Dinant, Belgium. All photography is ours.
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Belgium with Kids
If you’re planning Belgium with kids, base in Brussels for two or three nights and take the train to Ghent for an afternoon. Book a chocolate tasting tour there, a food tour in Brussels, and you’ve eaten your way through the best of the country. We did it in May 2025 between Amsterdam and Paris.
Belgium is small, central, and built around things kids already like: chocolate, waffles, fries, and trains that get you to the next town in under an hour.
Destination guide · Updated November 2026 · Last visited May 2025
Best months
April–September
Fly into
BRU, or the train from Amsterdam or Paris
How long
3 days for Brussels and Ghent, 5 with Bruges and Luxembourg
Getting around
Trains between cities, walk inside them
Book ahead
The Ghent chocolate tour · the Brussels food tour · Eurostar seats to Paris
We took the early train from Amsterdam, dropped our bags in Brussels, and got right back on a train to Ghent. We saw the Ghent Altarpiece at St. Bavo’s Cathedral, then took a Charlie’s chocolate tour we had booked on Expedia. Carrick, Carrie, and Andrew each named it their favorite tour anywhere. The next day was a bus tour to Luxembourg City, and on our last morning we did the Brussels food tour before hopping on the Eurostar to Disneyland Paris.
Belgium was two nights and three cities for us, and it never felt rushed because nothing is far apart. Keep reading for the essentials and the days that worked.
Your Belgium guide
Enjoy exploring Belgium with kids!
Keep scrolling for the essentials, three ways to do Belgium, and where we stayed in Brussels.
Essential Belgium
Why we love Belgium
We think you’ll love it too.
Belgium is where we’d send a family that wants a European city break that tastes as good as it looks. The Ghent chocolate tour was the family’s favorite tour anywhere, and chocolate in Ghent is Carrick’s favorite bite in the country. Brussels puts a world-class square, a food tour, and a train to everywhere else within a few blocks of your hotel. For the adults in the group, Belgium’s beer game is world-class. Bruges and Antwerp are still on our list. Scroll down for the Belgium essentials.
Ghent AftT Visit
Ghent is a medieval city an hour from Brussels by train, with a castle in the middle of town, canals lined with guild houses, and St. Bavo’s Cathedral. It’s less crowded than Bruges and just as pretty. Our afternoon here was the best of Belgium for us.
The Ghent chocolate tasting tour AftT Visit
It’s a walking tour through the old town with stops at chocolatiers, and each one is a tasting. Carrick, Carrie, and Andrew all named it their favorite tour anywhere, which says everything. We booked it through Expedia.
The Brussels food tour AftT Visit
It’s three and a half hours of walking and tasting through the center of Brussels. The stops include fries, waffles, chocolate, and beer for the adults. We did it on our last morning before the train to Paris, and it covered lunch.
The Grand Place AftT Visit
The Grand Place is the main square in Brussels, ringed by gilded guild houses and the town hall, and it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s lit at night, the Hard Rock Cafe on the square covered our tradition of one Hard Rock stop per trip, and the Manneken Pis is a two minute walk away for the kids.
And the rest we’d cross the country for
Gravensteen Castle
The 12th century castle in the middle of Ghent, with ramparts kids can walk and a famously funny audio guide. It’s in the middle of the old town, a few minutes from the chocolate shops.
St. Bavo’s Cathedral AftT Visit
St. Bavo’s is home to the Ghent Altarpiece by the Van Eyck brothers, one of the most famous paintings in the world. We saw it right before the chocolate tour, and the augmented reality tour explains it for kids.
Dinant AftT Visit
This town is squeezed between the Meuse River and a cliff, with a citadel on top and the onion-domed church below. Our Luxembourg tour stopped here for dinner on the way back, and we walked the town and visited the Adolphe Sax museum. Dinant is the birthplace of the saxophone, and the kids will spot one on every bridge. We skipped the citadel, which is a cable car ride up for families with more time.
Bruges
Bruges is the postcard city with the belfry, the canals, and the horse carriages, half an hour past Ghent. It’s crowded for a reason. We haven’t been yet.
The Atomium
The Atomium is the giant 1958 World’s Fair molecule on the edge of Brussels, with escalators between the spheres and Mini-Europe at its feet.
The Comics Art Museum
Tintin and the Smurfs are Belgian, and this museum in Brussels tells the story. There’s a comic strip mural trail through the city too.
Antwerp
Antwerp has the diamond district, the Rubens House, and a train station that’s a destination on its own. It’s forty minutes from Brussels.
Waterloo
The battlefield south of Brussels where Napoleon lost, with the Lion’s Mound to climb and a museum underneath.
The Ardennes
The Ardennes have forests, caves, and the Bastogne War Museum on the Battle of the Bulge, in the southeast of the country. It’s the outdoorsy side of Belgium.
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Routes
Three ways to do Belgium
Brussels is the hub and everything is a train ride away. The first route is the two days we did. See all the best stops on a map.
