Jasper
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| posted on 12/1/13 at 11:48 AM |
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5 days in Europe by car, where to go?
Me and my wife want to have a 5 day break in Europe at the end of January. We're going by car because my wife is still slowly recovering from a
lung condition and has limited energy, so the car is the best option. We like a bit of culture and nightlife.
Ideas so far are Brussels, The Hague and Brugge. Any other thoughts, happy to drive but don't want to spend 5 days in the car.
Thoughts?
If you're not living life on the edge you're taking up too much room.
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jps
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| posted on 12/1/13 at 01:10 PM |
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My wife and i did a similar thing this summer. From Colchester we got the chunnel at about 7am then drove to Ghent. Like Brugge but not as touristy. 3
nights there in the ibis by the cathedral then drove to Amsterdam and stayed 3 nights in the hotel rokin then got the ferry back from the hook of
Holland to Harwich. Longest bit of driving was getting from Colchester to the chunnel... No peage (toll roads) on the continent, parked in park and
ride sites in ghent (free) and amsterdam (about 15quid)and used the trams to get into the city centres. Hotels were about 80quid a night in ghent,
about 100 in amsterdam.
Worth going to ghent just for the bar where they make you give them your shoe as a deposit for the massive glass they serve your beer in, also a nice
historic place with plenty of restaurants to choose from. Bruge is only about 30 miles up the road, can't take long on the train... Less
impressed by amsterdam, much busier and like any othrr big city at times
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britishtrident
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| posted on 12/1/13 at 01:11 PM |
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Brussels is very expensive I worked there for couple of months, it is also tends to be a bit of nightmare traffic wise because the tram lines and
because it is a major international centre roads tend to be full of drivers of many nationalities who don't know local traffic laws
However it has great museums and the public transport network (tram and under ground) is very very good, you buy a multi-journey "strip
ticket" and just stamp it for each trip ISTR each stamp counts for 30 minutes but tram and underground tickets are not interchangeable ---
check this as it was some years ago. There is also a magnificent shopping arcade and great restaurants in the area around the Grand Place but
beware eastern european beggars . The Waterloo Battlefield is a few mile out of the city to the south east. The same road where the British
army fired its first shots of the 1914-1918 war
Brugge tends to be a city you leave the car outside and walk or take a boat trip round.
I don't know the Hague but I know Rotterdam is really worth a visit
To throw something in out of left field have you considered going by high speed train recently I have been looking at doing Europe by train and
it is amazingly cheap and comfortable takes you city centre to city centre. My interest was going to Milan or Verona by train but it offers great
sight seeing through most of Europe.
Lots of info on "The man in Seat 61" website there are other sites that you can book your train travel and a hotel close to the
station.
Man in Seat 61 Italy link
Link Man in Seat 61 Homepage
[Edited on 12/1/13 by britishtrident]
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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Slater
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| posted on 12/1/13 at 01:14 PM |
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If you are into history.......................WW1 Battlefield areas are good, Canadian memorial is good, some trenches can still be seen. British
memorial to the missing has an incredible number of names on. The bridge at Arnam (A bridge too far). Lots more WW1 places in that area too.
Why do they call Port Harcourt "The Garden City"?...... Becauase they can't spell Stramash.
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Volvorsport
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| posted on 12/1/13 at 02:01 PM |
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col de turini
leuven
bruges
ghent
hasselt
leuven would be my favourite for night life and ghent/hasselt for the culture ...
stayed and worked in all places
col de turini doesnt have any of those , but its an absolutely awesome place...
barcelona is also within driving distance - and has all of the above , i can recomend the hotel balmes for that , be nice and warm too - lots to see
and some some awesome sights on the way down including the milau bridge .....
[Edited on 12/1/13 by Volvorsport]
www.dbsmotorsport.co.uk
getting dirty under a bus
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RK
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| posted on 12/1/13 at 03:33 PM |
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Bruges is impossible to drive in. You'd have probably have to park outside the town. You will find all of it nice, but I would go to Bruges:
it's very small, and you can walk, cab, or take horsey rides everywhere. It is probably the most beautiful little city in Europe, rated very
highly for good reason.
It depends on how much driving you really want to do, but as usual, with Brussels or any bigger place, you can go at an inopportune time, and get
stuck in a massive traffic jam, wasting half your time.
Just beware that traffic signage in Belgium is in English, French and Flemish, and essentially makes no sense: what one group calls one thing, another
calls something else. You do need to ask sometimes what the hell they all mean!
Or just turn right after you get to France and go to Brittany, which is also very nice. Limited traffic too.
As far as costs, you can find deals on anything, if you try to follow what locals do. FYI, Belgium is known for its desserts.
It's a bit like building a car: the first time is expensive, but eventually, you learn tricks to save cash. I am waiting for that part to happen
with my car. I didn't think money pits could be so big, but I digress.
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daniel mason
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| posted on 12/1/13 at 04:31 PM |
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i cant recommend many places as im not that well travelled, but ive spent time in both dijon and lyon in france and both were fantastic places! would
go to either again.
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Jasper
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| posted on 14/1/13 at 10:45 AM |
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Thanks chaps - very useful.
I like the WW1 and 2 stuff, but my wife is less interested, France we're doing more of in the summer, and my mother-in-law is moving back to
Barcelona in July so we'll have our cheap weekend break destination back again after 3 years!
