Belgium Easter Week with Kids

Nice username, Frenchie!

The trip from Gare Du Nord to Brussels is super easy. I've also gone the opposite direction from AMS to Brussels because of a changed flight, it's not a big deal at all. Depending on your airline allegiance, flying Star Alliance into AMS will likely get you a price advantage over flying a SkyTeam fare into there. Use ITA Matrix.

Your kids are too young for WWI/WWII stuff, but take them into the Leonidas shop (there are multiple) in Brussels and let them drool. The central market give them a great sense of fun (at least it would during Xmas season, I wasn't there in Easter.) Best chocolate ever. The kids get to pick their individual items. Their biggest amusement in Brussels will almost certainly be the market(s).

I'd suggest just making them eat. Kinda like Barcelona, you see a bunch of Gaudi stuff, but you'll remember the first time your six year old ate a mussel far more than the statue of King Leopold. The Belgian "government" stuff captured my attention for maybe 30 seconds per item. Nothing to see there.

Mine was my 8 year old son slamming the oyster, and my 6yo daughter giving me the "nah" look before she spit it out into a napkin. She tried, lol.


Do not get off a train stop in Brussels that is not your hotel or destination. There are specific stops that are not safe, even during the day, for non-Muslims (I'm just being honest.) Top of my list is Merode. Never get off the train there.

Not much in Brussels, to be honest, especially for kids that age. Brussels, probably due to the presence of the EU, is lacking in actual culture. The biggest thing is that when you see a street sign in French, Flemish and English, it causes my mind to come to a screeching halt. As you proceed to Holland, they start mixing Dutch in there sometimes, which is brain damaging.

The best thing about Brussels is how the Belgian and the Flemish hate everyone else from the EU, but can't say it.

BRU airport is fine, I don't want to fly into AMS again. I spent nearly (no shite, there I was) 50 minutes taxiing when I had like 2.5 hours to make it to BRU for a meeting.

Bus service to/from Brussels city center from BRU is the only thing I took, fully serviceable (sorry, too many cut and paste edits late at night). Easily doable with your kids. Train also super easy in Belgium with your kids. You're not spending long there, but be aware that if you want a train "pass" you have to actually show up to the central train station in Brussels and show your passport to get issued a card. I don't recall what the discount scheme was, but it wasn't super inconvenient (traveling alone) but it might cause you issues getting on the Thalys to AMS with regard to pricing.

If you were driving to AMS, I'd tell you to have their kids avert their eyes from the right side of the car near Ypres. There is a three story naked bearded man in front of a hardware store on that road. With full junk on display. Total WTF moment. THREE STORIES. TWIG. BERRIES. SAGEBRUSH. While I'm driving 100km/h. Good times.

Since you have kids, you do not need to get your laundry done by the hotel in BRU. Within probably 150 meters of wherever you're going to stay, you can just bring a bag of laundry to an actual staffed laundry, which will clean everything for 25% of the price the hotel charges.

I think I've been on four threads tonight on Paris, but one thing I didn't mention is that there was a zipline that ran from the first "tier" of the Eiffel tower to the museum across the green. If it's still there, your kids might enjoy that. The green is safe outside of the usual trickster (just answer a survey while we steal your wallet) folks. Across from the carousel in front of the tower.

Do NOT rely on Uber/Lyft. You will spend tons of time in traffic in Paris trying to go almost anywhere. Just bring stroller capacity to hoof it, you'll get there faster. Put the baby in a backpack and make it happen. Double wide strollers are NOT advised. Cheap arse umbrella strollers won't last in Paris for two months, but they'll probably last you for four or five days, and they are ultra portable. Pain in the arse on cobblestones, but you can also bring a $400 all terrain stroller for each kid and obsess over it, or you can buy another $30 stroller if a wheel falls off.

The amount of kids you see passed out in strollers in Paris at any time of day will be stunning. Kids DGAF, they are just out.

You could spend several hours exploring the Atorium along with the Comic Strip Museum and Childrens Museum. They also have Autoworld if the kids or you enjoy cars. During the month of April there are also many fairs and tradeshows in and around Belgium.

I think the end of times will simply bring Lemmy out of his slumber

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easily possible again with 6 & 3 year olds next year

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100% doable, 3 year old is going to 3 year old no matter what country you're in. I drug my then 6 and 4 year old to Paris, Marseille, and Barcelona. Train travel while inside the EU. My 6 year old *walked* 12 miles in one day without complaint, and all he wanted was a double stack burger at the end of the day. Daughter would leap into the stroller if it looked like we were going to be going further than about five feet.

My daughter (4) proudly stated she wanted to eat so many croissants that she'd turn into one.

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Kids would love Bruges. If it were me, I'd ditch the rental car idea and take a local train from Brussels to Bruges and spend my time there.

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I'm not hear to argue so I apologize

Personally I much prefer rental cars in europe especially with kids because it can be a home base dureing the day. Keep a cooler of snacks in there and you have a place for them to nap. Its also a lot easier with kids to drive from one parking lot to the next, if possible. Trains are great but they just go from train station to train station, there can be a lot of walking to get from where you start to the station and then from the station to the destination. Generally trains are much better for bigger cities, but Belgium and Holland are fantastic for cars in small to medium cities to get around.

Also kids are often free or cheap, but if you have a whole family a rental car makes more sense financially then just one or two people.