Bruges: Guide, Hotels, Map & Photos
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EUR 75 - 130 Hotel Salvators
 Hotel Salvators is situated in the city centre of Bruges, in the shadow of the Saint-Salvators Cathedral.
Each of the hotel rooms is unique in style … MoreEUR 92 - 167 Hotel Ter Brughe
 Romantically located along a canal, Ter Brughe is only an 8-minute walk away from the Market Square. Breakfast is served in a vaulted cellar with view… MoreEUR 72 - 100 Hotel Van Eyck
 Hotel Van Eyck is centrally located, overlooked by the wonderful Bell Tower in the heart of Bruges, ideal for access to all historic sites of interest… MoreEUR 115 - 325 Hotel Walburg
 This former city castle offers spacious accommodation in the heart of Bruges, a 5-minute walk from the Market Square. There is a garden with a terrace… MoreEUR 75 - 185 Hotel Wilgenhof
 Hotel Wilgenhof welcomes you as a privileged guest, in a marvelous environment, where you will take pleasure in a fine and quiet residence. At a short… MoreEUR 75 - 95 Hotel de Pauw
 Hotel de Pauw is a small family hotel with only 8 rooms. The hotel is situated around the St.-Gillischurch in the city centre of Brugge. All rooms hav… MoreEUR 135 - 1,340 House of Seasons
 House of Seasons is centrally located in the historic part of Bruges. The luxurious apartments are surrounded by a private courtyard.
The property ha… MoreEUR 99 - 250 Huis ´T Schaep
 Huis ´T Schaep is a restored 17th-century building only 600 metres from the Grote Markt and Belfort in the centre of Bruges. It features free Wi-Fi a… MoreEUR 169 - 900 Kempinski Hotel Dukes Palace
EUR 80 - 120 Koetshuis
 Koetshuis is a characteristic coach house in the tranquil garden of an old townhouse in Bruges. It offers 2 rooms with a one-person whirlpool bath, 40… MoreEUR 100 - 120 La Maison Zenasni
 This B&B is located in a renovated building from 1787 with environmental friendly materials. Free Wi-Fi is available.
1 Part of the building is entir… MoreEUR 60 - 250 Lace Hotel
 This hotel is situated in the centre of Bruges, only 650 metres from the Grote Markt and Belfort. It offers free Wi-Fi and features an intimate terrac… MoreEUR 100 - 100 Le Flaneur
 Le Flaneur is situated in a renovated mansion from 1830. It is ideally located in the city centre, at only 5 minutes from the Grote Markt. Benefit fro… MoreEUR 47 - 189 Leonardo Hotel Brugge
 The Leonardo Hotel Brugge has an outdoor pool area surrounded by beautiful woodland surroundings, 10 minutes from the city centre by car. It offers on… MoreEUR 100 - 150 Livia´s Bed And Breakfast
 Located in a wonderful Art Nouveau residence from 1902, this romantic B&B offers classic elegance and modern comfort in the heart of Bruges.
With fre… MoreEUR 75 - 155 Lodewijk Van Male
 This country-style hotel is surrounded by a large garden with a pond, the ideal setting for a peaceful afternoon. The centre of Bruges is a 7- minute … MoreEUR 150 - 150 Maison Bousson
 Maisson Bousson is a small boutique hotel. This former stone-breaking company is situated in a quiet location and at walking distance of the centre of… MoreEUR 55 - 90 Maison Printaniere
 Maison Printaniere is a romantic bed and breakfast near Bruges. Benefit from free parking and enjoy the garden and terrace.
The cosy rooms have been … MoreEUR 70 - 220 Maison de la Rose
 Situated inside a National Heritage building, Maison de la Rose offers elegant rooms with free Wi-Fi and a TV with a DVD player, just 500 metres from … MoreEUR 187 - 308 Maison le Dragon
 Maison le Dragon offers luxurious suites in a 16th-century house, a 5-minute walk from the Grote Markt. It features free Wi-Fi and breakfast served in… MoreEUR 75 - 220 Martin´s Brugge
 Martin’s is situated just behind the famous 13th-century Belfry and features rooms with rich décor and flat-screen TV. It benefits from a tranquil … MoreEUR 169 - 409 Martin´s Orangerie - Small Luxury Hotels
 Martin´s offers sumptuously decorated rooms in a 15th-century former convent along the picturesque Den Dijver canal, 200 metres from the Grote M… MoreEUR 99 - 395 Martin´s Relais
 Located across 5 authentic canal houses from the 17th century, this characteristic 4-star hotel provides tasteful guest rooms, a peaceful rose garden … MoreEUR 99 - 233 Montanus
 In the heart of Bruges, this stylish hotel is situated amidst its beautiful urban park. Both the cottage-style garden pavilion and the grand mansion p… MoreEUR 43 - 130 Montovani
 Hotel Montovani is a small and cosy hotel with 12 rooms located in a small and quiet street on walking distance from the historical city centre of Bru… 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