We're to go in Belgium and Cologne?

er, make that Where to go

My wife and I are heading to Europe at the end of this month. We're flying into Dusseldorf (BIL lives nearby) and are quite flexible in our schedule. At this point we'll probably head to Amsterdam for a day or so to visit with the BIL's girlfriend. Then we'll probably spend two days in Belgium on our way back. We'd prefer to stop in smallish towns and skip the big ones. Travel will probably all be via trains and busses. So, any recomendations? I'm tempted by the Hop growing regions in the West but I'm not sure I want to go that far West. My MIL has cousins near Charleroi we might try and visit.

Once back to the Dusseldorf area, we'll make a day trip to Cologne. I know Alts fairly well now from earlier visits, but we've never been to Cologne (the BIL has). I'd like to stop at Früh as that is supposedly where the White Labs Koslch yeast comes from so I'd like to see how theirs compares to my version. Any other votes for Cologne stops?

Koln is a very cool city. (understatement) There are some inexpensive hotels along the river near the train station. The cathedral and the art museum are great. If you are into classical music they have a fantastic orchestra.

My only disappointment was the beer. Kolsch just doesn't hold a candle to alt.

I got back from Belgium a couple weeks ago. It was an awesome place. Antwerp and Bruges were my two favorite cities. Bruges was amazing, so relaxing. There is a brewery/brew pub right in the center of town, De Halve Maan, that makes Bruges Zot, a great Blonde. The tour was better than most I've done. It was mostly about the history of brewing in Belgium and they showed the old equipment that they dont use anymore (open fermenters, kiln, copper cooling pans)

It may be touristy, but its worth the trip.

Bruges - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brouwerij De Halve maan

Check out the Sion brauhaus. It is right off the Roncalliplatz? IIRC (EDIT: Unter Taschenmacher 5-7). Basically the plaza opposite of the train station behind the Dom cathedral. Then just cross the street and Sion is down on the right hand side.

Also, for "smallish" towns. Between Leverkusen and Dusseldorf is the small town of Langenfeld. In their "downtown" are two great places to eat. One is a small pub/restaurant with outdoor seating-- they had great Ćevapčići... it is situated underneath/same building as a bunch of flats.

The other is on the other end of the downtown by the Catholic church... you have to tuck in back in behind the main downtown pathway to go through to the restaurant.

The nice thing about Langenfeld is you can order Kolsch or Alt there!

Enjoy! I love that area!

+1 to Brugge.

It's a gorgeous city, I spent 2 days there last summer and had great time. It's got a nice small feeling to it, touristy, but still well worth it.

Try to make a visit to the quaint town of Monschau and the serene High Fens along the border between Germany and Belgium, where the Ardennes transition into the Eifel Mountains. Some beautiful places around there (Eifel National Park, for instance). Other neat places in the general area are Valkenburg and the spectacular Remouchamps Caves with their underground river boat ride.

For Cologne, check out Cologne Pub Guide: bars, beerhalls and beer gardens. It's a great city to visit.

Sounds awesome. Belgium is another place I'd like to hit when I go to Germany in October. Have fun.

Brugge was great. It's kind of like Amsterdam with all the canals and it will be nice in the summer to take boat rides. If you happen to be in Brussels you can check out my avatar and my name...literally..Le Cercueil is a bar that is definitely unique. You drink out of the skull and can place your beer down on one of the coffins (cercueil) in the bar..Its a tiny bar but it keeps with the gothic theme of Belgium. You can also visit La Morte Subite (Sudden Death) history A La Mort Subite. It has decor from 1928 and if you like Lambics they have a few on tap. I thought Lindemans was good until I tried these! I agree that I usually like the small towns but Brussels was great too. You can also take "Brussels City Tour" which is a bus ride that goes to Ghent and Brugge..This way you can see 3 cities in 1 day. Multilingual city tours and tourist excursions in Brussel

In Köln my favorite brewery's are all in the altstadt (the old town). This is a good list:

Cologne Breweries and the Beers they brew

I like Päffgen, and Pfäffen which are almost next to each other right on the old square. A trip to all the breweries makes a nice tour of the city and you can actually do it if you order regular sized Kölsch (0.2L) at each.

If you are out drinking make sure you watch the wait staff marking your coaster. You pay for each mark they put on there so watch to make sure they aren't sticking you with extras. Also, many of the private breweries will continue to bring you new beers when your glass is empty unless you put your coaster on top of your glass.

If it is summer, there is a really good beer garden in the park int he center of the city.

What a fun city! You can't go wrong!

Example of tab. This one from Dusseldorf.

I made that same trip in March! We stayed in Dusseldorf but commuted to Cologne for business during the day. After the business portion of the trip my wife and I took a train to Amsterdam. Fruh! is a great place!

I tell you what - we went to countless breweries/pubs/restaurants over there (none of which were planned or researched) and did not encounter one bad meal or one bad beer!

