I’m traveling to Belgium in November for a week, planning to stay in both Brussels and Bruges for a few nights each. I’d like to take day trips to Antwerp and Ghent. Hoping some of you could recommend whether to go from Brussels, Bruges, or one from each. Or even along the way.
And if any of you have suggestions about lodging, please include that as well.
Thanks.
Posted by
Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico
1873 posts
To go by train from Bruges to Antwerp, you will have to change (either in Brussels or in Ghent). So it makes more sense to daytrip to Antwerp from Brussels.
Ghent is about halfway between Brussels and Bruges, so you can daytrip there from either city with equal efficiency.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7748 posts
I prefer to sleep in Antwerp and daytrip to less charming Brussels. I daytrip to Bruges from Antwerp too.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7022 posts
Day trip to Ghent from Bruges and Antwerp from Brussels.
Or, stay in Ghent and day trip to both Bruges and Antwerp since it’s between the two. If you did this you’d depart to Bruges from Gent-Sint-Pieters train station and Gent-Dampoort for Antwerp.
Posted by
Sydney, Australia
26 posts
In Brussels stay somewhere between the Grand' Place and Brussels-Central station. This is a convenient and safe area - Le Dixseptième, the Hilton, Novotel Off Grand' Place or Ibis Off Grand' Place are possibilities here. Or stay in Place du Grand Sablon (there is only one hotel there, the NH), which is an elegant area but a slight walk uphill.
Frankly all the 4 cities are so close you could stay in any one of them, but Brussels is the rail hub, and I find Bruges to be an outlier. There are long-term roadworks going on near the station in Ghent, which may be slightly inconvenient, but not so it would stop you visiting. Both Bruges and Ghent need a tram or bus to get from the city to the station, so for me it would be Brussels that I would use as my base.
Lavandula