Brugge Travel Guide and Places to Visit in Bruges
Brugge Travel Guide has been one of the travel articles we wrote with great pleasure.. With 3 left to put on suspenders and shorts for summer, it’s ‘Easter Holiday’ in Europe and as you can guess, we couldn’t stay still! We were actually planning to go to Bodensee, which is Germany’s recreation area, but we changed our minds on the last night and bought a train ticket to Bruges! In fact, we went to such a moment that we could not even watch the movie “In Bruges“, which is definitely recommended to be watched before going to Bruges, I think there is a bit of laziness, we did not watch it after our return.
Brugge Travel Guide Before we wrote it, the thing that bothered us the most was ‘What exactly is the name of this city!?’. “Bruges” french is “Brugge” fretham. We continue as the Dutch version ‘Brugge’.
Brugge has been extremely popular especially in recent years and has been visited by 8 million tourists last year.. 8 million a year is a huge figure for a small place like Bruges.. So if you go at a busy time like us, remember that the crowds of the city can drive you crazy!
Let’s see how we found Bruges.. There are cities where a single square photograph corresponds to pages of text, Brugge is such a city.. When you see the magnificent canals, the greenery and the houses that die of cuteness, immersing yourself in that medieval atmosphere, you understand why dozens of people are getting married here and coming for their honeymoon! Caesar’s right, it’s a very romantic city!
If we don’t add it here; The city lived its best times in the 12th century and became one of the centers of trade in Europe.. But now the Medieval Houses that we sober and faint and give the city a ‘Medieval Air’, it turns out that they were not actually houses from the past.. Much of the city and houses were restored in the 1980s, and now there are those who attribute the beauty and medieval atmosphere of the city to the success of this restoration.. We were a little sad when we heard this, but okay, we will continue to call Bruges the ‘Venice of the North!
You can find an article about the restoration we mentioned here.
Then let’s start talking about the son of the north.
Brugge Travel Guide – How and When to Get to Bruges
There is no airport in Bruges. Therefore, the most logical thing is to go to a city near Bruges with an airport, and even spend some time in that city if possible.. The nearest airport to Bruges is in Brussels and it takes about 1 hour by train from Brussels to Bruges. Train price is around 15 Euros one way.. If you buy a weekend ticket, let’s say, if you go on Saturday and return on Sunday, you can benefit from the campaign tickets for 15 Euros, but we don’t know if this discount is valid in every period.. You can use this site to learn about train and bus options from other European cities to Bruges.
Apart from that, you can go to Amsterdam and rent a car from there in about 3 hours.. In fact, if you rent a car, you can stop by another ‘underrated European cities‘ city, Gent, 45 km from Bruges!
Other than that, of course! Trains depart regularly from Paris or Rotterdam to Bruges, but it is worth remembering that high-speed trains are more expensive than planes in Europe.. Last time we checked, the Paris-Brugge high-speed train, which took about 3 hours, was 95 Euros one way (oh)!
We are now 2. At the end of the year, we had reached the rank of ‘Europe for intercity cheap travel specialist sergeant’, so we took the train from Frankfurt and we were in Bruges 7 hours later.
As Bruges is a very small city, public transportation you don’t need to use it, you don’t want to use it because the streets are so beautiful anyway. If you are coming by train, you can reach the city center on foot as the train station is very close to the city, and it is very easy to walk everywhere from there.. There were also those who rented bikes and cycled around the city, but when we went, those who rented bikes were just suffering.. The city was so crowded that there was no room for cyclists, so everyone was walking with their bikes in hand.. Despite our love for 2 wheels, we never thought of renting a bike in Bruuge.
We can say when to go to Bruges, but when not to go, friends!! You can’t go on Easter holiday! Kidding aside, since we went on Easter holiday, the city was overcrowded and this crowd made us a little tired.. Of course, it is also different from the fact that hotel prices increase approximately 3 times during these periods.. Apart from that, if you don’t have a problem with walking in the cold weather, it may be logical to go in the winter, both because the hotel prices are more affordable and if you come across the snowy weather, you can see that the city turns into a postcard square.. Of course, since Bruges is quite far to the north, it should not be forgotten that the weather can be negative in winter time.
