Belgium.
Two trips in one.
Base in Ghent. Take the train through Flanders. Then pick up the car and let the Ardennes change the story completely.
Ghent is the base. Not the consolation prize.
We made Ghent our first home and used the train for the cities. That gave us Ghent on ordinary mornings and after dinner—when it felt lived in, atmospheric, and entirely capable of being the main event—plus an easy rhythm for Bruges and Antwerp.
Our New Year’s week began with a morning in Ghent and an afternoon in Bruges, followed by Antwerp the next day. Brussels would get its own time at the end. That sequence mattered: it kept us from treating Belgium like one long day trip and gave each city a different job.
Then the map changes texture.
We collected a car in Brussels and drove south: Chimay and Couvin, then Bastogne, Bouillon, and Dinant before circling back to Brussels. This was the other Belgium—fortresses, war history, river towns, winter roads, and the Ardennes doing its best impression of a storybook with better beer.
Bastogne gave the route historical weight. Bouillon brought the castle and a night that felt far removed from the city circuit. Dinant supplied the theatrical finish along the Meuse. The car earned its place here because the route itself was part of the trip, not dead time between attractions.
Christmas needs a little editing.
A holiday itinerary has its own logic. Short winter days, New Year’s timing, seasonal hours, dinner plans, train days, and moving days all compete for the same space. The answer is not to cram harder. It is to decide what deserves an anchor and where flexibility will make the trip feel better.
Ours moved from Ghent to Bruges and Antwerp, then through Wallonia and the Ardennes, ending with a full Brussels day before the journey home. It had cities, countryside, history, food, and enough contrast to make a compact country feel enormous.
“Take the train for the cities. Take the car when the story moves south.”
The Jess take
A good Belgium travel planner should resist turning the country into Brussels plus two rushed day trips. A custom Belgium itinerary can use Ghent as a real base, connect Flanders cleanly by rail, and then make room for the Ardennes places many American travelers never consider. Belgium is small. The experience does not have to be.