Antwerp or Bruges?
 

Traveling with my 22-year old daughter who's never been to Europe. After spending three days in Amsterdam, we'll be taking the train to Paris. On the way I'd like to stop for one day & night in either Antwerp or Bruges.

Would appreciate any advice on which city to see. We both love great architecture, music, fashion, beer & good food. We'll only have one afternoon & evening there.

Also...what would be the best train to take to Paris? Thanks so much!

One day and one night? Bruges.

Thanks, sparkchaser! What are your "must-see" sights in Bruges?

And any particular hotels/restaurants you'd recommend?

My hotel budget is "2-star" -- meaning located near the city center (we are walking or taking public trans), clean, safe, private bath a must...and not far from the major sights. No elevator, big lobbies or fancy little soaps necessary. :)

And we're very open to any kind of cuisine.

Do the brewery tour at Brouwerij De Halve Maan.

Get your drink on at De Kelk.

Eat at Oud Handbogenhof or Pieter Pourbus.

Before you leave for your trip, if you have not yet seen it, watch "In Bruges".

thanks so much!

You really can't compare the two. If your daughter is seriously interested in fashion, then of course Antwerp. Good food? Antwerp. Architecture? Antwerp. Convenient for the train to Paris? Antwerp.

If you want to visit a charming well preserved old small city (albeit overrun with tourists) - then Brugge, but that is not what you asked for.

For train to Paris you can book the Thalys - the earlier you book the better. Or there's an intercity which is less expensive but takes much longer.

Thalys Antwerp-Paris takes 2 hours. There's also a direct Thalys from Brugge, but less frequent and it takes longer (only once a day I think, early in the morning). From Brugge look into the train to Lille and transfer there for Paris.
www.thalys.com or www.be-europe.com for regular trains.

I would definitely say Bruges for an incomparable experience in a beautiful well preserved historic town. The trains in Belgium are very good, so getting to Paris from either is easy. If you go to Antwerp, eat at Zuiderterrasse, an excellent restaurant overlooking the harbor.

For the average tourist Bruges for sure - I ran thousands of folks thru both cities on group tours and it was near unanimous that they thought Bruges was so so romantic - especially at night after the day bus groups had gone and all the humpbacked white wooden bridges and ancient Flemish warehouse facades standing silent sentinel tto the day's when Bruges was one of the world's richest cities and largest ports.

When the port silted up the ships went to Antwerp instead, still one of the world's largest ports.

Antwerp is cool but it is a big big city in feel - most will find smaller older looking Bruges more their cup of tea.

as for trains to Bruges take either the Thalys train (or Fyra) from Amsterdam to Angtwerp Centraal station and change to a IC train to Bruges - takes about 3.5 hours or less all told. You can also take a regular IC train Amsterdam to Antwerp that may be cheaper but can take an hour longer to Antwerp.

For Paris there are two routes from Bruges - my favorite goes via Lille Flandres station by local train from Bruges then French TGV to Paris-Gare du Nord - about 2.5 hours all told.

You can also take a local train to Brussels and hook up with the Thalys train to Gare du Nord but that could be muchmore expensive if you did not get one of the limited in number discounted tickets that must be booked weeks in advance - the Lille route even at full fare is not that expensive and you can get Lille to Paris discounts too at www.voyages-sncf.com or www.capitainetrain.com - same fares and trains just different booking enging.

If deciding on Antwerp then it is only the Thalys train from there to Paris that is a viable option. www.thalys.com has some really nice discounted fares - from 29 or 39 euros Antwerp or Brussels to Paris.

For lots on trains in these countries check out these IMO superb sites - www.seat61.com - good tips on discounted tickets); www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Again on either route to Paris itself from either Lille or Angtwerp or Brussels you can save a ton by booking very early but those tickets are train-specific and non-changeble nonrefundable. Caveat emptor!

How about doing both Angtwerp and Bruges? When changing trains in Antwerpen Centraal station - one of the gloriest Beaux Arts motifed train stations in all of Europe IMO - at least get out of the station and take a look at it outside and in - but put your bags in a station locker and bop around Antwerp for a few hours - the station is smack in the town center and then move on for the night and all next day in Bruges - one day is certainly enough for compact Bruges' historical city center.

