We will be making our first trip to Belgium after spending a week in Paris (flying out of Brussels). We will probably stay 5 or 6 nights in one of these two cities before heading to Brussels and getting a hotel at the airport before our morning flight back to the US.
My question is which city should I base in? I don't feel like staying in multiple cities just because it will be our 4 year old and my 74 year old mother - and hauling luggage to a different place, etc. Since the cities seem fairly close together I figured we could likely swing staying in one, and taking a train between cities. Originally I planned on staying in Ghent and we could take a day trip to Brugge and to Brussels and even Antwerp if we liked, and then 2-3 days in our home base. We are slow travelers, and aren't looking to pack a bunch of different things into our trip, more of strolling and absorbing the culture at our own pace.
I just got Rick Steeves book and it suggests three nights in Brugge and just a day trip to Ghent - some other youtube videos show people spending multiple days in Ghent. That got me thinking would it make more sense to stay In Brugge - it would make our day trip to Brussells a fairly long day.
Even if we made two day trips to Brugge from Ghent - it seems like just a short trip it wouldn't be a big deal - obviously depending on how far our hotel is from the train station.
thanks!