Bruges: Guide, Hotels, Map & Photos
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EUR 70 - 125 Hotel Central
 Situated in the heart of the historic city centre, this cosy hotel has the ideal central location on the market square of Bruges and opposite the 13th… MoreEUR 80 - 135 Hotel Cordoeanier
 Hotel Cordoeanier is located in the heart of Bruges, behind the Market Square. You can easily discover the city from here.
The hotel rooms of Hotel C… MoreEUR 105 - 285 Hotel De Castillion
 Hotel de Castillon is a small and elegant hotel in Bruges with a central location. Stay in one of the beautiful rooms and have a drink on the pretty c… MoreEUR 65 - 175 Hotel Egmond
 Hotel Egmond is located in the historic city centre of Bruges, in a charming 18th century manor house. It still has many original features, including … MoreEUR 104 - 189 Hotel Erasmus
 Only yards away from the boats you will find this small and charming design hotel with classical music in the background and none of the pressure conn… MoreEUR 75 - 150 Hotel Flats Leopold
 Situated on ’t Hoogste van Brugge, one of the smallest streets in the medieval town, the best shopping streets, the Concert Building and the main mo… MoreEUR 60 - 160 Hotel Goezeput
 This is the ideal place to discover Bruges and its inhabitants.
Your host, Karel, welcomes you to this friendly and cozy family hotel located in a 18t… MoreEUR 75 - 155 Hotel Groeninghe
 This cosy hotel has a family atmosphere and is situated in a quiet location in the centre of Bruges in an old mansion house that dates back to 1858.
… MoreEUR 60 - 95 Hotel Gulden Vlies
 Hotel Gulden Vlies is a small Bed and Breakfast hotel in a stately
mansion from the early 20th century with some unique ArtDeco
architectural details.… MoreEUR 71 - 275 Hotel Het Gheestelic Hof
 Enjoy the cosy charm of a typical Bruges ”Maison de Maître”.
The Hotel Het Gheestelic Hof where the well-known flemish poet Guido
Gezelle… MoreEUR 65 - 135 Hotel Ibis Brugge Centrum
 This hotel features a combination of modern design and medieval architecture in the city centre, only 850 metres from the Belfry. Ibis has a 24-hour r… MoreEUR 75 - 140 Hotel Jacobs
 This family-run hotel in the centre of Bruges is only a 10-minute walk from the Grote Markt and Belfort. Jacobs offers rooms with a TV and en suite ba… MoreEUR 85 - 320 Hotel Jan Brito
 Come and stay in the heart of enchanting Bruges and indulge in the historical grandeur of this excellent 4-star hotel.
Established in a beautiful 16t… MoreEUR 95 - 125 Hotel Karel de Stoute
 This 15th-century manor house is located in the centre of Bruges, a 5-minute walk from the Market. The hotel´s bar is located in a vaulted cella… MoreEUR 64 - 340 Hotel Koffieboontje
 Hotel Koffieboontje can be found in the cultural heart of Bruges, near the Grote Markt. The hotel is situated in a calm, traffic free street and has a… MoreEUR 75 - 135 Hotel Loreto
 A renovated 18th century mansion located in the heart of Bruges, close to the main attractions, and with good transport links to the surrounding areas… MoreEUR 85 - 220 Hotel Malleberg
 Hotel Malleberg is a charming family hotel, near the Burg Square and the Market square. We welcome you in a contemporary and tasteful décor. All room… MoreEUR 85 - 125 Hotel Maraboe
 This family-run hotel is housed in an 18th-century former brewery in the historic centre of Bruges. Maraboe features free Wi-Fi and wellness faciliti… MoreEUR 63 - 63 Hotel Nicolas
 This hotel offers simple yet functional rooms in the centre of Bruges only 130 metres from the Grote Markt and Belfry. Hotel Nicolas benefits from an … MoreEUR 55 - 82 Hotel Notre Dame
 This charming little hotel is conveniently situated in the historic centre of Bruges. It is near the Cathedral Saint Salviors, the main museums (Gruut… MoreEUR 72 - 130 Hotel Olympia
 Surrounded by a garden, Hotel Olympia offers free parking near the centre of Bruges. It takes a 10 to 15-minute walk to the heart of this historic cit… MoreEUR 103 - 365 Hotel Oud Huis de Peellaert
 This hotel is centrally located in an recently renovated mansion, only minutes away from The Market, shops and restaurants. There is a wellness centre… MoreEUR 95 - 260 Hotel Portinari
 Portinari is located a 5-minute walk from the city centre of Bruges and is surrounded by cosy restaurants. There is an inviting terrace for warm days … MoreEUR 140 - 359 Hotel Prinsenhof
 Prinsenhof offers elegant rooms with boutique-style décor in a 20th-century Flemish mansion, only 350 metres from the Grote Markt. This family-run ho… MoreEUR 125 - 520 Hotel Relais Ravestein
 Hotel Relais Ravenstein offers luxurious suites with jacuzzi in the centre of Bruges. The Notre Dame and the Market are within walking distance. There… More | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bruges: Guide
Cosmopolitan and bourgeois, Bruges (Flemish: Brugge, ) is one of the best preserved pre-motorized cities in Europe and offers the kind of charms rarely available elsewhere.
