a nice boat ride through the channels to explore the city in another perspective. You can even use one of these hop-on cruises to explore the city quicker! Another more alternative option is a tour through the red light district and coffee shops.

Day 6 – Afsluitdijk and Gronningen

Our 6th day was passed in the north part of the Netherlands. We woke up early and made our way to Afsluitdijk dam. This is the biggest dam in the Netherlands and separates de Wadden Sea (separated from the northern sea by a group of islands) and the  Lake IJssel. It has a length of 32km and various attractions such as the observation tower and Gates of Light (amazing if you are traveling at night).

Further north, and since we didn’t want to pass through the dam and just come back, we kept going until we reached Groningen. This university city quickly became one of my favorites from this trip.

This city has many artworks and sculptures through the city and its iconic port with its colorful houses make this city one of the loveliest of the trip.

By train you will spend 2h from Amsterdam to Groningen, however, you won’t go through the Afsluitdijk dam.

After the trip to Groningen we drove to the little town of Veldhoven where we spent the night in an old monastery. This was one of the most amazing hotels I’ve ever been but it’s a bit far from the city so you may want to pick a different type of hotel.

Day 7 – Utrecht and Eindhoven

On our last day we had to go back to Charleroi airport.

We started the day early and started the day in Utrecht. This city became, like Ghent, Rotterdam, and Groningen one of the favorites of the trip.

In Utrecht, you can find the biggest university in the Netherlands. Besides the university, you can also walk on the riverside, enjoying the colorful houses, explore the Cathedral and its wonderful courtyard, or even discover the roman wall, just below the city.

From Groningen to Utrecht you’ll spend around 2h either by car and by train. From Amsterdam, the trip is expected to take 30 min by train or 45 by car.

Our last stop before leaving the country, back to Belgium was in Eindhoven.

I didn’t enjoy this city like the previous ones even though there was quite nice street artworks.

From Utrecht driving to Eindhoven will take around 1h and using the train will probably take around 50min.

Other cities that you can add to your trip

  • Breda, the Netherlands – A city near the border that is an amazing choice for those of you that are not renting a car.
  • Zaandam, the Netherlands – If you are interested in experience the amazing windmill landscape (I wasn’t aware of the existence of this place because I would love to add it to this list and is really close to Amsterdam).
  • Leeuwarden, the Netherlands – Between the Afsluitdijk and Groningen. It is probably a better choice for people with a car.
  • Maastricht, the Netherlands – This city is really close to the Belgium border and to the city of Liege but maybe a bit far from the rest of the route.
  • Liège, Belgium – Closer to Maastricht so you can go to both in one day.
  • Dinant, Belgium – An amazing riverside town, also a bit further away from the rest of the route.

Share in the comments your experiences and any advise about traveling in these two countries.

In case you are wondering, all these pictures were taking with the following equipment:

Pin for later

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Here you have some other blog posts that you may like:

The Sacred Valley of the Incas: Ollantaytambo, Moray & More

A short way from Cusco you’ll find what is known as the Sacred Valley. When driving through this region, you’ll see beautiful snow-capped mountains, inca terraces, and ancient ruins – that some argue even more impressive than Machu Picchu. Typically, the Sacred Valley is just a stop on the way to Machu Picchu, but it…

Marta's avatar by Marta

Leave a comment