Is 7 days in Bruges too long?

[TooLongInBruges]

I’ve been there twice before for 3 nights each time, with friends. I want to go with my 3yo and husband, because it’s small and walkable, and I’ve booked a nice family friendly hotel with swimming pool, sauna, breakfast and adjoining rooms. We haven’t been away from home since 2022, and that was in the UK. So this is the first time we’ll go abroad as a family.

I booked 7 nights so we can just switch off and enjoy time as a family, but now I’ve started to look at forming an itinerary, I’m worried we’ll be bored and sitting in our hotel by day 5. I want to shorten it to 4 nights but also I just want a week away, I can’t afford a beach holiday to the same standard of hotel, and we don’t want a city break as we live in London.

We’ll do a canal ride, fondue, horse carriage ride, chocolate museum, the bell tower.

Just looking for advice as I could save quite a bit cutting it down by 3 nights and would hate the idea of being bored by day 5. Husband thinks it’s booked and we should just stick with it. Eurostar tickets would be about £30 to change dates.

Far too long, six hours was plenty for me! 😀. I see someone has already suggested Gent, I agree. It’s much nicer than Bruges, bigger, more shops, more stuff to see, the castle is amazing. Bruges is like a tourist, fake town, Gent is a proper town/city. Beautiful architecture. It’s also more central, you could stay there and do day trips to Bruges, to Lille, to Brussels, probably other places as well.

oh and please google the cruelty of the carriage rides in Bruges, it is not nice for the horses.

There's pleasure in taking things slowly. Think about what people with toddlers will do in Bruges. Go there. You will get to see different softplay center, different zoos, different parks. Your toddler will love it and you'll get to experience something different. I go to visit my parents regularly and we go to places that tourist don't. And my DH and kids really enjoyed them. It's doing something different.

I enjoyed Bruges a lot, but 3 days is the max needed.

Oh my parents aren't in Bruges. I mean it's just looking at a place not with tourist glasses on. But like a local and look for places out of the tourist trail.

Use it to see a bit more of the city rather than just the tourist trap itinerary
I usually stay in a city for at least 5 days but usually 7

Its an easy train to brussels or gent for a day trip

There's a diamond tour and a chocolate tour. Also going up the windmill is fun. DH dragged me around a beer making your. I found 4-5 days is enough.

That’s far too long. Bruges is small and very touristy. There isn’t a huge amount there. 2 days was enough for me.

Just popping in to say that while I agree that Blankenberge is a bit "kiss-me-quick hats" a toddler won't mind that, they will just enjoy the sea and sand.

Yes, De Haan is a nice resort, but to get there by public transport from Bruges the journey is a train to Ostend, then change to the coastal tram way to De Haan, whereas from Bruges to Blankenberge is just one short train ride. The station at Blankenberge is right in the town, so it's just a very short stroll along one street to the seafront. So a much easier trip with a toddler and all their kit.

Have a lovely relaxing time @TooLongInBruges, I'm sure you will!

Could you book a few days at Centre Parcs De Haan? Really close to Brugge and on the coast. Really cheap bus or train/tram from Brugge.

Too long to spend just in Bruges, but definitely fine for a base. As mentioned by PPs - go to Ghent for the day and do some trips to the coast. The are some good animal parks -https://www.belgiancoast.co.uk/en/do/taking-your-children-seaside
De Haan is lovely, but even Blankenberg has some lovely beach bars where you get comfy seats and can sit with a drink whilst toddler plays in the sand.

I think it sounds lovely. Realistically you're not going to pack too much into a day with a 3 year old. After breakfast spend a couple of hours out and about. You can do a boat trip one day, horse and carriage another, chocolate museum etc after head somewhere for lunch, then late afternoon chill by the pool / take it in turns to have a spa treatment. I wouldn't recommend Brussels personally - I only went once and hated it but there were riots when we went and also I got my purse pick pocketed.

Another recommendation for Ghent for a day.

Have a visit to Ghent and spend a day at Ostend beach. It's not too far and will break the week up.

Thanks everyone for the advice, my early pregnancy symptoms got worse so I cancelled the booking. I feel sick and tired and am off food, and was dreading packing for 7 days and being away from home so was the right choice right now. We were going this month so I had to change the Eurostar ticket dates asap.

I’ve rebooked for 3 nights in late Spring when I should be feeling a bit better. I still really want to do the holiday as it will be our only one before we become 4. Thanks for all the advice on the thread.

I didn’t know about the horse welfare issues @CormorantStrikesBack, I’d just assumed it was all regulated and in hand. Thank you for raising it.

As we’ve cut back on nights and are going when it’s warmer, I’ll see if I can book a hot air balloon ride. Anyone had an experience doing it with a 3.5yo?

I'm not sure you can do a hot air balloon ride whilst pregnant....

Spring should be lovely and it sounds like a better plan all round since you had doubts about the longer stay. I hope you are feeling better then and that you have a lovely time.

Can you do Belgian centre parks too?

DH and I spent five days in Belgium last year and covered four cities (Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels). The travelling was exhausting but the weather was good so we just pottered about and stopped for lots of beers etc. but 7 days in Bruges (even with a toddler) might be too long. Take a day trip to Ghent on the train, it's truly lovely. Have a great time.

If you don't want to move about too much checking in and out of 2 hotels rather than just one then it's dead easy to get the train from bruges to ghent Brussels and Antwerp. I did 3 nights Brussels and 2 nights bruges in a hotel with a pool. Taking your ds out to see the windmills will be lovely. There are lots of chocolate shops and places selling Belgium waffles. You should be able to wander and relax in bruges. Dh and I enjoyed the brewery tour which is very interesting and they do nice food. I've always wanted to go to ghent and antwerp. I feel like the atomium would be a good thing to do in Brussels with your ds in tow. There's a good park in antwerp with a pirate ship play area, though it was ages ago I saw that. With one young dc you can get a bit of culture and soak up the sights its not like you need to do specific child friendly stuff. It's such a lovely place and I don't think you have to endlessly "do" stuff but I do think for the sake of a 30 min train ride ghent is worth a look.

Probably not @curliegirlie 😂

Thank you for your kind words @Mandarinaduck , I really appreciate it.