Off the Beaten Path Belgium

There is a bit to do in Dinant - there is the Maison Adolphe Sax, which is a museum about the inventor of the saxophone. You can also do river cruises, and I think there is a citadel above the town. You could also take a trip out to nearby Freÿr, where there is a really splendid castle and grounds. But Dinant is beautiful, you will want to spend some time getting the right photos from the right angle. Also in the bakeries there is couque de Dinant. It is an absolutely jaw-breaking gingerbread, but you need to at least see it because it is baked in interesting moulds.

I probably wouldn't find more than a day helpful in Dinant unless I wanted to get out to Freÿr as well. If you have mobility issues you may want a cab up to the citadel, but for Freÿr you would probably want to rent a car. I also love Antwerp, but personally find Liège a little gritty for my tastes (although the railway station by Calatrava is amazing).

Lavandula

Here a list of places worth a closer look in Belgium. I have arranged them from west to east as much as possible. For several places a car is needed.

Flanders:

Veurne – worth a stop for it’s nice main square.
Ieper or Ypres. – impressive medieval cloth hall and a whole lot about WW1.
De Haan – seaside resort known for it’s Belle Epoque architecture.
Ostend – Atlantik Wall museum.
Lissewege and Ter Doest Abbey - village known for it’s white painted houses and the abbey for the huge medieval tithe barn.
Damme – lovely historic town along the canal to Bruges.
Kortrijk – not really attractive but more known for the Battle of the Golden Spurs and has a nice beguinage.
Oudenaarde – south of Ghent, nice main square with museum about cycle racing.
Aalst – nice main square.
Lier – lovely place south-east of Antwerp.
Mechelen – not to miss city between Antwerp and Brussels.
Leuven – Belgiums most reputable university city with impressive gothic town hall. Has a nice beguinage too.
Bokrijk – worthwhile open air museum with it’s own train stop.

Wallonia:

Doornik / Tournai – lovely town with impressive cathedral.
Bergen / Mons – lovely town too with characteristic main square.
Binche – not really attractive, but place with character still having a lot of it’s medieval walls.
Waterloo – top notch museum and battle grounds about the famous defeat of Napoleon.
Tongeren – nice place and known for it’s Gallo – Roman history and the museum about it.
Durbuy – little lovely village.
Bastogne – known for the Battle of the Bulge.
Bouillon – impressive hill top medieval fortress.

Places for beer, chocolate, and ofcourse food are easy to find. Just pop somewhere in and let you surprise. For buying beer you can try "drankcentrales" or "bierhallen" , shops selling a wide variety of mainly beers, but other alcoholic drinks too.

You might consider Luxembourg, too. Once you're in the capital city, public transit to the rest of the tiny country is free.

Definitely Antwerp, a nice mix of old town and a vibrant pedestrian shopping area, some museums, good beer bars.

Ypres is also good, WW1 history, good beer, some things around there are better by car than public transport

These links happen to have titles about sleeping in Brussels, but I prefer to sleep in Antwerp. It is fair to say that most Belgium daytrips involve a lot of walking, in order to see parts of attractive older cities. There are often busses and trams, even in smaller places like Leuven, but you have to do the research in order to use them to your best advantage. Google Maps is a good place to start.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/belgium/day-trips-from-brussels-768c7c85-75b9-4374-ad13-ae36967bc521

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/belgium/day-trips-from-brussels-besides-bruges-and-ghent

On the history I suggest too , as already mentioned above: Waterloo, the town as well the site itself. Much to see in the town if you want extensive Napoleonic coverage.

Mons....the British WW1 monument and memorial in the town square on the return of British troops to NW Europe 99 years after Waterloo to face the Germans by covering the French left wing.

Oudenaarde....The Duke of Marlborough's bloodiest victory against the French.

Ypres....more horrors from WW!.

Regarding a day trip to Waterloo: I've read that the bus stop would be 'Braine-l'Alleud Route de Nivelles'. Upon arrival are the sights such as the Panorama, etc pretty simple to access? We expect to be walking but any input about the distances would be appreciated.

This may not be an option for regarding seeing Waterloo. It also deals with how time and energy you intend on devoting to that.

The noted British historian on Napoleonic warfare history has said that to do justice to exploring the area (including that of Wavre ) of the Waterloo campaign, a car is absolutely necessary , setting aside 2 days for this.

The bus takes you into the town of Waterloo, be assured that logistical info will be easily available to help the visitor. For the centennial of the battle in 2015, a good deal was done to expand and extend coverage of this event, historically and info-wise , etc.

Counting on doing some walking is a safe bet.

When you reach Hougoument and La Haye Sainte, these two singular and poignant sites, imagine the immense killing that took place there. That struck especially when I saw the sites in 1984 based on the paintings.

bucknpeg - It's some 10 minutes walking from bus stop Braine-l'Alleud Route de Nivelles to the entrance of the museum. The Lions Mount or Butte de Lion is easy to see from the bridge crossing the nearby freeway, you can't miss it. The ticket for the museum gave me access to the mount and the panorama too, when I visited the site in 2015 and think still is the case.

Thanks to you both. I now have a much clearer picture. Looking forward to the visit.

I will second Ostend, Atlantic Wall museum and DeHaan. We did these as a day trip by train from Bruges.

Chocolate: As far as I know, the Neuhaus brand still has a factory outlet outside of Brussels. It's been a couple years, but prices were significantly reduced from standard store prices for regular stuff, you can buy larger format bulk boxes to again reduce cost, and perhaps the best part is they have lots of samples.

Beer: The Orval Trappist monastery in western Wallonia is a pretty drive and you can tour their ruined former abbey. Their Orval Petit beer is mostly made for consumption on site by the monks, but I believe the nearby cafe is still one of the only places in the world for the public to consistently try it. Brasserie Caracole is a nice little brewery outside Dinant that's housed in a historic stone building which is definitely worth a stop if you're in the area. If you find yourself back in Brussels, Cantillon is a world famous lambic brewer that has a good self-guided tour.

I'd second Dinant for a photogenic river town. There's the citadel above, and a nice church. There's also a small castle ruin just out of town on the hilltop. This is entirely personal choice, but I prefered visiting Ypres for the WWI history over Bastogne for WWII. The Last Post ceremony in Ypres is quite moving.

Just across the border in France is fortress of Sedan. I love visiting castles, and Sedan is the biggest (somewhat more modern) I've ever seen. Bouillon is an excellent traditional medieval castle.

Thank you all for such thorough and great replies! I have a lot to consider here and am excited to figure out this last leg of the journey.