What kind of scenery?

Mountains, lakes, forest

Not much of that to note in Belgium—esp. enroute between Paris and Amsterdam.

I think Don was being funny…there isn’t much between Paris and Amsetrdam scenery-wise. It’s pretty flat – a lot of farmland, cows, small forests, maybe some fields of tulips in the Spring. Better off taking a nap and arrive in Amsterdam refreshed

Wasn’t trying to be funny. There aren’t any mountains between Paris and Amsterdam, which mostly limits your vistas from the train window to the trees 50 feet on either side of the tracks.

The route is mildly “interesting” in that you go through a number of towns that have different architectural styles, but it’s not, IMO, “scenic.” You don’t really get to see much architecture on any route that’s flat. The trains usually go so fast that anything near the tracks is a blur so you don’t catch much architecture in the towns you zip past. “Near the railroad tracks” industrial areas and slums are often the dominant architecture in the places where the train stops.

I think of Normandy as being scenic. Perhaps stop in Rouen, and even Mt. St. Michel is not too far out of the way. The Ardennes forest is nice. And Rotterdam has a huge busy harbor I like to watch, but I’m not sure I would call it scenic. And Bruges is certainly scenic, even if it has no mountains.

—uh, significantly out of the way. The fastest way to get from Mont. St. Michel or Rouen to Amsterdam by train is to go through Paris.

The OP didn’t say they were limited to trains. Many people who are looking for scenery prefer driving.

Yeah as far as breathtaking natural scenery there isn’t anything I can think of. Lots of nice little towns though and like Oldlady says, they tend to change distinctly from one to the next.

Agreed. In this case, however, they are coming from Switzerland, and I think the natural “scenery” will be a letdown. Based on previous posts, I thought they would be traveling by train. Plenty of other cosy places to visit between Paris and Amsterdam, however, such as Brugge and Delft.

In the proximity of Amsterdam you have nice lakes, windmilles, dykes next to scenic rivers, that kind of stuff. But when travelling by train or highway you don’t see much of it.