Brussels,Ghent,Brugge and Antwerp Suggestions?

Do a trip report here....go to another city and want to relate it to what KC is doing right or could do better? Give us a summary in here.
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brewcrew1000
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Brussels,Ghent,Brugge and Antwerp Suggestions?

Post by brewcrew1000 »

Heading there Jan 30-Feb 5 with my wife. I know it will be cold but glad there will be less tourists because I hate crowds.

The plan so far:

Fly into Brussels
First night in Ghent near City Center
2 nights in Brugge (Going to the Brugge Beer Festival)
1 Night in Antwerp - Booked at the Hilton right in the center of town
2 Night in Brussels

Just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for good restaurants, pubs, or romantic walks. Not really into the whole museum thing unless there is a museum that is must see Taking Trains and Buses while we are there.
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Re: Brussels,Ghent,Brugge and Antwerp Suggestions?

Post by phuqueue »

Bruges is incredibly touristy so if you hate crowds you should prepare yourself for that. People think it's really beautiful because the medieval core is well preserved, but for me that was far outweighed by the Disneyland feel of the place. I was there at the height of summer, so winter might be better, although if you're going for a festival it may be just as bad.

I spent a summer working in Brussels a few years back, but unfortunately I was on a shoestring budget so I didn't go out that much, mostly cooked for myself at home, etc. I took day trips to Antwerp and Ghent, but I didn't do anything notable except walk around, so I don't really have any recs for those cities (I did like them both considerably more than Bruges, for what it's worth). I can still muster a few recs for Brussels, though. First I'd say check out Fin de Siècle. There are two restaurants with this name, one is an Italian restaurant in Etterbeek and is not the one you want. The other is a genuine Belgian restaurant in the city center, which is the one you want. They don't have a website, but you can google them. The address is Rue des Chartreux 9, 1000 Bruxelles. Be aware that they don't take reservations, so getting in on a weekend might require a wait, and they don't take credit cards, so bring cash. I only actually ate at one other real Belgian restaurant while I was there, and I don't remember the name or location. Fin de Siècle was great though. This one's not really authentic Belgian, but you can get a decent burger at Houtisplou, which is a little further south of Fin de Siècle and a couple streets over from that main drag (Boulevard Anspach) on Zuidstraat/Rue du Midi. For a quick lunch on the go, I really loved the sandwiches at Le Pain de l'Abbaye (Rue Royale 129). My favorite was the Club, but they're all good. Most of the other places I remember eating at were generic snack shops or like, Ethiopian or Japanese or other non-Belgian cuisines that, while great, are probably not high on your list of food to eat during your two nights in Brussels.

For bars, one that I really enjoyed was Cafe Bizon, which is just around the corner from Fin de Siècle. I also spent a few pretty drunk nights downing whiskey at Lord Byron (presumably they have a full bar, but we only ever went there for whiskey), which is literally across the street from Fin de Siècle (Rue des Chartreux 8). There's also a bunch of bars around Place du Luxembourg, which sits in front of the European Parliament. When we went here we mostly just barhopped, so I don't have a specific place in mind -- they're all pretty interchangeable but it can be a fun spot. I'm having a hard time remembering any of the other bars we frequented -- I can picture them in my mind, I could possibly even still find them if you dropped me in the middle of Brussels, but hell if I can remember their names or find them on a map. There are tons of bars in that same area of the city as Bizon and Byron though, so you'll do fine just wandering around there and popping into whatever looks interesting. One place that is pretty famous, but I never went to myself so I can't recommend it personally, is A la Mort Subite.

I don't really have any romantic walks in mind as far as specific routes through the city, but I can tell you some places you should see. Brussels is a fun city to walk around in, but for being a Western European city that came out of WW2 unscathed, it has a stunning concentration of ugly modern buildings. I would probably just avoid the European Quarter, it's mostly all new, boring construction. The European Commission in particular is a pretty horrible building. There's one caveat though, which is that just beyond the European Quarter lies the Parc du Cinquantenaire, which you might be interested in walking around. The centerpiece of the park is a big archway that is pretty cool. When I was there, I walked through this park on my way to work every day. You should know that construction of the park and archway was financed with cash extracted from the Congo Free State so that you can feel properly guilty for admiring the beauty. It's about a 30 minute walk from the city center to the park, but this will be a mostly uninteresting stroll through the European Quarter; you can alternatively take the Metro, line 1 or 5, and get off at Merode (east side of the park, near the archway) or Schuman (west side of the park, right in the middle of the European institutions).

