Bruges, also known as the “Venice of the North,” owes its reputation to its wonderful architecture, medieval buildings, and canals winding through the city’s cobbled streets. It’s a perfect getaway for a romantic weekend. The Flemish city is located 3 hours from Paris.
♦ First Steps in the City ♦
After a 4-hour drive (yes, we said 3 hours, but leaving Paris was chaotic, so we got an extra hour), we arrive in Bruges. Since it’s already 8:30 pm, we park near our accommodation for the stay: Hotel August. It’s a very charming place. The rooms are quite simple, but the location is ideal, which gives it a reasonable price by the city’s standards.
Once we’ve settled in, we ask the young receptionist for dinner recommendations in town. Aware that we want to eat local, he suggests Gran Kaffe de Passage. Luckily for us, it’s one of the few places still open in Bruges. Belgians eat early, and service ends around 9 pm in most restaurants.
Fifteen minutes’ walk separates us from the restaurant. The stroll gave us time to admire the city’s first alleys, and we must admit, we’re already charmed! The buildings are really adorable. We arrive at the restaurant, which has the look of a rustic bistro and seems rather popular, judging by its fullness. The plates are well-filled and very appetizing. Our advisor didn’t steer us wrong! We order a Flemish beef stew and a vol-au-vent accompanied by fries, of course. Just look at the photos and tell us it doesn’t make you hungry!
To end the meal on a high note, we share a small crème brûlée.
That’s a rather successful introduction to the Belgian city. We head back to our hotel, and the return trip serves as a digestive walk, essential after such a feast. Night falls on the canals, and the light from the bridges casts very photogenic reflections on the water. We savor the moment. It’s a great choice for a weekend; we’re already sure of it! We go to bed eagerly anticipating discovering more.
♦ Discovery of the City Starting from the South ♦
Up bright and early, we don’t dawdle too much, having breakfast to fuel up because today we plan to explore Bruges on foot, far and wide!
We retrieve the car from the nearby hotel parking and park it near the southern edge of the city. Here’s the tip of the day, folks: for €3.5/day, you can leave your car safely in a parking lot right next to Bruges Station. So, we bid farewell to our car here until Sunday evening. Bikes, or for the more adventurous, legs, are more than enough to cover the various important places in the city.
The Minnewater Lake
Enough chatter, we start from the south, we pass the Poertoren (Powder Tower) before reaching the Minnewaterpark. It’s late spring, the tree foliage is lush, and flowerpots adorn the bridge railings; it’s a little slice of paradise. We walk up to the Minnewater Lake, better known as the “Lake of Love.” The sky is blue, the birds are singing, the panorama is superb; we don’t need much more to be happy! The pigeons coo at the Lake of Love.
The Beguinage
We continue through Minnewaterpark until we reach the bridge near the beguinage. The intersection of the two canals creates a very large body of water where around fifty swans have decided to take refuge.
Next, we walk up Begijnhof Street to enter the Beguinage. Historically, it’s a place where religious communities lived. It later became a place where elderly people or widowed women with precarious financial situations were grouped together. The space is a large garden composed of imposing trees surrounded by almshouses.
Old Bruges
We leave this haven of peace to return to the adjacent narrow streets. The buildings seem even older than the rest of the city, and it’s incredibly charming! Several restaurants and breweries have grouped together in these streets. Walplein Square is an ideal place to have a drink on the terrace. If you’re there in the afternoon, the smell of waffles will lure you to a waffle vendor.
We pass by De Haalve Man Brewery, the reference brewery in Bruges. Since the weather is rather nice today, we decide to come back tomorrow to visit the brewery and enjoy the outdoor spaces in this sunny weather.
So, we continue walking towards the center, with medieval monuments lining the way.
The bridge leading to Zonemekeers Street offers a view reminiscent of Venice, and now we understand why Bruges is called the Venice of the North. The Saint John’s Hospital appears right in front of us, and we take a stroll around it to admire it from all angles.
Cultural Minute: Saint John’s Hospital is one of the oldest hospitals in Europe. Founded in 1150, its medieval architecture speaks volumes about its history. It has been closed for over 40 years and mainly serves as a tourist attraction, occasionally hosting exhibitions.
No sooner do we turn around than we encounter another monument: the Church of Our Lady in Bruges. It’s quite imposing, towering at 122 meters above us. The spire alone measures over 50 meters. It’s worth noting that it’s one of the tallest brick monuments in the world. Like the hospital, we marvel at it from every angle. The moldings and architecture of the building are magnificent. Judge for yourself.
