Bruges or Ghent?

[Supernova190188]

Hi, me and the girlfriend were planning on driving to Belgium in about 3 weeks, not sure whether to stay in Bruges or Ghent, have any of you stayed at either? If so was there many things to do? We were thinking of staying a few nights and on one or two days maybe head out to Ypres , Lille or Mons. Would like to hear of any really cool places you have visited too.
Thanks.

[bicycleshorts]

I've not been to Bruges or Ghent but have had 2 really good nights in Antwerpen. The locals are very friendly and all the pubs are great.

I didn't think much of Lille, Leuven was much prettier and had a lot more going on when I was there.

Recommend you get into a few Belgian beers before you go, makes the fantastic choices there even more worth while. Suggest the missus gets into Belgian chocolates if it lets you get away with it

[Welshbeef]

Ypres is a very moving place to go - highly emotional well worth a visit.

Bruges is spectacular loved it beer chocolate factory diamonds and stunning food - oh and an idyllic town. Its pricy that's the only drawback.

[Winder]

Stayed in Bruges a year or so ago, pretty town centre with quite a lot to see. Prices set high as you'd expect for a touristy town! But worth it anyway.

[thehawk]

Definitely Bruges, more to see and more going on. Ghent is also a very pretty town but much less touristy.

[whirligig]

Bruges over Ghent but easy to do both, neither are all that big. Mons not really worth going out of your way for. Ypres (Ieper) well worth a vist.

[Huntsman]

At Christmas we had a thread about Bruges.

[FUBAR]

Bruges.

Eat/drink here (over 400 types of beer )

As touristy as it sounds, take a canal cruise and also a horse drawn carriage tour (€50 but you get to see some of the back streets you wouldn't find on your own)

Waffles, oh my,the waffles

I was disappointed in the 'chocolate museum' so dont break your back to get there.

[Mark.]

There is a company that does Segway tours too - 1 hour or 2 hours. We were going to do it but it was too damn cold and the bloke refused to take us out.

[Huntsman]

In Bruges find the Garre bar. Beer, meat, cheese!

[Welshbeef]

FUBAR said:

Bruges.

Eat/drink here (over 400 types of beer )

As touristy as it sounds, take a canal cruise and also a horse drawn carriage tour (€50 but you get to see some of the back streets you wouldn't find on your own)

Waffles, oh my,the waffles

I was disappointed in the 'chocolate museum' so dont break your back to get there.

Ih yes that's a great place to go lovey food and of course the beers.

Also if you watched the apprentice the winners went to Brugee - yep they ate in that place and you see them scoffing grub and beer there.oh I spent £1.5k in 4 days. While in Brugee ! It is epically pricy

[tr7v8]

Did Brugge 2 or so years ago with the missus & my mother, stunningly expensive & very touristy. Went to Ypres on the way back & was very impressed, wished we'd done one day in Brugge & the rest in Ypres!

[tr7v8]

tr7v8 said:

Did Brugge 2 or so years ago with the missus & my mother, stunningly expensive & very touristy. Went to Ypres on the way back & was very impressed, wished we'd done one day in Brugge & the rest in Ypres!

Edited to add it was 09! pics are here:- http://www.pbase.com/tr7v8/brugge_09

[Supernova190188]

Thanks for your replies! 400 beers? That place looks pretty good!, although I may be spending a lot of time drunk with 400 beer to choose from! I certainly hope not to spend £1,500 anyway haha.
I had a flick through your pics tr7v8, looks interesting!
Is there much to do that won't break the bank? I suppose a bit of sightseeing, canal ride etc wouldn't cost much.
Also what was to do in Ypres ? Will see all the war memorials, was there any attractions that you know of? Or also any nice little cheap places for beer / tobacco, I think Belgium is cheaper than France isn't it?
Thanks.

[tr7v8]

Supernova190188 said:

Thanks for your replies! 400 beers? That place looks pretty good!, although I may be spending a lot of time drunk with 400 beer to choose from! I certainly hope not to spend £1,500 anyway haha.
I had a flick through your pics tr7v8, looks interesting!
Is there much to do that won't break the bank? I suppose a bit of sightseeing, canal ride etc wouldn't cost much.
Also what was to do in Ypres ? Will see all the war memorials, was there any attractions that you know of? Or also any nice little cheap places for beer / tobacco, I think Belgium is cheaper than France isn't it?
Thanks.

The canal tours etc. were not too bad. But we did 3 baguettes, 3 cokes in the square & the bill was nearly 75 Euro!
Ypres the main thing is the Cloth Hall an immense cathedral like & size building in the centre of Ypres. This was the centre of the first world war. The upper floors are a fantastic AV display of WW1, which left us all visibly moved, pretty much to tears. The town is lovely, despite a lot of visitors everyone was friendly, food & drink reasonably priced.
We decided we would go back & stay for a while in the future.

[sunbeam alpine]

OP - I have a couple of routes I've done through the WWI battlefields. Will try and PM them to you.

I prefer Gent to Brugge, but then I live just outside Gent

[FUBAR]

PS OP you HAVE to go here for a mug of hot chocolate to die for! They give you a HUGE cup of hot milk and a tray of chocolate 'beans' to drop into the milk to melt and stir.

De friggin lish

[Welshbeef]

When I was there a 250ml beer was 8.5 Euros.

We had one meal and oddly I had only two beers it was a three course for two lovely meal however bill came to £200ish.... Starters were a good £25 each lovely but ouch mains much more and desert to die for.

Just a heads up.

That said I didn't mind spending it at all really enjoyed it.

Oh one too go on the boat ride its cheap E10 ish euros really good. We went on te horses too at E60 frankly that was nice but the boat was so much better.
Do the church in the square

Try the fruit beers very nice

Go to the Zot brewery a great tour and make sure you do all three beers at the end start with the weakest ending with te triple filtered Hendrich.

[Fort Jefferson]

Brugge is nice, allthough the drains smell a bit, Ostende is nice too.

[tgr]

Bruges is a bit contrived, whereas Ghent is a real town