It’s not too late to change your mind about Belgium

Starting off on our road trip earlier this summer, Belgium was a bit of an enigma. I really wasn’t too sure what to expect outside of picture-perfect Bruges, but Belgium turned out to be one of my favourite part of the trip.

Before the trip, I had been to Belgium a few times, but only stayed there once – a night in Ostend at the age of 12. Instead, like most Brits, I had just travelled through on my way to the rest of the continent (i.e. school coach trips to Germany). And like most Brits travelling through Belgium, I had ended up in a huge traffic jam. Which lasted hours.

It was therefore pretty easy to get sucked into the common British bravado that Belgium is boring.

I am now a changed man (though I still maintain the most famous Belgian is a fictional detective) – and here’s three reasons why.

Bruges

Bruges: the living postcard

Bruges (or Brugge) is known as the Venice of the North – but it’s hard to tell whether this moniker refers to the canals or the hoards of tourist you are likely to find there.

The city itself is gorgeous – it really is like a living postcard. But my first impression was how crowded it was. As we were daytrippers, the crowds were impossible to avoid. Even so, we managed a boat trip, a very nice lunch (gourmet burger in place of the traditional mussels and fries) and a bit of a walkaround in our short time.

While the city wasn’t my favourite of the trip, I liked it nonetheless. It seemed perfect for an off-season weekend break with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Hopefully in the evenings things would be a bit quieter.

Ghent

Ghent city centre

After Bruges, we headed to Ghent, which we soon discovered was hosting a music festival. A big musical festival. A big free music festival – Gentse Feesten.

We dropped our bags at the very, very cool KaBa Hostel and headed to check it out. It was brilliant. All streets in the city centre were closed off stages were placed everywhere. The atmosphere was brilliant – I didn’t even care that a pigeon shat on me. Much.

Despite the huge festival that was going on, there was still no way to miss the beauty of the city – I almost wish we could’ve seen the city without the festival to see it in it’s purest beauty.

Ghent has the beautiful buildings of Bruges, the history, fewer canals and FAR fewer tourists. Ghent felt like a real, thriving student city – because it is.

Antwerp

Beautiful Antwerp

After a bleary morning in Ghent, we headed towards Antwerp. Not originally on our itinerary, I really didn’t know what to expect from the city, but safe to say what we found wasn’t it. Forget cosy or quaint, Antwerp is huge.

Though we probably explored the city the least of our Flemmish destinations, I instantly felt like I could happily live there.

The city obviously has a lot of money thanks to the diamond trade, but it is also really international and multicultural. The architecture is amazing, too – and not just the Guild Houses on the market place, the main station and premier shopping street were beautiful too.

We were there on a Saturday night, so the place was nicely lively as we spent an evening drinking beer in one of Antwerp’s many pretty town squares – the perfect way to end our time in Belgium.

Picture-perfect Bruges

So there you have it – I changed my mind about Belgium. The country (or more specifically Flanders) has an unfair proportion of very beautiful cities. And that isn’t even including Ieper/Ypres, which we didn’t have time to visit.

Is it perhaps jealousy of this concentration of amazing cities that perpetuates an unfair stereotype of Belgium? Or do people simply need to visit more? Who knows, but it’s well worth going and deciding for yourself.

Have you been to Belgium?
What did you think?
Comment below!