Namur, Den Haag and where in Germany?
 

Want to take my Dad to Europe again in Spring 2004. Right now I have 9 nights flying in and out of Brussels.

I'm thinking about starting with 3 nights in Namur with a day trip to Luxembourg. Ending with 2 nights in Den Haag for a feel of Holland and the coast and the last night in Brussels for the Grand Place.

I'm stuck with the middle 3 nights. 3 in Cologne with a day trip to Aachen or the converse 3 in Aachen with a day trip to Cologne? Is there a better base for a taste of Germany with a nice organized day trip maybe of WWII sites? How about Koblenz or Trier? I've found a couple of good web sites for Aachen searching here so I'm leaning that way but willing to be swayed.

My Dad isn't a big museum fan unless it's old cars or trains. He likes cafes, a spectacular cathedral or two, and especially rail trips so all of this will be without a rental car.

I think 3 days in Aachen will be too long. Unless you want to visit Maastricht (NL). It's only a short hop from Aachen.
The Mosel area is very beautiful: Koblenz, Cochem, Trier, ...

Hi Indytravel,
You ARE planning to take your Dad to AutoWorld in Brussels, aren't you? If he likes old cars, then it's a must (www.autoworld.be)! Also the tram museum, which is across the street from one of Brussels' nicest parks and near a pleasant restaurant/cafe that is off the tourist track (we're going there today...their wine of the month is a delicious Loire Valley red and only $2.50 a glass). I'm not an old car fanatic, but I thought AutoWorld was a lot of fun. For a car buff, it would be a real blast.

Koblenz sounds fine, but have you given any thought to Muenster and Muensterland? Or how about 3 days in Nuremberg or Wurzburg area--Nuremberg itself is full of WW II history and then you could also visit Bamberg. Plus the trip from Belgium or the Netherlands to Nuremberg runs along the Rhine for a while, so it's quite scenic and you could take an ICE train, which should interest your Dad.
Aachen strikes me as rather dull, sorry to say. We've been there many times. The cathedral is interesting and the old town is pretty, but 3 days is too long. (We mostly go for the butchers, my husband loves German smoked pork chops and also because there is a place there called The Tilke Store, which we always drive by and keep *planning* to visit on our next trip.)
Finally, any particular reason you want to spend 3 nights in Namur? It's not the most attractive place in Belgium. How about 1 night in Brussels (to give you time to take in AutoWorld, etc.) then two nights in, hmm, Leuven or Maastricht? Leuven is prettier than Namur, IMHO, has some resemblance to Brugge (Flemish architecture) but with about 10% (at most) of the tourists. Or even 1 night in Leuven/Maastricht so you'd have an extra night in Germany.

If you want to stay closer to the Netherlands/Belgium for your German portion, then I'd pick Dusseldorf. The Old Town is interesting (more than Aachen or Cologne), the Schlosser Brewery/Restaurant is a great, fun place for dinner, and you can do a very easy day trip to Hattingen, a pretty medieval walled city that hasn't made any of the guidebooks! Someday Rick Steves will turn up and ruin the place ;-), but until then, enjoy having it to yourself. You could do another day trip to Muenster, which really is an attractive city.

I would like to support BTilke's comments on Namur (which I found quite disappointing) and Aachen (whose sights require very little time.)

Koblenz makes for the best base from which to explore the Rhine and Mosel Valleys if getting around by train. From there, you can be in Cologne, Trier, Mainz, Aachen (all with magificent cathedrals) and dozens of attractive wine towns in between (Bacharach, Linz, Boppard) rather quickly. The area is full of castles (Marksburg Castle, just south of Koblenz in Braubach on the east bank of the Rhine) has a good tour; so does Reichsburg Castle in Cochem on the Mosel (both towns easy to reach by train.) Koblenz itself is alright, with an attractive old town area, but the reason to stay there is really because it's a train hub for the region. Get a daypass (Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket or Schoenes Wochenende Ticket) for unlimited travel on the local trains (21 and 28 Euros, respectively, for a pass that is good for up to 5 people traveling together.) From Koblenz, the passes are good as far north as Bonn, west to the Luxembourg border, and south to Mannheim. Try to get a place close to the station to minimize your coming and going time.

I'd pick Koblenz over Aachen as a base in a heartbeat, especially if traveling by train.

Thanks everybody. I really appreciate your advice. Looks like I'll be rethinking Namur and Aachen.

BTilke, I had no idea AutoWorld existed in Brussels. Thanks for the heads-up, it's perfect for my Dad.

indytravel,

If you and your Dad are interested in WWll sites, the area around Luxembourg City has US gravesites (Patton is buried there. He remains a hero in Luxembourg) and museums.

Still in Luxembourg and Belguim is the Ardennes and Bastogne.....The Battle Of The Bulge. Many museums and sites.

Curious

Regarding the last post mentioning Bastogne - we just went there this past weekend and were a bit disappointed. The museum was SMALL with very few items of real interest (especially if you have seen military museums before)- the film they showed was the only saving grace but still not worth the 15 euro it cost for the two of us. The monument outside was nice, but again, not very moving (maybe it had to do with all the noise coming from the quarry across the way). Regarding Luxembourg, we enjoyed Diekirch museum (we thought it was excellent and very interesting) and the cemetary outside of Luxembourg city much more.