sightseeing and transport advice

thinking of booking a weekend trip to brussels with my elderly parents on the 13th nov until the 16th nov ideally would like to visit mini europe ,war museum ,and hopefully waterloo is it feesable to do all these things in two days especially as one of them is sunday are these places even open on sundays,does the hop on hop off bus tour visit these sights are these tours worth doing what is the transport like to get to these attractions dont want it to be too difficult dont want to kill off my oold parents. which station does the ryanair bus go to from charleroi is it feesable to get a taxi from that station to hotel which will be next to grand place and if so how much would it cost just trying to make the travelling about as stress free as possible for my parents.

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1) I%26#39;m not sure about Waterloo as transport is difficult unless you do it by organised tour: you have to take bus W from near Gare du Midi, preferably stopping in Waterloo itself to visit the Wellington Museum and then continuing with the same bus to Mont St. Jean (on the road to Braine l%26#39;Alleud) where the actual battlefield is (you can get a day ticket on the bus, I don%26#39;t remember the price but probably €7 or 8). Otherwise, Mini-Europe is near Heysel metro station and the Military Museum near Mérode metro station. There is also a special %26quot;museums%26quot; bus on Sundays, although it doesn%26#39;t go out to Heysel.

2) Museums are open on Sundays, closed on Mondays.

3) Mini-Europe and the Cinquantenaire museums are included in the HoHo tours, Waterloo obviously not as it is some distance from Brussels. From reports on here, these tours are not particularly worth it unless perhaps you want to see a lot from the .outside and not get off: blue buses are rumoured to be the best - in fact blue and red belong to the same company - but avoid the green ones. They all start from Gare centrale.

4) Ryanair shuttle brings you to Gare du Midi, and a taxi from there to the Gare centrale area should cost no more than about €10 depending of course on traffic conditions etc.

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thanks for the excellent advice .never been on a hoho bus before does it mean you can get off at one sight stay a while then get next hoho bus to next sight.or do you have to stick with your original bus sounds like a stupid question but being new to this just want to make sure.read some posts about having to phone for taxis to get a good one who wont rip you of is this correct or are there taxis at the station when ryanair bus arrives.thanks again

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1) Yes, ticket is valid for 24 hrs. You hop on and hop off where you like along the route - at specific stops of course.

2) Never read any such post on here myself, but in Brussels as it%26#39;s the same companies that service the taxi ranks and come if you phone (Taxis Verts etc.:32-2/02-349 49 49) and taxis are metered - unless perhaps someone was talking about limousine services, which charge a flat rate to specific destinations like airports.

3) Yes there are taxis at Gare du Midi, it%26#39;s Brussels%26#39; main station. There may even be some where the Ryanair coach arrives (rue de France) as they know its timetable, but the main rank is further along, near the exit from the Eurostar terminal, just follow the signs.