Family-Friendly 3 Day Belgium Itinerary (Bruges and Brussels)

In October we traveled to Belgium with our 3 year old and 20 month old. We didn’t know a lot about Belgium and things to do, so I did some major research, asked around, and we ended up having the best time. I wrote down everything we did, where we stayed, and what we ate in this family friendly Belgium itinerary.

Belgium felt extremely kid friendly. People were nice, public transportation was free for the kids, and it was easy to get around by walking and biking. Belgium also has incredible food (hello Belgium waffles and chocolate) and we never had a hard time finding places for our family to eat. Bruges was such a cute town and I’m so glad it’s where we stayed.

If you are planning a trip to Europe, definitely make a stop in Belgium. I wish we would have stayed longer!

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Our Family’s Belgium Itinerary

Day 1 – Wednesday 10/18/2023

This was our travel day. We flew from Salt Lake City, to Paris, and took a train to Bruges. It was a long day so we didn’t get in to the Bruges train station until around 5:00 pm. It was raining so we had originally planned to take the bus to our AirBnB, but that would have required about 10 minutes of walking with all of our luggage in tow, so we got a taxi. They were lined up outside of the train station so it was very easy.

We got to our AirBnB, unloaded all of our luggage, and then walked the 10 minute walk to the town square to find dinner. We just looked on Google Maps and decided on Olive Street Food. We got Logan and I each got a pita wrapped gyro and the kids shared their street box which was basically a deconstructed euro. We also got a fresh squeezed juice. Everything was absolutely delicious and I highly recommend.

It was pretty late by that point so we walked home and went to bed.

Day 2 – Thursday 10/19/2023

That night we didn’t sleep great with the time change so we slept in until about 9:30am. We got ready and headed back to the town square to look for waffles. There are dozens of waffle shops in Bruges but we opted for House of Waffles which happened to be right across the street from Olive Street Food. We got a Belgium hot chocolate and a few different waffles and were in heaven. Be aware, Belgium waffles are more of a desert, so they are very sweet. The hot chocolate was delicious, it’s just hot milk with a big hunk of chocolate that slowly melts and flavors it.

We knew we wanted to rent bikes so Logan took our stroller home while the kids and I walked around the square and explored inside the Belfort. Then we walked over to Adventure Bike Rentals to get two bikes. They had bike seats for the kids and, bonus, they were no extra cost! They didn’t have helmets to rent as they aren’t as common in Europe.

We rode all around the square and then over to De Burg which is where Bruges’ City Hall is and the Basilica of the Holy Blood is. We went inside the church with the kids for a little bit. You can wait in line to see a drop of what is said to be Christ’s Blood, but many people were giving donations and we didn’t have any cash. Also waiting in a long line while being quiet wasn’t super fun for our 1 and 3 year old. I love old churches and will always choose to go inside.

After that, we rode our bikes around the city along the canal and up to a huge windmill. Riding bikes is one of my favorite ways to explore a new city. Sissy fell asleep and Kirk wasn’t too far off so we decided to head back to our AirBnB. The kids napped and I decided to go out on my own on the bikes.

I first rode to the Carrefour grocery store for sandwich supplies. Then I rode over to the Church Of Our Lady Bruges. It has a small statue created by Michelangelo called the Madonna. This, of course, was the main reason I wanted to visit the church, but you do have to pay to see the part of the church where it’s displayed. Then I rode over to the Saint John’s Hospital which is now a museum in the Medieval hospital. I didn’t pay to go inside but walked around the outside of the building.

I knew we wanted to do a canal tour, so I rode my bike along the canal, and stopped at a few of the stands selling tickets. Most were stopping soon but I found one that was doing tours for a few more hours. I bought tickets and then rode home. We got everyone ready and rode our bikes back to the canal stop. (Luckily, I took a picture of nearby stores so I could find our way back!) The canal tour was really fun and the kids loved it. We had people from all over the world on our boat which was really cool. I did make sure to book us a tour with an english speaking guide.

After the canal tour, we returned our bikes and ate pizza at Pasta Presto. It was good and the kids ate a lot of pizza so that was a win. We walked back to our AirBnB and went to sleep.

Day 3 – Friday 10/20/2023

Since this was our last full day in Belgium, we decided to spend it in Brussels. It was raining, but we dressed the kids in their rain clothes and took the bus back to the train station. (You can read What We Bring for a Full Day Out in Europe, here.) We purchased our tickets and took a train to Brussels which was about an hour long. Kids don’t need to pay for a seat on trains, and we never had a problem or anyone ask them to move off of the seats. On a very busy train, we would have them sit on our laps.

When we got to Brussels, we walked straight to the Grand Palace which is the center of the city and an extremely popular place for pictures. We wandered around the square and then went to go find more waffles of course. I had done a little research on the train and one of the most highly recommended places was Le Roi De La Gaufre. The waffles were incredible. Our favorite was the salted caramel. I also had wanted to get some really good Belgium frites and right next door was Café Georgette. It was on another list I had seen of highly recommended spots to get good Belgium frites. They were delicious!

We did pack some more substantial food so after the kids ate a little more, Sissy fell asleep in the stroller and we walked to go find a pretty church and some Belgium chocolates to bring home. (If you want to know more about our Travel Stroller Set Up for Two Kids, you can read that here.) The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula was within walking distance so that’s where we went. As I’ve said, I love old churches and this one was incredibly tall and huge inside. It kind of reminded me of Westminster Abbey, albeit much less crowded.

We remembered there was a famous statue of a young boy peeing into a fountain appropriately named the Manneken Pis so we made a quick stop to see the funny little statue. After our quick pit stop, we went to a few different chocolate shops. The Chocolaterie Mary was a beautiful little shop with very pretty chocolates. Mary is said to be the first female Chocolatier in Belgium so I picked up some chocolates from this shop for a few of my girlfriends back home.

Then we went to La Belgique Gourmande to get chocolates for us and our families. They had every kind of chocolate you can imagine. One thing I thought was really fun was they had decorative tins you could put a tray with dividers in and fill it with any of the bulk chocolate options they had around the store. I loved the tins and it’s going to be perfect to to keep items in at home and always remember our time in Brussels. We picked up a few boxes of chocolates as well and our kids picked out chocolate suckers in the shape of teddy bears.

It was about 5:30pm so we headed back to the train station and rode home. We took the bus back to our AirBnB and had left over pizza and sandwiches for dinner.

Day 4 – Saturday 10/21/2023

We had train tickets to Paris so we got up early and packed up to head to out. The weather was great so we walked with all of our luggage to the bus stop, and took the bus to the train station. We took a train to Brussels, and then got on a Eurostar train to Paris.

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