Belgium, brick cities and Ardennes forests.

Which Belgium should you choose?

You can drive across Belgium in three hours, but it changes a lot from north to south. In the north, Flanders is flat, speaks Dutch and has the cities of brick and canals: Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp. In the middle is Brussels, bilingual, the gateway for almost all flights. In the south, Wallonia speaks French and rises towards the Ardennes: forested hills, deep river valleys and villages of grey stone.

The Ardennes are also the setting of the Battle of the Bulge, the last great German offensive on the Western Front, in the winter of 1944. Its centre was Bastogne, the town the American army defended while surrounded in December 1944. Today it has a large museum about the battle, the Mardasson Memorial next to it, and in the Bois Jacques you can still see the foxholes dug by the paratroopers.

• If you are interested in the Second World War, Bastogne deserves a whole day: the Bastogne War Museum, about two and a half hours; the memorial, free, and the Bois Jacques. Bastogne Barracks, with its military vehicles, completes the visit.
• If you're after forest and river, stay a second day in the Ardennes: La Roche-en-Ardenne, a good half hour from Bastogne, has a ruined castle above the town and kayak descents of the Ourthe.
• If you like abbeys, the one at Orval, near the French border, has medieval ruins, a museum and a Trappist beer brewed on site.

Bastogne combines well with a couple of nights in Brussels or a Flemish city: you arrive by plane, see the city without a car and then hire one for the south.

What to see from Brussels

Brussels is the best base for a first trip: the Grand-Place, the Atomium, Magritte and comic strips, and a rail network that puts almost the whole country within an hour and a half. From there you can do these as day trips, without a car:

• Bruges, about an hour by train: the belfry, the canals by boat and the béguinage.
• Ghent, a little over half an hour: the Castle of the Counts, Van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece and the Graslei.
• Antwerp, about 45 minutes: the central station, the Rubens paintings in the cathedral and the MAS viewing terrace.
• Leuven, 25 minutes: the university town, with its Gothic town hall and the Great Béguinage.
• Dinant, an hour and a half via Namur: the citadel above the Meuse and kayaking on the Lesse.
• Waterloo, about 20 minutes: the 1815 battlefield, with the Memorial and the Lion's Mound.
• Mechelen, 20 minutes by train: St Rumbold's Tower, the Kazerne Dossin memorial and the Het Anker brewery.
• Namur, an hour: the citadel above the Sambre and the Meuse, with a cable car and underground passages.
• Liège, an hour: the Sunday La Batte market, the Montagne de Bueren and Calatrava's station.
• Ostend and De Haan, an hour and a quarter: the coast by tram, the sailing ship Mercator and Ensor's house.
• Ypres, an hour and a half by car: the Last Post every evening at the Menin Gate and the First World War cemeteries.
• The Caves of Han, an hour and a half by car: a huge cave with an underground river and a park of bears and wolves.
• Lier, about 45 minutes by train: the béguinage, the Zimmer Tower and the collegiate church where Joanna of Castile and Philip the Handsome were married.
• Villers-la-Ville Abbey, 40 minutes by car: the ruins of a great Cistercian abbey, with its own beer.
• Spa, an hour and a half: the thermal baths in the town that gave its name to spas, and the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
• Durbuy and La Roche-en-Ardenne, an hour and a half by car: the Ourthe valley, the topiary park and a ruined castle.
• Bouillon, two hours by car: Godfrey's castle, its birds of prey and kayaking on the Semois.

With four or five days, the most comfortable plan is to sleep two nights in Brussels and two in Bruges or Ghent, and keep the car, if you need it, for the Dinant or Ardennes day.

How do you get there from Spain?

By plane. The two airports are Brussels-Zaventem, about 20 minutes by train from the centre, and Charleroi, south of the capital, where many low-cost airlines land. There are direct flights from the main Spanish cities, taking about two hours from Madrid or Barcelona. Charleroi leaves you closer to the Ardennes.

Paperwork. Belgium is in the European Union and in Schengen: a valid national ID card is enough. The currency is the euro and the European Health Insurance Card covers emergency care.

By car from Spain. It is a long trip, more than 1,500 km from Madrid through France. If you do it, bear in mind the low-emission zones of Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent: a Spanish-registered car has to be registered before entering, free of charge on each city's official website. The Antwerp registration is valid for Ghent and vice versa; the Brussels one is separate.

How to get around

The train links all the country's cities frequently and over short journeys. For the Ardennes it is less practical: Bastogne has no station. You take the train to Libramont, on the Brussels to Luxembourg line, about two and a half hours from the capital, and continue by TEC bus. Bastogne's centre and its museum can be done on foot, but for the Bois Jacques, La Roche and Orval you need a car.

By car, it is about two hours by motorway from Brussels to Bastogne. The Ardennes roads are narrow and twisty, and in winter there can be ice.

When to go and what it costs

From May to September the days are long, the forest is green and you can kayak down the rivers. In July and August there are more people in La Roche and at the campsites. In December the anniversary of the battle is held in Bastogne: there are ceremonies and re-enactments, and the town fills up. It is cold and gets dark early, so book in good time.

The budget is medium to high, similar to France's. Accommodation in the Ardennes is cheaper than in the cities, and eating in a village brasserie works out reasonably.