Family holidays needn’t cost the earth, nor stray far from the car. Larry loads up the family wheels, hops aboard the Shuttle and finds chocolate, cobbles and canals within an hour or so of Calais…
When it comes to family holidays, any extravagance in challenging times can sometimes feel out of reach, something perhaps to save for a weekend away, or a significant occasion. Fortunately, to occupy the little ones, memories are often made irrespective of the star rating of the hotel or the lavishness of the location. And, call me old-fashioned, but I also like to inject a spot of culture into our progeny; a week in a Mediterranean resort is fine, but don’t we surreptitiously want our little ones to learn something in the process? After all, a tour round a museum makes a 12-year-old appreciate the fun more when it arrives, if you can buffer the groans and posturing.
It was with these factors in mind that we considered where might make for a week away at the tail-end of summer, something that felt like an adventure rather than a door-to-door drop-off. We decided on a road trip, and one within easy reach: somewhere we wouldn’t be driving for hours on motorways between stops, with plenty of choice when it came to hotels – and those (ideally) easy on the purse strings at that. Knowing we’d be taking our own car, the destination became almost inevitable: Belgium. Just 35 minutes on Le Shuttle – why did I never consider this before? – to Calais, and across the border to be in Bruges in little over an hour.
The first thing you notice as you wander Bruges is that the whole place smells of chocolate and waffles. For children, this is akin to nirvana. Even Mrs L and I were salivating as we strolled down the bustling Katelijnestraat. While there are guides available, it’s the sort of city where you almost don’t need to plan a route; there is pleasure in simply wandering cobbled streets, with points of interest at every turn. And if those smells are tempting you, the jury’s out as to the best waffles in Bruges: light and fluffy from Otto, or the gooey, croissant-esque waffles from Maison Galcier opposite? It didn’t matter to our little one – she had both.
Budget, these days, needn’t mean a roach-infested fleapit. Some hotel groups have mastered the art of the intelligent stripped-back stay: you forgo the premium perks but keep what matters, with cleanliness, comfort and a few well-chosen frills, from a Nespresso machine to decent toiletries and a complimentary coffee bar. It’s simply removing the extras that other brands charge a premium for.
Ibis Styles Brugge Centrum (photo by Céline Snauwaert)
Our base, the ibis Styles Brugge Centrum, is not only spectacularly placed, on Katelijnestraat itself, but set in a restored medieval building that grew out of a 13th-century monastery, a delightful historic backdrop rather than a contemporary eyesore, and all the more attractive given its room rate for the location and the gargantuan family ‘triple’ we were blessed with. And while that room rate may have extended to an omission of breakfast, that was amply provided by its sister Novotel across the courtyard – one that immediately enwrapped our daughter with its waffle machine.
Of all Bruges’ sights – many of which accommodate little ones – climbing the 366 steps of the Belfry is a must, our Little Nest of Vipers insisting on counting every one. By step 200 the counting had become a negotiation; by 300, a protest. Your reward, when you (eventually) reach the top, is a spectacular view across the rooftops, with their iconic ‘stepped’ gables, and if you time it right you can be in the drum room to watch the mechanism play out one of the chimes. Fans of In Bruges will know to keep a tight grip on the parapet; I kept a tighter one on the twelve-year-old.
If museum fatigue sets in, hiring bikes is a great way to escape the hordes, particularly following the canal out of the city to Damme. Between city stops and time in the car, a flat, effortless route en plein air is a delight; poplars line the canal, beyond which fields and hedgerows extend to the horizon. If being in Bruges felt like stepping into a Van Eyck, then getting out of the city conjures up the great Dutch landscape painters.
Damme is a small but charming village, known for its second-hand bookshops, its main square fronted by cafes and restaurants, one of which made a perfect lunch stop before the cycle back – with stretches where our daughter insisted on racing us. Damme also lays claim to Tijl Uilenspiegel, the folklore prankster known elsewhere as Till Eulenspiegel, so it’s perhaps no surprise that our own little trickster felt right at home.
And, of course, grown-ups might want a moment, too, for a foray into Belgium’s extraordinary beer culture. Cambrinus, named after the legendary ‘King of Beers’, is tucked behind the Markt in a building dating back to 1699, with a good selection on tap and a veritable bible of a bottled menu – thick enough to need its own bookmark.
Bruges proved a delectable opening salvo on our Belgian escapade; tourists may abound, but this bucket-list destination, now ticked, proved more delightful than I might have anticipated. As we packed the car, after one more turn of the Novotel’s waffle machine, we bade farewell to the canals and the carillon and pointed the bonnet east, the Little Nest of Vipers already quizzing us on what Antwerp had in store for her sweet tooth. Little did she know…
For more information about Accor Hotels, including all brands and properties in Bruges, and details of the ALL Accor loyalty programme, please visit www.all.accor.com. For more details about Bruges, including information of what to see, where to eat, and things to do, please visit the official Flanders Tourism website at www.visitflanders.com.
Larry’s Flemish road trip continues next weekend, as the family point the car east to Antwerp, where Rubens, a lake of meatballs and the world’s largest chocolate museum await…
Photos by the author (unless otherwise credited)
