Bruges With A Baby and Toddler Itinerary

On the 4th day we took a day trip to Bruges, which was about an hour train ride from Brussels. Bruges is such a beautiful city and there were plenty of kid-friendly activities in Bruges. If we could go back, I would have loved to spend a couple days here instead of so many nights in Brussels. I felt like there was so much to do. The train takes you pretty close to city center, only around a 10 minute walk.

A Day in Bruges with a Baby and a Toddler

Since we were only there for a day I wish I had taken this private walking tour and canal cruise. It would have given me more history than I got on my own.

We stopped and had brunch at ‘t Zandkoekje which was a delightful experience. My husband ordered a local beer and it came out with a trey with nuts and muffins. We were able to roll the stroller right into the restaurant which was nice because our youngest was napping. This place was a little off the beaten path, but I highly recommend.

From there we walked directly to city center where you are met with a sign that says this street was made for shopping. There were so many small and local businesses that lined this street. We will get to the shopping later though as I wanted to take a canal cruise with the weather being so nice. My husband thought it was best for just me and my son to take the canal cruise as Ellie wasn’t in the best of moods.

I chose the closest canal cruise booth to our location. The live guide spoke in English but I will say a lot of the fellow cruisers were talking and I had trouble hearing at times. The canal cruise was a great way to take in all the beautiful structures along the canal in Bruges. It was a quick 30 minutes so it did not take up much of our day. I wanted to see which places I wanted to visit during our day there. The Bruges canal cruise was also a great way to see dining options along the canal. There are so many affordable options for canal cruise and walking tours in Bruges.

Kid Friendly Breweries in Bruges

Bourgogne des Flandres

On the ride I spotted a Brewery that looked like it was a good place to go have some food and let the kids run around. Bourgogne des Flandres had sitting options inside, on the water, and outside with some space for the kids. We started with a flight, cheese plate, and a hot pretzel. The beer was very tasty and the kids really enjoyed running around on the artificial grass located in the front of the brewery.

De Halve Maan

We kept the day trip going at another brewery called De Halve Maan Brewery that had high reviews online. There was indoor and outdoor seating, but with the weather being as nice as it was, all the tables on the outside were full. There was an outdoor and indoor bar, as well as servers going around taking peoples orders. We really enjoyed just hanging out here outside while we had a couple drinks. There are private tours available for this brewery which might be a great option if you want to do a brewery tour with the kids.

It was getting close to the end of the day, so we decided to walk down the street that led us in and pop into numerous shops. Not before hopping into one of the local ice cream shops to reward our son for being such a good sport for the day.

Overall Opinion of Day Trip to Bruges

Bruges was absolutely was the perfect day trip to take the kids. The city was easily walkable, the food was great, and the architecture was beautiful. I do wish hind sight we had spent a couple of days because I feel like there was much more to see but I am glad we at least did one day. Transit was easy to get back to Brussels with just buying a train ticket on the phone and hopping on the train. The sights from the train for the hour across the country were well worth the trip as well.

There is a Chocolate Museum in Bruges similar to the one we did in Brussels. It also has a chocolate making workshop which would be so fun for older kids. I cannot wait to go back one day. I truly loved it!

Visiting Bruges and Amsterdam? Click here to our Amsterdam itinerary with a baby and a toddler.

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Bon Voyage,

Our Crew