Places to Visit

Antwerp is a fun city with an excellent array of restaurants and shopping centers. Many teens like to go to this city with a group of friends because it is one of the only cities in Belgium with an indoor mall.

Brugge specializes in chocolate and lace making. Chocolate is hand made every day right in front of an audience. They also give you free samples. Brugge is well known for its handmade lace. Women perform hands-on demonstrations of how lace making is done. Brugge is the city with the cheapest but also biggest selection of Belgian lace. They also have well known artwork from popular artists such as Michael Angelo. Every half hour there are boat tours in which motorboats take some twenty people along the canals of Brugge. The tours are very cheap with lots of historical information about the city. There are also horse and buggy rides. Brugge is a great city to go with a group of friends, your family, or even just to bring a date since there are so many things to do.

Brussels is a very cultural yet hip place for teenagers to experience independently. Besides being one of the most popular cities in Europe, it is also the capital of Europe. Brussels, along with Brugge, has very tasty Belgian chocolate and beautiful lace. There is an extensive choice of museums from medieval times to modern art. Brussels has really beautiful monuments, architecture and statues such as the Mannequin Piss. For a more exciting experience targeted just for teens, there are lots of cool shops and clothing stores that only we would love. At night there are so many fun disco joints where people go and dance all night. And in the Grand Place, there is a light show shown only in the summer, which starts at dusk. Not too far from the center of Brussels is Kinepolis, which is a gigantic movie theatre with over 27 theatres. All of the movies are recent and in English with French and Dutch subtitles. Tickets cost 250bF for adults or 200bF for students. Also at Kinepolis is Mini-Europe, where there are miniature representations of all the major attractions in Europe. Oceade, which is basically an indoor swimming pool with slides, a wave pool, and lots more, is right there. Surrounding Kinepolis are many restaurants such as Pizza Hut, Quick burger, French, Italian, and Mexican cuisines, and lots of cafes. Another fun place is the karaoke bar located next to Oceade.

Mons is another fun place where most of the teens from Shape hang out. We usually go there every weekend because it is the closest city near Shape. There are lots of fun things to do in Mons. Teens like to go there especially for the shopping. They have all kinds of sports stores, clothing stores, music stores, etc. We also go there for the food. There are a wide variety of choices from the very Belgian restaurants to McDonalds. One of my favorites is the Belgian pitas and frites. In Mons there is a large ‘Grand Place’ and there is a small ‘Petit Place’. By day the cafes are open. By night, there are the dancing and disco clubs. And on Sundays they have markets in the grand place and on the side streets of Mons. You can buy anything from food to furniture there. Another popular place that teenagers love to go to is Laser Tag. It is located just down the street from the store H&M. Each person costs approximately 200bF to get in. Laser tag is only fun though when you go in a big group. When you get there, each kid is supplied with a laser pointer type gun and a vest. With a big group you are usually divided up into teams but you can also play against each other. Inside is a huge room with all sorts of mazes and glow lights. It is extremely fun. Located upstairs in the laser tag building there is a cyber lounge café with computers.