Hi. I%26#39;ve been lurking on this board for a while, reading the various message, and have a draft itinerary which I%26#39;d like your thoughts about.
This is my first visit to Belgium so I%26#39;d like to make the correct choices.
I will be arriving 3 pm Tuesday and after checking into my hotel would like to take a tour of Brussels either by coach, or preferably, on bicycle. I understand that there are firms that do this around the Grand Place - do you recommend any particular company, or would it be better to do this by a guided bus tour?
In the evening, I%26#39;ll find some Belgian bars which a friend is recommending and then would like to play some chess at Le Greenwich in rue de Chartreux, and afterwards would like to sample some fish and moules-frites, would this be the right area to do this?
Wednesday morning, I check out of the Warwick Barsey, Avenue Louise, at noon, and so would like to find a museum nearby that I could visit in the morning.
Any suggestions on Wednesday afternoon/evening? I fly to London at 9.30 so will be at the National Airport at 7.30. I was thinking of visiting the top floor cafe at the Musical Museum for the view (I%26#39;ve no interest in music), taking a walking or boat tour and visiting the Fine and Modern Arts Museums, but would welcome any suggestions.
Thanks again for your time.
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One other question - is there anywhere I can leave my case during the day, perhaps near a train station? Approximately how much would that cost?
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1) To answer the last question first, any hotel should keep your case on your last day for collection later the same day, for free. If you prefer to have it waiting at the station for you, there are both lockers and a staffed left-luggage office (%26quot;consigne%26quot;) next to each other at Gare centrale (down stairs, behind flower shop, near one of the entrances to platform 4). I think it costs €3 or €4 per 3- or 4-hour period, either way.
2) Provélo do bike tours but mostly at weekends and they are nowhere near the Grand%26#39; Place. See http://www.provelo.org/agenda_fr.php3. There are Segway tours which might interest you, see http://www.brusselsinternational.be/wabxlint/
en/12723/brussels-segway-tour.act (reconstitute into one line) or yes, you can take a HoHo bus from outside the Central Station - of course you don%26#39;t want to hop on and hop off if you just want an overview of the city.
4. Rue des Chartreux is near the trendy bar area of St. Géry, not necessarily the best place to find moules-frites OR fish (btw I think it would be a bit unusual to manage both at one meal!). You can get either or both at this place, http://www.spinnekopke.be/baseFR.html
Or, if you have located the rue des Bouchers (the bit just off the Galeries St. Hubert), Chez Léon is a classic for mussels.
5. Warwick Barsey is near Bois de la Cambre at the end of Avenue Louise furthest away from the city centre. There is no museum nearby, the closest would probably be the Horta Museum in rue Américaine, http://www.hortamuseum.be/. You might do better to take a tram (94) straight to Place Royale for any of the museums you mention.
There are boat tours on the canal every day in summer from Quai Béco (near Yser metro station) at 12.00, 14.00 and 15.00 hours, I wouldn%26#39;t leave it any later than that as you still have to get to the airport when the boat gets back. Gare du Nord would then be the closest station from which you can catch the airport train, being 1 stop from Rogier which is itself 1 stop from Yser; for Gare centrale the easiest way from Yser, even if it looks a bit of a long way round, is to take metro line 2 direction Delacroix and change at Arts-Loi to metro line 1 direction Erasme/Roi Baudouin.
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3) (sorry!) If you are arriving only at 15h00, you can%26#39;t do a guided bus tour other than on the HoHo buses because the last one leaves at 14h00, see http://www.brussels-city-tours.com/
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Thanks for all this great information.
I understand that %26quot;Brussels Bike Tours%26quot; leave from just outside the Hotel de Ville on the Grand Place and may now be doing this on Wednesday morning rather than Tuesday afternoon.
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