itinerary and train question

it seems the Belgium Rail Pass would be the best deal, Which rail pass are you talking about? The 10 trip carnett sold by NMBS (Belgian rail) or one offered by a third party ticket reseller?

Aachen is a terminal rail station served by NMBS, so yes, you can use the pass for your final trip in Belgium. Your pass would not cover the two fastest options from Brussels, however (Thalys and Deutsche Bahn), as these are operated by different companies.

I visited Bruges as a day trip and felt that I had enough time to see everything I was interested in. I also visited Ghent as a day trip but wished I had more time there. I liked Aachen and Cologne much more than Bruges. I stayed for 1 night in each German city and wished I had more time. If you're leaning more towards Germany than Belgium, I'd say to spend 1 night in Bruges.

Tom, yes, the Belgium rail pass sold by NMBS for about 76 euro, not the third party one. I think with the stop in Aachen, we are foregoing the benefit of a fastest option anyway, but I understand your point.

With the Rail Pass, I think we can get on any inter-Belgium train other than the one from the airport without need for reservations or other validation (except filling the blanks with our route). Is that correct?

Sarah, we are using Bruges as a home base at the recommendation of a lot of folks here, but given our plans won't be there much except in the morning and evening, which I hope avoids the tourist crowd others complain about. After the two nights there, we are headed to Germany for 12 nights. I'll be working on those details soon!

Thanks!

With the Rail Pass, I think we can get on any inter-Belgium train other than the one from the airport without need for reservations or other validation (except filling the blanks with our route). Is that correct?

All trains run by NMBS are reservation-free, so yes, you just hop on the train and fill out your destination. There's no reason you can't use it on the train from the airport, unless you don't want to.

I misspoke (mistyped?). We can use it, but we have to pay the Diabolo surcharge for the trip from the airport. :)

Don't spread yourself too thin. If you are arriving at BRU from the States, you'll have jet lag. I'd head straight to Bruges and stay there for two nights--skipping Brussels and Ghent. When you leave Bruges, go straight to Cologne rather than stopping in Aachen.

Yeah, I've scheduled more than we may be wiling to do, but we would rather have plans and decide to drop something if needed than be standing around wasting time trying to figure out what to do. That has happened. :) We're also flying business class, so hopefully we can sleep some on the plane. We typically are good for a few hours on arrival day, even when flying in a normal seat. And we definitely plan to slow down when we get into Germany and just enjoy being there and drinking wine!