Exploring Bruges, Belgium
This post has been updated on January 24, 2024.
Time needed in this town/city: 3 Nights
Words cannot even describe how amazing Bruges is. Imagine the perfect fall day - the air is crisp, the leaves are rustling along the walkways, and with a cappuccino in your hand, you just want to endlessly stroll around the canals, the alleyways, the streets, and the square. There's a reason it is called "The Venice of Belgium". It's beautiful, it's quaint, and it's romantic.
The below information is a complete guide of the best places to stay, the top rated places to dine and drink, and all there is to see and do. We’ve also included transportation tips, as well as a summary of the history of this fairytale town!
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Where to Stay
Where to Dine & Drink
Assiette Blanche
Serving seasonal, refined cuisine that is supplemented with French-Belgian classics and various regional dishes.
Cafe Rose Red
Bar Rose Red is a heartwarming , cozy café located in the center of Bruges - a stone's throw from the market square. A quiet side street immediately leads you away from the tourist path and brings you to an authentic pearl in the Bruges city center. They serve a variety of Belgian beers and snacks.
De Twijfelaar
Serving a modern twist to eastern cuisine.
Guillaume
Serving French inspired, creative 'cuisine'.
Het kleine huis
A cafe serving baked goods, teas, and coffee.
Le Mystique
Serving 4-6 course tasting menus with emphasis on seafood.
ONE Restaurant
Traditional dishes, wine & cocktails offered in a charming, old-world locale with a terrace.
Park Restaurant
An upscale restaurant in an old historic building, serving 4-7 course menus with wine.
Things to See & Do
Art Experiences
Frietmuseum
Inside a 14th-century building, “Saaihalle”, founders Cédric and Eddy Van Belle have assembled a curious collection of frites artifacts, equipment, and art. Their museum traces the history of the fry, from Andean potatoes to Belgium’s iconic paper cones of crispy, hot pommes frites. There’s an Inca-era vase featuring potatoes, dioramas of Peruvian farmers, and potato-peeling European soldiers, as well as vintage ads, an extensive assortment of potato cutters, and a mobile of dangling tubers of various hues and sizes from around the world.
After viewing the museum, visitors can descend to the medieval cellar where a cafe serves up pommes frites among other items, such as croquettes and beef stew.
Groeninge Museum
The Groeningemuseum is a municipal museum built on the site of the medieval Eekhout Abbey.
It houses a collection of Flemish and Belgian painting covering six centuries, from Jan van Eyck to Marcel Broodthaers. The museum's highlights include Early Netherlandish paintings, works by Renaissance and Baroque masters, as well as a selection of paintings from the 18th and 19th century neo-classical and realist periods, milestones of Belgian symbolism and modernism, masterpieces of Flemish Expressionism, and many items from the city's collection of post-war modern art.
Historical Exploration
The belfry was added to the Markt around 1240, when Bruges was an important center of the Flemish cloth industry. After a devastating fire in 1280, the tower was largely rebuilt.
The octagonal upper stage of the belfry was added between 1483 and 1487 and capped with a wooden spire bearing an image of Saint Michael, banner in-hand and dragon underfoot. The spire did not last long as a lightning strike in 1493 reduced it to ashes and destroyed the bells as well. A wooden spire crowned the summit again for 250 years before it, too, fell victim to flames in 1741. The spire was never replaced again, thus making the current height of the building somewhat lower than in the past.
Want an amazing view of the Markt? For a fee, people can climb the narrow, steep staircase of 366 steps!
Burg Square
The Burg is one of the oldest parts of the city center and used to be surrounded by walls and gates. The fortress was located at the meeting-point of the Oudenburg-Aardenburg Roman road (the Zandstraat) and the Reie canal.
