+1 You must have an
international licence if you're from outside of the EU and you want to drive here.
Other than that, the normal guidelines apply: people in big cities drive like idiots, everywhere else they're generally considerate.
Concerns about driving on the right will disappear within a few minutes anyway. It's really not a big deal once you get started. This coming from somebody who totally bricked it the first time.
As to avoiding the task altogether, that rather depends on where you want to go. A lot of people take the train to Geraardsbergen, for example, so they can knock a few jars down in the festive atmosphere. I thought about it this year but ultimately I drove because I wanted to have more options afterwards. Most bergs you couldn't do without a car - the Muur is a shining exception.