Traveling in February
 

I have the opportunity to possibly travel to Belgium at the end of February with my boyfriend and stay with friends. Where should be go? Can we take a train to Amsterdam for the day or two? What about Paris? Any recommendations? Thanks.

Samsonite

If you are going to be in Brussels, it is pretty easy to take a train to several places, including Amsterdam and Paris. I would also consider Bruges.

You can see routes at this website; schedules too.

http://www.tgv.com/

How many days/weeks? What are you interested in?

How long do you have? Try not to cram too much in, it will become a blur. You can easily catch the train from anywhere in Belgium to Amsterdam, there is also a high speed train, called the Thalys, that runs from Brussels to Paris.

Brugge is a gorgeous town, about 1 hour by train from Brussels and well worth visiting. If you have time, try and have a few days there.

There are lots of different train sites you can use to check timetables etc, I like www.sbb.ch just click on the little EN at the top for English.

Kay

Herself and I spent a week based in Brussels, bought rail passes, and had a very interesting time exploring Belgium -- Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Ypres, Louvain, and some other places. We didn't feel a need to go further afield (but we had already experienced places like Paris, Amsterdam, Luxembourg).

The Belgian rail system is superb. Have a look at http://www.b-rail.be/nat/E/tarifs/passes/index.php

I really preferred the smaller cities of Antwerp, Brugge, and Ghent to the business-y atmosphere of Brussels, but that is just my personal opinion. The trains make it easy to get around, but it depends on how long you'll be in Europe. There's plenty to do in Belgium if you wanted to cut back on the travel time to other cities.

You can certainly get to Amsterdam or Paris easily by train from Brussels and both are wonderful cities. I would probably choose a day or two in Amsterdam over a day or two in Paris and save Paris for a time when you can stay longer.
All of the other day trips in Belgium mentioned by other posters are interesting. A friend who lives in Belgium and does travel writing also recommends Mechelen, half way between Antwerp and Brussels for an easy day trip
If you only have a short time I would concentrate on Belgium