Hot answers tagged belgium
27
I had the same problem after arriving to the UK. There are two basic techniques:
Plug the sink, pour the water and wash yourself in this water. I think this was how it was meant to be used when this system was first introduced years ago. You can mix it in any other container as well, depending on your needs. One potential downside to this method is that ...
14
Compared to an average US city, I expect you to find Belgium a very expensive country. Taxi's are extremely expensive, expect to pay >25Euro's for innercity trips. Having said that, public transport like trains and busses are really really cheap. The Belgian Railways have a card called Go Pass (<26)
or Rail Pass which makes traveling through Belgium ...
11
There are 7 trappist beers (6 Belgian, 1 Dutch).
From Gent, your best bets are Westvleteren, Westmalle or Chimay. None are easily reachable. To Westvleteren you get the train to Poperinge, for Westmalle Antwerp is your best bet and for Chimay you need to go to Charleroi. From the stations onwards you are depending on either a taxi or the (infrequent) buses. ...
10
In Belgium and in the Netherlands you can take your bicycle on the train. Some restrictions may apply.
In Belgium, the conductor will show you the place where you can store the bicycle. It costs 5 EUR per journey, or 8 EUR per day. Folding bicycles are carried for free. You are advised to avoid trains during the peak hours, although it is not strictly ...
10
I quote from my Lonely Planet book:
Those staying in hostels, doing a museum, filling up with fast fodder
like frites (chips or fries) and baguettes and downing a good beer or
two can expect to spend from €40 per day. Those opting for hotels with
full amenities and midrange restaurants will pay from €120. B&Bs offer
excellent value, as do ...
8
With one connection in Paris, the cheapest I found on french voyages-sncf.com was a ticket for two passengers at about 170 EUR (210 CHF). But I agree that usual fares are more in the 400 CHF range.
It would be worth to spend some time with a SBB-CFF employee or in a travel agency to find the cheapest train at the dates you plan to travel.
Alternatively, ...
8
What is the cheapest way for intercity travel from Belgium (Brussels) to other countries and nearby?
Within Belgium, take the train. Trains are frequent and the major cities are easily reached. Timetables can be found on www.belgianrail.be, the website of SNCB/NMBS national railway company. From Leuven you have plenty of trains to Brussels, but also hourly connections to places like Ghent, Bruges, Oostende, Liège, Antwerpen or Mechelen.
You can buy ...
7
Separate taps are still pretty common in Australia though mixer taps are on the rise.
What I usually do is check if the hot water is hot straight away. Usually it's not but I suppose this could depend on how the hot water is set up which may be different in Ireland.
If the hot tap is not hot straight away I use the hot tap just on just a bit checking with ...
7
Basically the center is around the "Grote Markt". On this square you will find the Town Hall, Saint Peter's Church and a great place to sample typical Belgian beers. Plenty of pubs etc. can be found at the "Oude Markt", just next to the Grote Markt.
There are accommodations in that area or not far from there. If you arrive by train, you can also consider ...
6
In Belgium you can stay in a castle
I guess you will be traveling by train. This way you are limited to Antwerp, Brussels, Gent and Brugge. Let me start with some tips from my home town Antwerp.
The ruien. Antwerp has a century old sewage system which is open to visitors. A visit comprises of two walks. First you'll go down in to the sewer system, where ...
6
Bruges/Brugge is a must see.
As you come from Netherlands, you won't go "Wow" on the bike friendly town. But there are windmills, a beautiful belfry with its carillon that you can visit. There are many canals in this Venice of the North. There are also a chocolate museum and a diamond museum (only the former offers samples to visitors). You can even see the ...
6
I found the following map (Source: http://www.yachtchartersneek.nl/waterkaart_Belgie_vaarwegen.htm)
The map is from a charter company, which have suggested routes on their website. One mentions a connection from Bruges to Ghent.
From Ghent on there a multiple possibilities.
6
None of the Trappist breweries lies on the way between Brussels and Ghent. And none of the Trappist breweries is really easily reached by public transport. Most often public transport brings you somewhere more or less nearby and then you still have to do a substantial walk. Be aware that taking a bus in Belgium (outside bigger cities) can be quite ...
6
If you're willing to sacrifice speed and comfort to travel cheaper, then car pooling or an advance booking on a Eurolines bus is likely to come out cheaper than the train.
From Zürich to Brussels, you have to go through either France or Germany. It's quite possible that careful shopping between SBB, SNCF, DB and SNCB will yield a cheaper price than booking ...