After these two wonderful edifices, we walk up Dijver Street. It runs alongside the canal and serves as the starting point for the numerous boat excursions to explore the city via its canals. Initially, we were keen on exploring the city by boat, but not with 25 people crammed into a small boat with tourists who look as cheerful as tombstones. We would have preferred a leisurely pedal boat ride for two, like in Amsterdam, but apparently, Belgians are not fans of pedal boats. Nonetheless, the canal banks are very picturesque, and walking along them is enough to dazzle our eyes.
Market Square (Or Grand Place for the Insiders)
Once Dijver Street is over, we turn left and it leads us to Wollestraat Street. Not to be confused with Wall Street, which has absolutely nothing to do with it. Here, we only trade in chocolate and beer. Speaking of beer, we stumble upon a secret passage (actually, it’s just a wide-open door that shouldn’t be missed). It leads directly to the Beer Wall. A famous symbol of Bruges, and as the name suggests, it’s a huge wall where a veeeery large quantity of Belgian beers is stored, and God knows they have plenty.
Since we won’t have enough time during the weekend to taste them all, we decide to continue on our way to find something to eat. It’s already 2 p.m. To keep it simple and local, we decide to opt for a chip shop. Above the buildings, we can already see the Belfry of Bruges. It’s the city’s iconic monument. We follow it with our eyes and walk in its direction. Once at the foot of it, we find ourselves in the heart of the Market Square, also known as the Grand Place. It’s massive, and the belfry towering over it is truly impressive. We take the time to admire this superb place until our stomachs remind us it’s time to eat.
Not having the courage to search for the chip shop of the year, we head to the first chip shop on the Grand Place. A mini burger, a medium portion of fries, and we’re €10 lighter. We fully embrace our pigeon status this time. Nonetheless, Friterie 1900 offers us a view of the entire square while we eat, and it’s very pleasant in this weather.
With our stomachs filled, we decide to pass by Bourg Square before taking a short break at our hotel to change clothes because it’s a bit warm for a northern city. Bourg Square is surrounded by multiple buildings that have marked the history of Bruges and Flanders, including the town hall. There’s a very pleasant medieval atmosphere here. No motorized transport, only carriages, the clattering of horses’ hooves, and the sound of bells are the only noises echoing in this square.
The Windmills of Bruges
As we head back to change our clothes, we get lost in narrow streets seldom traversed by passersby. All the charm of Bruges works its magic! Old buildings that seem surprisingly new. The residents of Bruges take care of their real estate. Several times throughout the day, we saw locals cleaning the facades of their walls themselves. There are no secrets to making a city so beautiful! We then stroll along the canals of Augustijnenrei Street, where our hotel is located.
After this brief pause, we head towards the north of the city to search for the windmills. We cross the Gouden Hendrai district. It’s probably the district you find in all the photos of the city. The typical buildings of the city with the canals in the foreground perfectly represent everything we have seen so far. The spots are very photogenic, especially the Quai du Rosaire, which is the most photographed place in Bruges.
We continue our journey north, and without really following our map, we stumble directly upon the first windmill, easy!
Very picturesque, the Bonne Chieremolen is probably the most beautiful of the four windmills that line the ring road of Bruges. We sit for a few minutes and then stroll along the path that connects it to the other windmills. We expected to see some ice cream and waffle vendors, but there are no opportunistic food trucks here, which is a shame because we wouldn’t have minded a little sweet treat.
A Waffle for Afternoon Tea!
We decide to return to where there is more life and merchants in order to find a Brugeois snack. Keen to eat local and after much deliberation, we decide to have a waffle. When you think about it, there aren’t too many concessions for “eating local” in Belgium (unless you’re on a diet): waffles, chocolate, fries, beer, mussels, not bad as products to enjoy.
We grab a waffle at the House of Waffles, which is “the best waffle in Bruges” according to a gentleman standing near the shop (who is actually the owner, so totally objective). Very kind and appreciating our company, he asks the server to add strawberries to Marie’s waffle. We had come to have a simple waffle and we end up with a meal when it’s already 6 p.m., not very reasonable. But no matter, we head back to the Grand Place and savor these delicious waffles.
We stay seated for two hours, contemplating the city as it lives to the sound of bells and the noise of carriages. To complete the combo of local foods, we inquire about dinner tonight. Our choice is Poules Moules, a restaurant mainly serving mussels . The place looks very nice. The restaurant is located in the heart of a charming little square where other restaurants are gathered. We sit down, we look at the pots of our neighbors which seem quite full, but we are skeptical about whether they are really full. We decide to each get one. Mussels in Bruges beer , and mussels with tomatoes and basil.
Having struggled immensely to finish our pots, we skip dessert for tonight and embark on a long digestive walk. We pass by the Market Square to observe it at night. It is even more beautiful than during the day! The lights highlight all the buildings, and the light show leaves us in awe. With a good day of 19,800 steps, we return to the hotel feeling quite tired. We don’t need much convincing to recharge our batteries and head to bed.