Getaways from Brussels: day trips and destinations close by.

Two airports with flights from Spain

Brussels has two airports with direct flights from Spain. Brussels-Zaventem is served from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Alicante, Seville, Málaga, Asturias, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Charleroi, to the south, repeats almost all of those cities and adds Girona, Zaragoza, Vitoria, Santander and Palma de Mallorca.

Belgium is small and almost everything can be done by train. SNCB trains leave from Bruxelles-Midi, Central and Nord, and in under an hour drop you in Mechelen (about 20 minutes), Leuven (25), Ghent (just over half an hour), Antwerp (40 to 50) or Namur (an hour). To Bruges there are three trains an hour, taking about an hour; to Liège, the same, and to Ostend, 1 h 15 direct. Towards the Ardennes the train is still an option, with a change: Dinant via Namur in an hour and a half, Rochefort-Jemelle and TEC bus 29 for the Caves of Han, Pepinster for Spa and Libramont and TEC bus 6 for Bastogne.

A hire car is useful for what the train doesn't link: Villers-la-Ville Abbey with Waterloo on the same day, Durbuy and La Roche-en-Ardenne, Bouillon and the Semois, and Orval, which is far from any station.

Leuven and Waterloo fit into half a day

Less than an hour by road are almost all the cities of Flanders and Namur: Waterloo, 25 minutes; Leuven and Mechelen, 30; Lier and Villers-la-Ville, 40; Antwerp, 45; Ghent, 50, and Namur, 55. Leuven and Waterloo fit into half a day; the rest, into an unhurried day.

Liège (70 minutes), Bruges (75), Dinant, Durbuy and Ostend (85), and the Caves of Han and Spa (90) are between an hour and an hour and a half away. This is the band of the coast and the first of the Ardennes, where the day already calls for an early start.

An hour and a half to two hours away are Ypres (95), Bastogne (115) and Bouillon (120). For that distance there are overnight plans: Ypres and the Last Post, Bastogne with Orval and Bouillon and the Semois.

In autumn and winter, look for a roof

In autumn and winter it pays to look for somewhere indoors. Spa and its thermal baths is the plan for that time of year, with three hours at the Thermes; in December there is a Christmas market on Antwerp's Grote Markt, and Bastogne fills up for the anniversary of the battle, so you need to book the museum slot. On Sundays, all year round, the Batte market makes sense of a Sunday in Liège.

In spring and summer the river and the forest beckon. Kayaking on the Lesse from Dinant runs from 4 April to 31 October, as does the weekend in the Lesse valley; the Namur cruise, from April to early November, and the boats in Lier and on the Dijle in Mechelen, from April to October. From May to September the gardens at Villers are in bloom and the beach season opens in Ostend and De Haan. The Han estate is open from spring to 11 November; in July and August, dated tickets and arrive before 11:00.

Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp are worth it in any month, although from April to October the Bruges belfry is open until 20:00 and the boats run more often.

The Ypres Last Post with a night

• Without a car, in a day: Ghent from Brussels. Just over half an hour by train, Van Eyck's altarpiece and the belfry in the morning, waterzooi on the Korenmarkt and the boat in the afternoon; best Tuesday to Saturday.
• With one night: Ypres and the Last Post. Train with one change, the First World War museum, Tyne Cot in the afternoon, the Last Post at 20:00 and a tour of the salient the next morning.
• With two nights: Bruges and Ghent. All by train: a day and a night in Bruges, with belfry, boat and brewery, and another in Ghent with the Castle of the Counts and the Mystic Lamb.