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Rick Steves' Amsterdam, Bruges & Brussels

Updates since the seventh edition:

Amsterdam

If you purchase tickets online in advance of your visit to the Anne Frank House, you must print them out and bring a copy with you to the museum — the confirmation number alone is no longer accepted. (After buying the tickets, you'll receive an email from the museum with your confirmation, which allows you to print the tickets from the road. Each ticket has a unique barcode which must be scanned at the museum.)

The Royal Palace on Dam Square is once again open to the public, after three years of extensive renovations (€7.50, Tue–Sun 12:00–17:00, June–Aug opens at 11:00, closed Mon).

The Hermitage Amsterdam is open daily 10:00–17:00, Wed until 20:00, and admission is now €15.

The Hash, Marijuana, and Hemp Museum is now open until 23:00 daily, and admission is now €9.

The Netherlands Maritime Museum will be closed through mid-2010.

The Amsterdam–Vienna and the Amsterdam–Milan night trains are no more (as of Dec. 13, 2009, Amsterdam–Vienna overnight routing require a change of trains at Köln). The Amsterdam–Paris high-speed Thalys trains are faster than before, down to three hours and 18 minutes on direct runs, due to new track opening. The travel time for the Amsterdam–Brussels leg of the Thalys drops to under two hours, but we still recommend the cheaper non-Thalys trains for that route, which don't require a reservation.

Haarlem

Bed-and-Breakfast House de Kiefte has closed.

Delft

In the map of Delft on page 242, the labels for the New Church and Old Church are switched. They should be reversed; the New Church is on Markt square.

Bruges

The €15 city-wide museum combo ticket is now valid for 3 days, rather than indefinitely.

The Groeninge Museum, which holds mostly Flemish art, will close from mid-August 2010 until October 29, 2010, when it reopens with an exhibit called "Van Eyck to Dürer." While the special exhibit is on, the permanent collection won't be on display. For more info, see www.brugge.be.

The B&B listed as Paul and Roos Gheeraert-Vandevelde is now called B&B Gheeraert. Owners, contact info, and rates remain the same.

Hotel ter Reien now offers a 5 percent discount for Rick Steves readers. To get the discount, book directly with the hotel and show your book when registering.

Brussels

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium is now opens at 10:00, and includes the new Magritte Museum.