- Bruges
- (136)
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Belgium
This small B&B is only a few minutes’ walk from the heart of UNESCO World Heritage town of Bruges. It has three simple but stylishly decorated rooms with ensuite bathrooms on the second floor of a character town house complete with mosaic flooring. The host is friendly and helpful with numerous insider tips on where to eat and drink, and the breakfast - served in the separate breakfast room - is everything you would expect from a continental breakfast and more! Clean crisp bed linen, fresh pastries at breakfast, a warm host and cosy rooms - it’s everything you’d want from a city B&B so we keep going back to romantic Bruges to stay at this lovely place. Prices very reasonable too from £55 (single) - £105 (family room) - recommended for anyone looking for bags of chocolate box charm in Belgium’s self proclaimed ‘chocolate city’!
Cars can be left at the conveniently located long-term car park served by frequent free buses into the town centre, or if you’re brave enough just get the Eurostar into Bruges.
BED AND BREAKFAST
LUT EN BRUNO SETOLA
SINT-WALBURGASTRAAT 12
8000 BRUGGE
BELGIUM
TEL. +32 50 33 49 77
FAX +32 50 33 25 51
E-MAIL SETOLA@BEDANDBREAKFAST-BRUGES.COM
www.bedandbreakfast-bruges.com/index.html
Google map: tinyurl.com/y9ggxup
Last month I visited Bruges. A rather small yet romantic city in the Flemish region of Belgium. While the restaurant we visited turned out to be a disappointment (microwaved food, rude people, unreasonable prices) I really enjoyed the place where we stayed.
In Bruges we stayed in a small cosy hotel called Prinsenhof, it’s actually an example of old 13th century Flemish housing. It had a clean, comfy luxurious room, a welcoming atmosphere, and the breakfast (while not really cheap) proved to be unforgettable!
Make sure you park your car in the city as the hotel charges for parking.
Ontvangersstraat 9, 8000 Bruges, Belgium
www.prinsenhof.co.uk
0032 50 342 690
Google map: tinyurl.com/yazxdlj
I recommend that you avoid this cafe at all costs. The cafe lured us in with a budget meal that was not available. Drink costs weren't in the menu - the reason being that they were extortionate. A steak at the price of 24 euros had additional costs of sauce (5 euros) and chips (4.50 euros).
When speaking to the staff about my displeasure they were rude and I can only describe them to be vultures. The meal was substandard and expensive. If the food and service was good then they wouldn't have to lower themselves to sneaky tricks like this to get customers. Very poor - spoiled our trip to Bruges.
Markt 24, B-8000 Brugge.
Located on the market square opposite the Belfry.
Google map: tinyurl.com/ktqgd7
I love modern art so was stunned to find this amazing artist studio gallery in a side street just off the main shopping street. This artist's work is abstract - very contemporary. Svein made time to show us his extensive range of work and his studio. He also exhibits local sculplture artist Kristof Donkels and ceramic artist Jan Duytschaever. The visit to the studio was a highlight of my time in this amazing town. If you're into contemporary art, a visit to the 'Studio Gallery' is a must.
www.koningen.net
Korte Vuldersstraat 17 Brugge. +32 50 33 09 88
station is only 10 minute walk and the Cathedral is around the corner - well almost in the same street.
I’m British through and through but nothing says Christmas more passionately than Brugge does each December. The Belgians of course have two celebrations with the Feast of Sint Niklaas coming early in the month!
The city streets are beautifully decked out with twinkling lights and window displays and the main and smaller squares like Market Square and Simon Stevinplein have their stalls selling all kinds of gift, food and drink specialties. It’s a picture book / chocolate box place that you may wander and wonder around in the warmth of their hospitality and friendliness - and in safety.
My ideal 24 hours? I set off on a Friday afternoon straight down the M20 from London and directly into the Eurotunnel terminal from the motorway. Go to the toilet, buy a drink, drive onto the train – 25 minutes of rest – drive off the train, to the end of the tunnel road, turn right and just keep on straight for 55 minutes and there is the Bruges turn-off – 10 minutes later I am parked in the centre. Nothing could be easier and hardly needs a map or GPS!