In fact, the essence of the matter is this; Bruges is a tiny city with 8 million tourists a year, so it will be crowded whenever you go, so go whenever you can, and it’s done! Also, if you’re going on a Sunday, remember that most places in the city will be closed.. Classic Europe.
Brugge Travel Guide – Where to Stay in Bruges? and Is Bruges Expensive?
As Bruges is such a small city, hotels are usually concentrated in the ‘Old Town‘ area.. Even if you don’t leave it to the last minute, you can find very affordable and decent hotels in this region, so you don’t have to be afraid of the expensiveness of Bruges.. Of course, there are very luxurious and expensive hotels, but we cannot comment on those hotels as they are not in our area of interest (and budget).. When you search for a hotel on the internet, the best thing to do is to look at the distance to the “Historical Center of Brugge” and choose a hotel that has a low score.. We stayed at Guesthouse Orchid and were satisfied. Let’s leave the link here, if there is space, you can keep it at ease. If you are not going during a special time such as Easter or Christmas, the price per room per night is around 60 Euros per night.
Two more places were suggested to us for economical and central accommodation in Bruges. Since the hotels in this city fill up very quickly, you can find the link of both here. let’s just let it run if there is room!
The first one is Ibis Budget, right near the train station, here is the link.
The second one is Hotel Botaniek. Its link is here.
When we read before we went, they usually said ‘one-day city‘ for Brugge, but this is actually about how you visit the city.. Of course, daily visitors can fit in one day to visit the important structures of the city, take a boat tour and visit the famous breweries, but if you have time, Bruges is definitely a city that deserves 2 days.. We don’t say the country wheel is the closest museum, visit all the museums of the city, but there are so many brewers, ice cream shops and waffles to enjoy in Bruges that you can spare two days just to eat and drink them.. We stayed for two days and came back home with two (2) kilos.. We will explain in detail how we achieved this, about eating and drinking.
As for the expensiveness issue; We went to Bruges by studying our lesson and we never stumbled upon ‘tourist traps’ as we were looking for cheap places to eat, beer places, etc.. Thus, we have handled the eating and drinking issue very conveniently.. We visited 2 museums and both were cheap to enter.. Finally, since we did not use public transportation, we did not have any extra money except for the ‘boat tour’.. So Bruges was not an expensive trip for us.. But if you go to the restaurants in the square without examining the menu, or if you take a carriage tour in the city (which we are against), or if you want to book the hotel at the last minute, the trip can cost you! Other than that, there is nothing to be afraid of, Brugge is not an expensive European city as it is exaggerated, you can think of it as a city with plenty of expensive options but also offering cheap eating and drinking options.
Oh, and everyone in this city is a full seller.. Shops and restaurants really close at 6pm and you’re on your way with a limited number of bars open until 12.. What we will say is that while you are in Bruges, eat your dinner on time, eat your waffles in time, and do not leave much activity except drinking beer after 6!
Brugge Travel Guide – Traveling Moroccan: Bruges Places to Visit in
Markt Square:
Every city in Europe has a square and ‘tourist trap’ restaurants around it, this is Brugge’s square! However, we must admit that although the houses in the square and the atmosphere of the square are ‘medieval’ and ‘romantic’, the carousel and the potato shops around it, which was placed in the middle of the square and looked like a pumpkin, spoiled the atmosphere of the square and when the crowd of tourists was added to the square, it became very difficult. no joke. Also, if you want to take a city tour by phaeton, this square is the departure point of the phaetons.. We did not tour the phaeton as we were against phaetons in general, and using this square as our ‘starting point’, we regularly passed through it!
Markt Square at the ‘Historium There is a museum-like building named strong>’ and you can listen to the history of Bruges here, but we did not hear any good comments about it, so we skipped the Historium.
