Where to stay in Belgium

I would not stay in Brussels... we had a few places there we liked but overall, Bruges was sooooo much better! Next time I think we will stay in Ghent for a change.

Our opinion of Brussels could have been colored strongly by our accommodations - we did a home exchange that ended up being in a pretty sketchy area, so we ditched it after a night and went to Bruges for a few nights, then ended up in a hotel the night before our next train....

Interested to hear what people say about staying in Ghent, since that is my plan for next summer. I would think if you stay there and day trip out you will be plenty busy, and plenty of cute places to walk around! I know Bruges had endless pretty things to look it!

Kim

Month and Year??? Quite important.

They are completely wrong about Brussels. It's a "company town", and they roll up the sidewalks at night, especially if the EU is not in session. I'm sure there are plenty of Expense Account restaurants, but are you going to eat at them? It's also much less attractive than Ghent, Bruges, or Antwerp, all of them nice places to stay. The one with the most to do is Antwerp, but it does not get the love that Bruges does here. Antwerp is much bigger than Ghent, but has plenty of (not all together) old buildings. My personal vote is for Antwerp, but it does have a lot of walking.

I have not slept in Ghent, but I think it probably is very attractive at night. When school is in session, it would have plenty of pedestrian traffic. Ghent is much quieter on Mondays (typical but not universal closing day) than Antwerp. Leuven is a smaller city, but even more dominated by its university, so it is really busy when in session. Too close to the airport for me.

By the way, Mechelen has a certain amount of historic charm, but is less busy that the other mentioned places.

Referring back to your OP, there are no "quaint small towns" in this part of Belgium. Developers have built new masonry townhouses for the very prosperous professionals who need places to live outside the cities and pharma plants where they work. (I'm sure some local can name a small town or two, but it won't have a hotel for the four of you. And it will have zero to do at night. Turnhout comes to my mind. DO NOT, under any circumstances, stay at the Best Western in Turnhout. BTW, a lovely "old town" like Lier is completely surrounded by sprawling modern reinforced concrete low-rise city. To some extent that's true of Bruges, but the old town is exceptionally large.)

We will be going Sept 24-28th and then going to London for a week. From what I understand Grand place is the best part of Brussels. I definitely want to go to Brussels but like a day trip.

A day trip to Brussels was sufficient for us.

When I was in Ghent last October, there were plenty of people out walking around at night -- though not crowds. For things to do at night, I did the Legends "dark side" evening walking tour which was fun and interesting. There are bars with long interesting beer lists. I know there are clubs with live music in Ghent but I didn't visit any.

Well, Grand Place is about 1/10 the size of Times Square, half the size of Picadilly Circus. All of the Belgian "old towns" have a square or two of very old buildings. To my mind the best things in Brussels are the world-class art museums. There are some nice churches, and a small number of historic quarters other than Grand Place.

Note that Eurostar is much cheaper bought in advance with (probably) no changes or refunds. It leaves from the Midi/Zuid station, but all tickets include a free local train ride from Brussels Centraal or Brussels Noord. Check in is REQUIRED 90 minutes early for formalities that precede boarding. Do not ignore this warning they give you.

If I were to pick one, it would be Ghent, if I were to do two, the other would be Antwerp.

Ghent is ideally located for easy daytrips to Bruges, Brussels, and Antwerp. It is a University town so keeps pretty lively, lots of older buildings, good restaurants and bars.

Antwerp has a very active pedestrian center with modern shopping, as well as lots of old world charm. Antwerp is what most people hope Brussels will be.

Brussels!, Brussels has attraction for some specialized interests in the museums and beer, but beyond Grand Place, the surrounding streets are littered with waffle shops, knick knack tourist places, mediocre chocolate shops, and lots of mediocre food, mixed in with some truly great restaurants. Go further afield, it gets grim pretty quick, lots of homeless, litter, we joke we can identify the smell of Brussels. I still go there fairly often, but as I said, beer is a draw, and there are some truly great beer places.

When we went to Belgium some years ago, we stayed a few nights in each: Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp. We did a day trip into Brussels. We loved Antwerp and appreciated how much there was to do. It doesn’t get the attention the others do which is a shame. Given your goal between smaller and larger spots Antwerp could be an excellent compromise.

Keep them coming. I keep forwarding your responses to my friends. I hope we come to a decision soon. Lol. I appreciate all your advice. We are slowly seeing Europe and I have visited many big cities. Since we never know if we will go back, trying to make the most of each trip! The world is so big and time is short! Still so many places I want to see.

I loved Ghent, and loved Bruges, but found the small time charm of Ghent so appealing. Perhaps because Bruges is a bigger city (very much loaded with charm) and there's more to do, perhaps that would be a compromise; while taking a day trip to Brussels. (I keep reading/hearing about Antwerp but have never been.)

Thanks for all the insights. We are going to stay in Ghent and do some day trips. We are going to hit Brussels on the way back to London. May God bless all your travels! Happy trails!

I visited Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, and Ghent earlier this year and liked all 4. We stayed in Antwerp and daytripped to the others. However, if I had a chance to do it again with the knowledge I have now, I would choose Ghent.

Ghent fit best for me. It had a castle, beautiful city center, and one of the finest paintings I’ve ever seen, the Mystic Lamb. Also had other good art museums, good food and drink options, especially chocolates at Van Hoorebeke .

I also liked Bruges but it felt much more touristy than Ghent and was overflowing with people (in March). Has a lot to do and see in a compact city center.

I would not base in Brussels. If I did go there, I’d see the Grand Place and go to Ton Ton Garby for a sandwich. I did not visit any museums while there. I’m not sure that I would return.

I encourage you to do research, though, and decide the best fit for you.

Antwerp would strike a good balance between big city and quaint history - it feels a lot buzzier than Brussels, but also has a gorgeous historic centre. I like Brussels more than a lot of others here, but it’s a tricky place to get your head ahead.

That said, neither Bruges nor Ghent is short of life at night - Ghent is probably your best choice, I’d say. It’s “quaint” but not small.

There are quite a few areas which are alive at night in Brussels, amongst them the Ste.-Catherine district and the Place St.-Géry. It's not all quiet at night, you just need to know where to look. There are obviously also any number of bars in the Centre-Ville, Belgium being powered by beer (for instance, Delirium, Moeder Lambic, Poechenellekelder). Perhaps you can do an excursion to Brussels for an afternoon / evening and just do the night life!

Lavandula

I've enjoyed Brussels the couple of times I've been some years ago. I was there for a music event the time I stayed more than one night so I wasn't focussed on doing touristic things. I was visiting with friends, so that makes a difference to how you see a place. I stayed in the St Gilles district. It's slightly grimy, some graffiti etc, but I thought it was full of life and culture, both traditional Belgian and international. My only benchmark in Belgium is a brief visit to Charleroi, and that doesn't set a high bar.

We just spent three nights in Bruges. One day was devoted to a day trip to Ghent, which was great, but we were happy with our choice to stay in Bruges. One night, we did a walking photography tour that was fantastic. We also found great restaurants - well off the square. Walking around Bruges at night is lovely, but we weren't looking for nightlife. We skipped Brussels altogether and went to Ypres for WW1 history. Very quiet town at night - seems most people day trip in there and leave.

I also love Bruges, and there's a haunted night tour . We didn't get to do it because of the rain and wind, but on a beautiful night, I think it would be fun! I plan to return!