HELP! Centralize in Brussels or Ghent?

[perrypainter]

I will preface this by saying I did my due diligence in searching this topic before hand.

We are all, if not most of us fans of Belgian beers. A lot of us have been fortunate enough to peruse the promised land. I know a good handful of you guys have done the Belgium dream trip. Now I'm asking you to pay it forward with some advice.

My girlfriend and I are going to Belgium on a beer centered vacation. Our dilemma consists of setting up home base in Brussels or Ghent.

Logistically, Ghent is more centralized for visiting Bruges, Brussels, Antwerp etc.

However, Brussels has more to offer overall in regards to beer pubs, night life, restaurants and such.

Any experience-backed opinions on this matter? Also any suggestions on beer bars in either city would be hugely appreciated.

 

[misterkidd]

Don't know much about Ghent, but Bruges is absolutely stunning. Brussels is decent, but really Bruges is the bomb atmosphere-wise. I would heartily recommend staying there. Not particularly central, but Belgium's not massive. Don't have much beer-based advice except that you shouldn't have trouble picking up everything but the most obscure beers wherever you go. Nice cafes and bars are abundant. Have a great trip!

 

[Bartalker]

I'm from Brussels and have lived in Ghent for 3 years. Ghent is a nice little town with cosy bars but I would rather recommend you to stay in Brussels, which is more vibrant and, I guess, has more beer bars (even though I'm certain you'll find more good beers than you can drink in both towns).
Don't worry about the distance to Ghent or Bruges as there are 2 direct trains/hour from Brussels passing through both Ghent (30 minutes) and Bruges (55 minutes).
When it comes to beer bars, everybody will mention 'Delirium' in Brussels and 'Het waterhuis aan de bierkant' in Ghent but there are so many other nice, less touristy places which I personally prefer. In Brussels, I recommend 'Moeder Lambic' (either in the town Center or in Saint-Gilles) and 'Délices et caprices' (Rue des bouchers).
If you'd like, perhaps we can meet to share a beer...

 

[Kee]

Don't know much about Ghent, but Bruges is absolutely stunning. Brussels is decent, but really Bruges is the bomb atmosphere-wise. I would heartily recommend staying there. Not particularly central, but Belgium's not massive. Don't have much beer-based advice except that you shouldn't have trouble picking up everything but the most obscure beers wherever you go. Nice cafes and bars are abundant. Have a great trip!

I agree with all of that. The trains make day trips easy.

 

[JohnSand]

I was only in Belgium for a couple of days. We stayed in Brussels, took the train to Bruges. I enjoyed Brussels, and would stay there again. We loved drinking Kwak on the sidewalk at a corner cafe. Brussels is a modern city wrapped around an old one. I'm not sure I would enjoy more than a couple of days in Bruges.

 

[IanJ]

I didn't want to bump this topic, but having noticed there wasn't too much through searching, I felt it would be better to reply instead of creating a new one.

perry - What did you end up doing?

I'll be visiting Brussels and Bruges for about 5 days total between the two, and want to find as much great beer as possible. Already planning on stopping at Cantillon and Moeder Lambic... is there anything else I should aim for in the two cities?

Anything smaller scale and local - I'm trying to avoid the whole Duvel and Rodenbach type businesses.

I read some decent reviews on other bars/stores/breweries (Malting Pot, Brasserie De La Senne) and definitely prefer off the beaten path locations as well, as does my wife. Things like La Fine Mousse in Paris, if any of you have been.

 

[serum]

Brussels has a lot going on but the city is a bit of a dump IMO.

If you're around Bruges and you've got a car there are loads of places you can go, like Westvleteren, St Bernardus, Struisebrouwers and some of the French breweries too like Saint Sylvestre and Thiriez.

In Bruges make sure you go to Staminee De Garre.

 

[pwnshop]

I just spent some time in Belgium. We stayed in Bruges, Ypres, and Ghent. We did not visit Brussels, so I can't recommend for or against visiting Brussels.

La Trappiste in Bruges was my favourite beer bar hands down. It is a basement bar, sort of feels like a dungeon with an extensive beer menu. but the real treat is 15cl taster pours of any 5 beers for 10 euro. It was a great way to try lots of different beers. My girlfriend and I each got two rounds of five and we were feeling pretty drunk afterwards and got to try a lot of beers we normally wouldnt have ordered (oud bruin, lambics etc). There are plenty of other good places for beers there and there is a beer museum as well (we didn't visit the beer museum). All in all Bruges is a great beer city and it is also extremely beautiful and quiet. Aside from taking in the city and getting a lot of pictures and drinking a lot of beer there didn't seem to be a lot to do in Bruges. We had two days and two nights there and felt like we saw everything.