Belfry of Bruges (Belfort Tower):
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Belfort is the famous bell tower of Bruges and if you want to have the best view of Bruges from the top, you can go to its terrace and watch Bruges for 10 Euros.. There is naturally no elevator inside and you have to climb 366 steps to get to the top.. Bruges has a very beautiful view, but is it worth paying 10 Euros per person?. We paid 10 Euros so that it wouldn’t sound like we’re talking about everything anymore and we left!
Basilica of the Holy Blood:
A little further from Belfort Tower, Bruges You come to another square of ‘Burg Square‘. There is a church in this square that looks like it is cornered like this, here is Bruges’ famous Holy Blood.
According to legend, a cloth with the blood of Jesus on it was sent from Israel at the time. The piece was brought to this church in a lantern and the lantern has never been opened since then.. The name of the church was changed to “Holy Blood Church”.. Entry to the church is free and the ‘cloth’ is shown to visitors at certain times of the day.. We visited the church, but unfortunately we did not have the honor of seeing the cloth (!) Now for another time… You can also visit the ‘Treasure Room’ in the Church by paying 4 Euros.
St.. John’s Hospital (St.. John’s Hospital):
11. Built and used in the 19th century, St.. Johns Hospital continued to be used as a hospital until the 1970s.. It was converted into a museum after it was closed in the 1970s.. The hospital has a really beautiful building and garden.. Its museum is open every day from 09:30 to 17:00 except Mondays and the entrance is 8 Euros.
Church of our Lady:
This church, right next to the hospital, is one of Bruges’s most famous churches. one of the flocked places, because in the church’s museum is the ‘Madonna and Child‘, Michelangelo’s only work found outside of Italy (it’s actually a 200cm marble statue). After the work was brought to Belgium in the late 1700s, it was removed from the country twice, but the Belgians managed to bring the work back to the country after World War II.
The museum is open every day of the week between 09:30 and 17:00 and its entrance is 6 Euro (opens at 13:30 on Sundays). The biggest criticism about the museum is that the work is shown from far away.. Unfortunately, you can’t get closer than 15 steps to the statue.
Ten Wijngaedre (Beguniage Brugge):
During the Crusades in Europe, villages were established in cities so that lonely and vulnerable women and children could stand together and be protected. At the head of them were clergy from the church.. These complexes were also called Beguinage(Dutch Begijnhof). Even the women who lived here and chose to become nuns were given freedom and allowed to meet with men.. Who has been harmed by the freedom so far, right?
This ‘Beginjhof’ in Bruges consists of medieval houses built in greenery, some of which have been converted into a museum and 17. It tells about life in the ‘Beginjhof’ in the 19th century.
We didn’t go to the museum, but we took lots of pictures in its garden.
Minnewater Park:
Minnewater The park is Bruges’ quaint park. Especially in summer time, people take their beers and spend time in the park until evening.. We couldn’t enjoy a beer in the park because we went when the weather was a little cold, but we enjoyed walking for at least 1 hour.. If you love parks, be sure to stop by Minnewater Park.. If the weather is nice, don’t forget to grab beers from the nearby Carrefour and enjoy the park.
Canal Tour by Boat in Bruges:
To Bruges ‘ One of the reasons why it is called the Venice of the north is that the city is surrounded by canals in the same way.. Before we went, we were undecided about taking a boat tour on the canals because in some European cities, boat-boat tours are unlike anything and you pay 15-20 Euros to go in a covered boat and it is a complete waste of time.. But the tour boats in Bruges were really sympathetic and a mix of gondola and kayak.. So there was no trace of the coldness of those big boats! So, we jumped on these boats, which cost 8 Euros per person for half an hour, and toured the city like this.. In summary; It was definitely worth it.
As you can see, although Bruges is a small city, since there are many places to visit and places are very close to each other, if your time is limited, you can finish the city in 1 day, if not, on foot, a museum-one beer. You can spread it to 2 days with its head. We spent 2 days in Bruges and we spent half of the day for eating and half for sightseeing.. 2 days were enough and we came back without getting bored. In fact, when we wrote it like this, we realized that we had reserved 1 day of our 2-day trip to eat(!). good thing they had beers. Of course, we also ate waffle-potatoes and chocolate, but it didn’t appeal to us as we weren’t very fond of sweets.. We think that we gained at least 1 kilo of 2 kilos because of beers(!)
