Hidden Waterways of Flanders and Holland
Would appreciate help in picking the optional excursions offered on the trip.
For Brussels is it better to do city tour or art nouveau tour? not very clear which one includes general city tour vs culinary experience. We are arriving a day year so I wonder if we can cover one of the options on our own.
For Flanders Bruges or Ghent? Tough call. any opinions on both?
Thank you
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We will be doing the Springtime Belgium and Holland in early April. There is some overlap of excursion choices and I will try to post as we go along.
Bruges or Ghent. If you have never been or will never be returning to the region, choose Bruges. However be aware that there is more walking and it tends to be crowded during the day. Bruges is best experienced before 11 AM and after 3 PM. If there is any possibility of returning, try to spend a least one night there. There are easy connection through Brussels with from Paris or Amsterdam.
By arriving a day early, I assume that means you will be arriving in Brussels the day before your tours starts which gives you part of the day before the tour starts. Depending on how you travel and your energy level, you could grab the train from Central station to Ghent which is about 40 minutes. The pre stay hotel is about a ten minute walk. The other options is to take a general overview walking tour of Brussels or even a foodie tour. If we had more time we were going to book a tour with Hungry Mary.
We are taking the Art Nouveau tour although it appears longer than the one that you can take. I can' tell by the description which one covers the culinary experience. There will be enough time to eat your fill of waffle, frites, and chocolate during the days you have in Brussels. On the day our tour starts we are going to try to swing over to the St. Gilles area to see the Horta Museum.
I did notice that you have several options in Antwerp. We are arriving several days early and plan to use one of those days to go to Antwerp to spend some additional time there. My understanding is that the Rubenshuis is currently under renovations and the art work as by scattered to several different museums. One of those is the Plantin-Moretus Museum. It is closed on Mondays. We did schedule a private tour of The Cathedral of our Lady. This can be done through their website. There are several of Reuben's masterpieces hanging there.
Ben - You can also see Rubens' masterpieces in the Royal Museum of Fine Art in Antwerp. We were docked there for several days due to weather related issues while on the Yuletide holiday cruise. We missed Ghent and Bruges (my choice) because we fell in love with all that Antwerp had to offer. The train station is quite beautiful and has some shops/cafes and diamond jewelers in its vicinity.
Since I will be taking the Yuletide (again) and Hidden Waterways cruises, I look forward to reading about your experiences. Enjoy.
Ben, thank you for the suggestion. Food is not important, so I am trying to pick a tour that offers more sightseeing then eating. Great suggestion about taking the train to Ghent. Will look into it. Looking forward to your posts after the trip.