How very exciting, Missvee!! Amsterdam and London are both fantastic, and Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp are fabulous too:-)
And yep, delicious chocolate can be found anywhere in Belgium, so no worries there.
I second Angie's suggestion for taking the train when travelling from London and/or Amsterdam to Belgium.
As far as transport (by train) and day trips from one city to another are concerned, this is easy from whichever city you decide to stay in. I may be biased because I live in Antwerp, but I would also suggest Antwerp as your "home base". It's the largest of the three cities, so a larger area to explore. Most of the sights (buildings, museums…) are located in the compact city centre though and easily reachable on foot or with public transportation. Plus, there are lots of cafés, restaurants all in one area when you don't feel like walking very far at night after a day of sightseeing. And excellent shopping, of course, from the well-known high-street stores, to designer brands and independent boutiques.
Ghent is absolutely lovely too (with one long shopping street, and more stores in the adjacent streets), fun restaurants and pubs that are a bit more scattered throughout the city. Definitely worth a visit too.
Bruges (Brugge) is very picturesque and a lot smaller than Ghent and Antwerp. There are tourists from all over the world year round, it can get a bit busy, but I find it adds to the charm. Totally do-able in one day, and you will see a lot. The canals and old buildings are beautiful (I second Ornella's suggestion for a boat tour on the canal:-)
I just checked train travel times for you:
- Antwerp to Ghent: 53 minutes to 1 hour and 1 minute.
- Antwerp to Bruges: 1 hour 19 minutes to 1 hour 32 minutes.
- Ghent to Bruges: 23 to 27 minutes.
- London to Brussels (Eurostar train): a little over 2 hours
- Amsterdam to Antwerp: 1 hour and 53 minutes
Do let me know if I can help with any practical matters in Belgium, and if you decide to come to Antwerp, it would be fun to meet-up (if you have time, of course). I'll PM you more details about my availability in August (have two mini-trips planned).
