Itinerary - 11 days in Belgium
 

My husband and I will be in Belgium in mid-September for 11 nights. I have roughly planned the following itinerary and would appreciate any comments.

Brugge - 2 nights (visit some seaside towns as day trip)

Gent - 2 nights

Antwerp - 2 nights

Ardennes - 3 nights (Namur Or Liege as base?)

Brussels - 2 nights

I'm at the beginning stages of planning and would appreciate any helpful comments or suggestions you might have.

JMP

Try and cut your stay to 2 nights in Belgium. Its only worth visiting Brussels for a day and then i would leave and move to France or Holland

This sounds like a charming trip. In my personal opinion, I think you're short changing Bruges a little, but it may depend on what you're looking for. Persoanlly, if you can't extend the overall length, I think I'd cut on enight from either Ghent (although I do like Ghent) or Brussels, or both, and add them to Bruges (and consider not doing the daytrip from there).

I would base yourself somewhere for longer than 2 nights as it is a big nuisance packing and repacking and Belgium is a small enough country.

For example, the driving time between Brussels and Antwerp is about 40 minutes.

Ghent is good for a few hours not 2 nights, stop there on your way to Brugge. If you also cut a day from Ardennes you can go to Amsterdam ( more interesting than any place in Belgium)

I agreed. Six years ago, I had a choice of an open-jawed airfare which was cheaper than RT between USA-Paris. I flew into Bruxelles and out of Amsterdam. I stayed in Bruxelles 3 days, doing day trips from there. I took Thalys to Paris. The day before flying back to the states, I took the first Thalys out of Paris to Amsterdam. I spent less than 24 hours in that city. I stayed at the hotel in the airport and walked to the boarding area. Don't spend 11 days in Belgium.

I would not choose Liege as a place to stay. It is just another industrial city. Choose Spa or somewhere like that. You could add Luxemburg to your trip if you drop Gent as a two night stay, rather than Amsterdam. Or if you want to go Dutch try Maastricht.

It looks like a great trip. Belgium has a lot of variety - landscape, language, culture. I'd spend another day in Brugge if you're headed for the beach or if you want to bike along the canals and see the countryside. Agree that Ghent can be done as a daytrip. Antwerp is a great place to hang out for a couple of days. I really didn't think much of Namur - maybe some smaller village like La Roche en Ardenne or Spa would be better. Liege is gritty but makes for an interesting stop, IMO. Near there, see the Henri Chapelle American cemetery and maybe head across the border to check out the adorable German town of Monschau.

Durbuy might also be a good Ardennes base.