Please share your thoughts - travel to Europe in August-Sep

Posted by Shelley (Maryland US) on 02/07/23 08:19 PM

We have family in Liege Belgium and a new baby granddaughter to visit. The best time, from the family's perspective, is August. We want to spend time with our family but also want to incorporate a road trip into our time in Europe. We're throwing around a lot of ideas and would really appreciate tips from expert travelers. We're not novice travelers. We will fly into and out of Brussels. We will have a rental car for all or part of the trip.

We've seen a lot (Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Flanders/WWI sites) but not all of Belgium and would like to visit new destinations in Belgium and one or two nearby countries.

Amsterdam and other places in the Netherlands are probably tops on our list. Other possible destinations include Cologne and Normandy. We've also toyed with focusing on the Loire Valley or even Strasbourg FR. We'll have about 10 days. Obviously, we can't do it all in that time. We'd love your insights.

This won't be our last trip (hopefully) so we want to focus on quality rather than miles traveled. Thanks in advance.

Posted by Kenko

Citizen of the World

02/07/23 10:58 PM

2065 posts

Antwerp 🇧🇪 would be #1. Great city that’s a favorite among Europeans. But after Liege, I would first visit DURBUY. Set in the Ardennes about 35 minutes south of Liege, this ancient town with its medieval streets and riverside castle is one of Belgium’s highlights. With a car, I wouldn’t miss it. I would then focus on the Netherlands 🇳🇱.
and some of the great venues it offers: Den Hague, home to Binnenhof Palace; Leiden, known as the Oxford of the Netherlands; Utrecht ( another great university town of canals) with incredible museums like Museum Catharijneconvent with its historic collection of illuminated manuscripts and the fun Museum Speelklok, a collection of working musical machines ranging from music boxes to street organs. Two unique places 30 minutes out of Amsterdam are the Muiden Castle, built in 1370 on the Vecht River; and the unique “Star Fortress” of Naarden. During the Eighty Year’s War, In 1572 the Spanish army sacked and burned Naarden and most of its residents were killed. Determined that such a disaster should never happen again, the Dutch rebuilt Naarden with a moat surrounding the town’s massive fortified walls which are designed in the shape of a star. Today, you can go inside the walls to see the Dutch Fortress Museum.
Antwerp and the Netherlands offer plenty to fill a ten-day itinerary.
The Alsace-Lorraine and the Loire Valley are an entire itinerary themselves and well worth a return trip to Europe in the future.

Posted by Shelley OP

Maryland US

02/07/23 11:35 PM

71 posts

Thanks so much. These are wonderful suggestions. I am going to copy them into my "notes for the trip" folder. After reading what you said about The Netherlands, I do think I will lobby for a Belgium/Netherlands and save the other destinations for another visit.

Posted by Fred

San Francisco

02/08/23 03:46 AM

15020 posts

Hi,

If you are motorised and interested in the WW1 sites, I would suggest going out of Liege to see the remnants of WW1 forts that were suppose to hold up the time-table of the German advance.

On visiting new destinations in Belgium: how about somewhere close to Liege, the district of Eupen? Or, going into the Netherlands, Maastricht ?

Posted by Mona

California USA

02/08/23 04:07 AM

4115 posts

In late August, early September and with 10 days to explore I think I’d choose more of the Netherlands, especially Amsterdam and north or the northern coast of France as far as Normandy. Sounds like you’ll have more trips to Belgium and environs, for a very good reason, in your future. I would choose 1 of the the 2 areas I mentioned to avoid hot, late summer areas further south in France.