Tour starts in Rotterdam and ends in Luxembourg City

Day 1: Amsterdam is great, but have you ever wondered what the Dutch could do with a blank slate? Come see the answer in thriving Rotterdam, where innovative individualism and collective capacity combine to create a modern and surprising city. Rotterdam may be known as “The Gateway to Europe” but it’s a secret even many Amsterdammers don’t know. We’ll start with an orientation walk through this playful city, and maybe by dinner together you’ll already understand why I crossed the ocean to live here.

Day 2: Today we’ll explore Rotterdam’s many delights, including unique architecture that ranges from soaring market halls to quirky cube houses, and surprises like “the smartest roof in the Netherlands.” Then we’ll take a zippy little water taxi across the river (admiring the elegant Erasmus Bridge opened in 1996 along the way) for an elegant lunch of locally sourced cuisine aboard the historic SS Rotterdam, the last great ocean liner of the Holland-America line. Spend the evening as you see fit, choosing among the myriad neighborhoods, noteworthy museums, or ride the river to the windmill-lover’s paradise of Kinderdijk.

Day 3: This morning we’ll take a half hour train to Rembrandt’s hometown of Leiden, where we’ll walk the picturesque streets of this charming university town, named European capital of science in 2022, and departure point for the pilgrims before they sailed for the New World. Then it’s a free afternoon of endless possibilities. Amsterdam and the beach are just a half hour away, or stay in Leiden to explore a great museum, take a relaxing canal cruise, or shop for your new home in this immediately lovable town. (Fair warning, the temptation to do that last option may be strong.)

Day 4: We’ll console ourselves for leaving Rotterdam by stopping at the undiscovered wonders of Den Bosch, a town so great they named it twice (the formal name is ‘s-Hertogenbosch, but they’re too compassionate to make you say that out loud). We’ll take a canal cruise unlike any other, passing not just around and through this medieval city but UNDER it, before having lunch in the delightful and uncrowded city center. Linger over the luxurious local pastry, check out the city’s castle, or join me in the church-turned-museum dedicated to the profoundly interesting and viscerally disquieting genius and hometown hero: Hieronymus Bosch. It’s a short drive across the border to Antwerp, where we’ll have an orientation stroll to dinner together in this most elegant city. (Bus about three hours total, sleep in Antwerp)

Day 5: Antwerp has long been a capital of culture and the finer things in life, from famous baroque artists, shiny diamonds, and its modern status as a fashion capital of Europe. If you’re a lover of art and beauty, but not crowds or pretention, I have your new favorite museum: the newly reopened Royal Fine Art Museum, where even the building wants to play with you. Free for the evening in this famously foodie city.

Day 6: Ancient university towns just have a certain energy, so we’ll check out the best one in Belgium with a day trip to Leuven. We’ll explore the medieval center where humanism and the Renaissance flourished until religious war came to town, have lunch together, and still have plenty of time for the city’s other famous heritage: beer! (Warning: next time you see someone drinking a Stella, you’ll want to tell them about its brewery you saw in Leuven. Or maybe the lovely Belgian brews you had afterward.) If you’re sufficiently mobile after that, there’s an optional secret stop on the way home to see the hidden gem of a town that came within a hairsbreadth of greatness (it just wasn’t a human hair). (Train about an hour each way)

Day 7: It’s time to head for the third and last country of the Benelux, but there’s time for another Low Countries treat, so we’ll stop in the city with Roman roots that played a part in so many cultures and kingdoms that it may be the most quintessentially European city on the continent. No wonder it’s where they created the European Union, the euro currency, and the framework that has governed the Postwar World. I’m not even going to tell you the other special stop that day until we get there. A couple beautiful hours on the bus later we’ll cross into our third and final country, and one of Europe’s true wonders hidden in plain sight: Luxembourg. After traversing centuries and three countries in one day, we’ll have dinner together and toast the magnificent world in which we live.

Day 8: Luxembourg must be the best kept secret in Western Europe. Its soaring bridges, ancient fortifications, and unique culture have somehow remained unknown and off-the-beaten-track despite sitting right in the center of the mass tourism circle. It’s the tranquil eye of the storm (which may have to do with what gave it the highest GDP in the world). We’ll get to know this secret city and some of its noteworthy sites before free time to choose among the rest. Don’t worry about getting between them, all public transport in Luxembourg is free for all. Did I mention it’s a surprising place?

Day 9: Luxembourg may be unfamiliar, but we’ll take a short drive to one of the 20th century’s most famous fights: the Battle of the Bulge. See the places you’ve heard about and seen on TV, remember the courage, and take home a better understanding of the world order that gave Europe its greatest period of peace and prosperity in human history. On that note, and enriched by everything we’ve seen, we’ll have our last night’s dinner together.

Day 10: Luxembourg’s central location and affluence mean easy connections to just about everywhere. Fly out of the local international airport, or hop a train to Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, even London is within simple reach of the rails. Bon voyage!

Itinerary subject to change.