My wife and I are thinking of visiting Brugge this year and are looking for some tips on where to head to from Brugge.....say a couple of hour train trip?
Ghent is also an interesting place to visit. There's probably no good reason to visit both Ghent and Antwerp, but either one makes a good day trip.
Oostende is kind of neat. Windy North sea, cute pedestrian downtown area, miles long boardwalk, sand dunes and old WW2 gun emplacements. It is only about a 15 min. ride from Brugge and costs about 3 € I think.
Antwerp is another nice possibility. Quite a lot of things to see there and a charming city too.
You can get a 1/2 day trip to Damme which is fun. They drive you out to Damme in a bus and you return on a paddlewheeler on the canal.
If you are up for an easy, flat bike ride, you can bike to Sluis, Netherlands in about an hour and a half. There is a wonderful windmill in Sluis that is generally open to look inside and off the deck for about 2 euros. Then you can stop in Damme, Belgium on the way back for lunch and try the local beer, Pater Van Damme.
The ride is easy, the countryside is beautiful, and you will be on a bike like the locals.
Here are some pictures of when we took this ride:
http://greetingsfrommattandlaura.blogspot.com/2008/09/where-was-border.html
Laura
My 9 year old son and I went to Einkhuisen to the Zuiderzee open air museum was fabulous. had to take a ferry to get to it at the end of the train line. website is
http://www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl/?language=en
was well worth the trip
enjoy