Questions about Trains in Belgium and itinerary
 

Hello,

I am going to be spending time in Belgium and the Netherlands after a mission trip in Tanzania this July. I plan on having 5 days in each area.

I will be based out of Brussels--got a good deal on a studio apartment. I am looking forward to seeing some museums (more in Amsterdam), "soaking in the culture and history", people watching, enjoying the different foods--definitely the chocolate!

I was planning on going to spend a day each in Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent/Ypres, Brussels. Is it worth it to go to Luxembourg for a day. It is a 3 hour train ride each way from Brussels. Any other advice on places that I need to see or not to worry about?

And talking about trains..when I was looking on the Belgian rail website--they have some different rail passes. There is a 10 single rail pass--does that just work in Belgium or would that work for for all the places it goes to--like Luxembourg? Also there was a network railpass that you could get for a week--and was wondering if that would work for going to Luxembourg?

Thanks in advance!

The 10 single rail pass at 74 euro works only between two Belgian stations and is really worthwhile for Brussels-Brugge Brussels-Ieper, Gent-Ieper and marginally for Brussels-Gent.
(FYI Luxembourg is not a Belgian city)

I wouldn't do the 3 hour train ride to get to Lux city. We just returned from Belgium/Lux and really loved Brugge and Gent. You might consider another day in 1 of the cities you're already going to visit.

Hi SG,

Do you really want to spend about 8 hr getting to/from Luxembourg?

Luxembourg to me is one of Europe's most physically gorgeous cities - with a deep gorge bisecting it - really beautiful - I'd stay overnight so you can leisurely tour its famous casements - military tunnels hewn out over the years in the cliffs and go out to the Hamm Military Cemetery - American Military Cemetery where Gen Patton amongst other Yanks are buried - Patton I guess being killed in a Jeep accident in the Grand Duchy after WW2 had just ended - cemetery is a few miles out of town with good bus links - and also you can see the EU Court of Justice (not sure what appendage of EU is here but think that is right!) And it is a nice 3-hour trip thru the forested Ardennes.