Belgium Travel Thread

[Digita7693]

1st class is nice on the longer trips. Often times, if you book in advance, the price is only about 10€ more.

 

[apatrick17]

My wife and I took 1st class from Brussels to Paris on our trip last fall. As others have said, the price difference wasn't much at all and we were served dinner and a drink on our trip. Since I'll probably never fly first class in my life, it was nice to get the "first class experience" even if it was a relatively quick train ride.

Most importantly, I was able to keep my Wine Check close by on the luggage rack and not have to worry about anyone stealing my lambic!

 

[BeerWorld]

Not 100% sure but the last few times we went to Moeder, we asked for to go bottles and drank them on the train. Nobody complained. There's not a lot of difference between 1st and second class. There can be more seats available in 1st class during peak hours on weekdays though, depending on the traject. I've never travelled 1st class myself

What kind of bottles can you get to go at Moeder?

 

[koplamp]

What kind of bottles can you get to go at Moeder?

Depends on th staff's mood I guess. Last time we went by train we took a Bellwoods Skeleton Key. Probably wasn't the best of ideas

 

[dye89]

I could stop by Cantillon on saturday March 26th!

We can definitely stop by Cantillon on that Saturday. Are you living in Brussels?

 

[koplamp]

We can definitely stop by Cantillon on that Saturday. Are you living in Brussels?

About 45 minutes away, near Antwerp!

 

[GregorySingh]

Also, if having wifi on the train is important to you, 1st class gets it included with the ticket.

 

[BusinessSloth]

OK. I'm FINALLY getting around to this write-up of my Belgian trip (February 3rd-10th, 2016)

For reference, here's my "itinerary". It was more of a list of stuff I could do, rather than "I'm going to do all this". I will base most of my write-up around the places I visited. http://www.writeurl.com/publish/tknlc72ppfdk2iowsen1

Brussels

Hotel- I stayed at the Bedford Hotel on recommendation of Compton25. Spot on. It's close to Cantillon, Grand Place, Mannekin Pis, street waffles, Becasse bar, etc. It's also close to the train station, and was more than decent hotel to stay out. It's one of the cheapest hotels for the quality that you get too. You can even arrange for a fixed price shuttle to the airport if you reserve it ahead of time at the front desk. Would bang again/10.

Train Stations- These take a little getting used to. The information booths (if staffed) CAN be helpful. Once the person gave us the wrong info. Google Maps on my iPhone saved my ass many many times. It was very accurate. Definitely recommend getting an international data package if you don't have one. Don't be afraid to ask a local for help. Most were very friendly and helpful, even without being asked sometimes.

Comme Chez Soi- 2 Star michelin restaurant. Spent $385 at this place for two 5-course meals and a few drinks. I had a fantastic meal, however the price was not commensurate with the quality of food in my opinion. Take the money and spend it at DHVL or bringing home an entire Cantillon crate.

Chez Moeder (fontainas location)- Very nice, modern bar. I drank quite a bit of Zenne, Carignan, Vigneronne, Mamouche, etc. I went mostly for the lambic, but they have other delicious things on tap & bottle as well. Highly recommend trying a Taras Boulba if you've never had one.

De Heren (DHVL)- Warm, cozy little pub/scotch bar. Come with plenty of cash in hand if you intend to buy bottles to go, or try things like Blauw or Crianza on-site. Try the Goedele's Bloesom. One of my favorite beers of the whole trip for sure. You definitely need to come here with a crew, order some food, and relax for a few hours. I believe my friends and I spent 4 hours drinking, eating, and talking. It was really nice. Our waitress was phenomenal, and we gave her a nice big tip for putting up with us. Make reservations because the place can fill up.

Comic Strip Center museum- This was a fun place. They have 3 stories. 1st floor is a restaurant with the best fries I had the whole trip and a "book store/gift shop". 2nd & 3rd floor were jam packed full of cool comic-strip history.

Delirium Cafe- Avoid the **** outta this place on the weekends at night. Jam-packed. Ass-to-elbows. Very hot even during the winter night. Unless you're into that. I went with Compton25 on an off-hour when no one else was there, and we had a few Vat44's (quite delicious at this point in time. Regret not buying more a while ago). It is a pretty cool place, and I'd recommend visiting it at least once. Lot of foreigners here. Met a chick from Ecuador or something.



Antwerp

Kulminator- Neat place. Very cool atmosphere. I ended up not ordering anything. The cellar list was quite daunting and extensive. We didn't stay here too long.

Bierhuiske bar- Fun little place to visit. Nothing super rare when I was there. Just a nice place to kick it if you can score the table in the back like Digita7693, Compton25 and I did. They have good meatballs & cheese.

