Belgium is a country of picturesque city centres dating from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Bruges has one the largest, best preserved pre-motorized city cores in Europe. It's lovely old houses, public buildings, squares and canals make it a necessary picture postcard stop on any proper tour of Europe. It is certainly the ultimate place for the simple virtues of taking in the scenery at an outdoor cafe on a nice day with a glass of Belgian beer and a basket of Belgian chips.

However, Belgium's old architecture does not begin or end with Bruges. Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven and Mechelen all have their own old urban cores. Indeed, Leuven is the home of one of the oldest universities in Europe. Even Brussels has a lovely old town district, although it is often eclipsed by the better-preserved and larger old districts of Belgium's other towns and cities.

Military history buffs will find Belgium a worthwhile destination for two singular settings. First, it was in Belgium that the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Blucher defeated Napoleon for the final time at Waterloo. The modern battlefield is one of the better-preserved battle sites in Europe, where expansive preservation parks is not the norm. The main change to the terrain of Waterloo is the Lion's Mound, an artificial hillock erected to mark the spot where the bumbling Prince of Orange was wounded. Otherwise, the site is much the same as it was in 1815.

The other military site is the Ardennes, a thick forest that saw some of the most dramatic events of the Second World War. In 1940, the French thought the Ardennes to difficult for tanks, so that was where the German Army made its main thrust in an offensive that swept France from the field in a matter of weeks. Four years later, the Ardennes was the setting for the Battle of the Bulge, including where the 101st Airborne Division made its stand at Bastogne. The imposing forest itself has ensured that the ground away from the towns remains much as it did in the 1940s.

Belgium is also one of the world's best travel destinations for nightlife. While it might not be the glamour destination of New York or London, or the hedonistic magnet of Mykonos or Ibizia, Belgium has a strong cafe-and-club scene. Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Leuven all sit in a relatively small area, and combining them produces more bars, cafes, restaurants and clubs per square mile than any other area in the world. A bar crawl or club hop in Belgium can last for days and still not visit the same place twice, or even cover all four cities.

Belgian eaters are known for being gourmands rather than gourmets. The distinction is that a gourmand loves "big food," while a gourmet loves "fine food." It would be better to say a Belgian loves a big, good meal, as anyone familiar with the habits of the rotund Agatha Christie detective Hercule Poirot would know. The Belgians are well-known for their aforementioned, thick-cut chips fried in animal fat (not vegetable oil), served with mayonnaise. The country is also famous for its beers and ales, a natural combination with the aforementioned chips. Belgian waffles are a treat that has become international cuisine, while Belgian seafood is embodied in the famous mussel pot. Belgian chocolate is also renowned worldwide.

However, Belgian food also has its lesser-known regional dishes. Vlaamse stoofkarbonaden is a Flemish beef stew something like beef bourguignon, except that it is made with beer instead of red wine. Then there is Ghent's Waterzooi, a fish or chicken stew with vegetables, cream and eggs.

Brussels Airport is the main entry point into Belgium, and is the only airport in the country with departures by full-service airlines. The budget airlines Vueling and SkyEurope also operate from Brussels. Elsewhere, Ryanair and Wizzair fly to Charleroi, and there are some business commuter connections between London City Airport and Antwerp. Finally, flying to Amsterdam and taking the bus or train to Belgium is a relatively simple matter.