I really cannot believe that people spend one day in a city and then pronounce it boring. How can you tell after one day?

Brugge is very pretty, but if JoeTro is a city person, he might enjoy Antwerp more as a daytrip.

Michael; the art nouveau architect is Horta. I think the house is the Solvay house, though I haven't visited.

I just thought of the architect's name: Horta.

I lived there for five years, just left there last month, and NEVER found it boring. As for the food scene, it most certainly is NOT over-rated. It has the best selection of moderately priced restaurants serving excellent food in attractive settings in Europe. There are always good new restaurants opening--Sister Act and Notos are two of the latest. You have to make the effort to get away from the Grand'Place and/or the old corporate standbys.
Nor does it roll up at night. It has quite a lively nightlife scene--IF you know where to go. Our friends in their 20s and early 30s are always out at nightclubs and parties. The idea that one has to go to Antwerp to find decent nightlife is ridiculous.
I just got back from another week-end in Brussels. I had a great time, ate some great food, enjoyed myself thoroughly.
People are free to dislike Brussels, but to say that it has nothing to do, an over-rated food scene, no nightlife, etc., etc., well that's just plain false.

Horta's house is on rue Americaine in Ixelles.

Tallulah, Brussels as expensive as London? What drugs are you on?? It most certainly is NOT anywhere nearly as expensive as London. You can stay in well located 4 star hotels for under 100 euros (without going the Priceline route), eat excellent food (for crying out loud, which restaurants have you been eating at) for half of what you'd pay in London. Please tell me which 4 star hotels in central London have rooms available on a regular basis for less than £70 a night.

Who would have thought Brussels would have so much love/hate going on about it ! Actually, I have never heard that it is boring.
I was hoping during this trip to Paris, to take the Thalys and spend a day in Brussels. There is certainly enough to do and then there is the chocolate~ ((F))

Scarlett, I once did a day trip. I took the train from Paris.

Hi Mimi,
I think that is a great idea..( even if it was my idea:)

I don´t think Brussels is boring but except for the Grand Place it´s a very ugly city.

Face facts: some people think everywhere is "boring" when they aren't "getting" what they still think they deserve.

I found Brussels to be very interesting and i didn't think the food was "overrated" either..but to each their own.

neither boring or ugly!
Brussels is very chic-aristocratically looking, the Grand Place is very pretty and all the cafes around the area are nice and make it very enjoylabe.The city is not hip or known for the loud and stravagant clubs
that's why people think is boring,but the museums are great, the people are friendly, food is excellent and it has very shopping than Paris... if ypu know where to go.
I would do Brugges rather than Antwerp,
it just different and beautiful-
Antwerp only really has the church with the Rubens and the grand place, the Rubens house and not much more that you could not see in any other city... still beautiful do.

The very controversy this has generated makes me glad we have chosen Belgium for our next trip. :)

There is no comparison between Antwerpen and Brugge-one is a living, lively CITY, with great shops, restaurants, things to see, things to do-great energy, great vibe (and I have even more praise for GHENT-which has got all this, and even more charm-a castle with a moat, right in the heart of the city).

The other-Brugge/Bruges-a pretty, quiet, lifeless town-ossified, stuck in its medieval one-theme note. If you like these type of ossified places, you'll like Brugge, but if you like real cities with many things to choose from, you'll go to Antwerpen/Ghent.

As far as Brussels-it too, is a one-note town, the seat of the European Union institutions. The Grand Place is spectacular, but as a whole it's not particularly interesting. I find it not dissimilar to Washington DC in that it is a temple of bureaucracy that tends to fold at night (although DC is actually getting to be rather hip these days).

I go to Brussels a lot, but to visit my friends who live in the area, not because I'm enamored of being there.

P.S. Read our Fodor's poster MK2's review of Antwerp in the new Fodor's 2006 guide to Belgium, at the beginning of the "Antwerp" chapter. He/she puts his/her stamp of approval on the city!

As I was the OP, I can say that I enjoyed my time in Belgium, though it's not my favorite country or anything.

Calling Brussels a one-note town is a gross oversimplification. We have many friends in Brussels and not one works for an EU institution. They're in high tech, publishing, healthcare, advertising, real estate, interior design...
As for Bruges being ossified, it may look and feel that way for short term, superficial visits. But once you get to know the area outside the tourist core, you'll find it's got some spots that are quite hopping and very, very FAR from lifeless. The locals, however, try to keep those bits to themselves ;-)

BTilke-
Most opinions are generalizations and or "gross simplications" as you put it, so that's not really saying much of anything-one distinguishing factor however is much time you've spent in the area -whether opinions are formed from a few superficial visits or are the impressions based on a deeper connection to the area, by living or working there.

Since I've lived, worked in Brussels for brief periods, continue to have business connections to the city, as well as spent time there steadily for 15 years, I think I can pretty much speak with some knowledge on what I feel Brussels is or is not, and what Bruges is or is not (and the latter IS mostly not).

If you disagree, that's what this forum is all about, but it certainly does not make YOUR opinions about Brussels more right than others (much as you might think to the contrary).

And although I too, know many many people who don't work for the EU (including my best friends, and where I formerly worked) I stand by what I said: Brussels is esentially a one-note town for the EU and other govermental institutions, and the businesses that serve those institutions.

To be quite honest, I've never heard any ex-pats I know in Brussels (both Americans and other Europeans) describe it otherwise!

Spygirl: Whatever. Everytime you critize Brussels, *you* make a point of talking about having lived there (without saying when that was). I'm basing my views on first-hand experience of living there (part-time) *now*. However, opinions aside, it's FACTUALLY incorrect that Brussels rolls up its streets at night. It has many clubs and lots of parties. There is far more going on after dark than you give it credit for--just why ARE you so bent on pushing that claim over and over? Our single and young married friends who live IN the city (rather than out in the family-oriented commuter suburbs) are out dancing and partying every week-end and many weeknights without the slightest need to go to Antwerp or Ghent to find something to do.
As I've said before, nobody has to like Brussels. But to claim it has no nightlife is just plain false. Period.

While some of those factors may be interesting, this is a travel forum and people are usually asking questions about visiting a place, not to move there. Nightlife isn't really that important to most people posting on here, I don't think, although there are always some who may care. And whether Bruges is a wonderful swinging place out in the burbs for locals who live there is pretty irrelevant for tourists, also.

Perhaps, but to imply that there's little to see or do beyond the Grand'Place IS relevant, especially when it's simply not true.

I can just imagine what those men in Brussels say about some of the visiting women who show up looking for something they have absolutely no chance of getting!