You’ve done Brussels. The Grand-Place, the frites, the museums. Now you’d like the towns around it, and Belgium is small enough that they’re a short train ride away. Three of them reward a proper visit: Ghent, Bruges and Mechelen. Each has its own full guide. This page helps you choose between them and fit them together.
The cities
Ghent
The university town that still has residents.
Students keep the bars open and the side-street prices honest. After seven in the evening the Graslei quay turns into everyone’s living room. Van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece is here, and so is a serious contemporary art museum.
Bruges
The canals, and what a day trip leaves out.
Most visitors come from Brussels, photograph the Belfry, buy chocolate on the Markt and leave. Our guide spends two days instead, on medieval textiles, chocolate and the canals, with a side trip to Ostend on the coast.
Mechelen
The easy rail hop.
Mechelen is the stop the Brussels–Antwerp train makes while you’re still finding your seat. Most people never get off. Get off, and you’ll find a city of about 90,000 with a 538-step tower, a carillon school founded in 1922 and almost none of the crowds you get in Bruges or Ghent.
How to combine them
Ghent and Bruges are the natural pair. The direct train from Brussels to Ghent averages 36 minutes, and the Belgian rail site counts about 86 a day, so Ghent is an easy day out. On a short trip, pick one and see the other as a day by train.
Add Mechelen as a third day. It sits on the Brussels–Antwerp line, so it also fits the first or last day of a trip, when you’re passing through anyway. The Mechelen guide notes direct trains from Brussels Airport.
On a longer trip, a sensible order is Mechelen first, Ghent in the middle and Bruges last. Check the Belgian rail site for connections between them. We haven’t quoted any times beyond the Ghent one.
Start with one
Pick the city that pulled you in first: Ghent, Bruges or Mechelen.
