All summer long, I really wanted to go to Europe, but flights were about $1000. Then one day I got a flight alert for a $400 round trip flight to Belgium! Bruges was on my mental list of places I might want to check out one day as I had heard random things about it here and there, but it definitely wasn’t on my immediate list of places to travel as soon as possible. When doing research, it looked like most people didn’t love Brussels that much and while I am not a big city person myself, I easily dismissed it as a place to see while I was in Belgium. Belgium is a pretty small country so its easy to see a lot of places while you’re there. I decided I wanted to see somewhere that wasn’t as well visited in Belgium and settled on Dinant. Then I noticed Dinant was right next to Luxembourg so decided to check Luxembourg out as well. People were saying great things about Bruges and Ghent so I put those on my list as well, deciding to stay in Bruges because it was apparently better to be there outside of when most tourists visit, meaning in the early morning in evening. From there, I took a day trip to Ghent and intended to visit Antwerp, a smaller version of Brussels, but a flight cancellation eliminated that from the itinerary since I was cut short a day in Belgium. You can see my detailed itinerary here. I was going to just make one post about Belgium, but then I ended up having too much to say about Bruges so I will split the rest into a couple other posts.
BRUGES
I loved Bruges. I wasn’t quite sure if I would because people constantly said it was “so crowded” and “too touristy,” but I didn’t get that feel. There were probably about the same amount of tourists in Ghent as Bruges, but its really not that bad when you think of going to somewhere in Europe during peak season, especially compared with places like France or Italy. Bruges has such a fairytale vibe with all of the churches spread throughout the city, the canal, the church tower, and even SWANS. This is the perfect Europe city to visit because it has all of the charm without all the crowds. Bruges has most of its medieval architecture intact, making it one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe. It also doesn’t start getting dark until 9PM so you can get a lot done in just a few days. The only real downside about Belgium is that it does get rainy and cloudy pretty often and that’s just the norm. I also absolutely loved my hotel, Hotel Prinsenhof. They were very helpful and accommodating on the fact we had to check in two days later than we had booked (since the flight cancellation meant we were headed to Dinant when we arrived instead of Bruges), it was in a great location and they even upgraded to the top floor which had all these windows overlooking spires that made you feel like you were in a castle.
When I first arrived in Bruges, I felt a little intimidated because the old city vibe gave me flashbacks of Prague, where I have never met ruder people in my life. So I felt really uncomfortable talking to anyone at first because I was worried they would be really nasty as well. But in general, the people in Belgium were so nice and welcoming everywhere we went.
BELFRY
So the Belfry is a medieval bell tower in the middle of Bruges that formerly housed a treasury and the municipal archives, and served as an observation post for spotting fires and other danger. It’s probably on the top of every “to do” list when people go to Bruges. You climb 366 steps in a narrow staircase to reach the top. Of all the things I did in Belgium, I definitely waited the longest for this, about one hour to be able to start the walk up the steps. Since there is a cap on how many people they allow up there, you basically have to do a one in, one out approach. I’m sure if I went closer to the evening it wouldn’t have taken that long though. The view is supposed to be awesome, but honestly I found a better view at a different spot in Bruges (which I’ll share in my next post about Ghent). I also found the bell tower in Ghent to be better. But nonetheless, I still feel like climbing up the 366 steps to the top is a must do in Bruges.
BEER
So there’s this cute brewery called De Halve Maan, where they have brewed beer in that location for about 500 years. Paying for a tour, you get to climb up ladders and go up random floors and explore the brewery. Also with the tour, you get a wayyyy better view than the Belfry. This was my favorite view in Bruges (and for half the price and includes a beer). Tours sell out fast so its good to make reservations beforehand. There is also a restaurant at the brewery which we didn’t try.
Another popular place to visit in Bruges is called the Bruges Beer Experience. Its basically a museum on beer. I think the museum portion isn’t really worth doing, but a tasting definitely is. Instead of going through the museum, you can just go to the tasting room and try a bunch of beer with a nice view of the square.
