Mouth-watering ... waffles and chocolate are Belgian favourites.Credit: iStock
It's fair to say Belgium has something of an image problem. If you believe the critics, Belgium is a small, flat and dull destination; the only foreigners interested in heading there are the European Union's army of bureaucrats and politicians. Don't believe it. This surprisingly offbeat country ticks the boxes in so many departments, whether you're looking to quaff the best pint this side of Prague, gorge on delicious chocolate, look at some of the continent's best art and architecture or indulge your inner shopaholic.
Belgium is a third the size of Tasmania and has an excellent rail service, so getting from city to city is a breeze. You can hop on a train in London and be in Belgium's capital, Brussels, in two hours, too.
Beer
Belgium produces tipples of far more character and texture than the "wife beater", as Stella Artois beer is rather crudely called. Duck into one of the traditional taverns or beer cafes in Brussels, Antwerp and Bruges and don't be surprised if it takes you 30 minutes to wade through the menu. There are hundreds of drinks to choose from, including fruit-flavoured beer, thick brown Trappist ale and the famous wine-like lambic. Most of them are wonderfully moreish.
Dedicated beer buffs will love the tours of old breweries, such as the Gueuze Museum and Cantillon Brewery in Brussels (see cantillon.be).
Chocolate
The country produces almost 200,000 tons of chocolate a year and has more than 2000 cocoa-influenced shops within its borders. While big firms such as Cote d'Or and Godiva tend to draw in the crowds in the cities, every town and village has family-run stores selling hand-made pralines.
Waffles dripping in warm chocolate are also a favourite and it's not unusual to see people ambling through the streets munching away, not caring a bit that their face is covered in the sticky stuff. A chocolate-doused dessert will go down a treat after you've sampled Belgium's national dish of mussels and chips, too.
Architecture
Brussels is home to the European Union headquarters, its blaze of gleaming high-rises dubbed Gotham City. It's all rather sterile but a few kilometres away is the picturesque Grand Place, a central square framed with guildhalls and topped off by a Gothic town hall.
French writer Victor Hugo deemed Grand Place "the most beautiful square in Europe", while his compatriot, the poet and dramatist Jean Cocteau, went one further, labelling it "the most beautiful theatre in the world".
Canal-endowed Bruges has a mishmash of Gothic spires, and turrets and rows of gorgeous, stepped gabled houses but, for some, Ghent is even prettier, with a waterfront endowed with properties that look as if they were drawn from books of fairytales.
Art
A linguistic divide splits Belgium: in the northern Flemish-Dutch-speaking half, Flanders has nurtured most of the country's artistic talents. Bruges was the launching pad for a group of artists called the Flemish Primitives in the late Middle Ages; work from the stars of that era - Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling - is best viewed at the Groeninge and Hospital museums in Bruges and the cathedral at nearby Ghent. The 17th-century baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens was from Antwerp and some of his finest pieces are on display in his home city at the restored Rubens House.
Brussels isn't out of the loop, though. It has a huge fine art museum, holding more than 20,000 exhibits of European art from the early 15th century onwards. Any notion that Brussels is a drab, unimaginative place is shattered by the wealth of street art on almost every corner, displaying the comic-book adventures of Tintin, Asterix and friends.
History
Belgium has been battered by some of history's most famous battles. The Duke of Wellington secured his place in British culture when his army crushed Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo in 1815. Today, a statue of a lion, facing in the direction of France, sits on a hill overlooking Waterloo - one of the few highlights of a fairly subdued little place.
Just 150 kilometres away, the small market town of Ypres was the scene of three tumultuous battles between German and Allied forces during World War I. It's reckoned that up to half a million people died here - including about 50,000 Anzacs.
The people of Ypres have preserved this history at cemeteries and museums and the region is an incredibly moving place to visit. Anzac-themed tours are available. See visit-ypres.be/anzac-tours.htm.
Shopping
Antwerp likes to think of itself as Belgium's avant-garde capital and a rival of the likes of Paris and Milan. Much of the action is centred in Meir, which has a bulging selection of department stores and chain shops - the best in Belgium.
But it's in the cobblestone side alleys that you're more likely to find the smart boutiques and second-hand shops - and rub shoulders with the country's coolest and hippest. Pardaf (Gemeentestraat 8, see pardaf.be), Labels (Aalmoezenierstraat 4, see www.labelsinc.be) and Episode (Steenhouwersvest 34a, see episode.eu) are among the best bargain-hunting spots in Antwerp.
Antwerp has been one of the world's most important diamond centres for 500 years. Shops near the city's grand old train station deal in the sparkling crystals. The rest of us visit the Diamond Museum (see www.diamantmuseum.be), which offers a fascinating insight into the world's hardest substance as well as a gorgeous collection of jewels.
TRIP NOTES
Etihad flies from Sydney to Brussels via Abu Dhabi, priced from $2968 return. See etihadairways.com. Taking the Eurostar from London is priced from £59 ($107) return. See eurostar.com. To plot your travels around Belgium by rail, see www.b-rail.be and visitbelgium.com.
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.