Visiting our study abroad son in Luxembourg
 

We will be visiting our son who is studying abroad in Luxembourg from October 23 - November 1.
We would like to spend some time in Brussels, as well as visit Germany and possibly Austria, and/or Amsterdam.
Any suggestions as to how to lay this out? What is must-see, what not to see? Or, is this itinerary even possible?
I have been to Germany and Austria. My husband has not seen either country. Would like to have things/tours planned out, if at all possible. Hubby doesn't like to sit idle!
Also, should we buy a train pass for these days?
Any help and suggestions would be much appreciated!

Brussels as a tourist site?

Worth dropping down to Trier for the roman buildings and a little wine tasting. You might also like to pop by Champagne (Reims or Epernay) and visit the various castles along the French/Belgium border

Austria is a bit far away to make much sense given what you have closer to.

No - you can;t get to all of those places in so little time.

Assuming you want to spend a couple of days with your son in Luxembourg you need either places that are day trips (Trier would be a great one) or one place that would require a hotel.

Cannot reco Brussels - have always found it kind of boring.

You might do Amsterdam or you could do Strasbourg/Alsace for a couple of days.

But first you need to figure out how many days you will be in Luxembourg.

You have one week and want to see 3 or 4 other countries PLUS visit w/ your son?

Not even close to doable.

With your son, you could take one or two day trips within the country or just across the borders to WWI and WWII battlefields, castles and cathedrals that are all over the place, as well as very scenic areas of the Ardennes and Mosel. If your son wants to get away for a night, you might want to substitute Amsterdam or Brugge for a day trip. I would place Brussels low on the priority list.

Well, I am more one of the supporters of Brussels on this board. In a week you could do a loop - Ardennes (many smaller townships) - Brussels - Leuven - Maastricht - Aachen - Köln - (Koblenz) - Trier - Luxembourg. Perhaps that is a few too many destinations to manage if you wanted to see anything but you get the idea and can pare it down a little as necessary. I would not go any further into Germany and would leave Austria out of the picture altogether as it's just too far afield. Belgium is small, manageable and logical for your geographical setting, and it's a very varied landscape. Leuven has totally different architecture to say anywhere in the Ardennes. I am including Koblenz more because of the roads you would have to take in Germany to get to Trier. It's not so amazing as a town, BUT it is at the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel, which makes it a bit interesting. Happy to work with you to refine the loop if it presses your buttons at all. I would probably drive it rather than do it by train as the Ardennes really needs a car, but maybe that can be a point for discussion.

Lavandula

We did explore that area of Belgium by car - after staying in Spa, visiting Liege and Aachen and on our way to Trier. There are a ton of WWII sites - museums large and small, other associated sights, and a bunch of charming small towns and castles. But I think only doable by car.

I think you are trying to do too much and should limit your number of stops/countries.

I have enjoyed spending time in Brussels and the small cities nearby like Leuven, Mechelen and ghent. You could base yourself in one place and take day trips to the others. Brussels is expensive during the week days so I would try to work around that. I posted a TR on our trip in 2011

Our son has the week off from classes, so he will be traveling with us. Definitely want to spend quality time while we travel with him. Just wanting to experience as much as we are able without wearing ourselves out. Thought that Germany might be doable, as it is in such proximity to Belgium. But perhaps we should concentrate our efforts in Belgium and Amsterdam?

>>Just wanting to experience as much as we are able without wearing ourselves out<<

Ah - there's the rub. The more dashing about you do the less you see/do and you mainly end up experiencing train stations.

W/ just a week and assuming you want to at least see where your son is studying/Luxembourg in general - one other city or at VERY most 2 other cities (but 3 places in a week is quite rushed). In any case - Brussels is fine but would not be on my short list of 'musts'.