Stopover in Belgium

[mima08]

Hiya, we (2adults, a 16yo and a 18months old) are going on holidays in a few weeks time, driving to Germany. To break the drive up a bit, we are considering stopping over for a night in Belgium - does anyone have any recommendations as to location or even accommodation?

Thanks!

mx

[parkview]

In Belgium I would recommend stopping in Gent- very nice town, about half way between the coast and Brussels. Personally, I would not stop in Belgium but rather drive through to Germany and take a break just after the border in Aachen: lovely historical town. It obviously all depends on where in Germany you are travelling to.

[womanofdulwich]

We stayed novotel in ghent it was very central with secure parking.

[Charlotte86]

Hi Mima. I highly recommend stopping over in Belgium, I think as a country it often gets over looked as a holiday destination but is beautiful, clean and the locals are some of the friendliest people I have met.

Brussels is lovely and has some great historical landmarks. But if you can fit it in with your route I can?t recommend enough Bruges. Aachen was ok, but not a scratch on Bruges. Just type into Google and have a look.

Happy holiday!

[mima08]

Thank you everyone - it is surprisingly difficult to find people who know about Belgium - just as you say, Charlotte, it seems to be very overlooked. We want to stop over after about 4hrs drive from London, not including Ferry (although of course, sometimes it takes that long just to get out, sigh!). Will look at Ghent & Bruges - I have actually heard nice things about Bruges, had always been on the list for a weekend trip. It might be a bit too early to stop thought - leaving too long a drive the next day. We are going to Mainz, near Frankfurt - so Aachen might also be ok... Has anyone been to Liege by any chance? Purely because of the geographical location....

[Charlotte86]

We stayed in a campsite just outside of Liege, but only got to see the train station (which is pretty impressive!). If we have more time would have loved to explore Liege a bit further, apparently it has fantastic markets. Maybe try lonely planet online?

[alieh]

Not that helpful in terms of detail, but my friend lives just over the border from Belgium and seems to always be going to these amazing sounding indoor pool-waterpark complexes in both Belgium and the Netherlands. This is a bit out of date but has a list of these pool/waterpark type places (though there are probably loads more...she seems to visit a different one every week!) and also lots of other stuff for children in Belgium generally.

http://www.isb.be/uploaded/ISB_News/FA_Things_to_do_with_Children_in_Belgium_2009.pdf

[civilservant]

Charlotte86 Wrote:

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> but is beautiful,clean and the locals are some of the friendliest

> people I have met. Brussels is lovely and has some great historical

> landmarks. But if you can fit it in with your

> route I can?t recommend enough Bruges. Aachen was

> ok, but not a scratch on Bruges.

There's possibly a very good reason why Belgium is not the holiday destination of choice.

The Belgium in which I lived in the early '00s was one in which Brussels was filthy, and the locals would take you or leave you on their own terms, although people in the South (Wallonia) are more friendly and laid-back than the Flemish in the North. There's some interesting stuff in Brussels, but nothing terribly historic - not compared to what you'd find in Germany and France for sure.

The most interesting cities are Ghent and Antwerp - Bruges is a bit of a fake, although quite charming. and Aachen is OK.

[Mens]

Antwerp is nice, we used to go there once a month when we lived on the Dutch/Belgian border.

I agree tha Brussels is filthy and my experience of the locals leaves me with nothing flattering to say about them. Brussels felt like a mixture between Kings Cross and Picadilly Circus.

I don't have any hotel recommendations for Antwerp but there were several hotels dotted about and I found the city safe to park in.