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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
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
Quiet bar (well, it was when I was there) about 10 minutes walk southeast of the centre. The food menu is not extensive, but does the job. The beer menu definitely is extensive, and runs to 150 or more, listed by category and alphabetically to make it all nice & simple.
Vlaanderenstraat 128
www.brasseriedeus.be
This is a website which lists availability on all the B&Bs in Gent (or if not all, then certainly most of them).
Just click on the date you require and it can show you availability across the city. From there, you can deal directly with the establishment by email (and, as it's Belgium, you can do that in English!).
Great snack and coffee house.
Very cosy with lots of vegetarian snacks and organic and fairtrade products. Plus the capuccino is great!!
Minderbroedersrui 47, 2000 ANTWERP
I love modern art so was stunned to find this amazing artist studio gallery in a side street just off the main shopping street. This artist's work is abstract - very contemporary. Svein made time to show us his extensive range of work and his studio. He also exhibits local sculplture artist Kristof Donkels and ceramic artist Jan Duytschaever. The visit to the studio was a highlight of my time in this amazing town. If you're into contemporary art, a visit to the 'Studio Gallery' is a must.
www.koningen.net
Korte Vuldersstraat 17 Brugge. +32 50 33 09 88
station is only 10 minute walk and the Cathedral is around the corner - well almost in the same street.
A great concept: fast soup!
Join the queue and choose from four soups of the day and ask for all the trimmings (cheese, chicken meatballs, herbs) and you get two rolls and an apple on your tray too.
Pull up a stool and warm yourself up - it's cheap too, despite the weak exchange rate.
www.souplounge.be/main.htm
Zuivelbrugstraat 6
A most charming bed and breakfast on a quiet street away from the town centre, but near an efficient bus line. For nine years, the owners have been perfecting the art of discrete care with attention to detail being their USP. The house (over 100 years old) is fascinating and the rooms decorated with antiques, bric a brac and souveniers. Breakfast is on a long table with an open kitchen, providing good coffee, breads, cheeses, meats and fruit salad. The crockery and cutlery are part of an extensive collection of Victoriana, so you can dream of a golden age as you sip your morning caffeine. The owners also provide hints and tips on what to see and do and where to eat. They also speak good English, being regular visitors to the UK, to buy the antiques!
www.chambresdamies.be/index.html
Schoolstraat 14
9040 Gent-Sint-Amandsberg
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.
Logos is completely surreal, a metal pyramid that houses an entire orchestra of robots. The founders of the centre, Godfried-Willem Raes and Moniek Darge, host weekly concerts of new/experimental music and the robot orchestra usually plays once a month. (You can find their schedule on the website, usually a couple of months in advance.)
Logos is in the centre of Ghent, about 10 minutes' walk from the Graslei but light years away from the clichéd weekend break / beer and chocolates thing.
www.logosfoundation.org/
Bomastraat 26-28
9000 GENT
phone: +32 92 23 80 89
Simon Says is a great coffee/tea shop and B&B right in the centre of Ghent. It is housed in a fantastic art nouveau building. The coffee shop serves great coffee including some very special single estate coffees. The best bit is the B&B with fabulous rooms over looking a little square.
address : 8 Sluizeken, Ghent
www.simon-says.be
I’m British through and through but nothing says Christmas more passionately than Brugge does each December. The Belgians of course have two celebrations with the Feast of Sint Niklaas coming early in the month!
The city streets are beautifully decked out with twinkling lights and window displays and the main and smaller squares like Market Square and Simon Stevinplein have their stalls selling all kinds of gift, food and drink specialties. It’s a picture book / chocolate box place that you may wander and wonder around in the warmth of their hospitality and friendliness - and in safety.
My ideal 24 hours? I set off on a Friday afternoon straight down the M20 from London and directly into the Eurotunnel terminal from the motorway. Go to the toilet, buy a drink, drive onto the train – 25 minutes of rest – drive off the train, to the end of the tunnel road, turn right and just keep on straight for 55 minutes and there is the Bruges turn-off – 10 minutes later I am parked in the centre. Nothing could be easier and hardly needs a map or GPS!
If I just kept walking around the main central triangle of the city it would only take me some 15 minutes to do so – but there is so much to see that is worthwhile. Ice Skating in Markt, climb the Belfry, eat Flemish beer stew and photograph the canals and picturesque buildings as the sun sets and the sky glows. You are never far away from where your hotel is and it is so easy to take a small break to recuperate and re-energise!
Saturday is market day at Tzand (square next to bus station) – buy wonderful cheeses to take home; visit The Church of our Lady to see the Michelangelo Madonna with Child statue and take a canal boat trip, a museum visit or a romantic Horse and Carriage ride around the cobbled streets. Too much to do – so little time!
Now don’t forget those chocolates, those fresh cream pralines. Much much cheaper than the UK and guaranteed to produce sounds of delight (and quiet munching noises). I also buy ginger bread, chocolate figures and honey waffle biscuits.
Driving home; quickly visit a supermarket in Belgium for very good beer at low prices. Try a jar of Advocaat as this goes great on ice cream or Christmas pudding! Wine is also reasonable in price here.
… and it’s back to Coquilles to catch the train back home. Mission accomplished… Tired and very Happy!
Here’s a link to learn more oldchocolatehouse.com/links.html
Den Engel is one of the oldest bars in Antwerp, very basic and patronised by the odd rum sort (not that it's dangerous or anything), like all good pubs should be. Like most bars in Antwerp it serves the local brew which is called De Konninck. Beers in Belgium are ordered by the name of the glass they are served in. In De Konninck's case it's a "Bolleke", a round glass which can be comfortably cupped - I think that says it all. To order one in pukka try "een bolleke alsjeblieft". The locals will appreciate the effort.
Dank u wel.
Sint-Jacobsmarkt 87
B-2000 Antwerpen
Here's a nice photo
flickr.com/photos/antwerpalan/1899825489/
Three bright and well equipped holiday apartments (Houses Cloeps, Goetseels and Sylvius) have been inserted into a wing of a historical Jesuit farmstead on the edge of a village near Leuven, some 20km from Brussels. The location is great for exploring Flanders, and is a good alternative to city flats for academic visitors on a short stay in Leuven. The owner is wonderfully knowledgeable about the area and provided many books and maps to help us.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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/
Send your feedback or queries to been.there@guardian.co.uk
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