Damn Arturo..13 pints..Wow thats 208 ounces!! Either you're 6'7" or you have the liver of and 18 year old college student!

Nah, that is probably 13 .2l stangen(glasses) of Kolsch which is only about 5.5 pints. The .2l stange is the typical serving vessel for Kolsch and Alt.

cyberbackpacker said:

Nah, that is probably 13 .2l stangen(glasses) of Kolsch which is only about 5.5 pints. The .2l stange is the typical serving vessel for Kolsch and Alt.

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Stange glasses are cyclindrical and pretty much only (and always) used for Koelsch (or Pils served in the Rhineland). Altbierglasses are usually also cylindrical, but somewhat shorter and fatter. But people in Duesseldorf tend to be less insistent on being served their brew in traditional glassware, explaining the mixing glass on the image (or the conical Diebels glass). The serving size is almost always 0.2 liters for either Ko.

Just went to Belgium/Holland in April; 10 cities, 16 days, backpacks, hostels and trains. As far as brewery tours go, typically you need 15 ppl minimum and a couple weeks lead time to make sure they can accommodate you.

As far as small towns, the Hops Museum in Poperinge, Belgium was interesting, but the town was wicked small its in western Belgium, over by StBenardus and Westvletern. I would have liked to go to Esen and visit De Dolle Brewery, as they do walkin Saturday tours, but no easy train ride out there. Maybe Roselare and Rodenbach (need a big tour group).. The Kulminator bar in Antwerp was awesome.. small little bar with too many beers (many aged) to count [bring a list of the best beers in Belgium if you go].. Ghent had nice cathedrals and a big castle. Leuven is a college town east of Brussels and the Domus brewery is supposed to be great (didnt go; ran out of time).. Brugge was nice, but super touristy (if you go, have a Garre beer)... if in Brussels, dont forget the Cantillon brewery, Delirium Cafe...

The Use-it maps were nice, somewhat youth-oriented, but useful nonetheless:
Antwerp map: print guide « ANTWERP « *** USE-IT *** TOURIST INFO FOR YOUNG PEOPLE *** BRUSSELS BRUGES ANTWERP GHENT MECHELEN LEUVEN
Brussels map: Print Guide « Brussels « *** USE-IT *** TOURIST INFO FOR YOUNG PEOPLE *** BRUSSELS BRUGES ANTWERP GHENT MECHELEN LEUVEN

In Belgium, I would say I enjoyed Antwerp the most.

I Just got back from Belgium on Tuesday and although i was there for a music festival i got to drink some great trappist beers from Chimay and westvleteren. I was mainly based in Leuven and Hasselt which are nice towns but im sure there are much cooler cities like Bruges and Antwerp.

I don't think i'll visit Brussels again in a hurry. That place is really dull.

cercueil said:

Damn Arturo..13 pints..Wow thats 208 ounces!! Either you're 6'7" or you have the liver of and 18 year old college student!

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The glasses were tiny, but the alt was tasty!

I have one of these from Uerige, and soon will have another, and others to add to my collection (along with some the glasses too). We've visited my BIL twice, but both times it was over Spring Break. I finally said that we need to visit in the summer so we can go to a proper biergarten.

arturo7 said:

Example of tab. This one from Dusseldorf.

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Guy's, thanks for the reminder on that German Beer link. I'll download that page to the computer I'm taking with me.

Still deciding on Belgium. We've been to Liege before - not much of a brewing town. We did enjoy watching the waitress in a pub we stopped in look all puzzled when she couldn't find the proper glass for one of the beers we ordered.

Lets see.. if in Bonn, near the marktplatz is Das Bönnsch - das Bonner Brauhaus a brauhaus/micro brewery... Lots of places round the Dom in Koln... Dusseldorf the "Alt Stadt" If you see a bar stool bolted to the floor with a seat belt installed... It's not mine, Honest, I swear...

When in Dusseldorf, visit the Uerige brewery in the old town (altstadt). Fun place. Big, giant pile of hot spent steaming grains in the middle of the street (can't miss it!).

Oh... whatever you do, do NOT drink the Killepitsch. It will finish ya!

passedpawn said:

Oh... whatever you do, do NOT drink the Killepitsch. It will finish ya!

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Good luck trying to avoid it...

passedpawn said:

When in Dusseldorf, visit the Uerige brewery in the old town (altstadt). Fun place. Big, giant pile of hot spent steaming grains in the middle of the street (can't miss it!).

Oh... whatever you do, do NOT drink the Killepitsch. It will finish ya!

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I'm sure we'll hit Uerige for a 3rd time. My BIL will be out of town the first day we get there so we're staying 1 night in a hotel, right around the corner from the Schumacher brewery. That'll be my first stop.

I like Killipitsch! I'll probably bring another bottle home. It has destroyed some friends after a night of drinking other stuff.


We're still undecided on where we'll go in Belgium. We probably won't decide until we get to Europe.