Near Dinant in the Ardennes region of Belgium there is a great place to canoe downstream and then follow up your exertion with a big bowl of frites.

From Dinant, make your way to Anseremme, where a little mountain train takes you to the town of Houyet. Here the five-hour, 21km kayak trip sets off. It’s also possible to alight earlier at Gendron and take a shorter, 2.5-hour and 12km, trip back.

Prices are the same for the 21km and 12km circuit.
Double kayak standard €11
Double kayak super comfort €15
Simple kayak standard €16
Simple kayak super comfort €18.
More info at www.lessekayaks.be

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If you’re looking for a Festival without the mud and with all the best bands then why not go to Belgium? Travel is easier and just as quick as getting to most of the UK festivals. Book the Eurostar (it only cost me £70 last year) and you can relax until you get into Brussels. The rest of the travel is free with your festival ticket. So no worries about your carbon footprint!

It seems all the decent bands split between the UK festivals meet up in Belgium for one big event. Rock Werchter has won the ILMC Arthur Award for the four times in the last five years demonstrating that things are much more organized and as a bonus there is better chance of avoiding the rain.

Give it a go and you will be going back year after year.

Werchter, Belgium

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Belgium Beer Tour is a tour operator specializing in tours of Belgium breweries. It offers a great way for beer lovers to visit their favorite breweries and discover new ones. The tours cover a wide range of beers and appeals to connoisseurs and amateurs alike.

www.beertour.be

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You can’t go wrong with a room at the Be Manos – a new boutique hotel next to the Eurostar terminus with a five-star rating. It’s very chic and also has an excellent conference room.

www.bemanos.com

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For a quality lunch, pay a visit to the Museum Brasserie, which is in the Museum of Fine Arts overlooking the Palace Royale. It has a menu terroir of Belgian cuisine cooked by the Michelin-starred chef Peter Goossens.

www.museumfood.be

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As well as news and interviews, The Bulletin has a great listings section, which reviews restaurants and bars and tells you what’s going on in the city.

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Le Bier Circus - fantastic beer list (look at the vintage beers) and typical hearty Belgian food.

Rue De l'Enseignement 57/Onderrichtsstraat, Brussels, 1000 BELGIUM

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For the festive period, there’s a great Christmas market at Place Sainte Catherine in the Old Town, complete with a Ferris wheel and ice-skating rink. This is a great place to while away an hour or two and pick up some stocking fillers while you’re there.

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Aux Armes De Bruxelles is a long-established restaurant near the Grand Place with an excellent menu and good beer and wine list. The moules are to die for. I ate there every evening on my last trip.

Address: 13, Rue des Bouchers - 1000 Bruxelles; Phone: +32 2 511.55.50; Website: www.armebrux.be/

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Place Saint-Géry is a great place to grab a drink in the evening in Brussels. There are also great restaurants around this area.

Place Saint-Géry

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La Quincaillerie (if you can pronounce it) is the place to go for upmarket Belgian dining in the atmospheric, bustling setting of an old ironmonger's store. It's a really memorable experience for visitors to Brussels and has fantastic seafood.

45 rue du Page, Brussels
www.quincaillerie.be
+32 2 533 9833

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Remember your Brussels Eurostar ticket covers same day onward travel to all stations in Belgium. This includes Brussels Central Station, so you can use it instead of the Metro to get across town from Midi station to your hotel or meeting near Brussels Central.

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You must visit Brussels on a weekend day trip, then you will realise why Hercule Poirot is so proud about being Belgian. Amazing city with great buildings, the Royal Palace, the Palais de Justice, the Town Hall and the Atomium to mention just a few.

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Thanks indeed to the Two Hairy Bikers for their suggestion to try this fantastic restaurant. The food was gorgeous and the staff were obviously selected for their efficiency as much as their looks. We dined like kings and yet the meal came to about 100 euros, a bargain. I'd love to go back and try the steak & chips and some more wonderful Belgian beer. Try it, you will not be disappointed.

Belga Queen Brussels
Rue Fossé aux Loups 32
1000 BRUSSELS


Phone:+32 2.217.21.87
Fax:+32 2.229.31.79
Email:info.brussels@belgaqueen.be

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Pop over to the Royal Museum for Central Africa and the Geographic Arboretum in Tervuren - it's the best green space in Brussels.

Then head to "Het Park"in the town square for fantastic cuisine.

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The Mokafe cafe in Galerie du Roi 9 serves a delicious and complete breakfast for around six euros including mouthwatering croissants and real fresh squeezed juice.

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What is the Ninth Art? Discover its secrets at the shrine to the best examples of the Belgian masters, notably Herge and his Adventures of Tintin.

Within walking distance of the Gare Du Midi, and ideally placed to fill that wait before boarding the Eurostar, explore a nation's fascination with comic strip heroes.

Beautifully presented displays carry explanations of the storylines and characters, whilst giving interesting background of the creators and designers.

A reasonable knowledge of French would be useful, though. The Belgian Comic Strip Centre (Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinee) is in Rue Des Sables.

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Brussels is a colourful, charismatic and stunning city, full of rewarding surprises, it is least of all “boring”.

Don’t bother with the slightly eccentric and haphazard metro system – just walk. Central Brussels is small enough to potter round in a day.

Aim for the splendid Place du Grand Sablon (where you can get the best chocolates in the world) then head downhill to La Bourse and Grand Place and west into the trendy St. Catherine and St. Géry areas.

Make sure you take in plenty of good food and drink along with the stunning Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings that populate so many streets.

The best thing about Bruxelles/Brussel and the bilingual-Belgians is that they know all this; they just don’t go shouting it from every corner of the Grand Place.

I can heartily recommend buying the finest cheeses, meats and bread, beer and chocolates from the above areas, getting back on the Eurostar and turning all the other passengers green with envy as you tuck-in. Brussels is nearer than Paris too!

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A visit to the African quarter in Brussels near Porte de Namur metro station makes an interesting change to the rest of the city.

Stroll down Chausee d'Ixelles and back via Chausee de Wavre, investigating the shops and bars along the way. The contrast with the rest of the city is heightened by the fact that the area is not out in the suburbs but close to the city centre.

Just the other side of the metro station are the antique shops and grand buildings of the Upper Town.

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Restobières - In amongst the eclectic shops of Les Marolles, this restaurant is madly Belgian (eg biscuit tins of the royal family).

The food is utterly Belgian especially when the owner, Alain Fayt, matches the menu to his personally sourced Belgian beer.

A different glass with each course is accompanied with his unique commentary. The dessert even comes with its own floor-show.

www.restobieres.be

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