If I just kept walking around the main central triangle of the city it would only take me some 15 minutes to do so – but there is so much to see that is worthwhile. Ice Skating in Markt, climb the Belfry, eat Flemish beer stew and photograph the canals and picturesque buildings as the sun sets and the sky glows. You are never far away from where your hotel is and it is so easy to take a small break to recuperate and re-energise!
Saturday is market day at Tzand (square next to bus station) – buy wonderful cheeses to take home; visit The Church of our Lady to see the Michelangelo Madonna with Child statue and take a canal boat trip, a museum visit or a romantic Horse and Carriage ride around the cobbled streets. Too much to do – so little time!
Now don’t forget those chocolates, those fresh cream pralines. Much much cheaper than the UK and guaranteed to produce sounds of delight (and quiet munching noises). I also buy ginger bread, chocolate figures and honey waffle biscuits.
Driving home; quickly visit a supermarket in Belgium for very good beer at low prices. Try a jar of Advocaat as this goes great on ice cream or Christmas pudding! Wine is also reasonable in price here.
… and it’s back to Coquilles to catch the train back home. Mission accomplished… Tired and very Happy!
Here’s a link to learn more oldchocolatehouse.com/links.html
Unlike many galleries that concentrate on one period of history, the Groeninge Museum in Bruges has a collection that spans six centuries of Flemish tradition and is a truly fascinating insight into artistic development in the region.
Dijver 12
A great café chock-full of some of the best cakes and sweets in Bruges according to the locals who go there – and in a city famed for its deserts, that’s saying something!
The hot chocolate was literally hot milk with pieces of chocolate for you to melt in yourself. Sickly, maybe, but definitely delicious – you’ll find it hard to go back to instant stuff when you return…
Geldmunstraat
Instead of ketchup, the Belgians eat their chips (or fries for the Americans) with lashings of mayonnaise. Slightly odd perhaps – but a trip to Bruges has converted me!
‘Frites’ stalls around the city centre do them cheap, along with meatballs and sausages for a good snack.
Across the road, waffle stands and bakeries sell dessert dripping with chocolate and cream. What more to say except 'yum'.
Pretty much the only time when food and drink around the Markt square is affordable is every Wednesday morning when it’s taken over by market stalls.
With a range of cheap, fresh and tasty offerings like rotisserie chickens, olives, cheese and international dishes, it’s the perfect place to bag a picnic or stock up on self-catering ingredients.
Centrum, Markt
This little Bruges hostel was a real bargain – friendly, clean and better decorated than many more expensive places I’ve stayed in around the world.
The included breakfast is pretty extensive – more than the usual cornflakes – but most importantly I think it is has the best location in Bruges. Just off T’Zand (one of the main squares), it’s a short distance from everything you could want to see or do in the city.
www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/belgium/bruges/3925/
Hoogste van Brugge 2, Bruges
Having used the been there to plan a short trip to Belgium I thought it only proper to note down my experiences for the reference of other visitors.
We travelled to Bruges in our own car via ferry from Dover to Calais – for our trip we found that this was the most cost-effective means. The drive from Calais to Bruges is not arduous and took less than 1.5 hours - sat nav makes it all the more simpler and brought us to the door of the Anselmus Hotel in central Bruges.
We found that this was a very comfortable, friendly family-run hotel that we could heartily recommend. It is ideally located close to the central area.
The city is fabulous – we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Take the canal tour and get a view of the local Flemish architecture, visit the Chocolate museum, watch the demo and sample the goods. Have hot chocolate and waffles in one of the street cafes as a mid morning snack or maybe grab a portion of chips and mayo from the mobile frituur in the market square, browse the unique shops – not too much sign of globalisation here!
For our meals we found excellent mussels and frites at Breydel-de-Coninck just off the main square at Breidelstraat 24 and for an alternative evening we could recommend the Grand Café de Comptoir with their excellent selection of international dishes, warm welcome, elegant décor and reasonable prices.
Then there’s the beer, you can visit a local brewery but if it’s the business end of the operation that you are interested in you will not be disappointed by the selection of bars and pubs and the variety of local beers on offer – close your eyes and take your pick.
