Belgium. Where to go? What to do?

Antwerp is a nice city - it has a cute downtown and a more rugged old harbor area ...

Bruges is a very picturesque town, Ghent is pretty too ... Flanders has a lot of charming towns.

Brussels is a mixed bag - some pretty bits mixed in with quite some unattractive stuff.

The Ardennes are a beautiful, forested hilly area, beautiful nature ...

And if you get a chance, visit Luxemburg (city). The entry by train is awesome.

Sorry to be bland ... these remarks are nothing you cant find much better on any travel site ... but I thought I'd post my take ;-)

Totally agree with nimh's selection.

Since Luxembourg is actually not situated in Belgium, I might add another region outside: French Flanders.

We were in Ieper, near Flanders Fields, a couple of years ago. The ceremony at the Menin Gate at 8pm each night is quite moving.

The Commomwealth War Graves around the area are very impressive, and make you pause for reflection. Lots of Australians died there in WWI.

I can recommend an outstanding B&B is you're interested.

Ieper is an interesting town....there are chocolate shops! (and possibly other things!)

Cassel is more than just nice, too, with Flemish bistros and lots of historic places.

I've forgotten (how could I?) to name my all-over favourite: the Maas/Meuse valley: especially around Namur and Liège it's even better than the Rhine valley. (Well, nearly better.)

Near Liège/Luik (watch out for all the bilingual names), there's also Spa, a classic spa town in the (lower) Ardennes ...

... and Francochamps.

Tri-lingual in some districts and on the motorways:
30 years ago, my then 18-years old sister-in-law frove from Liège to Luik to Lüttich to look for signs for Aaachen, but they at first found only Aix-la-Chapelle or Aken (took them two hours before they recognised that, as I remember) :wink:

Thanks for that guys. I have printed out this page and will take it with me.