I agree about avoiding Queens Day if possible. My Best of Holland tour was there that day (Apr 30) and it's the whole country, not just Amsterdam, that goes a little nuts-- we couldn't really enjoy the town of Delft because it was so crowded and noisy from the party. Also, a few days later, May 4 is Remembrance Day. At night they have a few moments of silence to honor victims of the Nazis. This doesn't have the same drunken atmosphere, but some of the trams that run through Dam Square weren't running that afternoon because of it.

We did this tour in July 2005. It was a good time. My favorite optional was given on arrival day: a tour of Jewish Amsterdam that included stop at Jewish Synagogue and district, a stop at a theatre where unwitting people were often rounded up and sent to camps, a short museum stop with an exhibit showing things like the yellow star Jewish people were forced to wear, and the visit at the Anne Frank house. It was really a good way to tie this sad history together. If we had done this on our own, we probably would have just done the Anne Frank House. We would have missed this optional if we had not arrived a day early to do some sightingseeing on our own. We saw the optional advertised on the board---unfortunately for some folks this optional was given before they arrived.

In hindsight, we could have used more free time in Brugge. We did a walking tour, carriage ride, and boat ride---a bit of redundancy.

There have been posts about this tour on the board--search the name of the tour, or "Benelux".

Enjoy.

We're taking this tour next month and thank MG for a great overview. I would love to hear others' opinions on the Optionals - good and bad. All that delicious chocolate sounds so tempting, I better bring lots of migraine meds (just in case)!

Is there a separate forum somewhere for discussions on optionals? I see others have mentioned that they posted on optionals they took, but I'm not finding them. Am I missing something? (I've only been a member since 2001.....)

Thanks!

Hi Berwoman

I did not end up taking this tour but instead Best of Holland, a couple of extra nights in Amsterdam and then 3 nights each (independently) in Brugge and Brussels.

I personally would avoid any optional that takes you outside of Brugge. The town is gorgeous and there is so much to do within it that unless you are really keen on an optional I would spend the day exploring Brugge. The climb to the top of the Belfry (366 steps) if you can manage it is not to be missed. Do some research and you will be A okay!

P.S. I read somewhere recently that chocolate with a high cocoa content (dark bitter chocolate) can help rather than cause a migrane. Galler (the Royal chocolate) in my opinion was the best! I brought home about 2 kilos of it for gifts and everyone wanted more!

Brussels I did not like much and you will be much happier with the group and doing the optionals offered.

Amsterdam is fabulous!

Enjoy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: michelle123,

On Best of Holland the Rotterdam optional is the same. Visiting Delfshaven (very pretty), a trip to the top of the Euromast (not for the faint hearted!) and dinner was a great optional. The food was very good.

Just looked at the optionals. If the optional that takes you to the Menin Gate for the Last Post Ceremony (at 8.00pm every night) is offered I would take that also. I did this from Brugge and found the whole experience (also visiting a commonwealth war cemetary) very moving.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: michelle123,

Thanks, Michelle and Newsgirl. Your posts were very helpful!