From Fries to Fairy Tales: A Family Week in Bruges

After Paris, we packed up our bags, wrangled the kids away from one last croissant, and hopped on a train north to Bruges. If you've never been, Bruges has this reputation as the "pretty but sleepy" stop on a Belgium itinerary, all cobblestones and swans and old churches. And look, it is gorgeous. But what actually surprised me, traveling with two teenagers who roll their eyes at anything that smells like educational, is how much this tiny medieval city has leaned into modern, hands-on, teen-friendly experiences without losing any of its charm. Bruges ended up being one of the favorite stretches of our whole trip. Here's exactly how we did it, day by day, in case you're planning something similar.



We got into Bruges in the early afternoon, dropped our bags at the hotel, and made a beeline for the Markt Square because honestly, after sitting on a train, everyone needed to move. The square itself is stunning, all gabled guild houses and horse-drawn carriages, but the real energy burner was climbing the 366-steps Belfry Tower right there in the middle of it.







By that point everyone was starving, so we grabbed a burger and Belgian frites from a restaurant called FritBar near the square, the kind that come with a little fork and a mountain of sauce. If your family is even slightly obsessed with fries, it's worth detouring to the Frietmuseum, which sounds like a joke but is a real, surprisingly fascinating museum entirely dedicated to the history of the humble fry, housed in a beautiful old building with a frituur in the basement so you can eat your research.



We ended the afternoon with a canal boat ride, and this is one of those things that sounds touristy but is genuinely lovely. We caught ours from Rozenhoedkaai, which is the postcard spot everyone photographs, with the water, the old houses leaning over the canal, and the Belfry peeking up in the background. Sitting down for twenty minutes after a day of walking and stair climbing, gliding under low stone bridges while a guide points out which buildings are seven hundred years old, was the perfect low key way to end our first day.








The next day, the kids visited the Choco-Story, Chocolate Museum, where you're standing at a table melting, tempering, and filling your own chocolates instead of just watching someone else do it through a window. There's also the option to do a proper Belgian waffle making class if your crew is more into the doughy side of things.

The afternoon we left completely open letting the kids loose to explore on their own for a few hours, no itinerary, no parents trailing behind. Bruges is small and easy to navigate and feels very safe, so this was a low stress way to give them some independence. As the evening cooled down we took a slow walk along the canals at sunset, which is honestly one of the most romantic, calm things you can do in Bruges, even with kids in tow.




The next day, we joined a free local walking tour which is hands down the best decision we made. The tour kicks off right in the middle of everything at The Markt. From the Markt, we meandered down charming side streets toward the Gruuthusemuseum. This grand, newly renovated city palace used to belong to a ridiculously wealthy family who basically held a total monopoly on gruit, the herbal mixture used to brew beer before hops became popular. Hearing how one family turned a brewing secret into unbelievable medieval riches was fascinating.



Right across the way sits Sint-Janshospitaal (St. John’s Hospital). Established in the 12th century, it is actually one of the oldest surviving hospital buildings in the entire world. Standing outside those centuries-old brick walls while learning how medieval monks and nuns cared for the sick, poor, and weary travelers really puts historical daily life into perspective.




By day five everyone was ready for a break from cobblestones and church spires, so we took the short train ride, about fifteen minutes, out to Ostend on the coast. From there we hopped on the Kusttram, the coastal tram that runs along basically the entire Belgian coastline and happens to be the longest tram line in the world, stretching around 67 kilometers from one end of the coast to the other.



We didn't ride the whole thing, just hopped on and off along the boardwalk, spending the day walking the promenade, digging into seaside snacks, and just letting the kids run around on the sand for a while. After days of museums and medieval architecture, it was the perfect reset, sun, sea air, and absolutely nothing historical to learn about for a few hours.




Our last morning in Bruges was mostly packing and one final walk past the canals before catching the train toward Amsterdam, usually routed through either Brussels or Antwerp depending on the connection you get. It's a bittersweet ride, because five days in Bruges genuinely flew by, and it's hard to leave a place where you've settled into a rhythm.



Looking back, what made Bruges work so well for us as a family with teenagers wasn't cutting out the history, it was finding ways to try different local food varieties, visiting a local chocolate museum tour, and a guided walking tour. Mix that with some genuine free time and a beach day thrown in, and you end up with a stretch of trip that even the most reluctant teenage traveler will actually remember fondly.