Belgium Top Things To Do

• Enjoy the many Brussels museums such as the Museum of Ancient Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Comic Strip Museum and the Museum of the City of Brussels - Maison du Roi (website: www.brusselsmuseums.be ).

• Relax over a meal of moules frites in one of the many reasonably priced restaurants of Brussels' Rue des Bouchers, close to the Grand Place. Most have tables outside in the summer so you can watch the world go by while dining. 

• Pay homage to chocolate, which is one of Belgium's best known products, with a visit to the Museum of Chocolate and Cocoa (website: www.mucc.be) off Brussels' Grand Place, or Choco-Story in Bruges (website: www.choco-story.be). 

• Take a canal boat ride along the waterways of Bruges (website: www.brugge.be) (sometimes described as the Venice of the North). It's an excellent and relaxing way to appreciate the medieval architectural splendours of this historic Flanders city. 

• Sample some of Belgium's many fine beers at t'Brugs Beertje (website: www.brugsbeertje.be), a characterful bar in Kemelstraat in the centre of historic Bruges. It offers a choice of literally hundreds of varieties. 

• Learn all about traditional Flanders lace making at the Kantcentrum (website: www.kantcentrum.com) in Bruges, where visitors can watch demonstrations of the craft and learn all about the history of this famous Belgian product. 

• Visit the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Museum of Industrial Archaeology in Ghent (website: www.visitgent.be), which was once the largest medieval city in Europe after Paris. 

• Discover Antwerp's importance in the world of diamonds at the Diamond Museum (website: www.diamantmuseum.be), where you can watch gem cutters at work and learn more about the history of the precious stones and their place in the world economy.

• Follow in the footsteps of Peter Paul Rubens, who hailed from Antwerp, at the city's Royal Museum of Fine Arts (website: http://museum.antwerpen.be/kmska). The Rubens House (website: http://museum.antwerpen.be/rubenshuis), where the painter lived, is also a major attraction. 

• Visit the WWI battlefields, with a number of sites open with varying degrees of facilities. The killing fields of Ypres (website: www.inflandersfields.be) are the most accessible. 

• Take a sightseeing boat trip along the upper reaches of the River Meuse in southeastern Belgium, along which the scenery is often spectacular. Cruises start from Liège and Namur (website: www.bateaux-meuse.be). 

• Take part in one of Belgium's dozens of yearly carnivals and festivals (website: www.visitbelgium.com/festivals.htm), including The Ommegang Festival in Brussels, the Carnival de Binche, and the Ghent Festival.

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