Here are photos of both:

http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/belgium

I'd choose Antwerp in a heartbeat.

Thanks so very much to everyone for your generous and extremely helpful advice! I'm going through all the suggested hotels this weekend and will post when I have my finalists.

FYI, we will be in Amsterdam, Bruges/Antwerp the first week in August, then onto Paris during our second week. I'm guessing it's going to be quite hot...and very crowded...

BTW, Everyone's train info is AWESOME!!!! Thank you, thank you, kind travelers.

Isabel, thank you for the photos. StCirq, why Antwerp "in a hearbeat?"

and PalenQ i love your idea about squeezing both cities in. :) we are both HUGE walkers and love putting some serious mileage on our walking shoes.

With gratitude,
Barb

Antwerp is not necessarily crowded in early August - many locals will be on holiday.

From the beautiful central station, it's a short walk to the Groenplaats and Markt, in the old center. Visit the Fashion Museum if your daughter is interested, in the Nationale Straat. In August there's an exhibition called 'Birds of Paradise'. There are some interesting shops in that area (Nationale Straat, Kammenstraat).

If you are interested in modern architecture, visit the MAS museum; beautiful view from the top of the building.

I know most tourists will choose Brugge over Antwerp, but in early August, and with a 22-year old daughter, I would go for Antwerp. I live near Antwerp, and have daughters that age - they find Brugge boring.

Maybe spend the day in Antwerp, and train to Brugge in the late afternoon to spend the night there. It's better once the tour groups have left in the evening and you can enjoy its beauty on a (hopefully) nice summer evening.

two cities with completely different looks and feel - one a huge city feel other a smaller town though it ain't - you can't go wrong - for more than one day I would take Antwerp as there is so much to see there - like cogels Osylei - a wonderful street of art nouveau turn of the century facades and Middleheim, one of Europe's finest outdoor statue parks plus the old warehouses lining the old port, world-class art museums and even an Amsterdamesque Red-Light Disrict north of the old town center.

http://www.spottedbylocals.com/antwerp/cogels-osylei/

While Antwerpen IS much bigger than Brugge, I would not say it has a "big city feel" as in Paris vs some small town in Provence.
With only very little time to play with, Antwerpen has many advantages as it is on the Amsterdam- Brussel - Paris highspeed line. So you do not lose time connecting to and from elsewhere.
Right at Antwerpen Centraal station you find many hotels of different price categories so once you got off the train, you could get rid of your luggage and were out exploring few minutes later without much ado.
The main pedestrian street leads from the station to the historic center with loads of shops.
The MAS museum is great, as tulips said.
There are tons of nice restaurants, quirky pubs etc in the historic center. I know many people from Brussels who go there for a night out as it is so lively, diverse (and not so touristy). Actually, I often stay there when I need to go to Brussels as the overall feeling of the city is so nice as in historic but also vibrant. And the hotels often have much better rates or better value for money than in Brussels or Brugge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQLCZOG202k

Historic Flash Mob in Antwerp Central Station - see how ornate the station is - patterned stone floor, etc. Great great show - ignore first commercials - this video is a treat.

What Cowboy said...Bruges was incredible 25 years ago. Now it's become Disneyesque, IMO, though still small and incredibly picturesque. Another Rick Steves casualty to some extent. Most North Americans won't have Antwerp on their radar, and not having an incredibly lovely, lively place on the radar says "Go there!" to me. Brilliant city, better value, great eats, good fashion, no groups with the tour guide with the umbrella.

Everyone flocks to Bruges. Go to Antwerp.

I found Bruges very touristy, as expected, but I still loved it. It's a pretty town with beautiful canals and neat buildings. And it is possible to get away from the tourists.

Rick Steves raves (in his Belgium snapshot guide) about how hip Antwerp has become, but I didn't care for the town much at all. I visited in May and the seemed dead, like it was off season or something. I did enjoy the Ruebens House (even though I generally don't care for museums), but I found the rest of the town just not very interesting or attractive, except for a few squares, the cathedral area, etc. The waterfront is mostly pretty ugly.

