Rick Steves' Snapshot Bruges and Brussels: Including Antwerp & Ghent Paperback – August 23, 2011

If you've ever said to yourself, "I wish we knew someone who lived here who could take us around to all of the best spots and give us recommendations for sightseeing and food", Rick is your man. Whenever my husband and I would wonder something in Brussels, we'd say we were going to "ask Rick", lol, and sure enough, it'd be in the book. This book was awesome, SO much better than other travel books. You really feel like you have all of the insider information and aren't making the dumb tourist mistakes even if you've never been there before.For example, there is a place in Brussels nicknamed "Restaurant Row" where the streets are narrow and the servers stand outside and try to hustle you into their restaurants like annoying pushy salesmen. Rick points this out right away and tells you to walk down it to get the experience, but then go eat somewhere where the food is better and not overpriced. Our first night there we saw exactly what he meant and were so glad we knew that info ahead of time. We did exactly like he recommended and had a great time. Another example: the Notre Dame de Sablon church in Brussels was highlighted as a "don't miss" in Rick's book but BARELY EVEN MENTIONED in the Frommer's Brussels & Bruges day by day book (and not on the map provided) - this turned out to be one of our favorite sites of the whole trip which we would never have seen if we'd only had the Frommer's book. His walking tours are the perfect way to see the city.SO wish we would have had his Paris guide for our 1-day side trip to Paris, we were all over the place and wasted a lot of time figuring out what to do and how to do it using the Frommer's Paris day by day book. Frommer's even recommended just looking at and not even going into the Louvre in their "Best in one day" section. I'm sorry, but if I'm in Paris - even just for one day - I'm going INTO the Louvre.If all of Rick's guides are as good as this one, save your money on the much inferior - albeit highly rated - Frommer's day by day books and choose Rick's instead. Comparing our Frommer's Brussels & Bruges day by day book to Rick Steves' Snapshot Bruges & Brussels (we had both) was no contest. The only difference was that Frommer's provides you with detailed maps that are anywhere from mediocre to sucky and Rick has you purchase your own - better in my opinion because you can buy one that best suits you and the places you go probably have way better and more easily readable maps.Bottom line: Rick knows what's up and makes sure you do, too. When we go back to Europe I will only be buying his guides from now on...

We used this guide on a recent trip to Brussels and Brugges. I like Rick Steve's use of the coding system as to which sights are worth the time. We also used and enjoyed his suggested routes for walks about town. His taste seems to match ours well so I will look for his guides for future trips. (Note, my husband and I like to wander around, explore and find good value). He includes good tips about transportation around Belgium and into/out of the towns by train. I could tell this was a fairly recent edition but could not find the issue date listed in the book. A few of the prices he listed for train, food, etc have gone up since this but overall pretty accurate. Maps are overall pretty good and accurate (exception is the one Brussels restaurants map that has duplicate keys and some inaccuracies). We tried 2 of his restaurant suggestions and appreciated them when the choices in town were overwhelming. Yes, one could find much of this info through internet searches, but I still greatly appreciate a thorough yet compact guide such as this to carry and use as needed on a trip.

I absolutely LOVE Rick Steves' guidebooks. My sisters and I have used them for years while trekking through France, Switzerland, Ireland, and England. I traveled for 2 months for a work trip to Brussels and purchased this book to explore the cities. Rick offers several different tours of Brussels, which was great, since we spent multiple weekends in the city. Not only does he highlight the major tourist destinations (even so far as to tell you to stay away from certain ones, as they're not worth your time), but he brings you to quaint, out of the way spots. One restaurant in his Bruges guidebook became our absolute favorite each time we went there. This book truly beats out every other guidebook!

I love Rick Steves. This book really helped me on my travels in Belgium to Brussels, Ghent and Bruges. I think his maps are helpful and he helped me locate the right trains stops and trams to take. I think he needs to focus a bit more on Ghent, because I found it had a lot to do and deserves the same credit that Bruges does. Rick focuses a lot in this book on the art museums, which I think he could have cut back on, but overall his recommendations for sights to see are great. He fails to mention the Museum Dr. Guislain in Ghent and the hot chocolate at the Old Chocolate House in Bruges, but he touches on all of the main sights and helps you find them. If you are going to Belgium, buy this book!

I love Rick Steves' travel books. He always has great places to visit and recommendations on where to eat and stay. I have not found him to be off in his assessments yet, whether complimentary or not. I would not recommend taking the book to Europe as a e-book. The information was good, but too hard to get to. Much easier to tear out pages and take with you, or take the book since it is small and only covers a few areas, and flip through to find what you need at the time you need it. Plans change on the spur of the moment. We visited Brussels and Bruges both and enjoyed the small homey restaurants and some less touristy sites we found there. Enjoyed the touristy ones, too, I will have to admit!

Just returned from a 16 day trip to Bruges and Germany. We used the book to find a hotel in Bruges and were very satisfied with the booking. We are a retired couple who enjoy traveling off season and found the listings for activities and museums very helpful. Did find quite a few of the hotels full when we were attempting to make reservations a few days ahead of our visit. I would recommend that you book hotels ahead if you go during a busy time of the travel season.

Good recommendations for a 5-day trip.

Good

Always reliable. Can't beat Rick Steves for information when travelling.