The following day we visited Ypres (Ieper), about 70 km away, where you cannot fail to be stirred by the tragedy of the first world war. The museum named ‘In Flanders Fields’ in the main square of the town and only a short walk from the Menen Gate really puts a subsequent driving tour of the battlegrounds and cemeteries into vivid perspective.
Near Hill 62 you can view the trenches and let your imagination construct what it must have been like to fight in these conditions. The largest allied cemetery at ‘Tyne Cot' has over 12,000 graves regimentally aligned plus a wall of remembrance with thousands upon thousands of names of those who fell but have no known grave.
Bruges and the locality have much to offer visitors looking for a city break with a difference – I look forward to going again at some stage.
Check out the hotel at en.venere.com/belgium/hotels_brugge/hotel_anselmus.html?fe1&ref=682988, Breydel Restaurant site is www.breydel-deconinc.be/
Just went over to Bruges and visited this great chocolate shop. It was a chilly morning and Francoise (Fa) Thomaes and Barbe Van Den Haute were serving fantastic hot chocolate in their first floor tea-room. A great big cup of Belgian chocolate hot milk in a floating island of chocolate filled with fresh cream!! On the side - fresh Belgian pralines from their chocolatier. Decadent and delicious!
I enjoy my visits here as they always help in choosing just the right selection for my daughter Joanna.
www.oldchocolatehouse.com/
+32 50 340 102
#1, Mariastraat - next to Simon Stevinple
Check out the map of the city to see how close everything is to the centre www.oldchocolatehouse.com/Map.html
A family run chocolate shop in the centre of town selling fresh hand-made belgian pralines and many gift items. Run by Francoise and her daughter Barbe who are always kind and smiling. Will ship mail order to UK as well as other countries.
1. Mariastraat - next to Simon Stevinplein and 1 minute walk from Church of our Lady
www.oldchocolatehouse.com/Introduction.html
My tip for visiting Bruges is: go from Brussels on Sunday morning. Get out at the railway station and head into town.
Forget the churches and canals, just wander among the hundreds of bric-a-brac, car boot-type stall holders who cover the parkscape. Odd coins, objects, books, collectables, everything is there! What a treat!
Discover an oasis of calm. Go to the Beguinage, a beautiful small green and shaded space flanked by distinctive white buildings and crossed with paths. Sisters of the religious St. Benedict order have taken the place of the former beguines of the former cloistered community. Its atmosphere is wonderfully serene.
The Begijnhof is just off Wijngaardplein and has a shop, church and small museum. There are signs asking people to be silent (though not always obeyed).
Restaurant In den Wittenkop run by a truly enthusiastic couple. Not an encyclopaedic range of beers but great advice and what they do have is worth trying.
Work up through the Rocheforts over some great food. Talk whisky after dinner and weave a merry way home. For chocs go to Pralinette, you can watch them being made in the back of the shop. Get the orange peel in chocolate!
Lovely big rooms in Hotel De Tuilereën, super spa facilities and winner of best breakfast in Benelux! Nice people, nice place. Oh, it’s got canals and museums as well.
Keep young children busy in this beautiful city by visiting Astridpark, on Schaarstraat. There's a great little playpark with slides, swings and sandpits and, next to it, a pretty park with ducks and a bandstand to play in.
If you walk from here through Vismart, depending on the time of day, your children will delight in the fish or toys and crafts on display.
Why not visit De Proeverie in Katelijnestraat. It is a delightful coffee shop. Their speciality is hot chocolate served the Belgian way with frothy milk and melted chocolate and whipped cream which you add yourself. It is out of this world. If that wasn't enough, it comes with a few chocolates from the chocalatier in the street opposite.
Visit Tom Pouce restaurant in the Burg for a delicious and hearty beef in beer stew (Flemisch beefstew) - a real delight.
Be warned, we were so full afterwards (especially having taken the accompaniments) that all we could do was rest afterwards. We found a quiet spot in an outdoor café – had a few drinks and watched the world go by before exploring the town by night.
Hire a bike from Bruges station for the day (you'll need a passport as ID) and head for the village of Damme.
Cycle along quiet tree-lined canals and stop in Damme for a coffee or lunch. Then continue along more traffic-free tree-lined canals, popping into the odd village along the way.
Bike hire is very reasonable at about 15 euros for the day.
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