Originally Posted by
TravelDoorsOut
That was kind-of the plan, rent a car in Brussels for 1 day, drive to Lux, stay a night and drop the car off the following day before flying home. Do you recommend to staying in Gent vs Brussels? Also, is there no kind of pass for trains covering the area?
There's no day or multi-day pass on the Belgian rail system (other than for commuters). There is a "rail pass", which is the 10-ride card for €83 I mentioned before; since it's a flat-rate it's more of a deal for longer distances--but only if you'll actually use all ten rides. For reference, Ghent to Antwerp is about €10 each way for regular tickets, so the trains are not particularly expensive here. On the other side of the border, tickets are more expensive but still not bad--Amsterdam to The Hague is €12.20 each way (Dutch day passes start at €41).
Originally Posted by
TravelDoorsOut
Based on what I'm reading, Rotterdam isn't really worth going if we have only 12 days. Do you guys recommend Utrecht instead? or should we just spend more time in Amsterdam before going to Brussels/Ghent/Antwerp/Maastrich? We have 12 days with a baby. Want a realistic itinerary, but we travel pretty "quickly"
If we have 12 days... I was thinking 5 days in AMS (2-3 in AMS, 1 day in Hague, 1 day in Utrecht). Then 5 days in Ghent base (2 in Brussels, 1 in Maastricht, 1 in Brugge, 1 in Antwerp). 1 day in Luxembourg.
Would you do less days in AMS and more in Ghent/Brussels/Antwerp? Is 2 days in Amsterdam enough or we need 3? Extra day in AMS vs Utrecht?
Ghent is a good base--Antwerp and Brussels are each ~45 minutes away and Brugge is ~25. It's also a fun town to wander around. I agree with JBord on Brussels--we have some good food and beer here, but so do Ghent and especially Antwerp. Brussels has some interesting museums and the city center is worth seeing, but it's not the most interesting city around.
If you're staying in Ghent, Brugge is a great partial-day trip; it has a really well-preserved old center with some cool stuff to see (and a great brewery), but otherwise it's all "crap chocolate and beer" to quote one of the Flemish newspapers--I think that's a little harsh, but it is more of a theme park than a city. So after you've checked out the belfry and had some Brugse Zot, you can take one of the 3 or 4 trains per hour back to Ghent and find a restaurant that's not 95% British and American tourists.
That said, Brussels is a much bigger city and one that gets a lot more visitors, so you may end up deciding that the better hotel options make it worth staying here over Ghent.
I'll defer to others who've spent more time 'above the rivers' on Amsterdam/Utrecht/Haarlem.