Belgium Activities

Children are adored in Belgium. It is an extremely child-friendly country when it comes to almost all aspects of travelling with children.

Antwerp’s Pirate Island (Pirateneiland)
Pirateneiland is Belgium's largest indoor playground with three floors of fun. The play area is actually a pirate's ship and young pirates can swing from one mast to another with ropes and slide down gangways. You can get snacks on each floor and parents can sit and watch their kids at play. Birthday parties can also be arranged. It's situated in the Londenstraat in the northern part of the city, amidst the old docks of Antwerp at Kribbestraat 12. Phone: +32 3 231 5060.

Bruparck (Brussels)
Bruparck is a fun village that was created for the 1958 World Exhibition. It houses a giant Kinepolis cinema, the Oceadium water park, the popular Mini-Europe, as well as the world-renowned Atomium. Brupark's village can be visited all year round. The bars and restaurants have lovely terraces; there is a playground, a Cyber Cafe and a beautiful Venetian carousel. It is an easy metro ride from Brussels and a nice place to relax with something for the whole family.

Mini Europe (Brussels)
This is a fun introduction to Europe: Canals of Amsterdam, Big Ben in London, the Eiffel Tower, the windmills of Spain, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and many more famous landmarks are all built in miniature. Plus, jumbo ferries that go, trains zooming around, steer your own radio controlled boat through the miniature waterways of Europe. Added to the fun is the fact that you can also participate. Want to cause Mount Vesuvius erupt? Just press the button. Want to tear the Berlin Wall down once again? Go ahead. On weekends during the high season you can also visit at night and watch the musical firework display. Fun for all ages. Located at Voetballaan 1 Avenue du Football. Website: www.minieurope.com/ 

Brussels Grand Place
The medieval Grand Place in Brussels is a great place to start with kids. It is a large square surrounded by gabled facades of the town hall, private residences, and guild halls of painters, tailors, butchers and bakers, coopers and cabinet-makers. It's a big wide space where there's plenty of room to run around, and cafes for a snack.

Brussels Kindermuseum/Musee des Enfants 
This wonderful museum is for children aged 4 to 12 and is a must for every parent. The museum's exhibits help them discover their feelings, talents and senses. Professional performers welcome and guide you through the discovery rooms. These tours span two hours and can be enjoyed by both young and old. They are organized around themes from daily life; these change every three years. 15 Rue du Bourgmestre. www.museedesenfants.be/

Brussels’ Parks 
Next to the fine arts museums are two parks, the Mont des Arts and Parc de Bruxelles. Mont des Arts has a small playset with climbing structures and little water play area with small fountains to dabble toes. The large Parc de Bruxelles shady trees and paths, and in the northeast corner is a playground with swings, sandbox and climbing structures. 

Brussels Tearoom Dandoy 
For a special afternoon treat, take a seat at the Dandoy Tearoom, which has been making Brussels specialties since the early 19th century. Sample gauffre, cookies, crepes, pancakes. A kids' menu is available. Located at 31, rue de Beurre, Brussels.

Fun Food 
Try gauffre - big thick waffles with chocolate, strawberry, or raspberry (framboise) sauce, whipped cream and powdered sugar. You can buy them from stalls on the street. The whole family will enjoy tasting all the different chocolates from the sweet shops. 

Brugges: Knokke and Ostend beaches 
Belgian families go to the beach all year round. Kids love a walk on the beach even in the rain. Rent go-karts on the beach or shop for unusual shells. In Ostend, watch the big ferries coming in from England. Both Knokke and Osted are easily reached by train from Brugges in just 15 minutes; from Brussels in 75 minutes and from Antwerp in 90 minutes.

Shopping 
Children will want to bring back Tintin souvenirs, tapestry purses, old-fashioned dolls covered in lace, porcelain figurines, and miniature Manneken Pis statuettes, all found throughout the country.

Adventure Sports
For something different during your holiday, check out the activities offered by Adrenaline Events: Buxster, abseiling, aircraft, archery, 4x4 adventures, car control, caving, climbing, crossbow, helicopter tours, go-karting, kayaking, mountain biking, paintball, obstacle course, rafting, shooting, skiing, and more. www.adrenaline-events.com/

Brewery Tours
Belgium is renowned for its hundreds of varieties of high quality beer. There are beers of all colours and tastes, such as wheat beers, fruit beers, red beers, amber ales and ‘spontaneously fermented beers’, to mention but a few. Many breweries are open to the public. Each beer has its own distinctive glass and label. Six kinds of trappist beer, brewed by monks to ancient recipes, are also made in Belgium. Trappist breweries open to the public include the Bières de Chimay brewery at Bailleux and the Rochefortoise brewery at Eprave. All these beers, of course, can be sampled in Belgium’s many cafes, pubs and restaurants. 

