Four Cities, Three Countries and Ten Nights for $1,877

This trip began with the kind of airfare that makes you stop pretending you’re only browsing.

$550 round trip from Denver to Amsterdam.

Once I had that, I built a loop around it: three nights in Rotterdam, three in Brussels, three in Prague and one final night near the Amsterdam airport before flying home.

Denver → Amsterdam → Rotterdam → Brussels → Prague → Germany → Amsterdam → Denver

The trip covered four cities and three countries, with a fourth country passing by the train window. The transportation plan looked slightly like a wiring diagram.

It also came to $1,877 for airfare, intercity transportation and ten hotel nights.

All prices in this story are what I paid for one person.

First Stop: Rotterdam

I landed in Amsterdam on October 18 and immediately took a $32 train to Rotterdam.

This is one of my favorite ways to build a trip: use the airport as the doorway, not necessarily the destination.

I stayed three nights at H3 Hotel Rotterdam City Center for $244.

Rotterdam was glass, steel, water and bridges—the Netherlands without pretending every view needed a windmill.

Rotterdam Fed Me Properly

There was no delicate easing into Dutch food.

There was kapsalon: fries, meat, cheese, salad and sauce stacked into one glorious act of disrespect toward moderation.

There were bitterballen.

And there was an actual boat devoted to pancakes.

Some cities build monuments. Rotterdam apparently builds floating breakfast infrastructure.

Then Brussels

On October 21, I paid $54 for the train from Rotterdam to Brussels and checked into the Bedford Hotel for three nights. The hotel cost $332.

Brussels had absolutely no interest in choosing between grandeur and nonsense.

The Grand Place was ornate enough to make every other town square feel underdressed.

Then there was Manneken Pis.

And because one public urination statue was apparently insufficient, Jeanneke Pis.

Belgium’s commitment to this bit is honestly impressive.

Belgian Beer Is Not a Side Activity

There were waffles, frites, rich food and Belgian beer served in glasses that seemed to require their own engineering drawings.

I made it to Delirium Café, where the beer list is less a menu and more a long-term project.

An $84 Flight to Prague

On October 24, I traded the train for an $84 Ryanair flight to Prague.

I stayed three nights at a place called Old Town Basement for $316.

Old Town Basement sounds like the beginning of a cautionary tale.

Instead, it put me in the middle of Prague for a price that kept the entire trip possible.

Prague looked like someone had been asked to design a storybook city and took the assignment extremely seriously.

The Pork Knee

I ate soup, bread, dumplings and enough central European food to prepare for winter like a farm animal.

Then the pork knee arrived.

This was not a restrained plate of food.

This was an architectural project.

The Very Long Way Back to Amsterdam

On October 27, I took a $190 train from Prague back to Amsterdam through Germany.

Flying would have been faster.

But airports turn the space between destinations into something to endure. A train lets you watch the countries change outside the window.

It was a long travel day. It was also part of the trip instead of merely the price of getting to the next part.

Amsterdam Was the Epilogue

I had one final night at the ibis Amsterdam Airport for $75 before flying home on October 28.

It was not the glamorous hotel choice.

It was the strategic one.

Amsterdam was more epilogue than chapter this time: canals, narrow streets, ornate passages and one last look at Centraal before the airport.

What I Actually Spent

These are the real per-person costs for the major bookings—not a fantasy price that assumes points, a sponsored hotel or teleportation between cities.

Transportation

Lodging

That total does not include meals, local transportation, attractions or the inevitable collection of snacks acquired in train stations.

But it does include the expensive bones of the trip.

Four cities. Three countries. Ten hotel nights. From Denver.

For less than $1,900.

The Penny Report 🪙

Airfare that started everything:

$550 round trip.

Best modern skyline:

Rotterdam.

Most committed to a very strange civic joke:

Brussels.

City most likely to be mistaken for a storybook:

Prague.

Longest travel day:

Prague to Amsterdam by train.

Least glamorous but most practical decision:

The final airport hotel.

Largest piece of meat:

The Prague pork knee. Easily.

Number of famous peeing statues photographed:

Two.

The Stuff I Remember

Rotterdam reflected in the water.

Bitterballen and a boat devoted to pancakes.

The Grand Place looking magnificent while tiny bronze children peed nearby.

Belgian beer.

Prague’s red rooftops and one structurally significant pork knee.

Germany passing outside a train window.

Amsterdam closing the loop.

The spreadsheet tells me the trip cost $1,877.

The photographs tell me why it was worth it.

Come on. Let’s go see the world. 🌍🪙