Getting Oriented

An expanding network of high-speed trains puts Brussels, Bruges, and Ghent within commuting distance of many European cities. An extensive regional rail network makes it easy to hop around Belgium; the country is also covered by a large network of four-lane highways. It's an easy drive from Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, and Paris.

Belgian Railways sends four trains each hour to Bruges from Brussels (60 minutes) via Ghent (25 minutes from Bruges). The trains all pass through Brussels's three main stations, but Gare du Midi/Brussel Zuid is the largest and has the clearest signage and directions. It's also the terminus for the Eurostar service connecting London and Paris, as well as the Thalys network that links Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Cologne, and Paris. You can also travel to Bruges and Ghent from Antwerp station, where there are three trains an hour to Ghent, one of which continues on to Bruges.

• Brussels. At first glance a chaotic clash of different architectural styles, Brussels rewards those who look closer. One of Europe's greatest city squares will take your breath away the first time you see it; and beyond lies a wealth of museums celebrating local heroes from Victor Horta and René Magritte to Tintin.
• Ghent. Ghent's historical center is surrounded by a real city, which gives it a lived-in, real-world feel, but the spectacular medieval riverside buildings of the Graslei can easily hold their own alongside any in Bruges. The cathedral is home to one of the greatest pieces of religious art ever created: the Van Eyk brothers' Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.
• Bruges. Bruges is the kind of city for which jigsaw puzzles and chocolate boxes were invented, with each impossibly gorgeous view somehow prettier and more photogenic than the last. Open up that box of chocolates and you'll find holy relics, great monuments, important medieval artworks, and, yes, chocolates.
• Antwerp. Antwerp is a city that shines beyond the spotlight of its diamond trade. The success of its fashion designers has made it a consumer paradise, and its reputation as the dance music capital of Belgium is well founded. It was also once home to perhaps the finest of all the Flemish Primitive painters, Peter Paul Rubens; his legacy can be seen in museums across the city.