DESTINATIONS EUROPE
✈
Six million fl owers burst into
bloom between March and
May each year in the legendary
Keukenhof Park. Leger off ers four
fl ower-related itineraries, including
a cruise. Shearings twins Keukenhof
with Ostend, Bruges or Amsterdam
for fi ve-day breaks.
Belgium and the Netherlands
are littered with theatres of confl ict
dating back not only to the World
Wars, but also the scene of
Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.
Battlefi eld tours guided by experts
are big sellers, and with 2009 seeing
the 65th anniversary of the Battle
of the Bulge, a renewed spotlight
will fall on this area. Leger has a
dedicated website (battlefi elds.leger.
co.uk) and a massive programme of
tours, with a special four-day The
Battle of The Bulge itinerary from
£249. The operator’s four-day All
Quiet on the Western
Front programme is
always popular, visiting
Ypres, Arras, the
Somme and
Thiepval and
starting
from
£199.
Shearings off ers a fi ve-day break
visiting similar locations starting
from £339.
Christmas breaks are popular,
when the gluhwein is fl owing and
the smell of cinnamon is in the air,
with some tours visiting festive
markets. This Christmas in Brussels
there will be an ice rink among
stalls selling marzipan, gingerbread
and other treats, and in Liege, 155
wooden cottages will be decorated
to form a Christmas village. Leger
off ers a trip to the festive markets
of Brussels, Bruges and the oldest
underground Christmas market in
Europe at Valkenburg, plus a range
of festive breaks, including Ostend,
Valkenburg and Ghent. Shearings’
Christmas market itineraries twin
Belgian markets with either their
Dutch or French counterparts.
The upside of such a fl at area is
that it makes it perfect for cycling
breaks. Saddle Skedaddle off ers two
Dutch itineraries. One covers the
north, wending its way from
Amsterdam through windmill
country to the dunes at Bergen, on
through the cheese-making town of
Alkmaar to a nature reserve on
Texel island, before visiting ports
such as Edam and Volendam. The
southern Green Heart of Holland
Central Station
in Antwerp
The waterways
of Amsterdam
programme explores both the
classic Dutch countryside and coast,
plus urban centres such as Delft,
Haarlem and Rotterdam.
Visitors can brush up on Flemish
art and view a Van Eyck or two
in their original locations. Kirker
Holidays’ fi ve-night Art Cities of
Flanders tour visits Brussels,
Antwerp, Bruges, Leuven and Ghent.
On the water
More than 18% of the Netherlands
is water, and Belgium too is crisscrossed
by a network of canals, so
they’re perfect destinations to
explore by boat. Viking River Cruises
off ers a 10-day Tulips and Windmills
cruise from Amsterdam. The
itinerary includes Hoorn and
Volendam, a village where fi shermen
still dress in traditional costume, the
cities of Arnheim and Nijmegen, and
Dordrecht, where passengers are
taken to see a working windmill.
If clients would rather travel
under their own steam, this is easy
too, with a practically lock-free
boating experience through
pretty villages and picturesque
countryside. Hoseasons has four
bases in Holland, giving access to
the regions of Friesland, Gelderland
and Overijssel, which is described
as Green Venice, where chocolate-
box houses line the waterways.
There’s also a base in Belgium at
Nieuwpoort, so holidaymakers can
follow the poppies west through
dykes and polders towards
Dunkerque, or turn east to visit
Bruges and Ghent. The fl eet ranges
from traditional barges to modern
cruisers with showers and air
conditioning, so there’s no need
for anyone to rough it. TW
62 | Travel Weekly | March 6 2009 www.travelweekly.co.uk
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