While in Belgium, visit the Gueuze Museum and brewery. This working organic brewery is also a working museum and has been around since 1900. Owned and operated by the Van Roy-Cantillon family, tours and tastings are available all year. Their specialty is the Belgian beer known as Gueze, which some say resembles champagne. Visit their website for more information: www.cantillon.be/

Cooking Classes
Belgium is a genuine paradise of good food. Its gourmet products, such as chocolate, pralines, and the enormous variety of Belgian beers are highly appreciated by connoisseurs of the world. While in Belgium, why not take advantage of the natives’ expertise and learn how to cook some of their mouth watering delights yourself? You will surely be a hit back home!

International Culinary School of Brugge offers classes led by a team of top-level master chefs, covering a variety of topics such as Belgian beer, desserts with the world-famous Belgian chocolate, visits to interesting restaurants, pastry and chocolate shops, with sight-seeing tours and guest lectures given by first-rate Belgian chefs. www.icsb.be/ 

The Avenue is owned and operated by the renowned chef Andre d'Haese. This elegant restaurant is located in a unique historical setting on the prestigious Avenue Louise in Brussels. Additional options include appetizer tasting and wine tasting in the wine cellar. www.andre-dhaese.be/

Cycling
There is nothing quite like cycling through Belgium with its contrasting landscape of rolling hills, waterways, flatlands, historical sites. Belgium has thousands of kilometres of bicycle paths along romantic canals intertwining between quaint towns, charming castles, outdoor cafés and incredible restaurants. Bikes can be rented at 18 major train stations throughout Belgium. Rent a bike at one train station, and return it to any other participating train station of your choice. Bikes can be brought on trains, often free of charge. Discovering Brussels by bicycle leads you into hidden spots. For further information, visit http://ravel.wallonie.be

Golf
Belgium has over 50 golf courses, with 16 courses within and around Brussels. The most convenient is the Royal Amicale Anderlecht Golf Club, situated close to Brussel’s city centre, where you can play golf or train on a practice green. This pleasant and rather technical course requires precision play to avoid its many obstacles. (www.golf-anderlecht.com/) The Royal Golf Club de Belgique, just outside Brussels, is a beautiful course in an exceptional setting, amid an arboretum planted with rhododendrons. It boasts superb, slightly undulating fairways, magnificent and well defended greens. Members only on weekends. In Antwerp, the Bossenstein Golf Club is set in the shadow of the spectacular Bossenstein Castle.

Horse Riding
The Belgian Coast with a 10 kilometre beach, forests and grasslands is a perfect setting for great journeys on horseback. Stables are located in the area trail maps can be purchased at the local tourist office. There are also many riding clubs and centres in and around Brussels such as Les Drags, located at Hoeilaart, near the Soignes Forest. Lord Newcastle Stables offers dressage, combined training, children's short course, side saddle course and much more, while Royal Etrier Belge offers English-language lessons for all levels and trail rides in the nearby Soignes Forest.

Hot Air Ballooning
Hot air ballooning is the oldest and most romantic form of aviation in the world. The incredible feeling of time suspended as the world drifts below is one you will never forget as well as seeing the magical sceneries of Belgium. A number of companies offer flights for beginners as well as more experienced ballooners. If you simply want to enjoy the experience of flying, there's nothing quite like it. Visit www.aerovolare.be/asp/uk/baptuk.asp for more information.

Kayaking
Belgium is loaded with beautiful rivers meandering through lush countryside and historical sights such as majestic castles perched on riverbanks. B-excursions organizes a variety of kayak trips throughout Belgium. The kayak tour and return trip train ticket are included in the price. You can reserve your kayak excursion in advance at any train station in Belgium. There are special prices for those between 12 and 26 years of age (children under 12 are not allowed for safety reasons).

River Cruises
Whether you want to enjoy a luxury barge tour, a breezy paddle-wheel cruise, charter your own boat or experience a mixture of comfort and exercise on a boat & bike tour, it is all possible while drifting through the beautiful landscape of Belgium. Various pleasant and affordable boat trips along Belgium's waterways depart from easily accessible locations in several cities. Enjoy great historic city sights, the bucolic countryside, combine a canal trip with a brewery visit or even experience going through a boat lift. A boat tour is a wonderful way to see the sights! Numerous tour operators offer boat cruises; www.bootdammebrugge.be/index_e.html is just one of many. Enquire at your hotel for other recommendations.