We drove from Bruges to Westvleteren in the morning on the way to Ypres and had a look around and visited the cafeteria to try the beers. This was a great experience for a beer lover, however you don't get to explore much. the whole place is surrounded by brick wall and we didn't get to see much. The drive was really nice though and the beer was amazing so you should probably go. There were a ton of bicyclists and I wish we had rented bikes for the day in Poperinge instead of driving. Seems like a really nice area to bike.

Ypres was extremely interesting, but not really a beer oriented place. This is straight up war memorial/history town. We had a great time here though and I would recommend a day trip to anyone interested in war history. The last Post at the Menin Gate was particularly touching. Also if you have a car exploring Flander's is a really touching way to spend a day. You can still get great beers in Ypres. Tom's Belgian Beer Bar was right by our hotel and they had a great selection. It wasn't the nicest bar in terms of decor, but everyone was friendly enough. We also visited a few good bottle shops.

Ghent was my favourite place of the three. There was a different atmosphere there. Bruges and Ypres were both quiet and peaceful while Ghent was more bustling. Nightlife in Ghent seemed a lot busier and exciting than Bruges (Ypres was nonexistant). Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant was great for a beer or two and right next door is dreupelkot for Gins. We preferred the beer selection and atmosphere at De Trollenkelder. Late in the evening we ended up down some alley on a patio at a place called Hot Club de Gand which was a great place for a younger crowd and we got pretty hammered here. Ghent during the day is fantastic and there is a ton to see and do.

I didn't intend to write that much, I just started reminiscing.. I can't wait until the day I can go back to Belgium. It is truly amazing.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

Ghent is leagues better than brussels in my opinion. My wife and I lived just over the border in Aachen for 3.5 years and traveled all over belgium and europe, Ghent was really nice. Brussels is just a big city that happens to be in belgium, in all our travels we never really enjoyed big cities, no matter the county it was in. If you want a taste of the quiet European life then base from Ghent. If you want to go clubbing then obviously brussels would be better suited for you.

 

[cuda6pak]

Checking into this thread as my fiance and I will be going to Belgium for our honeymoon next spring. Great tips!

 

[zmanzorro]

Glad I found this! I'll be honeymooning there this Spring.

 

[NTexBrewer]

Another thing to consider is that Ghent and Bruges are located in the Flemish part of Belgium so pretty much everyone speaks English if you have anxiety about a foreign language.

English is spoken in Brussels and even the French part of Belgium but not all the time.

Look into picking up Good Beer Guide Belgium by Tim Webb. This is a good source of a lot of breweries in Belgium and lists tour hours if they give them, if they sell their beer on site and also lists beer stores in cities. He also lists beer bars in the city. I did not like the authors writing style and he seemed to say more negative things then positive but it was still a good resource to have on my trip.

I just got back from a 2 week trip in Belgium and France. I plan to write a detailed account soon. Visited Cantillon, Delirium and Petite Delirium in Brussels. Hop Museum in Poperinge, In De Vrede in Westvleteren. Staminee De Garre and De Halve Maan brewery in Bruges.

 

[Rhumbline]

Thanks for the writeup pwnshop, and I'm interested in hearing Tex's experiences also.

I'm planning a trip through Europe next year and I'd like to include Belgium. I've travelled a lot through Europe but never been there.

 

[Tangelo]

I just got back from Belgium 2 months ago. Went to most of the places noted above. We stayed in both Ghent and Brussels and took several day trips. Imo Ghent all the way. Brussels and Bruges are both much more touristy. Ghent had plenty of bars with fantastic selections open to the wee hours. Traveling to other towns from either is easy.

 

[jrfehon]

I second the notion to go to Staminee de Garre in Bruges. Best tripel out there and made exclusively for that café. 't Brugs Beertje is another amazing place in Bruges with great lambics on draft.

Rodenbach in Roeselare should be at the top of the list. The tour is well done and walking amongst the hundreds of giant barrels is worth the trip.

If you can get to the southernmost part of Belgium, Orval is absolutely stunning. The restaurant adjacent to the abbey is the only place you can drink the Petite Orval.