Is Charleroi worth a few days?

With the possibility of some low cost flights I was wondering if Charleroi is worth a few days stay? Also if you were to choose a town or city close by and easily accesible by bus or train for a day trip where would you choose?

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Not in my opinion, and if you notice, in the Charleroi forum there is no list of %26quot;things to do%26quot; as in the forum for other cities. However, you can always google Charleroi sights to find out whether there is anything that would interest you for several days (or see http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Belgium/Province_de_Hainaut/Charleroi-357329/Things_To_Do-Charleroi-BR-1.html).

CRL airport is one hour from Brussels by the airport shuttle, which brings you to Gare du Midi, and about the same by local bus then train from Charleroi-Sud railway station, and Ruinair sells it as serving Brussels rather than Charleroi. It would take a further hour from Brussels to Brugge.

Namur, the capital of Wallonia, is only 30 minutes from Charleroi by train and has a citadel (reached by gondola cable car), although I prefer the one further on (30 mins by train from Namur) at Dinant, reached by funicular. Both of these are on the Meuse, and in the summer at least there are boats between them. You%26#39;ll find timetables on http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

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Practically the only reason you have ever heard of Charleroi, I would imagine, is that Ryanair started flying there and called it Brussels South.

Spending a few hours in the place would be too much and the best thing in the town is the truely indistictive train station which acts as an escape route out of there.

Perhaps this description of the city on Wikipedia sums it up:-

%26quot;The municipality features an industrial area, iron and steel industry, glassworks, chemicals, and electrical engineering. Charleroi is in the center of a vast coal basin, called Pays noir. Many slag heaps still surround the city%26quot;

Still wanna spend a few days there?

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He He

Ron is of course correct however, as already stated Namur and Dinant are only down the road and both are definately worth a visit.

I stayed in Namur for 2 days and did Dinant and the caves at Han-Sur-Lesse so you see Charleroi is useful for something.

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That%26#39;s very useful information. I think that I might use it for the train station to move on somewhere else. As I have already visited Brussels I was hoping to find a nice gem of a town to visit. Namur sounds nice, anywhere else?

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Take the bus from the Airport to the train station 1.50 euro, then the train to Namur about 12 euro return if i remember correctly, book in to les tanners, nice hotel great value look at the reviews here, plenty of nice bars around Namur for the 1st night and the tanners has an excellent restaurant. The Citadel will take half a day to get round its well worth taking the tour into the underground tunnels in the citadel, plenty of other things to do in Namur for the rest of the day or take the train to Dinant about 6 euro return. Get up early the next day take train to Dinant, bus to Ciney, train to Jamelle, then bus to Han-sur-lesse the total return journey costs about 18 euro and will take about 2 hours each way only because of all the connections, have a look around Han-sur-lesse nice little village but very touristy, go and see the caves impressive well worth it.

Its a chilled relaxing day you can have a coffee in Dinant and Ciney while waiting for your connection and a beer in Jamelle while waiting for the bus and each stage is only short about 20-30 mins really nice scenery too, fares are approx i did it a few months ago.

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Oh for anyone else reading this thread Charleroi is very useful as a transport hub for low cost airlines.

I will be using Charleroi again in November to return from a short trip to the Netherlands, remember you can go the full lenght of Belgium including your bus fare from/to the Airport for 11 euros one way, and belgian trains are excellent however, if you are using Ryanair there is a penalty in so far as the very early flight, if this is the case use your ticket to get to the Airport and book up with the Balladins superior Airport hotel, £62 per room, they will pick you up with their free shuttle, it%26#39;s well worth it for the night, they obviously will run you to the Airport in the morning.

If you manage to get £5 e/w Ryanair flight(with handluggage only),you will still be quids in,i got both mine for £1 he he.

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Thanks lovejumping. Just the type of suggestion and info I was looking for.

Ox