Count Arnulf I of Flanders (889-965) extended the Bruges fortress to create a powerful, imperial administrative centre of 1 1/2 hectares. Steen Castle, which was one of the residences of the Counts of Flanders, was located on the western side of the square from the 11th century until the end of the 13th century. The castle church, which was dedicated to Our Lady and Saint Donatian, was built to the north, within the fortifications, and a chapter of canons was later established. This gave the fortress a dual purpose: The southern part served a civil purpose and the northern part was religious. When Bruges became a diocese in 1559, Saint Donatian’s Church became a cathedral.
The demolition of the cathedral doubled the size of the square to around 1.1 hectares, making it even larger than the Markt. However, it remains divided into two distinct adjoining areas.
Central Cemetery Bruges-Assebroek
Named the oldest cemetery in Bruges, Emperor Joseph II ordered an end to the centuries-old tradition of burying people around the churches. Graveyards had to be removed from the city, well outside the city walls, because hygiene and public health took priority. The Bruges city council promptly bought a plot of land in Assebroek. The first burial took place in 1787 and from 1810 onwards, all inhabitants of Bruges were buried here.
Just wander around and notice the ancient beech trees, some of which are more than 200 years old. In the 19th century, an imposing grave monument was a status symbol for the well-heeled.
Grave of Antoine Michel Wemaer
Michel Wemaer lived from 1763-1837. His tomb is adorned with the figure of a skull and cross bones on a tasseled pillow. The burial site also contains the remains of his wife, Marie-Alide Heene, as well as two of their children whose deaths preceded his own in 1837. The pillar behind the mossy stone skull is engraved with the tomb’s inhabitants and a blessing in French.
Why is it so popular? Because of the moss encased the tomb, making it hauntingly beautiful.
HOW TO GET THERE: Central Cemetery Bruges-Assebroek is located just south of the Bruges ring road. Enter the cemetary from the main north west entrance along Kerkhofblommenstraat and proceed down the main path towards the statue at the first intersection. The grave site is on the right a dozen or so graves up from the intersection in section 3 or 5, one tier back.
City Hall of Bruges (in Burg Square)
After a fire in the city's Belfry in 1280, the old Ghyselhuus, which had already fallen into disuse as the jail of the Count of Flanders, was still the meeting place for the city council. In 1376, the Ghyselhuus was pulled down and replaced by a new purpose-built council building, which was completed late in 1421.
The stone facade of the oldest part was extended several times during the 16th and 17th centuries and inspired, in quick succession, the city halls of Brussels, Ghent, Leuven and Oudenaarde.
Between 1895 and 1905, interior restoration work began. The lesser and greater council chamber was replaced by a single "Gothic Hall". The rich decoration of this chamber now offered competition to the elaborate exterior facade. The impressive double-vaulted timber ceiling was restored and extended to cover the entire area, while the vaulting over the two eastern bays dates only from the 19th century.
TIP: There is a museum inside of this city hall to learn the history of the oldest city hall in the low country!
MarkT Square
Since the 10th century, the square has been a popular place for gatherings with the first official fair held around 1200. The first hall was built soon after, around 1220, as a place for merchants to sell their goods.
Around 1240, a larger building with a wooden tower was built though 40 years later, it was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in stone. It was also decided to build a "Waterhall" (a covered unloading and storage place for boats) over the nearby Reie river on the east side of the square.
Since 1396, there has been fish trading the square - the fishmongers’ craft house was on the north side of the square, close to St. Christopher's Church. In 1709, an iron fish market was built, which moved in 1745, together with the fish market, to the Braamberg, where the fish market still is today. The corn market was moved from the Braamberg to the square in the same period. Major events, jousts and tournaments were also held then in the square, as well as executions, which attracted large audiences.
In the period between 1807 and 1810, the square was called the "Place Napoléon", then the "Grote Markt". The renaming to "Markt" took place in 1936. The Markt was completely renovated in 1995–1996, during which parking spaces on the square were removed.
Saint John’s Hospital
The Hospital of St. John was a medieval hospital founded in the mid-12th century.
