Things to Do Guides

21 guides

Time in Ghent splits almost predictably: half a day for the old centre on foot, with the belfry, Gravensteen and the Graslei quays, then a second day for museums, canals and the districts to the north and east. Bruges works the other way round, since the city is flat and low and its finest outlooks come either from the Belfort or from water level along the canals. What trips people up is pace rather than distance — Antwerp rewards two or three days, Leuven is a one-day city with a second in reserve, and Namur fits into a single day with the cable car up to the Citadel.

Climbing shapes the itinerary elsewhere. Liège asks for 374 steps on the Montagne de Bueren and a wooded ridge along the Coteaux de la Citadelle, while Ypres gives two days over to the rebuilt centre, In Flanders Fields Museum and the memorials of the salient. Ostend offers a compact old centre and a sheltered promenade, and when rain sets in, Antwerp's indoor options — the KMSKA, the De Ruien channels, Het Steen — keep the day moving.