Ditto what Andrew said. Go to Brugge! Loved it.

It's not that Brugge was not a picture-perfect town or that it would not score massively on the quaintness richter scale.
Brugge just does not tick too many boxes when you re-visit OP's own criteria.

Brugge has nothing to offer with regard to fashion while Antwerpen is a global hotspot.

Beer and food and music is available in both places, though Antwerpen has a wider range of options. Actually it's at least two leagues above Brugge.

Architecture is apples and oranges:
Brugge is the picture-perfect and sanitized version of an old Flemish town.
Obviously all buildings in the historic city center are from the same period.
If this is something that stirs your interest, then Brugge is your place.
Antwerpen is a mixed bag of a historic city center (though not as perfectly in appearance as Brugge), the extra-ordinaire Art Nouveau neighborhood that Pal mentioned in Berchem, and 21st century landmark buildings.
So it depends on what OP meant with "great architecture".

If you are looking for a good recently built hotel, Bruges has an Ibis and a Novotel, both within a reasonable walking distance from the station, and only a few minutes from the centre of Brugges.

I would pick Antwerp given your stated interests. Brugge is a beautiful preserved town that is a favorite on this Europe forum but I think Antwerp would appeal more to a young adult

A few things to see in Antwerp not mentioned before are
the Museum Plantin-Moretus and the Museum Mayer van den Bergh. The first is a fascinating 33-room museum showing the home and printing plant of a family who ran a major publishing house for several centuries, beginning in 1576. The second contains a large and impressive collection of paintings, sculpture, stained glass, tapestries and manuscripts amassed by an art connoisseur in the 19th century. The highlights are two works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, a set of miniatures illustrating Twelve Proverbs and a major work, Dulle Griet, (referred to in English as "Mad Meg") showing a woman wearing a helmet and breastplate and carrying a sword and cooking implements, striding across a battle field.

Since you are interested in architecture you also may want to check out the Grand Cafe Horta which is built with parts of Horta's Maison du Peuple. The Maison was a major building torn down in Brussels in 1965 despite international protests.

We visited Antwerp on a long day trip from Brussels a few years ago. We thought that if we go back we would try an inviting-looking B & B in the old part of the city very near the cathedral, Le Patio. It has good reviews on TA but I have no first hand knowledge.

With such a short time in Belgium you won't even begin to explore all the great beers. Here is a link to a thread with suggestions on beers to try before our trip
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...mendations.cfm

https://www.google.com/search?q=antw...bih=1075&dpr=1

Well here is something TMK Bruges don't have - window shopping like this in Angtwerp - will turn off some will be a must see for others - next to Amsterdam the 'nicest' (or 'most revolting') redlight district in Benenlux - well I guess along with Brussels - strung out along the train tracks just past Gare du Nord.

antwerp also has the world's largest commercial diamond industry I believe - where gems are processed and of course sold - no deals there I believe but to tour the diamond centers is rather interesting - Orthodox Jewish folks dressed in black garb with beards and all dominate the trade as they have for centuries - diamond factories can be found right opposite the main train station.

Thanks to everyone for all the great advice and information. After much thought, we decided to see Bruges. The overriding reason is that we're going to see several large cities during our trip, and Bruges seems to have a distinctly different look and feel. Plus, the idea of seeing a fully-preserved historic Flemish town, touristy or not, is very appealing to us. But it was a tough call! Thanks again!

You could at least stop in Antwerpen for a few hours look - whet your appetite for a future come back! You have to change trains there anyway. At least look around the grand train station if you have any time between trains.

Yes, you could even try to fit in a quick visit to the Rubens House (little art museum) which is barely a 15 minute easy walk from the station. (Show them your train ticket when you buy it, the museum offers a discount for people who show a valid train ticket at admission!)

PalenQ and Andrew...agreed! we will absolutely plan out 4 hours or so for a look around Antwerp. You're right...who knows when/if we'll ever be there again. It was such a tough call to decide between the two places, so this is a great idea. Thanks!