We've decided on Bruges and The Hague, as there's an Art Nouveau/Art Deco antique show we can go to there where we can hopefully buy some
nice pieces for our shop and pay for the trip! Have driven past Gent so many times, so this time we are going to stop and have a look round.
Cheers 
If you're not living life on the edge you're taking up too much room.
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sebastiaan
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| posted on 14/1/13 at 11:10 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
Me and my wife want to have a 5 day break in Europe at the end of January. We're going by car because my wife is still slowly recovering from a
lung condition and has limited energy, so the car is the best option. We like a bit of culture and nightlife.
Ideas so far are Brussels, The Hague and Brugge. Any other thoughts, happy to drive but don't want to spend 5 days in the car.
Thoughts?
Hi Jasper,
I'd prefer Antwerp over Brussels and Amsterdam over The Hague. Lots of stuff to go and see in all four though...
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Dingz
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| posted on 14/1/13 at 01:48 PM |
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+1 for Antwerp
Phoned the local ramblers club today, but the bloke who answered just
went on and on.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 14/1/13 at 02:51 PM |
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What RK says about the place names is right and it is carried on the point of being totally ridiculous in Brussels one district is called
either Ixelles or Elsene. depending on which language the sign this is an an extreme case but usually you can a make a good guess for example
Sint-Genesius-Rode (Flemish) is Rhode-Saint-Genèse (French) and Ukkel (Femish) is Uccel (French)
In Belgium the divide between French and Belgium Communes is quite sharp When going into a shop I always tried to work out if I it was Walloon or
Flemish, In Brussels even if you are very fluent in French it is usually better to use English. If you speak Dutch then you may be able to
understand some Flemish as my friends from the Netherlands describe it as a a very old fashioned high form of Dutch but even they never tried
to speak it.
English is the lingua franca in Brussels partly because of the very large international presence particularly in the but partly because it is a
neutral language with no sectarian baggage.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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gaz_gaz
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| posted on 14/1/13 at 04:14 PM |
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Get off the tunnel and head to Nurburgring. Do trackday or tourist laps. then head to Spa Francorchamps, do trackday. Then come home. Resave and
repeat. The wife iwill love it. few from this forum heading over on easter weekend
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RK
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| posted on 14/1/13 at 08:59 PM |
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Geez you are right. What were we l thinking?
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Jasper
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| posted on 15/1/13 at 11:16 AM |
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It's enough just to get the wife in the ST at all, she HATES speed, g-force etc so the Ring and Spa are definitely out!!
Hopefully TomTom will steer us right on place names and all speaking will be in English for sure as they all seem to speak it very well.
Might stop in either Antwerp or Gent on the way to The Hague though. Love Amsterdam, but been there 3 times now - though didn't venture far from
the coffee shops  
Col de Turini bit far south - went there on a rally years ago!
Thank again
[Edited on 15/1/13 by Jasper]
If you're not living life on the edge you're taking up too much room.
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T66
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| posted on 15/1/13 at 12:32 PM |
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The Hague has a really good rail station, its really clever they have trains, trams,buses, bikes, taxis all in one place, and all really cheap to
travel on - just like we have here in the UK, otherwise its just a business district.
Delft - Is a very pretty place just up the road, canals , antique shops , cafes etc and is a pleasant afternoon.
Haarlem & Leiden are a bit like Amsterdam for the architecture , but without all the people.
In Holland you can buy an all day , all networks rail/tram pass for 24 euros, save petrol and jump on and off the trains - I did it a few years ago,
started in Delft at 9am - and back home for 7pm, having been in Den Hague,Rotterdam,Haarlem, Leiden, Amsterdam then back to Delft.
PS - If you go to Delft, then as recommended to me here by a Dutch resident, visit Kobus Kuch cafe for apple pie.
The place was used during WW2 by the German army for coffee, pictures on wall etc
http://www.kobuskuch.nl/
[Edited on 15/1/13 by T66]
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sebastiaan
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| posted on 15/1/13 at 07:46 PM |
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Another thumbs up for Delft here! If you don't want to go for Amsterdam, I'd prefer Delft over The Hague every day. There is a great
little pub / restaurant behind the town hall on the main square in Delft called "de Waag" (http://www.de-waag.nl/). If you do really want
to go to The Hauge, be sure to visit the panorama mesdag (http://panorama-mesdag.com/), a really old 360 degree painting of Scheveningen in around
1880. Located in a small building that is easily overlooked, but worth it IMHO. If you like that kind of thing, Escher in het Paleis is also quite
good (http://www.escherinhetpaleis.nl/?lang=en) It's got a lot of work by Escher; a very well-know artist that did a lot of "trompe
l'uil" type stuff like this famous one:
O, and when in or near The Hague, be sure you do not miss the new Louwman museum:
http://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/asp/appmain.asp?appactie=museum&taalcd=en&menutype=sub Great place, great cars!
For Antwerp, this is quite a good site: http://www.visitantwerpen.be/bze.net?id=1470
And again: avoid Brussels like the plague! It's not got a patch on Antwerp. If you De really insist on going there, go and see the Atomium and
maybe the (really bad...) car museum in the Jubelpark.
Have fun!
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