Yes Paris can be exhausting but Amsterdam I also feel is a smallish feeling city with most main sights in a very compact few square-mile area. And it is one of the world's most beautiful cities as well.

When we visited Brussels last year, we visited (several times) a fantastic beer place, Moeder Lambic, Place Fontainas 8, http://www.moederlambic.eu/. The people who work there are passionate about their beers. They have an original location, but the one at Place Fontainas is very centrally located.

Do Brugge/Bruges as a day trip from Brussels. If you take the train from Bruges to Paris, you'll just have to change in Brussels anyway. And pick a nice sunny day to go to Bruges.

But I agree that Amsterdam is a better choice for your short time. Lots of easy bike rides into the countryside around Amsterdam. Here's a sample: http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.T...ycle-list.html. And there are bike tours. Again you're better off training to Amsterdam from Brussels.

"and if you ask for beer mentioned above (Beer Paradise in Bruges is worth a look), it's pronounced "west-VLEE-tren"

More resembling to the original Dutch/Flemish pronounciation by using English is

" west-VLAY-tren "

The 'e' sound in the last part ('tren') is pronounced like the 'e' in paper or mother.

My husband and I are headed to Brussels for 11 days (excluding travel days) in late September/early October and are interested in all the tips on this thread. We have not been to Brussels for about 15 years and are hoping to explore some areas of the city we have missed on previous trips and take some side trips to Antwerp, Leuven and Mechelen.

Since you only have 8 days, it is good that you are planning to limit the number of places you visit.