Belgium – Brussels

One of the best things about living in London is that almost everywhere in Europe is just a short direct flight away. Brussels was one of those last-minute decisions that required very little planning and even less convincing.

Ever since Belgo (the legendary Belgian mussels and fries restaurant in London) closed down, we'd been missing the real thing. So we decided to go straight to the source.

Brussels turned out to be the perfect city for a Christmas weekend. A beautiful Christmas market, festive lights everywhere, enough chocolate shops to bankrupt even the most disciplined visitor, and beer... lots of beer.

To fully immerse ourselves in Belgian culture, we even booked a waffle-making class. It turns out there's considerably more science involved than simply pouring batter into a hot iron. The kids loved it, and somehow our waffles tasted even better knowing we'd made them ourselves.

The rest of the weekend was spent wandering around the Grand Place, exploring the Christmas markets, sampling local food, and carrying increasingly suspicious quantities of chocolate back to the hotel.

Brussels may not be the first city that comes to mind for a Christmas getaway, but it definitely deserves a place on the list.

Although, if I'm being completely honest, by the end of the weekend I couldn't tell whether Belgium was famous for chocolate because they make so much of it... or because every tourist leaves carrying half of it home.