| VictorBarone | 01 May 2011 2:05 p.m. PST |
Hello I'll be in Amsterdam on June 23 and Bruges (Belgium) on june 24. I plan on knowing the battlefield of Waterloo. Does anybody know what the distance between Amsterdam and Waterloo and between Bruges and Waterloo? My wife will attend a conference in Amsterdam during june 23. Given the distances between Amsterdam and Bruges is viable I take that day to visit the battlefield? Thanks guys. |
| Regards | 01 May 2011 2:19 p.m. PST |
It has been about 7 years so I don't know the actual distance, but I drove from Amsterdam to the battlefield in under 3 hours on a very heavy traffic day. I think it would be 2 hours+ from Bruges if I recall correctly. Enjoy the visit! Erik |
| agrippavips | 01 May 2011 4:54 p.m. PST |
The Waterloo Website is incredibly uninformative as far as planning your visit. I drove from Amsterdam to Waterloo last August on a Monday morning on our way to Paris. We left Schipol airport about 9:00 am (via Utrecht and Breda) and I allowed 10 hours for us to get to the Paris suburbs with a stop over at Waterloo. We had to be downtown Paris at 7:00 pm to pickup our apartment keys. We got lost just south of Brussels as the TomTom tried to work out the spaghetti junctions to make the right exit for the Battlefield. (I may have panicked as in retrospect it should have been easy!) I believe I took the wrong exit 3 times and lost about an hour. You want to program 'La Butte de Lion" and not "Waterloo". It gave us just 2 hours on the battlefield itself. You need at least 3 hours in order to take the trolley drive around the battlefield to see all the major sights. Use Google maps or the European equivalent to record travel times but give yourself 3-4 hours at the battlefield itself. The food at the onsite restaurants is quite good. Just be aware that on our way back on a Friday from Paris to Amsterdam the traffic jam between Brussels and Antwerp was brutal and we lost an hour there. Pass through that bottleneck off rush hours. Bon Voyage.
Pat |
 timurilank  | 01 May 2011 9:36 p.m. PST |
The distance is 220 km from Amsterdam to Waterloo. According to the ANWB route planner, this should take 2 hours and 18 minutes. The same planner, if searched on the day you depart, will calculate known conjestions, roadworks and any detours. A very handy website. Main page:
route.anwb.nl/routeplanner Van (from): Amsterdam, Netherlands
Naar (to) Waterloo, Belgium: It will calculate the quickest route and total petrol cost. Use the same planner for your end destination, Brugge. Cheers,
Robert |
| (Phil Dutre) | 02 May 2011 4:24 a.m. PST |
You'll have indeed take into account the traffic around Antwerp and Brussels when coming from Amsterdam. During rush-hours (let's say 7am-10am and 4pm-7pm) it can add 1 to 2 hours to your projected travel time. The Waterloo battlefield (Lion's mound & Visitor's centre) should be indicated from the Brussels Ring Highway. |
| (Phil Dutre) | 02 May 2011 4:31 a.m. PST |
From Bruges to Waterloo is about 1h20 minutes according to Google Maps. Again, depending on rush hour, you might have to add some time – although less critical than when coming from Amsterdam. When coming from Bruges, major bottleneck is the Ghent area. Around Brussels, you can take the southern Ring highway around Brussels, which usually has far less trafic than the Northern part when coming from Amsterdam. My advice (and I live near Brussels): plan your trip from Bruges. Coming from Amsterdam will make it a bit more of a hassle traffic-wise, especially if you want to spend maximum amount of time at the battlefield. |
| VictorBarone | 02 May 2011 6:19 a.m. PST |
Great. Thanks very much. Better play from Bruges so. |
| VictorBarone | 02 May 2011 12:36 p.m. PST |
… Will spend just 1 day in Bruges. So, cant have free pass from wife to go to waterloo. My onlu window on this travel is june 23. I will spend the day alone on Amsterdam. Will try go to Waterloo in this day. Someone know a bus tour to Waterloo from Amsterdam? ;) |
| (Phil Dutre) | 02 May 2011 11:39 p.m. PST |
An alternative could be to go from Bruges to the Ypres area. Lots of WW1 related things to see there. If you have a general interest in military history, I would rather visit that area rather than Waterloo. |
| The Painting Dutchman | 24 May 2011 4:27 a.m. PST |
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| VictorBarone | 27 May 2011 1:34 p.m. PST |
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