Please sign in to post.

Canal trip help

My husband and I are taking a 10 day canal trip out of Nieuwpoort. We are flying into Brussels and would be there for one night and then take the train the next day to Nieuwpoort. Should we look for a hotel near the train station in Brussels? OR stay somewhere better for seeing a part of Brussels in an afternoon/evening? I know it's a short amount of time and we will be tired from flying. But our thoughts are to stay and then take the train the next day to get to Nieuwpoort, spend that night there and then get on our rented canal boat the next day. We will be on the Ghent Canal. "Main" cities along the route are Bruges and Ghent. I of course have purchased Rick Steves book and am reading through it.

I just want to thank you for any help you can give us. I normally really enjoy researching trips, reading every post, guide books and being very prepared, but "life" has had other ideas for us, namely elderly parents. My 96 yo father passed away AND my 89 yo mother in law has been in the hospital. Dad in California, MIL in Georgia and we are in Florida!!

Posted by
23142 posts

Waiting for the Belgian locals to wake up, I'll put a couple cents in.
Taking the train from the airport to Brussels Centraal will put you close to the main Brussels sites like the Grote Markt and many hotels.
Nieuwpoort does not have train service, so you will need to go to De Panne after a train change in Ghent. Takes about 2 hours with trains every hour. At De Panne station , take De Lijn tram to Nieuwpoort.

That's a start anyway.

Posted by
326 posts

Simply take a direct train from Brussels to Ostend, from where you can continue your journey to Nieuwpoort on the coastal tram (De Lijn).
I assume you are renting at the Le Boat company. In that case you have to walk 1,8 km from the tram stop Nieuwpoort-Stad to the port.