Day Trips from Brussels
 

My boyfriend and I are going to be staying with his extended family for a week in Brussels in June. We are interested in 2 or 3 day trips from the area. One we feel pretty sure on is Brugge but were curious about what other people found good daytrips to be. Liege? Maastricht? Probably the trip transport needs to be bus or train, as we are in our early 20s and can't rent a car without outrageous rates. We prefer scenery/castles/wandering around to museums and are on a somewhat, but not totally, restricted budget.

Hi Lizzy,

In Belgium busses are mostly used for inner city travel and travel between small communities, if you want to make day trips you can use the cheap and extended train network. Other cities you might like are Ghent, Antwerp, Namur, Dinant, etc. Check this forum and you will find a lot of information.

Have a nice trip!

On the way to Brugge, you can stop over in Ghent. Antwerp is also worth seeing. Taking the train is convenient - and if you can time your daytrips, do them on weekends. The Belgian Railways offer 50% off roundtrips on weekends.

I'm a huge fan of Antwerp, which I found much more interesting than Brugge, although Brugge is quite pretty.

I wouldn't try to do Antwerp, Ghent and Brugge in one day, however, unless you can afford an overnight in Brugge.

When I was in Paris I took a day trip to Brussels, so I imagine the opposite must be true? You will have a wonderful time!

Agree that Amsterdam and Paris are both doable as day trips from Brussels. I can tell you that we just spent 7 days in Paris and 2 in Brugge and loved Paris, but really, really loved Brugge. While there, our host suggested
that a bike trip from Brugge to the coast is a very fun part-day outing.
Hold that thought. Now the other interesting note is that for young people the Belgian rail system has a cheap 3-day pass ( the extended family can confirm this) which is good for unlimited travel in Belgium only and any border town. Such a discount may not be available for France or Holland. So if budget is a problem, consider one day in Brugge, back to Brussels for the evening, then next morning, back to Brugge for a bike outing. While in Brugge, the shopping is fantastic, and there is a neat beer museum, and the 30 min canal boat ride and the climb to the top of the church Belfry are highly recommended.