Traveling to Beautiful Belgium During the Fall

Our experiences when we explored Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels, oh my!

We traveled from October 21 to October 25, 2019.

Belgium is a small country, but it is the land of fries, chocolate, and beer (all of our favorite things) not to mention that Brussels is considered the unofficial capital of Europe. Belgium is a melting pot and the languages spoken are English, French, Dutch, and Flemish. How did we decide to visit Belgium? Well, our original flight tickets that we purchased actually were to Amsterdam and we wanted to expand our visit to another country (because why not) and Belgium seemed to be a good fit for a place to visit during the fall. Less crowds, cooler, yet mild weather, and gorgeous leaf colors!

We flew Delta Airlines (Comfort +) from Denver to Minneapolis to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. After we deplaned, we found a spot in the giant airport to grab a bite to eat and enjoy a Heineken. Once our hunger was satisfied, we set out to find where to board the Thalys train to Antwerp (Antwerpen). We had purchased our standard train tickets beforehand online, the entire transition to get on the train was flawless and we ended up catching up on sleep during the ride even though it was for only an hour.

They Should Tell You When You’re Born: Have a Suitcase Heart, Be Ready to Travel.
-Gabrielle Zevin

Day 1

Antwerp

The second largest city in Belgium–Antwerp is known as the diamond capital of the world and known to be enjoyable without a sightseeing agenda, therefore we had to check out this city for one night!

Our accommodation for this part of the trip was Hotel Indigo, a perfect location within walking distance of Antwerp’s Central Station (Antwerpen Centraal).

Photo taken from our hotel room balcony!

After we settled into our hotel, we decided to walk around a bit and passed by The Rubens House (Rubenshuis), Peter Paul Rubens was a great artist. We wandered through the Diamond Quarter peering into windows and gawking at the gorgeous buildings covered in gold.

Rubens House

Of course all the walking around we worked up an appetite and ended up grabbing a table at Bier Central where we enjoyed a variety of beers and small plates.

Woke up to a rainy morning although it cleared up quickly! We ventured out for some caffeine and breakfast on foot and found Viggo’s, a specialty coffee bar. Wandering around took us to the University where we snacked on a sandwich (kip-ster: chicken, curry, lettuce, sundried tomatoes on brown bread) and an apple waffle from Oliver’s.

*White Flat Coffees & Chocolate Croissant @ Viggo’s*

We headed back to the hotel, checked out, then went on to the train station to purchase tickets to Bruges with a stop in Ghent since the ticket was good for the entire day. How we purchased train tickets: at an automatic machine in the station using our credit card and it was very easy to use!

We were still very new to using public transportation internationally so once we purchased our tickets we headed to the correct platform and boarded the train early.

Day 2

Ghent

When we got off the train in Ghent we stored our luggage in lockers at the train station (cash-coins only) and took tram #1 to the Korenmarkt Square. Wow what a scene! The square is surrounded by historic buildings including a big gray-stone church that has a medieval-looking facade.

We strolled around the canal, St. Michael’s Bridge (Sint-Michielsbrug), and to the Castle of the Counts.

We ate burgers at a place called Manhattn’s Burgers and ordered blonde beers. With full stomachs we ended our time in Ghent and headed back to the station by tram to catch the next train to Bruges.

Bruges

We arrived in Bruges and hopped onto bus #4 to Jan Van Eyckplein to find our hotel, Martin’s Relais. At first we had trouble finding it and walked passed it, but eventually we found our way to the lobby.

After we checked in to our room and dropped off our luggage of course we instantly went out to explore! Walking around the picturesque market square (Markt) we were in awe of the beautiful architecture and cool air. We ate some croquettes and Brugse Zot Beer then ventured our way to a restaurant to enjoy a Belgium classic: mussels & frites (Brent ate the steak special).

Below are some photos we took strolling the square in the evening.

You can’t travel all the way to Belgium and not indulge in some Belgian chocolate, we bought a variety of truffle chocolates at La Belgique Gourmande along with a bottle of wine. Unfortunately we did not save any to take back to the states they were so delicious!

Day 3

Breakfast started at Tattie’s right down the road from our hotel and it was a wonderful little cafe! It only had a few tables available inside on a 2nd level (like a loft area) where you could overlook the bakery and watch the crowd go in and out.

We did not have an itinerary for our days in Bruges therefore we did a lot of walking and took our time strolling through the streets.

We watched the process of a barge going through the canal and a bridge lifting up

After our walking adventure we stopped for lunch at Trattoria Trium, an Italian restaurant then did some shopping in Burg Square. We bought more chocolates, speculoos spread, and chocolate liquor!

With our trusty Rick Steve’s Belgium travel book in hand, we found our way to check out the Arents Courtyard (Arentshof) and see the magnificent spire of the Church of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk). We also found the “smallest gothic window in Europe” in Gruuthuse Palace (Gruuthusemuseum).

What a better way the quench our thirst than with some craft beers, especially when we find a bar that has over 300 of them! We enjoyed our time at ‘t Brugs Beertje, highly recommend!

Somewhere along our walking adventures we ended up in a museum, a friet museum! It was actually quite entertaining and inexpensive, we learned a lot about potatoes, fries, and fryers. In case you did not know, there is a National Belgian Fryers Day.

The night ended at an Irish Pub called Delaney’s for dinner, which was awesome, then people-watched with some ice cream & coffee back at the market square.

Day 4

Our stay in Bruges has come to an end and as we waited for the free shuttle from the hotel to the train station we grabbed a ham & cheese croissant from a nearby bakery. Our final destination from Bruges is to Amsterdam, but we had a small time-gap between trains so we stepped out into Brussels for about an hour or so.

Brussels

With our suitcases in lockers at the station, we power-walked quickly to the main sight, Grand Place which is the heart of the old town. We came, we saw, we took photos, and we ordered some good ol’ Belgian fries with mayonnaise (yes mayo, not ketchup).