Let us write with great longing where we ate and drank in Bruges.
Li o Lait: We, who normally like to try a coffee shop, have only been to a coffee shop once when we’re into beer in Bruges, and that’s here.. Did we love it? It’s nice, but brewers can’t handle it.
HEMA: This is a two-story ‘Drugstore‘, actually on the second floor, there is a cheap cafeteria where you can have breakfast. Very nice pancakes and croissants come out in the morning. Prices are also very cheap. We had our first breakfast here. If you want to buy a sandwich for breakfast and eat it by hand, you can try ‘Panos‘ by Marktplatz.
De Garre: One of Brugge’s most famous and oldest breweries. They have hundreds of beers on their menu and they also help you choose. Also, a ‘Bruges’ cheddar snack comes with the beers, and we fell in love with that cheddar and bought two molds from the market on the way home.. At De Garre, you can try their own brewed beer ‘Bier de Garre.
2be Beer: Our this is our favorite beer. The place has both indoor and outdoor sections and you can taste beer.. The 4 beers you chose from the menu + 3 appetizers were 10 Euros and it should not be forgotten that the alcohol content of most beers is above 10 percent As we understand, Belgian beers have a feature like this; Normally, the higher the alcohol content of the beer, the harder it tastes, but not here.. If you don’t look at the alcohol content on beer, you would never guess at 12-13 percent! ‘Koko Beer’ in coconut is very famous.
If you want to drink beer cheaper and you want a place where young people hang out more often, you can try Bar Des Amis. Beer menu is rich and beers start from 2.5 Euros. If you want to go a little further out of the old town, you can go to ‘Comptoir Des Arts‘ or ‘Le Trappiste‘. Especially ‘Comptoir Des Arts’ was very quiet when we went and the beer prices were also reasonable (we drank a lot of beer and we wrote it).
Paix Dieu, Hoogarden, Delirium, Coconut, Hendrik, Blanche de Namur and Kriek Boon was our favorite among the beers we tried.
We do not recommend the area around Martkplatz for lunch and dinner, because the restaurants here are quite expensive.. On the first day, we had our lunch at the restaurant named ‘Juliette’, which is 10 minutes away from Marktplatz upon recommendation and both the food was good and the prices were reasonable by Bruges standards.. On the second day, we went to a Belgian soup restaurant with a creative name like ‘Soup’.. Normally, Europeans don’t know much about this soup business, but the soups we tried here were not bad.. If you still find a Subway or something, you can have a sandwich instead of soup (!)
Waffles and hot chocolate are of course on Brugge’s ‘must try’ list takes the lead. They make waffles a little different from us.. Since the dough is a bit like pastry dough, it can sit in the stomach.. But you definitely do not faint and you eat as you eat.. The place where we ate was ‘Oyya’ and they do it very well.. They recommended ‘Choco Jungle Bar’ for hot chocolate, but as you can guess, we never tried it because we never had room in our stomachs after eating so much.. You can try Brugge-style french fries, another ‘must-have’, wherever you come across on the street.. We didn’t like it because it was a bit salty and oily.
There is also the subject of chocolate, of course.. We didn’t buy chocolate because we had enough of chocolate in Frankfurt and we don’t have anyone to buy gifts in Germany, but if you want to buy chocolate as a gift, you can choose the ones in the side streets because the prices are more affordable.. If you want to eat yourself; ‘Leonidas’ is a chocolatier with branches in other places, but since we wanted to try a more local chocolatier, we bought some tasting chocolates from ‘Dumos’. It was really nice.
It’s not over… It is also recommended to eat fish and mussels in Bruges.. But we didn’t go because Asya doesn’t eat fish (I couldn’t make raki fish with my wife in my life, friends) and frankly, we ate and drank so much during the day in Bruges that we can say that it made up for it.. If you want to try it, the most recommended fish restaurant is ‘Gouden Karpel’.
And it’s over… Active, healthy and joyful days where we will all burn plenty of calories. and we wish you a trip to Bruges where you can get lost in its streets!
With love!
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