Antwerp Forum: Antwerp, Bruges or Ghent for Easter

Thanks qaminari.

Maybe we should go to Brugge for a few days before Easter and then on to Ghent and Antwerp over the Easter weekend.

Are we going to be able to do much in either Antwerp or Ghent on Easter Monday?

There is still plenty to do, even if shops (except those aimed at tourists) will be shut on Easter Monday as it is a public holiday and of course they are also closed on Sundays. Most museums in Belgium are closed on Mondays anyway, but the Diamond Museum in Antwerp is an exception - it closes on Wednesdays - and Rubens' House in Antwerp is exceptionally open on Easter Monday, see http://rubenshuis.be/eCache/MCE/30/05/184.bWFpbj0zMDA1MTcw.html). Churches and cathedrals will be closed for religious services on the Monday morning (e.g. St. Baaf's in Ghent, if you want to see the Mystic Lamb) but open in the afternoon. Canal boat trips will be running in Brugge and Ghent, and port boat trips in Antwerp, and the zoo in Antwerp (between the Diamond Museum and Antwerpen Centraal station) will be open. In Ghent, the Castle of the Counts (Gravensteen) is also open - http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/ghent.shtml So whichever city you choose, there will be things to see and do. If there is anything specific you want to see or do in any of these cities, you can easily check opening times on the internet, and organise your stay accordingly.

Thanks qaminari. It sounds like there will be enough to do where ever we end up.

My next question regards transport. We will travel to Bruges from Delft. I assume that we will have to go to Rotterdam, then Antwerp before connecting to Bruges. Is the train our best option?

Thanks again.