Kust Tram

I have. Many times, while staying in Ostende. Nice ride, panoramic views and the train trip from Bruge is quick and cheap. The North Sea is lovely with big wide beaches and a boardwalk. The chocolate in the stores is a bit cheaper than Bruges too. Walk along the dunes and see the gun emplacements and bunker left over from the war if that is of interest to you.

Thanks Jo! I reallize that the weather won't be like summer but will the weather be somewhat conducive to this trip along the coast. We are hardy well prepared girls so the weather wont be a big obstacle but just wondering what to expect.

I would agree with Jo, although I haven't ridden as much as has she. And I agree with you, Mary, my prime concern in April would be the biting wind right off the North Sea carrying blowing sand, in April. I tried to walk to a Media Markt in Oostende one year about that time and had to walk over lots of puddles and piles of sand just to get to the door. And if you want better choccies than Bruges go to Gent (Ghent). Great town, too.

... or on the other hand, you may have an unseasonably warm day, like I did last February. It isn't as readily accessible as Oostende, but I find De Haan a much nicer town. Either way, the North Sea coast is worth a visit in anytime, with the exception of a particularly stormy day. I'll take the wide sandy beaches of northern Europe over the rocky strips of coast on the Med.

Thanks everyone for your comments. My plan is to go to the coast but have a back up plan for another sight just in case. We will spend two days in Bruges. Any other ideas for fun things to do outside or around Bruges? Keep in mind that our next stop will be Brussels, followed by Liege.

Hi Mary, lots of folk go to see a little of Brussels, especially the Grand Place, but I don't understand Liege. What's the attraction there for you? Whenever we are in that area we go to Aachen, a really neat place, and Maastricht a nice little town in the "Dutch Alps". Don't get your hopes up, the highest point in the Netherlands is only 322.7 metres above sea level! Are you driving? There's a nice pannenkoeken restaurant between Aachen and Maastricht. All three towns, in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands are just a short distance apart. We've always found Liege just a little too industrial and drab for our tastes. What are we missing?

Mary, we had a very good time on the longer Segway tour in Brugges last year, faster and more fun than walking and a better overview. Or, rent a bike.

Nigel, The attraction is my friends daughter who is living there for a year as an exchange student! That's a pretty good attraction, i think. Lol
Mary

We will be riding the rails, no car. I was hoping as part of our Liege visit to maybe take in Spa or Eupen. We will also be spending time in the country outside of Liege with the host parents. While Liege may not be an exciting stop the opportunity to be with a Belgian family should be fun. I am in the early stages of planning but hope to have everything in place by the end of next week. i had thought about Maastricht as a stop on our way back to Amsterdam. I will have to study that more.

Echoing Nigel, I too find Liege ugly and depressing. Spend as little time there and as much in the Ardennes as possible, although without a car, the rail network in that area of Belgium is a little thin. Ask the girl's host family about nearby Durbuy, which is an amazingly charming, if touristy, little town. Maastricht is an attractive, typical Dutch city (without canals). The contrast between Liege could not be sharper. There aren't any world-beating sites here, but it's worth walking around for an hour or two.

Maastricht is a nice, clean, understated place. Some new modern architecture, particularly the museums along the river. Old buildings, too, and a compact centre. Travel from Maastricht to Amsterdam is easy; there is an InterCity train every half hour which goes direct to Amsterdam Centraal and then goes the last 15 minutes to Haarlem (every other one), all day long every day. It used to operated with the old comfy red seated rolling stock. I haven't used it for a couple of years so don't know if it has been replaced with the newer double decker stock. It takes 2:26, stopping at Sittard, Roermond, Weert, Eindhoven,
's-Hertogenbosch (known locally as den Bosch), Utrecht Centraal and Amsterdam Amstel on the wat to Amsterdam Centraal. Yes, having a friend of a friend is a great incentive and sounds like buckets of fun. Belgian trains are a bit Brussels-centric and the run to Amsterdam might default to Liege-Brussels-Amsterdam. That can be as fast as 2:58 on ICE to Brussels, Thalys (book early or pay a lot) to Amsterdam Centraal with a 15 minute connection at Brussel-Zuid. Or a local train Liege to Maastricht, a 6 minute connection from platform 5a to 3, and then the InterCity mentioned above - 3:05 for that trip. Or you could catch your breath at either connection and go half an hour or an hour later. That's easy in Maastricht because neither train offer or accept reservations. The ICE offers but doesn't require reservations but they are Mandatory on the Thalys, and time specific. Miss it and lose your money. Anyway, this is just to tell you your options - not to paint doom and gloom. Happy planning...

Dear Mary, Although my English is not so good, if I can be of any help, let me know. I'm living in Bruges so I know a lot about the medieval town and it surroundings. The "kusttram" (translation is coastel-train) is like a lighttrain riding from the West-Coast (starts from the city of Knokke - at the holland border) and takes you to the east (city 'De Panne' near the french border). Not all the cities (with city I mean little towns) or worthwile visiting. Some of them are beautifull. Knokke is know for the expensive shops (it's the richest cities in Belgium), "De Haan" for the special houses from around 1900, and so on. It's very easy to take the 'tram' from Bruges. You first take the train (15 minutes) to Ostend. In front of the trainstation you can take de lighttrain in both (east or west) direction. The Atlantic Wall (where you can find some german war bunkers) is in 'Raversijde', therefor you take the direction to the east - De Panne. But one thing more (!) if you are staying in Bruges (ans i don't know how long you want to stay (here), you probably don't want to visit the coast anymore. First of all, April is the early season and a lot of thing are closed during that time. The second thing is : there is more than thing to do and to see in my city. On the other hand, people from Bruges (like I am) are the most pride people in Belgium of there own city.:-) Just to let you know that you have to do what you want to do. Let me know if I can be of any help ... yours, Peter
(I hope I didn't make to many mistakes in this text).

Thanks to everyone for your input. We look forward to a very fun time in Bruges and have a lot of different options as to what to see. Fun, fun, fun.......