well we've decided just to do belgium, land in brussels, off to bruge, then down to ghent, and then over to leuven. that's jus tthe north... but what about wallonia? where should be visited?
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9143 posts
It doesn't look like many people are responding to this, but here are my suggestions for Belgium. I think Antwerp is nice and has lots to see, including the harbor and a great maritime museum. The diamond district is interesting too. It is also nice to go up to Ostende and be on the North Sea in the winter. It just has this wonderful wildness to it. Great pedestrian shopping zone, a miles long promenade along the beach with old war bunker emplacements built into the lovely dunes. Ostende is quite the summer place, so hotels in the winter are a bargain and it is only a 15 min. train ride from Brugge.
Hope some more people write with suggestions.
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
75 posts
You didn't give the dates of travel, but there are many small villages in the Ardennes that are quite nice in the hunting season or the Xmas holiday season.The abbeys that make beer/cheese are nice to visit as well.
Happy travels
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
9 posts
Bruges is fantastic in winter. There is a great Christmas market, lots of shopping, and great food. I recommend The Hobbit restaurant, which is in Rick's book, for the ribs.
Posted by
OP
blacksburg/toronto, va/on, us/ca
8 posts
Yes bruge is on the agenda for new years and a few days around that. tentatively the agenda is land on the 27, stay in brussels until the 30th then take the train up to bruge, and stay there until the 2nd or so, then go down to ghent for a few days, then it is pretty open for 6 or 7 more days.
Posted by
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
191 posts
Not a lot of Belgian towns are worth more than a day trip, but luckily the country is not big and you can take a day trip to pretty much anywhere. There's a good war museum in Ypres, Ostende is worth a day. Mostly, my advice for that time of year is bring rain gear. I was there for 6 months and if it didn't rain one day, it definitely rained the next. Not all day mind you, but you need rain gear.
Posted by
Northern VA, VA, USA
121 posts
Jeremy - While I can't comment on other areas as we only visited Bruges, Brussels, and Waterloo, I would point you to our favorite restaurant in Bruges. The best mussels we found were at the Maximilaan van Oostenrijk. We settled in for a variety of appetizers and drinks and then ordered the mussels. They were served in a huge crock and were the best I've had anywhere! Give yourself plenty of time for wandering the streets of Bruges, it's very charming and many of the tourists leave after 4-5pm.
Have a great trip!