Part of Flanders, the Flemish-speaking northern part of Belgium, Bruges is a postcard perfect stop on any tour of Europe.
Get in
By train
Travelling to Bruges on Belgium's excellent rail system is a natural choice. Trains to and from Brussels leave every 30 minutes during the day, and if you are travelling on the Eurostar that same day, there is no cost. Otherwise, buy a ticket when you get to the station. For more information on schedules and prices, visit the website of the .
By car
If you are planning a bus-tour: be aware buses and camping vehicles are not allowed intra muros. There is a perfect parking place for them on the south side of the city with a newly designed gangway bringing you directly into the heart of the town. It is in general a bad idea to venture inside with a car, as parking is limited and finding your way difficult. Nice city mini-buses cruise the town with high frequency, and in any case, the historical centre can be traversed on foot in about 30 minutes.
Get around
The historical center is not so big and thus quite walkable. The only mode of public transport inside city is bus. Buses are operated by the Flemish public transport company . Taxis on the market place and station cost about 10 euro.
Talk
Although technically Belgium’s languages are Flemish and French, in Bruges people have no problem speaking English.
See
Once over the circling canal and inside the city walls, Bruges closes in around you with street after street of charming historic houses and a canal always nearby. In recent years, the city has turned so much towards tourism the locals sometimes complain they are living in Disney-land. The newly cleaned houses should however not confuse you; they are truly centuries old. And if you can get away from the chocolate-shops, you can visit some more quiet areas s.a. St. Anna, and imagine what life in the late middle ages must have been like.
Some highlights:
Bruges is visited by a huge number of tourists and it sometimes becomes quite annoying, especially around the Markt and Burg squares. The important thing to remember, however, is that very few tourists venture far away from the main shopping area, so if you want some peace and quiet you should simply explore the many small cobbled street away from the main squares.
Tour boats -- It's essential to take a ride on one of the tour boats around the canals - the multilingual guides provide a potted history of the city in just a few minutes - at only a few Euros, it's the best introduction to Bruges. A boat tour will show you places which are otherwise unreachable, as not every canal runs next to a street. In 2006, the adult fare was about EUR 5.70 each. The student fare is EUR 3.50 each.
Walks and rides -- everywhere, although there are plenty of horse-drawn tourist buggies and bicycles for hire in the cobbled streets as well. The horse carriage tours are nice but expensive. Bruges is most exciting when complemented by stories of the past.
If you are a runner, try running the 7km circle around the old center. Walk along the canal and see all of the medieval gates that used to control the traffic in and out of Bruges. Simply stunning!
While the chocolates sold in the chocolate shops are indisputably gorgeous, they are quite expensive. A better deal is to buy chocolate bars from a supermarket - try the Cote d'Or. They are fantastic and much cheaper. The same goes for buying beer - instead of buying from overpriced speciality stores you can buy in the supermarket. They even have gift packs with glasses.
Brasserie Forestière, Academiestraat: Nice and calm restaurant, good food, not too expensive. Meal of the day (soup, main dish, dessert or coffee/tea) costs € 11.
Hotel Uilerieen Famous hotel
This "Travel Guide" section is drawn from the Wikitravel article "Bruges". We hope you will edit and improve it. It is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license.
