If so, would you recommend a day trip or staying the night versus staying the night in Luxemburg?

Sorry for mispelling....I meant Maastricht.

I've been there and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's worth an overnight as far as I'm concerned. Museums, cathedrals, plazas, architecture, just overall a nice city. Good luck.

Maastricht's jolly nice. In fact the town itself is a lot prettier than Luxemburg City. But Luxemburg's the capital of a microstate, the workplace of loads of overpaid bureaucrats, and the agreed meeting place for 25 countries' government ministers. So it has much better hotels and restaurants.

And the countryside around Luxemburg's a lot nicer IMHO than the rather dull stuff round Maastricht.

Incidentally, both have stunning cathedrals just over the border in Germany (Aachen for Maastricht, Trier for Luxemburg), which are far more impressive than anything in Maastricht or Luxemburg.

We finally went to Maastricht last year after reading all the recs here and were very disappointed. Maybe it's because we were already living in Belgium, but *nothing* about it seemed worth a special trip. We've traveled pretty extensively through Benelux and found at least a dozen places (and more) in the Netherlands and Belgium that were far more worthy of a visit. Luxembourg is a better choice overall. However, if you have deep pockets, you might enjoy the amazing fine arts fair they host in Maastricht.

vanenechy,
I stayed overnight in Maastricht last year on my way back to Amsterdam (and I did go through Luxembourg on the way). I thought it was a lovely town with a very nice vibe to it. It has several beautiful old neighborhoods and a pleasant walking area along the Maas River.

The comment I heard most about Maastricht from the Dutch was how "un-Dutch" it was - and indeed, most of the weekend visitors I ran into there were from other parts of the Netherlands. The French and Belgian influence there is quite strong. The food, judging from my good experiences with dinner and lunch, is superb! I had dinner at a restaurant which was also the locale of a neighborhood wine club - Cafe mes Amis. Their four-course dinner menu was one of the best meals I had during my vacation.

Thanks for all of the helpful advice! We decided to just plan a day trip from Brussels instead of staying overnight.

Happy New Year to all!

Maastricht also has Dutch coffeeshops (cannabis selling shops), which could tip the balance for some folks. Otherwise i'd say Luxembourg city is far more beautiful though Maastricht does have a vest-pocket sized nice old town center. Luxembourg City is one of the most physically gorgeous cities in Europe - in fact a deep gorge runs right through it. Not much to do in either place though if you ask me.

We have decided to stay in Brussels the 4 nights and plan out 2 day trips, one to Luxemburg and the other to Maastricht. Does anyone recommend taking a tour to these places or is it best to go on our own?

Perhaps they have guides in these cities that could show us around for the day?

BTilke:
Please post what you would consider to be great places to visit in the Netherlands.
Thanks

Depends on what you want to do Vanenechy. I've been to Maastricht a couple of times and enjoyed it. The best was during Carneval. Queen's Day in Amsterdam pales in comparison, if you can imagine that.