Caffenation- Good spot to grab some coffee. There's plenty of good spots though all over


Beersel/3 Fonteinen. Highly recommend renting a car to get here. Very difficult to reach taking a train+bus+walking from Brussels. The car is easier when you have 4 people and a bunch of bottles too Anyway, we got to meet Armand and he was quite the gracious host. He showed us around the new brewing equipment, and talked to us for about 30 minutes and I just stood there in awe the whole time. Incredibly humble & passionate. Very sad when he said he was retiring this year, but it's well deserved I'd say! The shop was beautiful itself, but the main attraction is really the restaurant. Order the steak with your choice of sauce and fries. PLUS they had geuze steamed mussels. It was the only place I could find them. Delicious. Beersel itself is the city 3F is in, and I'd call it "quaint". Small town charm.

Waterloo- Very cool museum here. Some interactive stuff. You could easily kill 2-3 hours here. I think it cost 16 euros for an all-inclusive ticket. Climb the monument stairs if you dare. You'll get your cardio for the day.

Etre Gourmet's physical shop- Cool place, but someone cleaned it out, and it's a really far drive/out of the way. Still fun to visit and see in person.


Gent

Van Hecke Chocolatier- Hol-e-*****. Best chocolates I've ever had. Do NOT try to take a picture in here. You'll get yelled at....

Tierenteyn-Verlent- This place is amazing. Wish we had one stateside. Get some mustard from the barrel to go. It's insanely delicious. They also have some quality herbs and spices available.

MSK- Museum of Fine Arts. As a history/art lover, this place really blew me away. The sculptures, the paintings, etc. World class museum in my opinion.

De Hopduvel- Went here and they were closed randomly. Kinda pissed me off because it was raining all day long and 35 degrees. I walked for 40 minutes to get there and back to the train station.

Any questions? Come at me bro. I can try to upload some pics of some stuff tomorrow.

 

[DougOLis]

Tierenteyn-Verlent- This place is amazing. Wish we had one stateside. Get some mustard from the barrel to go. It's insanely delicious. They also have some quality herbs and spices available.

You're not joking about that mustard. Best mustard I've ever had and I'd go back to Belgium just to buy more.

 

[Saind]

http://www.orval.be/en/100//

 

[Digita7693]

http://www.orval.be/en/100//

In!

 

[BusinessSloth]

In!

Do they not do regular tours? Just curious

 

[Saind]

Do they not do regular tours? Just curious

Nah. They do an open house day once every 2 years I think? Something like that. Apart from that it's just a small café across the street that's open and a gift shop. I think at least, it's been a decade

 

[LuxWanderer]

http://www.orval.be/en/100//

Plan to go this year. May 3rd is marked on my calendar

 

[nanobrew1]

Plan to go this year. May 3rd is marked on my calendar

Isn't the tour on the 16th and 17th of September?

 

[LuxWanderer]

Isn't the tour on the 16th and 17th of September?

Yes, but May 3rd is when reservations start

 

[BeerWorld]

Does anyone know where I can drink/buy Black Damnation V - Double Black in Brussels/Brugge in two weeks? Thx.

 

[Auror]

Does anyone know where I can drink/buy Black Damnation V - Double Black in Brussels/Brugge in two weeks? Thx.

I think I saw some of them at Bier Temple in Bruges, but not sure if they had V. I think so.

 

[stupac2]

There's a bar in Brugge that's affiliated with Struise somehow (it might just be that the owner is a big Struise homer), but I can't remember its name. There's also the official Struise store in Brugge but I doubt they have any, they never had anything particularly hard-to-find when I was there.

 

[nanobrew1]

There's a bar in Brugge that's affiliated with Struise somehow (it might just be that the owner is a big Struise homer), but I can't remember its name. There's also the official Struise store in Brugge but I doubt they have any, they never had anything particularly hard-to-find when I was there.

Struise Beershop?

 

[stupac2]

Struise Beershop?

Yeah that's the official store. I think the bar is De Kelk but it's been a really long time and I'm going from vague recollections of where in Brugge it was.

 

[TheFarmBoy3]

Honeymooning from Sept 2-18 in Brussels / Paris hoping to experience 3F Open Beer Days (any info on 2016 dates?). Anyways thank you all for the information/contributions to this thread which has greatly helped my planning! Cheers!

 

[FrenchBeerGeek]

Let me be your guide for Paris or Europe, don't hesitate to pm me

 

[LukeAleTime]

Everyone there at the moment accounted for?

 

[koplamp]

Terrorist attack at Brussels Airport and on 2 subway stations. Flew in from Manchester yesterday, feels freaking weird. According to the news, 10 people were killed at the airport. I'm afraid this will increase. The departure hall is usually packed with people. Also 11 victims in subway attacks. The world has gone insane

 

[Digita7693]

Been contacting people all morning, everyone accounted for. ****** up, I hate the world;(

 

[SeaWatchman]

So far all of my friends are present and accounted for. This is awful.

 

[rcubed1]

 

[flexabull]

Yeah that's the official store. I think the bar is De Kelk but it's been a really long time and I'm going from vague recollections of where in Brugge it was.

You got it, De Kelk is the one you are thinking of.

 

[flexabull]

Sad day.