Day 1   Departure North America

Embark your transatlantic flight.

Day 2   Amsterdam

AM        Arrival Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Transfer by private coach to your hotel in Amsterdam.

PM        Afternoon city tour by private coach and local professional guide to see the highlights of the capital of Holland, Amsterdam. During the city tour you’ll see the most important sights, such as the Royal Palace, New Church, Opera House, Skinny Bridge and many more.

You’ll end the tour with a visit to De Beurs van Berlage. Located just near the Dam square, the Stock Exchange building (1903, now called Beurs van Berlage and used as exhibition and concert hall) also by the architect Berlage, precedes the Amsterdam School style and is often regarded as influential to the whole Dutch architecture of the first half of the 20^th.

EVE       Welcome reception cocktail party on board of a private canal boat. See Amsterdam and it’s wonderful canal houses from the water, which is in fact the best sight. Cocktails and appetizers are being served on board.

Dinner tonight is a very special dinner, at the private canal house on the Herengracht, owned by Patricia de Wall Bake-Thompson. Mrs de Wall Bake-Thompson runs her cooking school ‘La Cuisine Francaise’ and invites small groups (maximum 40 persons) in her dining room, overlooking her garden.

Day 3   Amsterdam

AM        Head to Museum Square and start a museum tour by visiting the Rijksmuseum, which is the largest museum of the country. It is known for its exceptional collection of 15C and 17C paintings. Next to housing great art works, the Rijksmuseum added a fragment (1890) building to the original building. This building was made out of fragments of demolished buildings that together give an overview of the Dutch history of architecture. Since December 2003 the museum is under construction, however, several wings remain open to the public. Renovation will be completed in 2013.

PM        After lunch at leisure continue the tour to the Van Gogh museum. There is no other place in the world where you can see so many of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings under one roof. The museum is situated on the Museumplein in Amsterdam, between the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk Museum. The museum's collection is divided into three sections. The Van Gogh collection, work from other artists and the collection concerning the Van Gogh Museum’s history.

Head to the Stedelijk Museum, which offers a temporary program focusing on the renowned collection of modern and contemporary art and design. Selections from the collections are presented in innovative ways within the current conditions of the building. This museum is under construction, and still open to the public.

EVE       Dinner at Brasserie Keyser, situated adjacent to the Concertgebouw followed by a performance by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest)

Day 4   Delft & Antwerp

AM        After breakfast, on to the charming city of Delft. Birthplace of the painter Vermeer and know because of its Delftware, the blue and white ceramics.  You’ll pay a visit to one of the Delftware factories, where guests can paint their own tile. Afterwards, continue to city center with its nicely decorated city hall and impressive New Church. In this church, with the restored grave of William the Silent, all members of the Dutch Royal family are buried.

PM        Continue on to Antwerp, the lively harbor town and city of Rubens where you will enjoy lunch on your own.  Following lunch, a short guided city tour of Antwerp including the Rubens House and the Cathedral.  Admire the authentic city center with its squares and guild houses.  Later, a behind the scenes tour at the Plantin-Moretus Museum where you will have a private demonstration of ancient printing techniques. 

EVE       Continue on to Bruges for included dinner and overnight.

Day 5    Bruges

AM        After breakfast your local guide for come to your hotel for a walking tour of the city. The town of Bruges is known as the ‘Venice of the North’ with beautiful decorated houses, cobblestoned streets, lovely flower boxes lining the canals, old guildhalls and churches. See sights such as the Beguinage, the Church of Our Lady with the Michelangelo’s Virgin and Child, and the Market Square.
A visit to Groeninge Museum is included. This museum is the best known museum of Bruges, famous for its amazing masterpieces of Flemish primitives, all from the so called ‘Bruges School’. We admire the works of Van Eyck,  Van der Goes and of course Memling, where his masterpiece, the ‘Moreel Triptych’ depicting St. Maur, St. Christopher and St. Giles with mysticism, inner peace and contemplation. One of the rooms is devoted to Hieronymus Bosch, and see his remarkable ‘Last Judgment’. The museum houses as well an exhibition of Flemish Impressionists, like Paul Delvaux, Magritte and Broodthaers.The tour ends with a canal boat ride through medieval Bruges on the romantic Love Water. Being the best preserved medieval city in Flanders, there is gorgeous architecture to admire virtually everywhere you wander in Bruges, also from the water.

PM        Included Lunch and then afternoon at leisure for visiting the famous lace shops or for chocolate shopping. Known as the “chocolate capital” Bruges has over 50 chocolate shops! Optional hands-on workshops to learn how to make the famous Belgium Waffles and how to create your own bonbons made of Belgium chocolate (of course!) are available.

EVE       Dinner on your own, and overnight in Bruges.

Day 6   Ghent & Brussels

Am       After breakfast, depart for Ghent. It is the spiritual citadel of Flanders, a university town, the second-ranking Belgian port and a great industrial center. A crisscross of canals and waterways, built as it is on numerous islets at the confluence of the River Leie and Scheldt. In Ghent, a guided tour through the city is included, featuring a visit to the St. Bavo’s cathedral, with the Polyptych of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb to admire the paintings of the brothers “Van Eijck”. Continue for a visit to SMAK (Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art) being the best-known and the most notorious for its bold and original exhibitions of both Belgian and international artists, including Hockney, Bacon and Beuys.

PM        After an independent lunch, continue on to Brussels. This afternoon visit the newly opened Magritte Museum or one of many wonderful museums in the area.

EVE       Farewell dinner at Belga Queen Restaurant.
Overnight in Brussels.

Day 7   Departure

After breakfast departure for Brussels airport for your flight back home.

This tour can be operated out of Brussels airport as well.