Day trips in Belgium/Netherlands
 

I need advice on the following:

I will be staying for 11Days in Mechelen, Belgium with my family (personal business). We will have a hotel room there for the duration ( and a car)
My first 6 days are set as follows:
1.Brussels 2 days 2. Brugge 2 days 3. Antwerpen 1 day 4. Ghent 1 day

The remaining 5 days are a clean slate. I have the following possibilities for daily outings
(I assume I can go anywhere with a car within 1,5 hour drive one way):
Ostende, Namur, Mons, Tournai, Liege, Rochefort
Lille, Vallencienne, Givet
Zeeland, Towns of Noord Brabant ( Breda, Den Bosch), Dordrecht, Maastricht.
( In previous years I have seen Amsterdam and Hague; besides these destinations are toofar for day tripping from Mechelen.
QUESTION: Which destinations should I bother with and which ones should I forget about.
THANK YOU

Out of your list of cities/towns, the only one I can recommend is Maastricht, which is a compact medieval city that is definitely worth visiting.

Not on your list, but worth visiting, IMO... Just a little bit further south of Namur is Dinant, which is the birthplace of Adolph Sax, inventor of the saxophone. Dinant is a narrow little town built along a river bank, at the foot of a huge cliff, upon which a massive citadel sits, perched above the town. You can ride a funicular to the top and tour the citadel. The town of Dinant has a very interesting and tragic history.

Where ever you decide to go, have a great journey...

Robyn :)>-

It would help to know what your interests are ... historical sites, nature, food, museums, shopping, or just general sightseeing/tourist attractions?

I'm partial to Maastricht since it has a bit of everything. If you really wanted to, you could squeeze in Liege since it's nearby, but I think you could easily fill a day by visiting Maastricht alone.

Den Bosch is nice but I find there's more to do in Maastricht. I didn't find Breda very interesting.

I'm sorry. I don't understand your post. You have a place to stay and you are doing all these as day trips? Or you are overnighting in these places?

I agree with others about needing to know your interests. For me, I would spend 1 day Brussels, 1 day Brugge, and spend the rest of my time in Antwerpen and Gent.

I'm going to throw out a day trip suggestion you haven't mentioned - Ypres - which was one of my favourite day trips from Brussels. I thought the In Flanders Field Museum there was outstanding and very moving. You can also drive around the Ypres Salient to see some of the WWI cemeteries and memorials.

Thanks for inputs. No overnights are intended in any of these places. Always a return to sleep in Mechelen.
As far as interests are involved, I am looking for a lively, walkable place with some quirkiness and alot of ambiance.
As far as museums, I figure that I will get my share of these in the big four, i.e. Brussels, Brugge, Antwerpen, Ghent.
A friend of mine also mentioned just an hour ago about three places: Heuseden, Middelburg, Gouda.

I always like to go to Waterloo..it's not more than a few hours stop but I enjoy seeing the museum. There are also some nice chateaus to tour near there...just a thought.

I'm not sure about driving times, but I would think Gouda is outside of your 1 1/2 hour one-way drive time radius from Mechelen. That said... I love this little town, with its fairy-tale like Stadhuis, and the wonderful St. Janskerk with its magnificent collection of stained glass windows depicting the standard bible stories as well as historical events of the region. It's a small compact town which could easily be done in a few hours.

Robyn :)>-