Geneva or Brussels?

I've never been to Geneva but we spent one great day in Brussels in June. Better yet though was Bruges which is a one hour train ride away & has very good prices. We stayed at Hotel Adornes which Rick Steves recommends and had a view of the canal, nice breakfast & bikes. Bruges was the surprise of the trip!

When comparing strictly Geneva to Brussels, I would pick Geneva. However, food is VERY, VERY expensive in Geneva. We stay at the City Hostel in Geneva and it was very nice. One of the nicest things about it was it has a fully stocked kitchen and there was a grocery store just across the street. Definitely take a day trip to Montreux to see the Chateau de Chillon and walk down the path by the lake and see all the trolls made out of topiaries.

We stay in the Geneva area for four days in January and we able to see Geneva, Montreux, and spend a day skiing (there is a wonderful cheap hostel in Gryon - Chalet Martin- that has skiing/outdoor activity package deals - they also a full kitchen and raclette & fondue pots so you can experience Swiss food without the price tag). We were able to stay on a strict budget and enjoy what the cities had to offer, but we either cooked all of our meals or ate picnics in the park (lovely botanical gardens with picnic areas inside the conservatory buildings if it is cold and a city park with over-sized chess and checkers boards in Geneva).

If you are planning to take day trips out of the city, I might give Brussels the slight edge. From Brussels you can easily visit Bruges, Gent (a castle, a wonderful, cheap soup lunch spot, and great jenever bars), Leuven (a nice college town with a few breweries), and Antwerp. The train fare between these cities in very inexpensive and you can explore all of them and the surrounding countryside on bike very easily.

Good advice everyone. I will consider all of it. Sorry I had meant to post this in the other board but must have been awfully tired last night.