Belgium’s large number of excellent restaurants testifies to the high esteem in which the Belgians place good food. The country has the highest number of Michelin stars per capita, and is the only country in the world where fast food chains have been consistently losing money. The visitor has an array of fine restaurants, sophisticated cafés and pubs to choose from.

Belgian cuisine is similar to French, based on game and seafood. Each region in Belgium has its own special dish. Butter, cream, beer and wine are generously used. National specialties include moules frite, mussels and chips, endives with Béchamel sauce, Ardennes sausages and ham, and of course, Belgian chocolate and waffles.

Belgian chocolate has an excellent reputation around the world. Some chocolate factories are open to the public, though it is often necessary to book in advance. The Chocolate and Cocoa Museum on the Grand Place in Brussels is open from Tuesday to Sunday (every day in July and August). The Chocolaterie Jacques' museum in Eupen near Liège is open to the public from Monday to Friday. Groups of more than ten people need to book in advance. Website: www.chocolatjacques.be

There are over 400 beers brewed in Belgium, ranging from lagers and pilsners through to Lambic, made from wheat and barley, white and fruit beers, to Trappist monastery beers. Fruit beers, such as Kriek cherry beer, are a specialty. Famous names include Stella Artois, Leffe, Hoegaarden, Duvel and Chimay.

Legendary Monastic and Abbey Beers are the oldest breweries in Belgium. Among the dozen or so surviving abbey breweries in Europe, six are Trappist and located in Belgium, all established in their present form by Trappists who left France after the turbulence of the Napoleonic period. Rich dark ales are produced solely by monks, according to centuries-old methods, in the following monasteries; Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, Westvleteren and Achel. 

A service charge of 16% is usually included in hotel or restaurant bills, although an additional tip may be left at the discretion of the individual.

Whether you do your shopping in the stylish Brussels Sablon area, or by flashlight on early Sunday morning at a flea market, the hunt in Belgium can be as entertaining as the purchase. 

Belgium has been an important centre of the art world for centuries. Choose from museum-quality stores in major cities to antique markets in smaller towns. Belgium offers an incredible wealth of Art Deco objects, antiques, old books, fine crystals or just plain interesting artefacts. There is something for every taste and budget.

Antique markets are plentiful and provide an array of treasures from jewellery and crockery to furniture and vintage clothing. The weekend antique market at Place du Grand Sablon in Brussels is considered one of Europe's finest. The Annual Antique Dealers Fair is the largest antiques fair in Belgium held every January.

For over six centuries, Belgian tapestry has been a highly prized luxury craft. Tapestry designs involve weaver and artists working closely together. Painters such Rubens, produced drawings for a series of weavings of six or more themed tapestries. Classical myths were popular themes. Prized by the nobility, look for tapestries with real gold and silver thread woven into fine wool. These pieces are not cheap, but will only increase in value for further centuries to come. 

Brussels is the centre for Belgian fashion and has become somewhat of a paradise for the serious power shopper. There are plenty of shopping streets and galleries, both in the upper and lower town. In any case the words to look for are soldes or solden – it means sales! Most sales occur in January and July. 

High fashion boutiques and famous brands can be found along Brussels’ Rue Antoine Dansaert Straat as well as the prestigious Avenue Louise. If you are looking for bargains, then go shopping in the lower city around Rue Neuve in Brussels’ city centre. Gallerie St. Hubert is a gorgeous, glass-roofed arcade in the centre of town, lined with cafes, theatres and luxury stores and has the distinction of being the first shopping arcade in Europe.

Dazzle your loved one or yourself by buying a diamond in the sparkling city of Antwerp, the world’s diamond centre. Some of the jewellers will even cover your hotel bill for the effort. Antwerp's diamond district is located right in the heart of the city. The city has a long and magnificent tradition as a diamond city ever since the 15th century. Today it is the most important diamond trade centre in the world. In addition to a flourishing trade in uncut and unpolished diamonds, countless diamond jewellers are established here. It’s a feast for the eyes. Note that Antwerp’s diamond district is closed on weekends.

Other special purchases throughout Belgium include ceramics and hand-beaten copperware from Dinant, Belgian chocolates, crystals from Val Saint Lambert, diamonds, jewellery from Antwerp, lace from Brugge, Brussels and Mechelen (Malines), woodcarvings from Spa and bandes dessinées (comic-strip books) by a number of talented Belgian cartoon artists from Brussels. Main shopping centres are located in Antwerp, Brugge, Brussels, Ghent, Liège, Mechelen, Mons, Namur and Ostend.

Shopping hours are generally Monday through Saturday 10:00-18:00/19:00. Department stores often remain open longer, up to 21:00 on Friday. Outside main areas, some shops may close at lunchtime.