A friend is living in Brussels and I plan to visit and use her place as a base. Would love to take some short trips to nearby places of interest. Am especially interested in Bruges, and in Holland. Any suggestions? How easy is it to get around in trains or buses?

It's easy to get from Brussels to Holland by train. Check out<BR>www.ns.nl<BR>the site of the Dutch Railways. You can get up early and spend the day in Amsterdam, or get up early and spend the day in Rotterdam, Delft and The Hague, or get up late and spend the afternoon and evening in any of them. The Keukenhof (famous flower gardens near Haarlem) are open from March 21 - May 18, if that fits with your trip. Definitely worth a trip. Try to pick a dry day.

The train to Bruges is very easy, from Gare Central, takes about an hour. Exit the Bruges train station, walk across the busy street, veer slightly to the left and follow folks to the medieval center. A canal ride is interesting, otherwise just walking, looking, and cafe stops are nice. The Belfort (tower) offers wonderful rooftop views, if you're up to climbing the narrow 366 steps.<BR>

There are many places to visit if you use Brussels as a base. Brugge, Lille (Rijsel) France, Dinant, Waterloo, etc.

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

If you are there in summer &amp; like the beach, Oostende is very nice &amp; not far from Bruges. In addition, you can rent anything you would want (chair, umbrella, wind screen). All you will need is a swimsuit &amp; a towel.

Pam: Ghent and Antwerp are also easy day trips from Brussels and very worthwhile. Dinant, Namur and Durby are also easy trips and would introduce you to the Ardennes. In The netherlands, Delft and Des Hagues are easy trips from Brussels and don't miss the Keukenhof flower gardens especially if you are there in the Spring. Have a great trip.

A couple more suggestions, one is Liege. Liege lies near the juncture of Belgium/Holland/Germany and you can see Liege/Maastricht/Aachen all in one day by car, not sure of the logistics by train.<BR><BR>Also suggest if you go to the Ardennes to continue to Luxembourg, it is a beautiful city. <BR><BR>Tournai and Mons have famous cathedrals but otherwise are small cities, just sit in the outdoor cafes and relax.<BR><BR>Paris is only 1.5 hr via the Thalys high speed train, an easy day trip.

If you're interested in WWI, go to Ypres. The town is lovely (Cobblestoned streets, etc) and there's a wonderful interactive museum there where they give you an ID card of someone who lived in the village during WWI and you trace their life and learn about that individual, as well as everything that was going on in the village during the war. There's also another museum outside of the town (we took a cab... about 15 min away) where you can see and walk and climb through the actual trenches and caves that the allied soldiers dug and lived in while fighting. Lots of artifacts as well. It was fascinating and very moving. Definitely worth a visit!