Hi -
I will be living in Maastricht for a few months and am looking for advice on day and weekend trips outside of the city. I'm anxious to take advantage of this locale. Any recommendations you have with specifics would be great! Thanks!

Obviously Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges and even Paris are just a few hours away by train or car.

Closer is Aachen with its famous Cathedral (but IMO dud town), Cologne and its fantastic Cathedral and pleasant Rhine-side setting

With a car investigate the Mosel Valley - drive thru Luxembourg - one of the most bucolic countries in Europe IMO to Trier - known for its stunning Roman Ruins and follow Mosel River thru numerous wine towns. The Mosel is IMO one

In addition to PalenQ's suggestions Brussels is an easy day trip from Maastricht.
The Ardennes are also a day trip, though they merit longer, you could combine them with Luxembourg.
Just exploring the Limburg countryside is worthwhile. There are many lovely villages and plenty of areas to walk and enjoy the countryside.
Eben Email is an interesting WW2 fort not far away. A trip along the river is also an idea.
Go to the Drielandenpunt, stand in Belgium, Germany and Holland in one place, explore the maze there too. Good childish fun!

Can I recommend the Sukhothai Thai restaurant on the Tongersestraat in Maastricht?

If interested, there's plenty of WWII history around, e.g. remains of the 'Siegfried-Linie' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Line) or the 'Ordensburg Vogelsang' (http://www.vogelsang-ip.de/nextshopc...g=en&e1=-1), where once the future Nazi-elite was supposed to be educated - yet the place never was finished. American war cemeteries in Margraten (NL) and Henri-Chapelle (B).

There's a useful daypass for cross-border regional transport, called Euregio-Ticket, here's a pdf-leaflet (though only in D/F/NL): http://www.avv.de/fileadmin/sites/av...egioticket.pdf

I highly recommend &quot;The Family of Man&quot;, perhaps the <i>greatest</i> photo exhibition of all times, which is located in the Chateau in <b>Clervaux, Luxembourg</b>, a wonderful medieval town, easily accessible by train. There's also a WWII museum, I believe commemorating the Battle of the Bulge, located in the Chateau.

www.luxembourg.co.uk/clervaux.html

<b>Vianden</b> is another town in Luxembourg which is worth visiting. Victor Hugo spent some time there, inspired by its medieval setting. There's a fairly intact castle that you can tour, which looms over the town. If you don't want to hike up the hill to the castle, you can take a chairlift, then walk back down into town.

www.vianden-info.lu/en/

For my husband and me, the charm of <b>Luxembourg City</b> is its geographical setting. The old part of the town is perched on top of a craggy sandstone hill, while the Grund neighborhood is nestled in the Alzette and the Petrusse valleys. You can take an elevator lift to get to the different levels. We really enjoyed exploring the Bock Casemates, which is a labyrinth of defensive tunnels and rooms dug out of the rock foundations of the City.

Robyn, you are very lucky to be spending time in Maastricht, which is centrally located to so many different opportunities for visiting. Enjoy your travels.

Robyn &gt;-

I was in maastricht this past april. Valkenburg is a nice town just a short bus ride away. aachen germany is about a 1 hour bus ride away (#4 bus which stops at the maastricht central train station &amp; vrijthof). this bus also stops at the hofbahn aachen train station to go to cologne and other points in western germany. there's a nice brewery in gulpener netherlands if you're a beer person (#4 bus again, about 40 min trip from maastricht). and of course belgium is easily accessed from the maastricht central train station as well.

thank you so much for your replies! any other suggestions or tips are appreciated.

thanks.