Start
Brussels and Ghent
Train in from Amsterdam, drop the bags, and take the train to Ghent for lunch, the altarpiece at St. Bavo’s, and the 3 pm chocolate tour. Have dinner back in Brussels.
Then head to
Dinant and Luxembourg
Take a full-day bus tour from Brussels, 8 to 8, through the Ardennes to Luxembourg City, with dinner in Dinant on the Meuse on the way back. That day is its own guide.
Finish
The Brussels food tour
Spend three and a half hours on the last morning, then take the Eurostar to Paris or Disneyland Paris in under two hours.
Home base
Ghent
Stay in the old town for three nights. See the castle and the cathedral, and take a canal boat.
Then head to
Bruges
It’s half an hour by train. Climb the belfry, ride a canal boat, and eat a waffle.
Add on
Antwerp
It’s an hour the other way. See the train station, the zoo, and the Rubens House.
Start
Brussels
See the Grand Place, the Atomium, and the comics museum. Stay two nights.
Then head to
Waterloo
It’s half an hour south. See the Lion’s Mound and the museum.
Finish
Bastogne and the Ardennes
Get a rental car for the forests, the caves at Han-sur-Lesse, and the Battle of the Bulge museum.
When to go
Time your visits with the weather and the region
We went in late May, with mild days and some rain. Spring and early fall are the comfortable seasons. Summer is busiest in Bruges and Ghent. December brings Christmas markets to every square and is a reason to go on its own.
Swipe the chart sideways to see the full year.
April – June
When we went. Mild, green, and the terraces open. Bring a rain jacket anyway.
July – August
It’s warm and busy, especially in Bruges. The Ghent Festival takes over the city for ten days in July.
September
Still mild, fewer people, and the chocolate shops are less crowded.
October – March
Gray and damp, but December is Christmas market season in Brussels, Ghent, and Bruges, with lights and ice rinks.
Where to stay
Pick a good base to start your Belgium adventure
We based in Brussels and day-tripped, which worked because the trains are so fast. Here’s where we stayed and the two other bases we’d consider.
Brussels
Central Brussels
We stayed two nights at the Cardo Brussels, an Autograph Collection hotel we booked on a cash rate. It was walkable to the center and close to the trains, which mattered with Ghent, Luxembourg, and Paris all on the schedule.
- Cardo Brussels, Autograph Collection
- Near the Grand Place for walking
- Close to Brussels-Midi for the Eurostar
Flanders
Ghent
Hotels in the old town put the castle and the canals out the door, and Bruges and Brussels are both short train rides. It’s the base we’d consider for a longer Flanders trip.
- Old town hotels by the canals
- Half an hour to Bruges
- An hour to Brussels
Flanders
Bruges
Bruges is the most popular base in Belgium, with hotels in centuries-old buildings inside the ring canal. Book early for summer and December.
- Inside the ring for walking
- Day trippers leave by 6, so evenings are quiet
- The coast at Ostend is 15 minutes by train
Good to know
Questions families ask us about Belgium
Belgium at a glance
The practical stuff families ask us before they book.
Language: Dutch in Flanders, French in Brussels and the south, English widely spoken
Population: About 11.8 million
Capital: Brussels
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Power outlet: Types C and E, 230 V
Time difference: 7 hours ahead of Central
Entry for US passports: Visa-free up to 90 days, ETIAS expected late 2026
Driving: On the right, but take the train
Emergency number: 112
Tipping: Not expected, round up for good service
We did two nights and four towns, Brussels, Ghent, and a day trip to Luxembourg with dinner in Dinant, and it worked because the trains are fast. Three nights is more comfortable, and five lets you add Bruges and Antwerp. Base in one city and day trip rather than moving hotels.
We’ve only been to Ghent, and it was the highlight of Belgium for us. It has the castle, the canals, and the cathedral with fewer crowds than Bruges. Bruges is half an hour further and more of a postcard. If you have the time, do both from a base in Ghent.
The Ghent chocolate tasting tour is the tour three of the four of us call our favorite anywhere, so yes. It’s a walking tour through the old town with a tasting at each chocolatier, about two hours. Book it ahead, since the afternoon slots fill. We booked ours through Expedia.
You can do all of it by train. Amsterdam to Brussels is about two hours on a direct train. Brussels to Paris on the Eurostar is under two hours, and there’s a stop at Marne-la-Vallée for Disneyland Paris, which is what we did. Book the Eurostar early, since it’s priced like a flight.
Try fries with mayo from a stand, a Liège waffle from a window, and chocolate from a real chocolatier rather than the airport. The food tour in Brussels covered all three in one morning, plus a few things we’d never have ordered on our own.
No. Belgium is in the Schengen area, so a passport gets you 90 days. Europe’s ETIAS authorization is expected to start in late 2026, so check the current rules before you fly.
Map
Essential Belgium, mapped
Keep exploring
Where to go next
Netherlands with Kids
The Netherlands is where this trip started, with canals, windmills, and a food tour.
