What about Brussels?

If you dont get better advice, do a google search for 'Brussels hotel near Grand Palace'; see what you get.

Visit Brussels for a few hours and then take the train to Bruges for a lovely couple of days. Very romantic!

Rick did a show on Brussells in 2004. You might want to check it out. He also has a guide book that covers it. See the Travel Store. I must that it looked really good when I watched the show! Pam

Hi Rob, we were planning on Brussels for our honeymoon, but have heard so many people tell us that Bruges or Ghent are so much better and more romantic. We are now planning to stay in Bruges with a quick few hour stop in Brussels just for lunch/waffles and to photograph the center and statue. Bruges does seem really beautiful and only an hour from Brussels by train

That's what I'm gathering from the Steve-stuff that I've found...or rather, the lack of it. I couldn't believe that Brussels is not even MENTIONED in his "Best of Europe" book I bought!

BTW, when are you getting married and traveling?

We spent one night in Brussels before leaving to tour the Bastogne area with a guide. I was not impressed with Brussels. Although the architecture in the Grand Place is well, grand, the buildings and area seemed quite dirty, and was much more crowded than San Marco in Venice, for example. Trash was everywhere. We enjoyed framboise at a Grand Place eatery, and bought a bit of chocolate on our way back to our hotel, but Brussels is not a place to which I would return, other than as a stopover on the way to Bruges. If it were my honeymoon, I would stay extra nights in Paris, Paris, Paris.

One needs to get away from that city center and explore. Brussels is quite pretty when you go away from its overly dark and dingy train station. They have gorgeous churches, a beautiful botanical gardens, funky neighborhoods, good antiquing, etc.

Not sure why people want to see this statue, but there are certainly many things of interest in Brussels. Go to a few websites and I bet you will be amazed.

Antwerp is another fine city in Belgium that does not get much attention. We loved it there. Brugge is lovely, but egad, the tourists clogging everything, especially in the summer put me right off.

I actually like Ostende too. Right on the wild, North sea. Dunes to walk, WW2 bunkers and pillboxes to see, nifty neighborhoods to visit and a promenade that stretches for miles along the beach. Just a 15 min. train ride from Brugge.

brussels forget it. spend a couple hours there nothing more.

We were going to stay in Brussels and I was doing some research about the place and could find almost no positive reviews of the place. Lots of recommendations for Bruges. Changed our plans and stayed in Bruges for 5 days and 1 day in Brussels. We would go back to Bruges in a minute. We do not need to go back to Brussels - we saw enough in that one day.