Historical town between Brussels and Lausanne

There are dozens of choices. Get out a map and see. Once you wish to pick between a couple come and ask for further advice.

I hope you can read that Nigel was being ironic - there are dozens and dozens of suitable answers to your question. I'm inclined to guess that you've spent plenty of time already in Paris, which is exactly halfway between Brussels and Lausanne by train, and certainly my favorite city in Europe. And I think you mean to say you want one town that's worth multiple nights. Unlike the canonical "Rick", I "understand" that, because we love to stay in one place for a few nights! I also guess that because you said town/village, that you wouldn't consider Cologne or Frankfurt, which are also halfway, but big cities, worth many days in one place. The next question is whether you want city or country for your day-trips. Even with all the great outdoor hiking/nordic skiing, the Black Forest has such good transportation that a few days in one hotel is very practical there. Rick is rightly a big fan of Alsace, like Colmar. And Strasbourg is medium-sized, but with enough to do. Luxembourg city (urban) is nice, but I only spent one day there and don't know it very well. I don't think Trier is worth more than one day, especially in the Winter. Basel is very nice, but it's urban. But you can get to the Black Forest and the Vitra Design Museum in Germany from there. Good luck.

I would suggest Lyon, as it's easy to get to from Brussels (via Paris), and from there to Lausanne (via Geneva). It's also a historical city, as it used to be the capital of Roman Gaul, and there are interesting Gallo-Roman remains to see (notably the amphitheatre); I haven't been in a couple of years but I remeber at one point they were excavating a couple of Roman ships from the river, so perhaps they might be on display by now. Also there's the old part of town with Renaissance houses and a gothic cathedral. Another aspect of Lyon is what they call "traboules", which are passageways linking parallel streets via a series of inner courtyards. You get to see parts of buildings that you don't see from the street. Nowadays they are indicated via a plaque on the wall but during WWII the resistance used them to slip away from German patrols. And on that subject there's a very interesting (and moving) museum about the resistance and deportation as well. I believe there's a section on the Klaus Barbie trial in it if I remember correctly. All in all there is plenty of history in that town from 2,000 years ago to the 20th century.

Thanks everyone for the great ideas. Yes we have been to Paris a couple of times and we wanted to try something different. It looks like we will try to vist Dinant, Mons, and Namur when in Belgium. We have been to Brussels and Brugge before. We have done the whirlwind hop on hop off before so we wanted to try to stay in one place for at least 3 days. Happy travels everyone.

Well Dinant is OK, if you like saxophones... ;-) Seriously, there are saxes everywhere. Even on the bridge. Great rock formations.

I've been to quite a few places in Belgium, but didn't make it to Dinant. Lonely Planet mentions "... the odor of frying chips", meaning a horde of summer tourists with little to do. Don't expect three days of sights in Dinant alone, it's not remotely like Brugge. Antwerp is certainly worth three days - I've spent weeks there. If the train goes through Liege, hop off and glance at Calatrava's train station - It's what the Lower Manhattan (i.e. World Trade Center) Transit Center was supposed to be, but will not, because of cost cuts. And remember that just after the cloth trade in Brugge weakened, Mechelen was the third largest city in Europe. I'm not recommending it, because some of the best museums always seem to be closed. Little known attraction nearby, Fort Breendonk, a chilling (emotionally and physically), small Holocaust site, with audioguides-hard without a car.

Dinant is pretty, but it takes only about an hour to see everything. The citadel overlooking the town is mostly a dull, empty concrete shell. There's more to see in Namur, but not a whole lot more. However, both towns would be a good base to explore the Maas river valley and some of the surrounding rural areas. I wouldn't compare the Maas to the more well known Rhine valley, but it does compare favorably to the Mosel and Neckar rivers. The towns are quite attractive (if a little more run-down then the richer Flemish region of Belgium), there's some great hiking, and a few of the abbeys are open for tours. The abbey of Maredsous, known for it's beer and extremely rich cheese, isn't too far away from Dinant. Mons, quite frankly, is mostly a dump. The only reason I can think of going there is some of the WWI history. There is an attractive main square, but just about every town in Belgium has one of those.