My 40-something daughter and I are planning a bike trip through Holland and northern edge of Belgium in early April. I am in my 70's and never have done a bike trip before, but I am willing and able(I hope). Planning on doing about 20 miles a day, unescorted. We will start in Amsterdam and end in Bruges, or else in reverse. I am thinking it would be a good idea to take the train one direction, so I appreciated reading all your good tips on how to do that. Is it possible to take a bike on these trains. If so, we will probably rent in Amsterdam and bring bikes with us. I like the idea of stopping in Antwerp, since that is on the train route. Do you think this trip sounds reasonable. If anyone has any suggestions, please let us know as we are still in the planning stage. A major part of our trip is to go through Zeeland, Nord -Beveland in particular, where our Verschuur ancestors are from.

Having biked around Holland for many years in my younger days I would advise planning any bike route going from west to east and south to north as winds often IME blow in that direction off the sea - and man can they blow - worse than climbing Alpe d' Huez in the Tour de France at times.

In Holland you must buy a Fiets ticket at about 10 euros or a bit less and then you can put your bike in the special marked bicycle (Fiets) compartment on many trains but not all (like Thalys I believe).

Thanks, PalenQ for advise on direction of travel. I will plan to take train to Bruge first and bike north to Amsterdam. Maybe we will get a little push from the wind. Is it feasible to bike across the western edge of Zeeland with help of ferries and bridges? I notice there aren't any guided trips that go that way.

Carol, maybe you can rent a bike with electronic assistance. The land is flat, but with little cover from wind, it can be tough cycling in Zeeland. The little motor kicks in when it becomes hard to cycle on your own. Many older people here (I live near Antwerp)use one.

I'm sure there will be options for bikes to get across western Zeeland; the ferries will certainly take them.
A bit further east, you can even cycle over the (very long) Zeelandbrug.
http://www.routeyou.com/location/bik...fietsroutes.nl

I will plan to take train to Bruge first and bike north to Amsterdam.>

Fromn Bruge head north and hop the frequent ferries to the Middleburg area - then over land to Rotterdam - hit the famous Kinderdijk Windmills area - best seen by bike as you can ride bikes ride thru the few miles of them- take a ferry from Rotterdam or bike up to Krimpen

then head to Gouda - fine old town

and onto Amsterdam.

Helmets are still I believe relatively a phenomenon in use so bring your own - many rentals may not have them - though this may have changed recently - Tulips?

Helmets not required in the Netherlands or Belgium. Most recreational cyclists do not wear them - only people who are mountainbiking or racing use them, generally.

If you are planning to end in Brugge - there's a ferry Vlissingen - Breskens that is only for cyclists and pedestrians. From there to Sluis (Knokke if you have time) Damme and Brugge. You've probably booked your hotels, but hotel Dikke van Dale in Sluis is nice (looks nice, anyway, I have not stayed there).

Interesting cycling trip - have fun!

Helmets not required in the Netherlands or Belgium. Most recreational cyclists do not wear them - only people who are mountainbiking or racing use them, generally.>

Though not a law here in my state kids under their family's supervision all wear bike helmets - weird that skateboarders generally do not and what they do is much more dangerous than biking.

The efficacy of bike helmets in general has been drawn into question - seems they may give more of a false confidence than any protection of any meaningful sorts - though I am not sure of that just what I read.

I always wonder why the Dutch, on what I call their Dutch tanks, never wear helmets?

Antwerp, of course! The city has much more to offer than touristy Brugge (which is nice, but for tourists only).
Watch the video on
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/17541/Het-l...ofilmpje.dhtml

TIL Brugge is only for tourists.

Bruges is only for tourists shows that someone has not really looked around Bruges that mucjh - I have spend weeks in that city on business and there are very real parts of a very real town - a regional town for shopping - it's pedestrian shopping street is like any in any Flemish town - the Markt area, a relatively small area of town, is full of tourists.

But Bruges is a real city IME as well though many tourists don't go there and gravitate to the Lace Shops and the Markt area.

gobarbgo--If you do spend time in Antwerp near the station and Rubens House, the Cafe Grand Horta is right near the latter. As I mentioned it is designed using elements of Horta's Maison du Peuple