A day from Brussels
Day trips from Brussels
Belgium is small and its trains are very good: from Brussels you can reach Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven or the towns of the Meuse valley in under an hour and a half, so it is easy to see half the country without changing hotels.
Updated 20 October 2026 · How we make our guides
Flanders, under an hour away
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BelgiumGhent
The Castle of the Counts, the Graslei and Korenlei quays and Van Eyck's Adoration of the Mystic Lamb in the cathedral, half an hour away by train.
What to see in Ghent -
BelgiumAntwerp
A railway station that looks like a palace, the cathedral with paintings by Rubens, the painter's house and the diamond district.
What to see in Antwerp -
BelgiumLeuven
A university town with a Gothic town hall of lace-like stone and a square full of terraces, twenty minutes away.
What to see in Leuven -
BelgiumMechelen
The tower of St Rumbold's Cathedral, which you can climb, and a quiet centre between Brussels and Antwerp.
What to see in Mechelen
An hour or a little more
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BelgiumBruges
Canals, stepped brick houses, the belfry on the Market Square and the beguinage: Belgium's most famous day trip, an hour away by train.
What to see in Bruges -
BelgiumOstend
The Belgian coast, with its seafront promenade and beach, at the end of the same railway line as Bruges.
What to see in Ostend
Wallonia and the Meuse valley
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BelgiumNamur
A great citadel above the meeting of the Meuse and the Sambre, and a lively old town.
What to see in Namur -
BelgiumDinant
The collegiate church and the citadel pressed against a cliff above the Meuse, in the home town of Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone.
What to see in Dinant
Frequently asked questions
What day trips can you take from Brussels?
Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven and Mechelen, under an hour by train; Bruges and Ostend, an hour or a little more; and Namur and Dinant, in the Meuse valley.
Bruges or Ghent?
Bruges is more picture-postcard and more touristy; Ghent is bigger, with more local life. If you have time, both are worth seeing.
Can you see Bruges and Ghent on the same day?
Yes: they are on the same railway line from Brussels, half an hour apart. It is a full day, but you will see the essentials of both.
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Reviewed 20 October 2026. Dates and seasonal warnings: the same data the Bagintravel app uses. Sources and method.
Cover photo: Ank Kumar (CC BY-SA 4.0), Wikimedia Commons.