Seattle friend here. Heading to London, Bruges, Brussels and Amsterdam for the hell of it on April 1st. Bringing a baby (fuck off in advance, she's cool). Up for anything, love beer, food, history. Your advice will be appreciated. Also, happy to give any Seattle advice.
How long will you be staying where?
If your driving around be extremely mindful of your speed in the Netherlands. They issue a ticket for 5KM over the limit and it's all electronically sent to the rental agency.
Personally clocked in at 480€ fines in 2 days of driving
Rotterdam is an architectural mess, very pleasant on sunny days tho
Grab a beer at Hannekes Boom (AMS) if the weather is great
>>1090806
6 days London, 2 days Bruges, 2 days Brussels, 3 days Amsterdam. We've been before (Bruges is the only new city) so we are looking for the "best" tourist spots but really looking for local/real great spots. Again, thanks for any good advice.
>>1090807
Trains only but thank you for the others information.
>>1090803
OP here, adding that budget is not an issue if that helps.
Delirium Cafe?
>>1090864
Fuck that tourist trap, go to La Porte Noire instead, or Moeder Lambic or the Cantillon Brewery - the latter two are the best places to drink geuze anywhere, and La Porte Noire is a nice little atmospheric cellar bar with an excellent beer selection. Or go full beer geek and hit up De Verzekering Tegen De Grote Dorst in Eizeringen. Try 't Brugs Beertje in Brugge.
City with the best beer bars is Antwerp though, but Antwerp itself will only keep you occupied for a day. As for history, I'd actually recommend Gent.
>>1091068
Not him, but alternatively you could do 1 day Brussels if you've been there already, and 1 day Antwerp. Unless you've booked everything already.
>>1091070
Even if it's all been booked, Antwerp is only a ~50 minute train ride from Brussels, and train run until midnight. Similar day trips are possible to almost any city worth mentioning in Belgium.
>>1091068
This Is great, thanks. Any places in Antwep or Ghent that we should check out?
>>1091079
For beers in Antwerp, check Kulminator (consult opening hours first, arrive early to be sure you can get in, small place), 't Antwaerps Bierhuyske, Billie's Bier Cafetaria, Gollem and 't Paters Vaetje. Other nice places are Bar Deco (nice geuze selection, overall cheap and popular with locals - you may stumble into me) and de Vagrant for jenever. All of them have the whole authentic atmosphere thing going.
In Gent, try De Trollekelder and De Dulle Griet, or De Hopduvel if you want to buy beer. Don't know Gent as well as I know Antwerp.
Anything other in particular you're looking for? Can probably - hopefully - recommend various interesting things and places if I know specifically what you're looking for concering food/history/...
>>1091081
Fantastic, thanks.
If you have restaurant recommendations for Brugge, Brussels or Antwep that would be awesome. Since we have a baby, probably not super fancy spots but any food thoughts would be great.
Oh, can you recommend a bottle shop in Brugge and/or Brussels?
>>1091088
>Antwerp
For Chinese/Thai, Van Wezenbeekstraat, for Italian/Greek/Balkan, hit the Korenmarkt, and general international cuisine you'll find in the Appelmansstraat. Those are the hotspots, more or less. If you want to find something in specific, you'll have to google.
>Brussels & Brugge
Can't say much, except to avoid the Rue des Bouchers (overpriced as fuck) and probably the smaller eateries right behind the City Hall (quality varies greatly there), but the area around the Markt has a lot to offer in general. In Bruges, avoid the Grote Markt, overpriced and underwhelming food is the norm there. Can't give specific recommendations, sadly.
Will look into the bottle shops.
>>1091118
Outstanding, thanks!
>>1091118
Bottle shops:
>Brugge
De Bierboom
The Bottle Shop (add .be to both for website)
De Biertempel
>Brussels
Cantillon brewery
De Biertempel
Beermania
Délices & Carpices/Beer Tasting Shop
Most are in the centre of the respective cities. Alternatively, simply blunder into a large supermarket, you're bound to find a decent selection.
>>1091130
You're welcome!
Come to think of it, if you find yourself in Antwerp, Gollem and especially Billie's Bier Kafetaria serve decent food.
imo if you're into history Ghent is probably more worth it than Antwerp, unless you're a fellow /fa/ggot and you want to make to some sick cops :^)
Ghent is also a bit smaller/dense making it more doable if it's just for a day.
Places to eat in Ghent: Pakhuis, Balls & Glory, heck if you want to go full local/streetfood you should go to "De Gouden Saté" and have "een Julientje".
When it comes to non touristy bars I can recommend "le bal infernal" and "barbelien". Haven't seen a single tourist there so far but they're both cozy bars with a wide selection of beers ;)
For a HUGE selection of beers you could visit "De dulle griet". They have this pint that comes in a special glass that used to get stolen that much they have to resort to asking you for your shoe kek. It's hard to get a table though at times.
>>1091177
>pint that comes in a special glass
ayy kwak lmao
OP, keep in mind that the average bottleshop (certainly in the center of big cities) will overcharge you by quite a bit. While you won't find the more exotic varieties in supermarkets, it'll cost less there.
I would support picking up some unknown beers, though.
>>1091177
antwerp sucks indeed.
Rotterdam is pretty shit too unless you are into modern poopy architecture. Food was surprisingly good there though, good luck finding a spot in restaurant during weekends though
>>1091177
>"De Gouden Saté" and have "een Julientje".
RIP Julien ;_;
Brussells fucking sucks
>>1091081
I live next door to the Kulminator OP, if you want I check it for you. I know it's closed during sundays
>>1091390
Not sure what that is but I'm interested, thanks.
>>1091530
Consistently ranked as one of the 5-10 best (beer) bars in the world. Their selection is huge, they have about 6 drafts that they change every two weeks, and you can tell that the old couple that owns the place has been doing this for decades.
>>1090803
Go to Utrecht in the Netherlands too. On april 1st there's 2 great parties in Tivoli, in both the Helling venue as well as the big new Vredenburg building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=992JYmqAETE
>>1091639
Last year, I took a leak into the canal at the very spot on your picture.
But I can and do confirm, Utrecht is nice.
I loved the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and Tate Modern in London. Wellcome Collection in London is also supposed to be great. Dunno if you're into art though.
