Brussels Travel Forum

I am traveling in June to Belgium and Paris. In Belgium I would like to see Brugge, Ghent, Brussels, and possibly Antwerp in 4.5 days. After that we are traveling to Paris for 8 days. Here comes the questions.

1. If you had 1 extra day would you A) Stay in Belgium B) Add it to Paris C) Stay in Lille, Fr?
2. Is one day in each city enough? if not, which ones need 2 days?
3. In order what are your favorite cities?
4. I don't want to stay in more than 2 cities while in Belgium, Brugge being one of them. Where should I base myself the other 2 days Brussels or Ghent?
5. If your answer is Ghent for #3...how would you get there from Grande Palace in Brussels?

I know there are many questions and I'm sorry. I just REALLY need help. Copy and pasting is fine for answers if that is easier. (: If you need to know what my interested are to answer the above: Photography, shopping, art, food, and architecture. I appreciate any and all help.

1) Paris or Belgium. Lille has no attraction to me.
2) Just keep one day in reserve and use it for whatever city in Belgium you think warrants a second day after you've spent one. Or go to another place. Leuven is a visit worth too.
3) My favorite would be Gent, but I'm biased as I lived there for three years :-)
4) I'd stay in Brugge and Antwerpen.
5) Getting from Grand Place in Brussel to anywhere in Belgium is easy. Grand Place (and most other tourist attractions) in Brussel is near the Central Station, where all domestic IC trains passing through Brussel stop. From there you have trains at least twice an hour to Gent, Brugge and Antwerpen. Trains in Belgium are fast, frequent and cheap, so you can easily stay in one place and visit all the others on daytrips. Trains can be a bit crowded during rush hour, so better avoid these.

1. Since you would otherwise be visiting 4 Belgian cities in 4.5 days, and already have 8 days for 1 French one, A) Stay in Belgium.
2. Brussels needs at least 2, if (since you like art) you want to visit museums as well as see the city
3. Answered on Tripadvisor
4. Brussels
5. I would suggest you learn to distinguish between the words Place (= Square) and Palace or else you are not going to understand any directions you are given. You can get trains to Ghent from Gare du Midi, Gare centrale (near the Grand' Place) or Gare du Nord.

I fixed my "palace" to "place" this time. (; That's what you get working 10 hour days and reading your Belgium book as fast as you can.

I would have to say that Ghent is my favorite place and I say this due to the fact that Brugge is more touristy. Ghent still has the medievil flavor but not quite as many people. You can do both in one if you wanted...they are very close to one another. Have fun in both.

1. Stay in Belgium - Lille is not worth a detour. And you have 8 days in Paris.

2. One day is enough for Brugge and Ghent.

3. Brugge is pretty, very well preserved, has a great Hans Memling museum. Ghent's centre is even more impressive-looking, and contains the greatest work of art (IMO) that you will see in Belgium: the Van Eyck altarpiece. Antwerp is great for fashion - Nationalestraat is home to van Noten, Demeulemeester, Yamamoto, the Fashion museum. They've also done something extraordinary with the old belle-epoque train station...

Brussels is the least attractive of these towns (I say that as someone who's lived there for 12 years). The town centre and several other areas were ripped out to make way for boring modernist boxes. I'd see the Grand Place, have a beer at the Mort Subite, worship at the Fall of Icarus in the Beaux-Arts, and then get out. The food in Belgium is generally very good.

I would certainly not add the extra day to Paris or northern France. A whole week in Paris is enough and there is much more to see in the Belgian towns you mentioned. Make a selection of the things you want to see/do for sure in the different cities (museums, interesting places,...) and I'm sure you can combine them easely. With a rented car or public transport everything is close to each other in Belgium. But after all, do not forget Antwerp on your way, or one day you have to come back...:-)

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ghent(gent is the best).ue will enjoy ur time there.i love this city.