I’ve been to Belgium a few times but I’m gonna be spending some time next month there again. I’ve been to Bruges, Brussels and Ypres so we won’t be going there.
Interested in: beer (obv, I know most of the Trappist places don’t accept visitors but we might go to Achel? are there any smaller non-Trappist places worth visiting?), architecture, anything interesting really. We’ll have bikes so getting anywhere, even rural, won’t be a problem.
Tell me about Belgium please. Might even nip into the Netherlands and Luxembourg while we’re there.
(unless you’ve been already) you can drink Westvleteren 12 at cafes near Sint Sixtus in Vleteren (near Ypres). It is the best beer in the world I reckon.
I had Westvleteren 12 at a beer festival in Bruges so not that fussed about specifically trying to find it again – we will be passing through Vleteren though so might stop for a cheeky bottle
Maybe look at places on your route. Chances are they’ll have some sort of bike race going on (either local kermeese or pro races) and a brewery of some sort. But all my tips are in the bike wanker thread.
Depends what you’re trying to get out of the trip really. If you just want to hit up one main city, test yourself on the bergs (or cobbles?!) And have lots of nice beer, then Antwerp is a lot bigger/more going on (plus westmalle not far away). But Ghent has a really nice student-town vibe, good castle, lovely architecture, art galleries, bars etc.
Boat trip from Liege to Maastricht is great - you go through these massive locks. Easily done in a day. Liege also has a massive fleamarket on a Sunday.
I was in Belgium to watch RVV over the weekend and we stayed in Ghent - really lovely city, easy to get into and around by bike, would recommend stopping here. We stopped for lunch in Bruges on the drive down which was pretty too, but Ghent was just as good-looking for me.
Can confirm that cobbled hills are tough. We did a loop near Ronse, classic Classics country.