Brussels for 5 days? Thoughts?
 

My wife and I arrive in Brussels at 7:30am on July 23 and depart for vienna the morning of July 28.

I anticipate that we will go to Bruges for a day trip and probably Ghent for another day trip. Both of these trips will be via train.

July 23 - arrive early morning and visit Brussels
July 24
July 25 - Bruges?
July 26 - Ghent?
July 27
July 28 - depart for Vienna in morning

The dats for Bruges and Ghent are not fixed. Maybe better to avoid day trips back to back? or on certain days?

So it seems that I have two full days in Brussels, plus the basically full day on the 23rd.

Should we add another destination for another day trip? Something like Antwerp or Luxembourg? That would leave us with 3 days in Brussels (2 plus full arrival day) and 3 day trips. Is that too many day trips? Maybe Lux would be via rental car, but they seem pretty expensive just for a day thanks to what seems to be large taxes.

Are there any day trips that would be worthwhile for someone interested in a WW1 or WW2 cemetery/monument/battlefield? I'm guessing my wife won't be too excited about that part :rolleyes: Waterloo?

Thanks!

I don't know off hand how easy it is to get to Ypres from Brussels but I think that would suit as a day trip. It's got a nice center so your wife wouldn't be too bored but masses of First World War stuff.

I think 3 day trips is quite resonable, Brussels isn't the most exciting place in the world and Belgium is easy to travel around.

I poked around and it seems that it takes longer than I would want (maybe 2.5 hrs on train). I'll probably try to find somewhere other than Ypres...

I'm thinking 3 day trips to: Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp sounds about right.

I am both American and Belgian so know each major city in Belgium very well. I think you have to see Antwerpen, Gent and Brugge. While Brussel isn't exactly the best city to visit, there is a decent amount to see. I would highly suggest not seeing Mannekin Pis. He is tiny. Huge disappointment. I would suggest seeing the Grand Place. If you guys are interested in music and/or comic strips there are museums that are fairly close to the Grand Place. Here is what I would do in your position:

June 23rd- Spend pretty much all day in Brussel. You might want to take the Hop on Hop off that leaves from Centraal Station if I remember correctly( 2005 was last time I took it). Do one round to see the sites. Go to Grand Place, take a lot of pictures. Visit museum or two, then visit one of the parks that Brussel has etc. Early Evening, get Wafel for a leisure walk. Then go eat dinner but not near Grand Place since everything is jacked up. See Grand Place at night then go back to the hotel.
June 24th and 25th- Go to Gent and Brugge. Doesn't matter which day you pick. They are in the other direction so get those out of the day.
June 26th- Antwerpen.
June 27th- Maybe do Waterloo but not sure if there is really anything really to see there other than a Lion. At least it is fairly close to Brussel.

Thoughts
 

I love Waterloo having lived there for 14 years, but not that practical for a day trip with the other options available. The main sights of Waterloo are not associated with WW1/WW2 but more Napoleonic times. Also the battlefields are actually nearer Braine L'Alleud station if you did decide to train it there.
If you headed by car to Luxembourg you could take in the Ardennes, home to Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge WW2 sites.
Leave plenty of time for Bruges..maybe an overnight? Also Leuven is an underrated place.
Enjoy Belgium, home to the worlds best Chocolate,Beer and Fries (frites).

You could pop down to Lille - it's under 30 minutes by Eurostar or TGV (need to book for specific trains ideally in advance), or just over an hour on the cheap slow trains (change at Kortrijk may be needed).

Loads of great places to eat and drink, including in the old town, lots of interesting old bits of the city to see, great museums and art galleries, and being France has a different feel to Brussels

I'm thinking we'll stick with the three trips of 1) Bruges 2) Antwerp 3) Ghent. We could do Luxembourg, but then I'd have to rent a car etc. I'll have to compare the price of 2 round trip train tickets to say Antwerp (our third place city) to the rental car for one day for Lux.

Are there any days to avoid travel to those three? Perhaps weekends are much busier in Bruges?

I think the train ticket is more on weekends, but it might have been the other way around. I'd have to double check.

Thanks to everyone

The Gentse Feesten (Gent Festival) is July 17-26 this year. Depending upon your tastes, this may be something to attend or to avoid: loads of events, some free and some paid (music of all descriptions, theatre, street events--you name it) and lots of people. The official website http://gentsefeesten.gent/ should eventually have an English version, but as for now it's just in Flemish and says that the program will be available from June 10. If you poke around on the web you should be able to find photos and/or the program from 2014 or other years to get an idea of what it's like.

Giggleswick - thank you so much for pointing that out. Looks like something we would want to avoid. I wonder if it would make the other stuff in Ghent not as good, or will it have minimal impact?

I checked and some car rentals aren't so crazy. Now I'm wondering about going to Bastogne. I'm very interested in the Battle of the Bulge Museum. If I drive to Bastogne from Brussels, is it worth it to continue along to see Luxembourg? It would be interesting to say "I was in Luxembourg", but is there anything really interesting there that I'm not seeing in Brussels/Ghent/Antwerp? I'd likely adjust my dates so that we were in Ghent after the festival.

You can often find cheaper tickets for domestic Belgian return journeys on weekends

As an example, Brussels to Bruges return for a standard ticket in the week is €28.20. However, the special weekend ticket (Friday night from 7 PM until Sunday night) is only €15.20

When booking online, pick "WEEKEND TICKET INTERNET" as your ticket type not STANDARD

Gagravarr - thanks so much. Looks like we'll trek out on the weekends and save a few dollars. The only potential downside that I could see is that Bruges or whatever might be more crowded with tourists because it is the weekend. Not sure that would make a difference though.

I spent a long weekend in Brussels back in March and did a day trip on Sunday to Antwerpen. Had a great time. One word of warning if you are a shopper, I don't think the stores are open on Sunday.(At least the weekend I was there)

In Brussels shops don't open on Sunday. But in Antwerpen they are allowed to open every first Sunday of the month. (This is fairly new, so I'm not sure how widely this is followed...)