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I'm speaking at a conference at the rather lovely University of Gent on 31 Oct (so I might not get back depending on Brexit debacle!). My plan is to go out with my better half the day before and stay till Sunday.
Probably do a day/night in Gent then head back to Brussels. Might do a day trip to Bruges as well. Definitely going Eurostar.
Any recommendations for quirky hotels (ie. non chain) and stuff to do (other than hunt down Trappist beer which only one of us would enjoy...). We've both been to Brussels for work a few times and always fancied spending a few days there.
So any help/ideas much appreciated...
The Natural History Museum in Brussels has an amazing dinosaur exhibit.
Delirium Cafe has hundreds of beers, so not just trappist.
The railway museum in Brussels is also pretty awesome.
The cartoon museum was worth a rainy hour or so and is very central.
Ghent is lovely, amble around, hire a bike and cycle down the river to Oudenaarde, and visit the tour of Flanders museum.
I wouldn’t bother with Brussels or Bruges
Have a pint or two of De Konick in Bierhuis ( at Het Waterhuis), off Kleine Vismarkt
https://goo.gl/maps/hyqmNz9WwSEZRHT98
then have a quick one in't Galgen Huisje, just round the corner
Carry on following the tram lines round to Korenmarkt and have a Flemish Stew at Restaurant Du Progres
Go to Ypres for the Last Post, 8pm at the Menin Gate every night.
The Mariott is a surprisingly nice hotel and not at all what you might expect from the chain. Best location aswell. The castle is worth a look albeit a touristy thing to do, but enjoyable nonetheless. Belga Queen for a pricey meal (ask for table upstairs for the best experience). I'd not bother with Bruges, Ghent is much nicer.
Jan Van Eyck's ‘The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb’ (St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent)
All the nice art is one of the best things about Belgium, along with bikes races, beer and chips with mayonnaise. Beaux-Arts in Brussels well worth a look esp for the Magritte, as is the gallery in Bruges I forget the name but it specialises in Flemish Primitives and is well curated (by that I mean they put a small amount of good stuff up on the walls, as opposed to the Louvre)
The Gravensteen in Gent is great, not because its a castle, but because of the commentary on the headphones as you walk around, hilarious!
Make sure and sit and dangle your legs at the edge of the river and watch the world float by.
Asparagus soup is lovely as are the boiling hot chip cones, Gent is lovely altogether!
Came here to join in with some good suggestions, but realised that I've only ever been to Gent on blokes weekends so my list would pretty much be a list of awesome bars.
The bikeride down the Scheldt, as suggested above is rather nice though, (because there's awesome bars in Oodenarde too!) 😁
Marriott is a great hotel and very bike friendly. They were happy with our road bikes in the bed room. Come spring they said the hotel is full of them!
Definitely recommend a canal boat trip in Ghent, our guide was a genuine history enthusiast and you're going to see things from the water that you just won't notice or necessarily even be able to see just wondering or cycling around.
We stayed at the Hotel Cathedral - quite nice & friendly staff, but nothing massively quirky other than having a weird upstairs bedroom within a bedroom. The kids liked it anyway and the location was very central.
P.S. tricky one to pronounce if you like getting that sort of thing right - the flemish G is softer than the dutch enunciation of G which is very guttural but still has the throaty raspiness. The above canal guide was getting us all to have a go.
Thanks all. Sorry got distracted with work. I’ll make a list and see what we both want to do… some really interesting stuff there so thanks!
Bit of a thread resurrection. I’m an idiot and found the conference is sponsored by Ghent university but is actually taking place in Brussels 😉 We’re still going to do a day trip to Ghent tho.
We’ve bagged a hotel right in the centre of Brussels https://www.thehotel-brussels.be/en/home.html. Any other recommendations. One thing we both want to do is visit Atomium Park. Otherwise we’ll still mulling over the options. Forecast looks okay, so happy to do some walking.
A trip to Oudenaarde taking in Koppenberg Cross on Friday?
In Brussels, there is a very good musical instrument museum. Also the comic book museum was great (and im not even a comic fan).
The old square is nice, and lots of really good cafes there too. Finally, the big city park is also nice if the weathers good.
Eat a lot of pastries. They're fantastic.
If you;re in Ghent, then as ai said above go to Korenmarkt and have a Flemish Stew at Restaurant Du Progres
Pastries? Oh yes. I’m on a starvation diet until Wednesday 🙂
Adding recommendations to my list. Ta.