Hello all,
I am organising a 5 days trip in Belgium for myself, my mom and my sister after 2 weeks travel in Edinburgh+London.
So far I like the look of Brugge as it is more of a romantic, quaint town.. which would be a very nice change from the crowded previous cities.
We will go in October which should be nice as there will be less tourists but how is the Belgian weather in October?
We do not mind a bit of cold and wind, but definitely not grey, gloomy days like we have here in England (even in the summer months!! lol)
Is it possible to enjoy some sunny days while we are there?
Also we are thinking of going to Ghent or Luxembourg City. Which would you recommend to do in the autumn?
I know transportation is easy to Ghent from Brugge, but what about to Luxembourg City?
Which other places to go around Brugge, or even around Belgium?
We like the look of Wallonian countryside and small villages but which is easily reachable by train? We heard that Durbuy is flocked by tourists so that may not be an option :))
Many thanks,
Primarosa
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Which other places to go around Brugge, or even around Belgium? --%26gt; here i must also add that I do not want to see super-touristy places..
I believe Brugge, London and Edinburgh are tourist flocked already so a bit of change is necessary.. would love to just stroll in quaint small streets without having to bump to the crowd all the time :))
Many thanks,
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I%26#39;m afraid there is no %26#39;good weather%26#39; guarantee for Belgium. October weather can be anything from sunny with temperatures of around 15 degrees or even higher (occasionally up to 20), over cloudy to chilly and rainy with temperatures below 10 degrees. Nobody can tell, but you may be lucky!
A bit of an odd dilemma: Ghent or Luxembourg City? It all depends on what you are looking for. If you love the Walloon countryside (Ardennes for example), you will probably like the Grand Duchy Luxemburg as well (this is a different country). It is a relatively long train trip though.
Ghent is an attractive mediaeval city with lots of contemporary culture as well, and not too crowded with tourists. On this website you can find all you need to know: http://www.visitgent.be/
You might also consider visiting Antwerp: more metropolitan, but very nice. And Brussels of course.
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Come to Luxembourg of course, ir%26#39;s an easy train ride from Brussels non-stop 2:47 hrs on the early train. Weather wise we are somewhat shielded by the Ardennes ridge from the bad weather from the north-west (but not always) and do get Indian Summer here in October. No tourists here then but bustling with normal life after the summer break. Here are some links of what to do:
www.visitluxembourg.com/sites-attractions.htm
http://www.lcto.lu/
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Aww many thanks Kathleentjev and hikerLuxembourg for your reply!
So here%26#39;s our itenary..
18 Oct Edinburgh 4 days
22 Oct Brugge 5 days (incl. day trips to Ghent, Leuven)
27 Oct Luxembourg City 3 days
30 Oct Back to London
Is it possible to do day trips to Ghent and Leuven in our 5 days Brugge stay?
Or should we instead move out after a couple of days in Brugge to Ghent.. and then to Leuven? If so, how many days should one spend in each city?
Railway-wise, which city/town should we enter first (we are coming from the Brussels Int Airport
I have also read that Luxembourg City is actually quite small, so I am thinking whether we should shorten our stay in Lux and spend more in the Belgium cities instead!!
ps: REALLY looking forward for the nice Indian summer :))
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Hi Primarosa,
It is opposite directions, except: Leuven is very close to Brussels airport (direct trains without passing via Brussels) and Ghent is close to Bruges.
You can have a look at train schedules at http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/index.php.
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Sorry, I had not finished my message and got the wrong key, so a part was posted already (that happens when typing while eating :-) ).
I do not think 3 days is too much in Lux city. There are nice city walks and a there is a nice museum. Certainly if you like %26quot;Ardennes%26quot; countryside, you can a short train excursion to another place in the Grand Duchy for example. I am often in the GD for work and I like it, but won%26#39;t call it %26quot;bustling%26quot;. :-)
As regards the Belgian cities, it is up to you. Ghent is easy from Bruges for a day (or the other way round), Leuven is a bit further away. If you do not mind changing places and hotels, it might be an idea to stay in Leuven after arriving or before leaving from the airport. It is a very short ride by train!
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I think you must be mad to spend 3 days in Luxembourg but it%26#39;s all a matter of taste: personally I would have had enough after a few hours around the %26quot;casemates%26quot;, and the train journey from Brussels is not the most interesting.
Durbuy may be small but it is not %26quot;flocked by tourists%26quot; in October, in fact neither is Brugge necessarily: it%26#39;s July and August you want to avoid. More to the point, though, Durbuy is not all that easy to reach by public transport.
If you decide on the spot that you are fed up somewhere and want to move on, consider Dinant in the Ardennes, or if you are on the other side of Belgium, the small town of Lier near Antwerp. Or, if you are anywhere near Liège, Maastricht across the border in the Netherlands (in fact from Luxembourg you could also consider visiting Trier in Germany - Trèves in French).
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I agree with the previous poster (also more my taste), although i would certainly not call it %26quot;mad%26quot; to stay 3 days in Lux city! There are nice countryside excurisons, Echternach, Vianden, the Mosel area, all easily reachable by bus and train. I advised this because you said you like countryside and small villages. It all depends on taste.
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Primarosa, if you are in Luxembourg, I ecommend you to do the nice %26quot;Wenzel%26quot; walk, a circular walk – “1000 years in 100 minutes”. Nie views and passing also by the %26quot;Grund%26quot;, a village-like neigboorhoud down by the river.
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Thankk youuu very much everyone!
You see there was a really famous British film %26quot;In Bruges%26quot;, and what I have learn is that the town is now a MAJOR fave for Brit tourists.. in so many newspapers, I see tour ads for Brugge so I was worried
But many thanks for your reply now I am more at ease to go to Brugge in October knowing that there will be less people..
joop1, where does the trail of %26quot;Wenzel%26quot; walk starts, and where does it end? Can I just go to the tourist information centre get a map of the walk there and some info?
Thank you especially for the ideas of whereabout to go after Belgium.. and I know it might sound like a super odd question but where near Belgium/Lux that is relatively warm in the autumn? :D
Well maybe not near.. but perhaps 4 hours train travel time maximum, I think my mom can handle that :) *she is quite old..
Many thanks!!
Primarosa
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