My husband and I are planning our first trip to Belgium at the end of May. I am late getting started on the plans. We bought our tickets last week but have not booked anything else yet. My husband has a strong interest in military history and I love castles. We enjoy some museums but we mostly enjoy walking around and enjoying the sights, sounds, and food. We do not need nightlife. We can never stay up that late on vacation! We arrive in Brussels on Friday, May 24 and depart on Saturday, June 1 (8 days/8 nights). I have a (very) rough itinerary and would appreciate some input.

May 24 arrive in Brussels 8 am - self-guided walking tour, nap, food, relax

May 25 take train to Antwerp - spend greater part of day exploring the city (keeping backpacks in lockers at the train station) - continue our journey on to Bruges or Ghent ** This is a part I would love some input on. I think I would prefer Ghent as it seems to have the central train station for the area, but I've read that the city was/is under major construction. So maybe Bruges would be a better base? (plan on staying 3 nights 25/26/27)

May 26 & May 27 explore Ghent & Bruges - plan on doing self-guided walking tours, canal tour and probably a bike tour in Bruges

(This is where my itinerary starts getting a little fuzzy.)

May 28 train to Ypres to explore the battlefields & visit Flanders Field museum. I would like to rent a car for a few days so we can go to some smaller areas & make unplanned stops. Is Ypres a plausible place to pick up a car? After spending the day in the area I would like to drive to Dinant and spend the night. How long would this drive be - a few hours? Or is there a better stop in this area?

May 29 visit Dinant castle and other sites then head on to Bouillon to visit the castle and possibly the Abbey of Orval - I'm not sure where to spend the night. I'm leaning towards Bouillon. Other options are go back to Dinant or possibly stay in Durbuy? Both of these option seem too far out of the way. Can anyone give me an idea of driving time between Dinant & Bouillon - about 50 min?

**This is where I need the most help.

May 30 visit Bastonge & Ardennes area - of course the Bastogne Historical Center/War Museum is not open until 2014 I haven't figured out where to spend the night.. Any suggestions? I was thinking of going back to where ever we spend the 29th (leaning toward Bouillon). We would like to change hotels as few times as possible, but we also don't want to waste time backtracking too far. What is the drive time between Bastogne & Bouillon?

May 31 return car & take the train to Brussels from ??? - spend the day touring the city We do not want to drive the car to Brussels to return it. We thought returning it in a smaller area would be easier & less stressful. Are any of these areas (Dinant, Bouillon, or Durbuy) a more direct train ride back to Brussels?

June 1 flight back to DC at noon

Guidance & suggestions would really be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read through my long & confusing itinerary. Happy travels!

We spent 5 nights in Bruges last year and I would love to return again. Stayed at the Hotel Oud Huis de Peellaert which we liked. We enjoyed walking in the town and found many good restaurants. We did not rent a car on that trip so took a tour of WWI battle sites with Quasimodo. We rarely do guided tours but this one was very good and included Ypres. Ypres seemed like it would be a good place to stay if you were going to visit battle sites on your own. However I tried europcar.com and they list locations in Bruges, Bruxelles and Ghent but not Ypres. Perhaps other companies have locatins in Ypres.

Why not car hire from Ghent or Brugge? EconomyCar rentals should be able to help. Return car to Bruxelles airport?

Driving times - use Via Michelin to get an idea of distances on the road. Bouillon and Durbuy are really teeny-weeny (especially Durbuy). Nowhere in the Ardennes is that far away that you could not explore by car relatively readily, so I would not be afraid of staying in Dinant or somewhere else like Rochefort or even La Roche-en-Ardenne. I only suggest these because they are a fraction bigger and you might get a better choice of accommodation in those centres. Dinant is also less out-of-the-way than Bouillon or Durbuy, better by train if that matters to you.

I've actually never _stayed_ in the Ardennes because I lived in Brussels, but most of the places you mention are an easy day trip from Brussels, and how nice to have the opportunity to dip in and out of some of those townships. The main attraction of the area (apart from the quaintness of the towns) is the beautiful forests and rolling hills, better appreciated by car than train. You might also get a kick out of Redu, which is a village with many bookshops.

Ypres is wonderful (don't miss the Last Post at the Menin Gate) but there don't seem to be many car rental options there (I only found 2 by googling "hire car" and "Ieper", both outside the centre) - I would investigate options from other towns in Flanders and take the short drive to there. A car is essential for visiting some of the war cemeteries but there may be guides who will take you there in their own van, so perhaps explore this option too.

Lavandula

Thanks for all the helpful feedback! Sounds like we will have to rent our car in Brugge or Ghent. Lavandula, thanks for the tips on the other towns. I will have to check them out. Redu sounds great. I love bookstores! I know we could take a Flanders battlefield tour, but we also love the freedom of stopping where we want to and for how long we want. Maybe we will take a tour in the morning and then self-tour in the afternoon. My husband will want to see every war monument and cemetery.

Any feedback on staying in Brugge vs. Ghent? Is Ghent still under major construction?

I would strongly urge you as in other posts to rent a car for your entire journey. Driving is quite easy in Benelux and public transport can bring delays and its own frustrations. Ypres is no more than two hours from the Brussels Airport.

The Flanders battlefields are difficult to explore without a car and private tours usually try to show too much in too short a time. There was over 4 years of fighting in a relatively small area. Your own research is very important in decisions where to visit in the time you have allotted.

As stated in a previous post, include the evening ceremony at the Menin Gate to the Missing (58,000). Restaurants in the central square of Leper (Ypres) arrange their dinner schedules to accommodate the 'Last Post Ceremony'.

Also try to visit the British Tyne Cot Cemetery (12,000 + graves, monument to thousands of MIA and two German Pill boxes within)at sunset or sunrise. There is a great Flemish B&B right next to Tyne Cot that is more like an apartment than a B&B and slightly north is the 'Varlet Farm' B&B, usually populated by many Brit Great War buffs. The village of Passendale has one of the newer museums and can provide guidance for short visits. It is less than a mile from Tyne Cot

The Battle of the Bulge is a difficult one to track & understand without a good deal of research.

Hi Parmenter, if you don't mind, I will correct you - the Flemish name for Ypres is not 'Leper' but 'Ieper' (I for Ian). Ypres is just the French (and often English) name, Ieper the local name.

Agree that Tyne Cot is worth seeing - very moving. But you definitely need a car for Tyne Cot!!!! Also note that the historical name for Passendale is "Passchendale" and is often written in the literature as such. It can lead to misunderstandings!

Lavandula

Agree about Tyne Cot, beautiful and moving. We also visited Hooge Crater museum, a small private museum with lots of artifacts and recommend a stop at Essex Farm Cemetery to view the dressing station where it is thought "In Flanders Fields" was written. One of Britain's youngest soldiers is buried here as well.