Obviously the crown jewel of Brussels is Grand Place, which is definitely worth seeing. You can also wander around the backstreets snaking out from there, which are all pretty nice. There are lots of restaurants and bars around here but they tend to be kind of overpriced since it's tourist central. One street over from Grand Place is the Biertempel, which has tons of beers you can buy by the bottle. There's also apparently a location in Bruges. For a similar store that I actually liked more, you can check out Beermania, but it's not quite so centrally located (it's still not that far out of the city center though).

Just east of Grand Place is a big park (I don't actually know what its name is -- its Metro station is Park on lines 1 and 5). The park itself is nice but it's just a park. There's stuff around it worth seeing though. On the south side, it faces the Royal Palace. The east side is basically Brussels' version of Embassy Row, including the US Embassy. The north side is more government buildings, including the Senate. The west side from what I remember is just buildings, nothing noteworthy, but they're at least old, pretty buildings. If you can find a line of sight between the buildings looking west, you're also elevated above the rest of the city, so there can be some decent views. That street that runs down the west side of the park is Rue Royale, and if you go further north you'll come to a big column (Colonne du Congres). Behind it is a square. The square itself is pretty horrible, overgrown with weeds, bounded by buildings that are either abandoned or still under construction -- it's a genuine shithole. However, it does also offer views out over the city which can be nice.

Other sites to check out: the cathedral, which is pretty centrally located just up the street from the Central Station (side note: the main station in Brussels is actually the South Station, Bruxelles-Midi or Brussel-Zuid, but the Central Station is -- as its name would suggest -- the one that is in the city center). The Palais de Justice is a little farther south of most of the other main attractions, but you should check it out. It's the largest building constructed during the 19th century so as you can imagine it's pretty impressive. I like the streets around it a lot too. If you follow Rue Royale south, you'll eventually come to a small square, on the other side of which Rue Royale picks up again under a new name -- just keep going, it'll eventually spit you out right in front of the building.

A little bit outside the city, and frankly probably not worth making the trek to if you're only there for two days -- but it's worth mentioning it anyway -- is Atomium. It's pretty cool, but you can see it from some high spots around the city (eg the overgrown square behind Colonne du Congres, and also from the Palais de Justice); you'll also probably be able to see it from your train as you're leaving Brussels to Bruges/Ghent/Antwerp, or as you're returning; it's to the northwest of the city, so you'll want to sit on the west side of the train to see it out the window. These glimpses are probably sufficient for such a short trip, but if it looks interesting to you, maybe it's worth a visit. I actually did walk out to it when I lived there, which was an all day long affair and much of the walk wasn't very interesting. I would not recommend it for such a short visit, although there are a few cool things along the way. You should probably just ride transit.

Another thing that's kind of far out and so probably not worth visiting is the Basilique de Koekelberg, which I don't even think is a particularly pretty building, but you will also be able to see it from high vantage points and you might wonder what it is. Now you know.

I'm blanking on whether there are any other big landmarks to check out, but for general walking around, I would recommend checking out Saint Gilles, Ixelles, and Etterbeek. There are probably other nice areas, but these are the ones I was most familiar with (I lived in Etterbeek and most of my friends lived in Ixelles -- they're next to each other, so I did a lot of walking around both). The Parc du Cinquantenaire that I recommended above is in Etterbeek, so you might take a walking tour from there, south/southwest through Ixelles and westward into Saint Gilles. Here's a rough example that would take you from the park, through southern Etterbeek and into Ixelles, through Saint Gilles, and ultimately to the Palais de Justice. The route itself is pretty arbitrary except that it's anchored at a few particular points of interest (the park, Place de Flagey [a big square], the Saint Gilles town hall, and then the Palais de Justice). I don't know whether it would qualify as a "romantic walk," but it would definitely give you some good exposure to the general flavor of the city.

