Best Belgium Cities?

Hey! I am douing this project in business class where we have to plan a trip to a country and I am douing Belgium. I would like my trip to travel to 2 or 3 different Belgium cities. I don't really know anything about Belgium, so I would like to know which 3 cities in Belgium are the best to visit, it would be nice if those 3 cities woudn't be too too far apart. Thanks!

Public Comments

1. Belgium is one of Europe's great secrets. A trade boom 500 years ago left this region with dazzling art and architecture. And it's emerging again as a trade center of Europe. Today, travel here is a breeze — it's small, well-organized, no language barrier and the people are great. First head to Brugge... Brugge is AWESOME.... Chocolate chocolate everywhere!! Vendors on the street selling chocolate!!! There is nothing like Belgian Chocolate... I mean NOTHING! Brugge is also a very beautiful city. It's historic center is full of wonderful architecture that can be seen from a ferry ride on the canal! Oh and have some Flemish Fries while you are there too... (their version of french fries!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brugge Not too far from Brugge.... about 50 min by train, is Brussels..... The capital Brussels is renowned for its architecture (medieval, Gothic, Art Nouveau and Art Déco), the Grand Place (an old market square surrounded by buildings from 16th - 18th centuries), the royal palace, its pubs, gallerias with expensive boutiques, and its lifestyle. Enjoy Brussels and then head off to Mechelen.... Located just a short distance from Brussels, Melchelen is a medieval city full of historical culture with numerous museums, bell-towers, monuments and parks all contributing to its charm. http://www.greatescapes.co.uk/destination/57/Belgium/Mechelen/13/ Enjoy... Belgium is a beautiful place and I hope you go there in real life someday and enjoy it!!!
2. As Snoopy said, the cities of Brugge, Brussels and Mechelen are indeed very nice! But I would forget about Brugge, since it's quite far from the other two cities! Include Antwerp instead! A fun fact is that the first train line in Belgium was between Brussels and Antwerp, which also stops in Mechelen. So pretend you have accommodations in Mechelen (we even have a youth hotel, next to expensive hotels) and then plan your visit by train to Brussels (half an hour and trains every 15 minutes) and the next day you visit Antwerp, also by train, also 30 minutes traveling and a train every 15 minutes. Things to see in Antwerp are the zoo, which is very old and has a lot off architectural buildings, then it's the city where Rubens was born (famous painter) and you can visit his house with all his paintings and stuff... There are also beautiful buildings and a very nice grand place...(town square?) And if you fly into Belgium, you can either choose the airport off Brussels (Zaventem) or Deurne (near Antwerp)
3. If you want an overview of the whole of Belgium by just visiting three cities then you could visit Bruges, Brussels and Liège. You start in Bruges, the original capital of the County of Flanders, one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe and an example of the wealth of Flanders during history, romance included. Then you hop on the train to Brussels, our nowadays capital of Europe, Belgium, Flanders and itself. Some nice old architecture as well: while Bruges has the oldest gothic city hall, Brussels has the largest one and a marvelous Grote Markt (Grand Place) with Flemish renaissance/baroque guild houses. Modern buildings as well. This mixed with a very mixed population of Eurocrats, expats, Flemish and Francophone Belgians and young Belgians of foreign origin. If you had enough of Brussels head on to Liège. In history no part of the Low Countries and still the largest Walloon city. Already in the old days a place where they made arms and weaponry. See this site of industry and feel the Esprit Wallon. On the same track are Ghent and Leuven. If you would fancy these cities: Ghent is a medieval-modern city with the fortress of the Counts of Flanders, and Leuven was once the capital of Brabant before the Counts of Leuven moved to Brussels. But Leuven kept its honor as the Belgian coat of arms still shows the lion, that needs to be pronounced as it is a 'speaking arms' in German (Brabant was part of the German Empire) as Löwen, which is the German name for Leuven.
4. If by "best" cities you mean the best from a touristic point of view you have a partial good answer from Snoopy although he forgot Gent and Antwerp. All cities are at a max. distance of one hour driving from one another. However if you want to know which cities are best from a business point of view I suggest Antwerp and its different important industries (contact the Chamber of Industry), Ieper and its research parks (Belgian silicon valley) and Leuven (center of science and research in Haasrode). But everywhere there is chocolate and waffles.