I won 2 round trip tickets to Brussel(my husband and myself) we are schedule to depart the US on Sept 13, the sad part is that we have to return on the 19th of Sept. We are trying to plan this trip to see as much as possible by rail. We were thinking of the following:
14th Sept arrival in Brussel for 2 nights
16th Sept Leave Brussel to either Luxembourg or Cologne 1 night
or
17th Cologne or Luxemboryg 1 night
18th returning to Brussel for 1 night for our departure on the 19th

Please advise if this is feastible or any suggestions would be grealty appreciated.
*** We do not want to go to Paris ***

Please Help

Bruges?
Amsterdam?

I agree re: Amsterdam. Only about 2 hours by train from Brussels, and it's a wonderful city. Lovely canals, friendly people, great restaurants, museums, etc.

Please see http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34638308

Best wishes,

Rex

Bringing your message back up "to the top", since you are brand new here.

Did your prize include hotel? I could somehow make myself happy for a week in Brussels doing day trips out daily if I had free hotel. Otherwise I'd split my trip up between Amsterdam and Brugge and do day trips out from them. I think a week long Benelux Pass might be a decent investment if you want to get out a lot and see a lot of different places. There are far more interesting places to visit than the fairly long trip to Luxembourg or even to Cologne in my opinion.

^^^

Sept 13 - Depart
Sept 14 - Arrive Brussels; check into hotel, have a look around Brussels
Sept 15 - take a tour of Brussels, see a museum, be sure to see Grand Place, etc, then move on to Bruges (1 hr by train); check into hotel - have look around, take canal cruise, nice dinner, etc
Sept 16 - move on to Amsterdam (about 2.5-3 hrs by train), check into hotel, visit Van Gogh museum or Anne Frank house..
Sept 17 - canal boat cruise, another museum, visit Vondelpark, etc
Sept 18 - return to Brussels and finish your sightseeing, nice dinner out
Sept 19 - Return home

I like travelnut's destination ideas, but with a slight modification to the itinerary:

sept 13: arrive and head straight for Bruges by train, 2 nights
sept 15: to Amsterdam, 3 nights, perhaps stopping somewhere along the way
sept 18: To Brussels, 1 night
sept 19: depart for home

This reduces the moving around a "one night stands"