DESTINATIONS EUROPE
The
From old favourites such as
battlefi eld tours and trips
to see the tulips, to music
festivals and boating
holidays, there are plenty
of options to keep your customers
happy in the low-lying areas of
northern Europe – mountain
climbers excepted!
City visits
Amsterdam and Brussels are
popular city-break destinations,
with tourists attracted to the former
by canals and art (not to mention
cannabis and the red light district),
and to the latter for its medieval
buildings, beer and chocolate. Sell
them to a more diverse audience
and second-time visitors by pointing
out the quirky, lesser-known things
to do and see.
If they’ve ticked off the
Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk and the
Van Gogh museum, gallery lovers
can still fi nd plenty to attract them
to Amsterdam. This is a city with a
museum for everything, from bags
and purses to the Dutch Funeral
Museum. Kids will love NEMO, the
futuristic science centre, and the
Amsterdam Dungeon.
Many clients will assume
Brussels is a rather staid sort of
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highs
of the
lowlands
Joanna Booth uncovers the hidden
delights of Belgium, Luxembourg and
the Netherlands
8For hotel
reviews and
information
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Comic frescos
adorn the walls
of many Brussels
buildings
place, but there are attractions
for the young, too. Rock Werchter
(July 2-5 this year) is Belgium’s
largest music festival, and before
you scoff too much at the dubious
accolade, this year it will host
Coldplay, The Killers, Metallica
and Placebo.
It’s also the year of the comic
in Brussels. There’s a fascinating
museum dedicated to the ‘ninth art’,
housed in an art nouveau building
and packed full of originals from
Tintin to the Smurfs. Comic frescos
are painted on walls all over the city.
Leger Holidays sells a Belgian
Grand Prix break for speed demons
and a Brussels Jazz Marathon
break (May 23-25) for serious fans.
The Grand Place,
Brussels
Tours
This compact, low-lying region
lends itself to moving around, and
both coach and rail breaks sell
well. Great Rail Journeys features a
number of short-break itineraries
around Amsterdam and Bruges, and
sell more budget versions as their
newly launched Treyn Holidays
brand. Leger and Shearings
Holidays off er similar short coach
breaks to Amsterdam, Ostend and
Bruges, the pretty Ardennes region
and Luxembourg, and into the Dutch
Alps at Valkenburg.
The tulip may be a humble fl ower,
but don’t underestimate its pulling
power. Bookings for fl ower
tours are consistently strong.
✈
March 6 2009 | Travel Weekly | 61
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