Groeninge Museum (Dijver 12, 7 days 9.30am-5pm, 8 EUR entry) is also known as 'The city museum of Fine Arts', and has a collection of artworks that span several centuries (14th-20th), focussing mainly on works by painters who lived and worked in Bruges.
Basilica of the Holy Blood (Heilige Bloed Basiliek) (Burg 10, April-September 9.30am-11.50am & 2pm-5.50pm, October-March 10am-11.50am & 2pm-3.50pm) is a beautiful church on the Burg square. it houses a relic - a vial of blood that is said to be that of Jesus - and was built in the Gothic style. Try and get there early so you can view the chapel when it is quiet and not filled with tourists.
Jerusalem church in a quiet area of the city, is a highly unusual church with octagonal tower built by the Adornes brothers, merchants of Italian extraction. It includes a fine black tournai marble tomb, late Gothic stained glass, and a tiny and rather spooky chapel containing an effigy of the dead Christ. The entrance fee also covers the Lace Museum in the former Adornes mansion.
The Begijnhof or convent, between the centre of the station and the city, with white painted small houses and fine plane trees, is a quiet place to walk - groups are discouraged.
The Hospital of St John or Sint Jans Hospitaal contains a museum of paintings by Hans Memling, within the early medieval hospital buildings.Do
Have beer in the Grand Place, climb the clock tower, go to Minnewater Park or Van Eyck Plein, nothing is very far away in Bruges; it's a remarkably compact city.Buy
Chocolate shops abound and the standard is always high, so too are the boutique-style beer shops.
Plenty of arts and crafts too, with some excellent local artists. The lacework is risky: if everything sold was produced locally, the entire town would be working in the lace industry! There is a school for lace though, where you can still get "the real thing".Eat
Restaurants are not always cheap or wonderful; sad to say that Belgian cuisine is a long way behind French in terms of variety, although mussels and frites or fricadellen, frites with mayonnaise are outstanding here. Stay away from the central market place ("Grote Markt") when eating. Tourists are easy victims here. You will find great food if you wander off the beaten track. Find a street with more locals than Japanese and ask somebody. The locals will be glad to help.
L'estaminet, at the Astrid Park: good food, nice terrace, cool bartender. Try the renowned spaghetti for 7 euros or the delicious croque monsieur.
La Romagna, Braambergstraat 8. Excellent family-run italian restaurant and pizzeria. Inexpensive. Good menu for vegetarians.
In't Nieuw Museum, Hooistraat 42. Belgian grill restaurant, well off the tourist track. Excellent steaks, reasonable prices. Not at all for vegetarians.Drink
De Garre, 1, De Garre: Hidden in a backyard, this pub offers a nice atmosphere and about 100 different kinds of beer, including home-brewed ones.
t Brugs Beertje, Kamelstraat. This excellent pub (recommended in the CAMRA guide to the Benelux region) has hundreds of different beers and an authentic beer-cafe atmosphere. The front bar is crowded; what looks like the door through to the restrooms opens on another bar area. In 2005 it was closed for most of July - this might be an annual occurrence.
Curiosa, just of the main square (address needed) is a good place for a lunch as well as a beer.
Art tavern "De Kogge": this friendly place on Braambergstraat, near the fishmarket, is a wonderful place to stop by for a few drinks. This family-run place is amazingly friendly, and with 6 beers on tap, as well as 20 more on offer, it is a great place to sample some beer along with the local crowd. The building was previously owned by the Guildhouse of the Cereal-Carriers (the owners will be happy to fill you in on the specifics!)
Vlissinghe tavern, on Blekerstrat (on the way to the Jerusalem church, is one of the less touristy bars and has a nice selection of draught and bottled beers - closed Mondays and Tuesdays. It's probably the oldest pub in Bruges dating from 1515.Sleep
Although one or two chain hotels do exist in Bruges, your best option is probably to choose from the multitude of little bed and breakfast options that dot the city. Note that during the summer, Bruges is a very popular tourist destination; reservations are probably preferable.
Hotel Bauhaus Good and cheap hostel/budget hotel with a cosy, popular bar
The Pand Hotel is slightly expensive, but absolutly wonderful. Breakfast was great and rooms homey.
Hotel de Keiserhof, on a quiet street near the station, has inexpensive basic rooms from EUR 25 per person and is not far from the centre.Get out