Bruges travel guides & articles
All 26 in-depth pieces we’ve published on Bruges — newest first.
Tours & tickets
Bruges' Medieval Hospital and Its Six Memling Paintings
Six Memling paintings, a 17th-century pharmacy and 800 years of hospital kit at Mariastraat 38, plus the walk that fills the rest of the day.
Bruges in October Before the Boats Stop Running
October keeps the canals, the mill and the museums on summer hours with a fraction of the queue, but four dates inside the month decide which version of the city you get.
How to Spend Two Unhurried Days in Bruges
A two-day route through Bruges, planned around timed tickets, opening hours and ten-minute walks, so the belfry, the boat and the beer all fit without rushing.
Bruges Christmas Markets 2026: Winter Glow Dates and a Two-Day Plan
Wintergloed's chalets, the Belfry climb, the rink at Koning Albert I-park and the beer rooms that stay open after the squares go dark, in the order you should walk them.
Timing the Bruges Belfry Climb to the 11am Carillon
Three mornings a week a man climbs into the Belfort and plays 47 bells by hand. You can be standing next to him when he starts.
Cocoa & Cloister: A Hands-On Chocolate and Beer Feast in Bruges
A clock-led walking route through Bruges' best chocolate counters, make-your-own workshops and Trappist beer cellars — with opening hours, door realities and real prices.
A Family Day in Bruges Away From the Coach Crowds
How to give children a full day in Bruges and spend the eleven-to-four crush somewhere quieter, with real opening hours, prices and step counts.
Bruges' Other Religion: Trappist Cellars, Century-Old Brown Cafés, and the Beer Brewed Inside the City Walls
A grounded, walkable map of Bruges beer — from the last family brewery inside the walls to a 1515 pub and a tripel rationed three per person.
The Best Food and Drink Tours in Bruges
Breweries, chocolatiers and food walks worth your euros in 2026 — and which suit a couple, a family or a ten-strong stag crowd.
The 47 Bells of Bruges and Where to Hear Them
The paid climb, the free courtyard concerts, and how far the Bruges carillon carries in 2026: terraces, side chapels and polder villages.
Burgers and Belgian Beer for a Birthday Night in Bruges
Which Bruges beer rooms take a booking, which are walk-in only, where a birthday group can sit down and eat, and what it all costs.
Walking the Bruges Backstreets Where Flemish Painting Began
A door-by-door walk through the Bruges streets where Van Eyck and Memling found their patrons, with 2026 opening hours, group rules and how long you have before the Groeningemuseum shuts for three years.
366 Steps Up to the Hands Playing Bruges' 47 Bells
Three mornings a week a carillonneur plays a wooden keyboard at the top of the Belfort, and the stairs take you straight past them. Where to hear all three of Bruges' carillons, free and ticketed.
Bruges' Hidden Godshuizen: The Medieval Almshouses Still Lived In Today
A door-by-door guide to the thirteen white-walled charity courtyards behind Bruges' unmarked gates, which ones welcome a quiet visitor, which are for viewing only, and how to tell the difference before you knock.
Tours & tickets
How to see the Holy Blood relic in Bruges
Free at the door, €5 for the treasury, and twice a day you will be turned back at the stair.
Walking Langestraat and Hoogstraat in east Bruges
At the east end of Bruges, two streets hold two Michelin stars, a 1428 copy of the Holy Sepulchre, a working lace school and a tap room trading since 1515.
Walking the old Hanse quarter in northern Bruges
The harbour head, the toll house and the merchants' lodges north of the Markt, with the hours, prices and door rules that decide the order you walk them.
Bruges Lace Is a Craft, Not a Convent Souvenir
Beyond the Beguinage's postcard courtyard, Bruges' bobbin lace survives as a living trade: taught, sold, and still made by hand a few streets away.
Bruges at Night Once the Day Trippers Have Gone
The coaches load at five, the cellar bars unlock at five, and the better half of the day sits in the gap between them.
Tours & tickets
A November Sunrise Balloon Flight for Two Over Bruges
Which operators still fly over Bruges in November, what a dawn flight gives you from the basket, and what the exclusive two-person morning costs against a shared one.
Bruges to Damme by Bike Along Napoleon's Canal
Seven flat kilometres of towpath, a mill, a book town and a Michelin star: how to ride out of Bruges to Damme and get the timings right.
Bruges' Begijnhof Through the Seasons
A season-by-season walk through Bruges' last working conventual courtyard, the sisters who still live there, and the handful of doors nearby worth opening.
Bruges' four remaining windmills on the eastern ramparts
A 20-minute walk along the Kruisvest ramparts links Bruges' last four windmills, one still grinding grain, three standing as silent, free-to-view survivors of a lost skyline.
Tours & tickets
Walking Bruges' Old St John Site and Its Memling Ward
The courtyard at Mariastraat 38 is free to enter. Four Memlings hang in the ward behind it, and the gate opens onto the walk down to the Minnewater.
Tours & tickets
Bruges and Ghent in One Day by Car from Brussels
How to spend a day in Bruges with a private car and driver, which single stop each half of the day can carry, and what you pay at the door.
Tours & tickets
Flanders Trenches by Private Car from Bruges or Brussels
A full-day private run through the Ypres Salient: original trenches, the world's largest Commonwealth cemetery, and the stops a self-drive day usually gets wrong.