Beer in general is just really great in Bruges so just trying new Belgium beers at various bars is awesome. Probably some of the best beer I’ve ever had. Belgium beers do have a lot higher alcohol content than I am used to, though.
CANAL
Another really popular thing to do in Bruges is going on a canal tour as it is sometimes referred to as “the Venice of the North.” There are several locations to get on the boats throughout the city and they all follow the same route, so there is no need to book in advance. It’s a really nice way to see the city. When I was in Amsterdam and rode the canals, I felt like a was really low for some reason. I didn’t feel this way in Bruges and as a result, felt like it was a good vantage point. You also get to pass by the Bruges swans, although you can see them by foot as well.
HORSE CARRIAGE RIDES
Another way to see the city besides a canal tour is a horse carriage ride around the city. It’s probably the most expensive way to see the city, at 50 euro for a half hour, but it takes only your group, so it’s a private carriage ride.
CHURCHES
Basilica of the Holy Blood is a well-known Roman Catholic church located near the main square. Its famous in that they supposedly have Jesus Christ’s blood in a vial. Someone from the church basically holds it and people are allowed to come one at a time to take a look. No photos of the blood are allowed.
The Church of Our Lady is the most beautiful one in Bruges. You can get a good view from it from the Bonifacius Bridge, but its best to go early evening or in the morning because during the day, its swarmed with people.
FOOD
Yes, the food! One of the biggest draws to Belgium—fries, chocolate, mussels and waffles!
Okay lets start with the best food—waffles. They are on every menu, but I heard Chez Albert had the best waffles so I saved my waffle splurging every time I passed a Chez Albert’s. These waffles were definitely by far THE BEST waffles I have ever had. The can get savory or sweet with a dozen different toppings. I eat waffles every day.
Go.Fre is located right across from Chez Albert and offers waffles on a stick. You can buy them already made if you want to take one home or get them to make it fresh. They are typically covered with chocolate and rolled in different candies. I also learned M&Ms are called “skittles” over there. I kept pointing to the M&Ms and the guy responded “a lot of skittles or a little bit,” and I’m like, “what?! No! I don’t want skittles!” Because, ya know, skittles are those fruity sour things. But he kept looking confused while I’m shouting “no skittles, I would like M&Ms” while pointing to apparently Belgium skittles. We finally figured out we meant the same thing. Oh well. Give me whatever has chocolate.
Speaking of chocolate, at first I was underwhelmed by the “Belgian chocolate” I found at the countless chocolate shops around town. But then I went to Choco-Story, which is a chocolate museum, and, yeah, that Belgian chocolate is the real deal. You could have unlimited samples as you wandered through the museum and they even had a chocolate demonstration where they gave you all the different chocolates they were making. So yes, definitely do not miss the chocolate museum.
Okay, so the famous mussel place, Poules Moules, was definitely a miss in terms of mussels. The best mussels I had were in Dinant, right before I went to Bruges. The atmosphere was nice and apparently people make reservation like a month in advance, but they were still nice enough to seat us after only a 15 minute wait. Still, I just wasn’t a big fan of the mussels.
Apparently Breydel DeConinc has great mussels, but by that point I had enough mussels. Although Breydel DeConinc did have such good food I went there for two meals in a row. Definitely eat there.
Another restaurant I really liked was Restaurant Diligence. We only ended up there because we got into Bruges pretty late driving there from Luxembourg and most places were closed. Luckily we stumbled upon this restaurant which served really delicious Flemish stew.
I also really liked That’s Toast, which was a breakfast restaurant that serves breakfast until they close at 4PM. And there are lots of cute coffee shops all over to just stop in for a drink.
So another thing Belgium is well-known for is its fries. But I honestly didn’t find anything special about them. They were mainly fat wedges served with literally every meal, breakfast to dinner, served with mussels and even eggs. They just tasted like ordinary fries. By the end of the trip, I had more than enough of fries.
Overall, I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed Bruges since I thought it was going to feel way too overcrowded and touristy but it is now one of my favorite cities in Europe for sure.