6
You might also try to go by car pooling, e.g mitfahrgelenheit.de or mitfahrzentrale.de. It costs around 6 cents per kilometre usually, or 70 CHF for a one-way trip. You have to get lucky, though, to find a ticket.
Also, it might be worthwile to ask the DB (German rail company) for cheap tickets from Zürich into Germany and from Germany to Brussels or for a ...
5
If you are taking any other trains in Central/Northern Europe during your trip, a Eurail pass may be worthwhile. You could opt for a 3-country pass (Switzerland, Benelux and France or Germany, depending on your route). Or, you could buy a Switzerland/Germany regional pass and pay for a single ticket to take you to Brussels from the border.
However, check ...
5
I'm in the lounge now, so I can confirm that the Qype review is largely correct.
The lounge is at the other side of the station from the main cross-concourse, so you either need to take the lift down from the south end of the Thalys platform, or walk down the westerly corridor and round the corner. If you take the southerly exit from the Eurostar platforms ...
5
I can only quote another travellers review from Qype, but I think the most imporant information is there:
The Thalys lounge is open to 1st class passengers and to Cybelis
members as well as to members of the German bahn.comfort program. If
you have such a bahn.comfort card, you can bring a collegue, that
neither needs a train ticket himself or be a ...
5
Megabus is okay. At this time it is one of the more sensible options. You can also check Eurolines. They have similar prices and a lot of connections. Choose what suits you best. Note that Eurolines will drop you near the Brussels North railway station. Megbus stops near the Central station, a stone's throw from the Grand Place. The Central station is a bit ...
5
Fot his specific strike, my answer is too late, but since the Belgian railways are prone for strikes (sometimes even instant strikes) I can still answer.
The bus connection google mentions is not worth a try, especially if there are strikes. You mention 3 connections, meaning in practice your travel time will be doubled due to at least one missed ...
5
If such exists, they are a well kept secret. You'll likely have to do this in stages.
The most attractive option I could find (excluding flights) would be to take trains as far as Istanbul and then there is a bus from Istanbul to Tbilisi.
The train segment is about 50 hours (including three nights where you could opt for comfortable sleeping compartments ...
4
Using google maps directions I found this option using the bus network: Google map link. It involves four buses: 821 to Merchtem, 245 onwards to Dendermonde, 28 to Wetteren and finally number 34 to Gent. It seems that the latest option for this route starts at 18:16 making it hard to catch with a flight arriving 17:55. (If I remember correctly Brussels is ...
4
Belgium is one of the more expensive countries in Europe when it comes to mobile internet. The cheapest provider I have found so far is the Aldi, but they don't ship, you actually need to buy it at the aldi stores.
Similar formula's are offered by Delhaize and carrefour, but their online descriptions are not really clear about mobile internet. Both are ...
4
I am quite surprised at your question. Here in the UK, two single taps, one for hot water and one for cold water are the normal arrangement. You put the plug in the sink and half fill it from one tap, then you run the other into it until you have the temperature of water you want...or you do what I do, which is wash under a running cold tap.
3
I have just got back from a weekend in Bruges. We paid 83 euros for our hotel which included an all you can eat breakfast, we stayed the Saturday night. The hotel was only 0.11 km from the main square in the old town and was great value for money. We stayed in the Europ Hotel, highly recommend it, we booked through hotels.com.
The only American State I ...
3
Belgium is a nice and interesting country, but not a budget destination. It is not Switzerland either.
I go quite often to Brussels for business and I find that accommodation during the week is really expensive. To be more precise, it is quite poor value for money, especially if you compare to some German cities. However, it is still not as bad as ...
3
You might have a problem operating the AT&T Go-phone in Europe, depends on the phone model. Usually they sell older simpler dual-band phones as Go-Phones, and these phones won't work on European GSM frequencies. You need a 3-band or 4-band phone (sometimes described as "world phone" or "international phone"). Check with AT&T (or online by the model ...
3
A good way to get started is have a weekend based in Bruges, and do a couple of relaxed day trips from there. There are several bike rental places in town, and you can do long or short day trips as you please to get comfortable. A nice one to get started is to head East along the canal towards Sluis, which is just over the border into the Netherlands, only ...
3
As you are no "serious bikers" I would bot buy any equipment right now. You have interesting options for bike rentals:
Within Brussels, you can profit from the Villo network, a bicycle sharing system.
For trips outside Brussels you can take advantage of the "Train + Vélo de location" offer by the national railway company (SNCB/NMBS). Note that there ...
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