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A trip to Belgium from CDG - in February!

hey team Rick,
Wife and I have a VERY last-minute plan to visit Belgium from CDG. We're flying into Paris but both have the desire to visit Belgium. We only have about 3 days so guessing we'll just hop a train from CDG to one of the cities and stay there for a couple days then back to CDG for our flights home. We have 5 total days there but leaving a little room as she wants to visit some French shops.

We know this is posted a lot....my only real modification is that the consideration of the time of year as well as specific things to do. I would like to build an itinerary based on the feedback rooted...

Most of what I read have completely conflicting reports about where to go though often I see Ghent coming out on top as places to visit.
We're not museum lovers.
We know it will be cold.
Given the season and the limited time (we'd probably rather stay in 1 place for the short trip), which of the locations would you choose?
She's vegetarian, loves chocolate, and loves loves shops/shopping.
We love to walk around cities but realize we're somewhat limited due to the weather though we can tolerate the cold a bit. Just want to explore, see cool sites, have good food, and visit a few places that we shouldn't miss (we are tourists, after all).
We also love the outdoors but it is a February trip. Oh well!

What would your 3 days look like? Any can't-miss sites? If you have 3 - 3 1/2 days in Belgium from CDG, where would you go and what would you do?

I've been to around 55 countries, she's now been to almost 20 so we've been around a bit but never to this great country.

Posted by
1042 posts

Ghent or Bruges. Both are wonderful and charming. Personally I think 3 nights in Ghent seems a bit long. Bruges is bigger, has more shops and lots of chocolate. Ghent is more college town feeling and smaller. But either way there is no wrong answer. I loved them both on our first visit last spring.

Posted by
252 posts

Bruges!!! We went in the winter and loved it! Very walkable. Great restaurants. Beautiful surroundings. We don’t like museums either and there was plenty to do in that city.

Posted by
5871 posts

Bruges! We were there spring, 2024, and had a blustery day. It was the day we had designated our "vacation from the vacation" day. I had a list of chocolate shops I wanted to visit, to I bundled up in the raincoat and rain pants, used my Maps app, and had a scavenger hunt thru the town, visiting various chocolate shops and drinking hot chocolate. It was a wonderful day. And- wish I had brought home even more chocolate than I did, because the shipping (I later researched) was really expensive. Our lodging had a wood-burning fireplace, which was perfect! Enjoy!

Posted by
8087 posts

It's around four hours to Bruges from CDG. You hinted that Paris comes after Belgium, which makes sense for getting back to the airport. Too bad you can't fly home (or to) BRU, a big and busy airport. But the top cities in Flanders are easy to daytrip between. Based on your wide travel history, I would think you'd want to train to one or two other cities, sleeping in only one place. But it's a matter of preference. I'm surprised you haven't already read the many posts on this newsboard arguing that Bruges in the most romantic city on earth.

But if you find it crowded (even off season), you can jump on the unreserved, five per hour trains to Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven, Mechelen. Note that Antwerp is much larger than Bruges or Ghent, and its sights are more spread out. But it probably has just as many old buildings, they're just not all together. I prefer to sleep in Antwerp, because you can walk in a different direction every morning, and repeat nothing.

Posted by
9 posts

Thank you for the super helpful replies! I have spent a bunch of time reading trying to get info but it was very last minute and this helps me shortcut some of it.

Long story short on the flight...I had this trip to CDG booked since last year...long story why but we never planned to use it as it is. However, life happened and I was unable to change it to BRU or RAK without giving up our upgrades and it costing a bit too much.

Sounds like Bruges for the win..
I was in between Bruges and Ghent based on what I'd read before landing here but that's helpful to have a more direct comparison.

Appreciate it folks.

Posted by
804 posts

Great choice on Bruges! It is so magical. Bundle up and make sure you walk around at night - the flood lit buildings are beautiful. We loved our visit to the 500+ year old Café Vlissinghe too.