Sorry for such a long post, I should probably not be planning your trip for you, I just really love Brussels.
brewcrew1000
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Re: Brussels,Ghent,Brugge and Antwerp Suggestions?

Post by brewcrew1000 »

Thanks for the Suggestion. You have renewed my faith in Brussels, i have heard some really mixed reviews on Brussels saying that its a pretty dull and boring city. We were almost thinking about skipping it all together. For hotels, i am going to try to avoid anything near the European Quarter
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Re: Brussels,Ghent,Brugge and Antwerp Suggestions?

Post by phuqueue »

I will say that I visited Brussels as a tourist a couple years before I lived there and I was kind of underwhelmed -- didn't find it dull or boring exactly, but it just isn't a great tourist city. It's generally not as beautiful as a lot of other cities because of all the new construction, but the new construction isn't even very interesting like in, say, Berlin. But there's still plenty of old, nice buildings to see. It also has a really unique vibe since everybody there is from everywhere (at the office where I worked, we only had two native Belgians). After living there for a few months I really grew to love it. I have a friend who just visited for the first time and didn't like it that much, but I still think it's a great city and deserves a fair shot. Hope you enjoy it.
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Re: Brussels,Ghent,Brugge and Antwerp Suggestions?

Post by moderne »

Since the talks about Belgique splitting in two, the center of action seems to have shifted to the Flemish side---Antwerp. Don't miss the Museum ann de Stroom(museum on the river).
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Re: Brussels,Ghent,Brugge and Antwerp Suggestions?

Post by im2kull »

When is your trip to Belgium? Have you thought about traveling outside of the country and visiting a few other nearby places? Bastogne and Luxembourg are both must see places, IMO. Luxembourg City especially!

Not sure if anyone's mentioned it but if you're going to be in Brussels you HAVE to walk through the Grand Place area and take in all the sights. The restaurant scene in that area is quite unique, with competing restaurants tucked door to door with each other. They pretty much all offer the same food, which makes the competition even more fun to watch. The atonium is a neat thing that I would have to say is a must see for any architecture geek, and I have found the parks around it to be a highly scenic relaxing spot perfect for spending time with your significant other. There's acres upon acres of open park there, and it's not busy at all.

Don't forget about the little peeing man statue..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis
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Re: Brussels,Ghent,Brugge and Antwerp Suggestions?

Post by Highlander »

im2kull wrote:When is your trip to Belgium? Have you thought about traveling outside of the country and visiting a few other nearby places? Bastogne and Luxembourg are both must see places, IMO. Luxembourg City especially!

Not sure if anyone's mentioned it but if you're going to be in Brussels you HAVE to walk through the Grand Place area and take in all the sights. The restaurant scene in that area is quite unique, with competing restaurants tucked door to door with each other. They pretty much all offer the same food, which makes the competition even more fun to watch. The atonium is a neat thing that I would have to say is a must see for any architecture geek, and I have found the parks around it to be a highly scenic relaxing spot perfect for spending time with your significant other. There's acres upon acres of open park there, and it's not busy at all.

Don't forget about the little peeing man statue..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis
Bastogne and the Ardenne are pretty interesting places but mostly to those of with an interest in WWII history. After watching Band of Brothers, my daughter really wanted to go to Bastogne so we included it on a trip that went from Amsterdam through Belgium, through the Moselle valley to Koblenz and, ultimately, Dusseldorf. It's actually a nice town that kind of plays up its BotB history but is worth seeing just on its own accord and the beauty of the surrounding countryside. The foxholes that were occupied by the 101st outside of Foy are still there. Pretty good battle of the bulge museum and there's a poignant US cemetery/memorial located just outside the city.

Brussels is a cool place and it does have a pretty good restaurant AND Beer scene if you like Belgium beer, we had a great time heading to different cafes for the beers. I'm not a fan of mussels and chips though. Luxembourg is also worth the trip - again, the countryside is beautiful.
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