Can anyone recommend a nice hotel in Dinant? And a lot of the guide books seem to think Dinant is a good base town for checking out the area, is that true, or are there better towns?<BR><BR>Thanks for your help<BR>Mark

Hi. Mark. Do you mean Dinan in Brittany, France? Or maybe Dinard? (Same area) If not one of those, where? Sometimes spelling does matter.

Dinant is in Belgium, on the Muesse River south of Namur. I would not pick it as a center, although it is certainly worth a day trip. It features a fortress abby on the rock monolith behind the town,a nd a very strange, distinctive coloring hue to the city and river. Namur would be a good choice, as it also features several historical points of interest, or stay over the hill in the many villages of the Ardennes.

mark: Dinant would be an excellent base for touring the area. Dinant itself is a charming harbor village with a large marina, an interesting &quot;old town&quot;, a citidal above with spectacular views, a casino (maybe more than one), good restaurants and fine hotels. We stayed at the Mercure which is a four star outside of the village and in a wooded area bordering a stream. Nice big well appointed rooms and a good breakfast. About $120 per night. From Dinant, charming Durbuy, and interesting Namur (fantastic citidal), the battle fields at Bastogne, Tonengren (for the beautiful castle, Alden Biesen) and Liege are within easy driving distance.<BR>The area is beautiful with suprises at every turn. Go to the website &quot;jack-travel.com&quot; for a first rate travel guide and all the information about Belgium you could desire. Have a great trip.

Joyce, don't you feel like an idiot? Yes, spelling does matter, which is probably why mark was careful to spell it correctly.

My visit to Dinant was very disappointing. It was a grey, rainy day and the town looked grim and depressing, not interesting. It was off season and a lot of the places to visit weren't open; the boat trip along the river wasn't running (well, not at first, I had to wait a few hours for some other passengers to show up and then the tour was very short). <BR>Mark, a lot depends on your timing. Will you be there in the height of the tourist season and when you have a reasonable expectation of decent weather? Then perhaps it's ok, but I still don't think it's the greatest destination in Belgium. If you're planning to be there off season, I'd look into staying elsewhere.

<BR>BTilke,<BR>Sorry to hear that your trip to Dinant has been disappointing. <BR>We have been there this summer on a warm and sunny day, one of the few we had. Dinant is not a typical tourist destination as for instance Durbuy (visited same day, extremely crowded). There were quite some tourists however, the boat trips were running and the views from the Citadel were spectacular. <BR>I agree with you though that it's not the greatest destination in Belgium.<BR><BR>Mark,<BR>Depending on where exactly you want to visit (southern Belgium, Luxembourg) Dinant might be a good base. <BR>Spa is another town in the Ardennes (closer to Li&egrave;ge) that I personally like very much. It's also more upmarket than Dinant. Spa is very close to the German and the Dutch border, so it's a good base to explore the Belgian Ardennes, the south of The Netherlands and the area around Cologne (K&ouml;ln) in Germany.

I have visited Dinant twice, most recently in Oct 2001. I just love the place. The citidale high over the village and the village squeezed between the river and cliff all add a little something. <BR>Oct is a great time because there are really no crowds to speak of yet the weather is nice. We sat on the river and had a wondeful lunch while the leaves blew by.<BR>There is a castle nearby that is worth the 15 minute drive, called Chateau de Veves near Celles. <BR>I have a travel page with lots of pics from the trip, including Dinant at<BR>http://www.bavariaben.com/nbarnes503trip2001intro.html<BR>