Located next to the Church of Our Lady, the premises contain some of Europe's oldest surviving hospital buildings. The hospital grew during the Middle Ages and was a place where sick pilgrims and travelers were cared for. The site was later expanded with the building of a monastery and convent. In the 19th century, further construction led to a hospital with eight wards around a central building.
Not until 1977 did the building's function as a hospital stop, at which time it was moved to a newer modern hospital in Brugge Sint-Pieters. The city of Bruges took over the buildings. Today, part of the hospital complex holds the popular Hans Memling museum, named for the German-born Early Netherlandish painter, where a number of works are displayed, as well as hospital records, medical instruments and other works of art. You can also tour the wards, church, chapel, and pharmacy.
Religious History
Basilica of the Holy Blood (Burg Square)
In 1134, Thierry of Alsace decided to build a private double chapel next to the Oud Steen - the first residence of the Counts of Flanders, transformed today into the town hall of Bruges. Thierry went on crusade a second time, in 1147, during the Second Crusade. According to the tradition, Thierry of Alsace returned to his capital Bruges on April 7, 1150, with the relic of the Precious Blood. During the first half of the 13th century, the name of the upper chapel was changed to the Chapel of the Holy Blood.
About the Relic
The basilica is best known as the repository of a venerated phial said to contain a cloth with blood of Jesus Christ, brought to the city by Thierry of Alsace after the 12th century Second Crusade. Although the Bible never mentions Christ's blood being preserved, Acts of Pilate - one of the apocryphal gospels - relates that Joseph of Arimathea preserved the Precious Blood after he had washed the dead body of Christ. Legends of Joseph were popular in the early 13th century, connected also with the emerging mythology of the Holy Grail.
Recent research found no evidence of the presence of the relic in Bruges before the 1250s. In all likelihood, the relic originated from the 1204 sack of Constantinople by the army of the Count of Flanders, Baldwin IX during the Fourth Crusade. Ever since, the phial has played a big part in the religious life of the city. Pope Clement V issued a papal bull in 1310 granting indulgences to pilgrims who visited the chapel to view the relic.
Modern examination has shown that the phial, made of rock crystal and dating back to the 11th or 12th century, was a Byzantine perfume bottle made in the area of Constantinople. Its neck is wound with gold thread and its stopper is sealed with red wax. The phial is encased in a glass-fronted gold cylinder closed at each end by coronets decorated with angels. The date "MCCCLXXXVIII die III maii" (May 3, 1388) is engraved on the frame.
Béguinage/Begijnhofkerk sint elisabeth
A Béguinage is a collection of small buildings used by Beguines, which were several lay sisterhoods of the Roman Catholic Church, founded in the 13th century in the Low Countries, who sought to serve God without retiring from the world. The entire group of Flemish Béguinages was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Beguinage of Bruges was founded in 1245 by the Countess of Flanders, Margaretha of Constantinople. In 1299, Philip the Beautiful of France placed the Beguinage under his own rule, thereby withdrawing it from the influence of the town magistrate.
The St. Elisabeth Church was built in 1245 and rebuilt in 1605 after a fire. The statue of the Virgin and Child over the entrance dates from the 13th century.
Visitors enter the place, via a bridge over the canal. The entrance gate bears the date 1776. The group of surviving buildings range in date from the 15th to 19th centuries. The last beguine lived here in 1926. After that, in 1937, the beguinage became a convent with Benedictine sisters.
Church of Our Lady
The Church of Our Lady is a Roman Catholic, dating mainly from the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. Its 379 ft. tower remains the tallest structure in the city and the third tallest brickwork tower in the world (after St. Mary's Church in Lübeck and St. Martin's Church in Landshut, both in Germany).
The church’s Gothic style is prominent with its flying buttresses on the exterior, which were constructed from the 1270s - 1280s. The nave contains cross-vaults and black and white tiled flooring. The interior is in the heavily ornamented Baroque style in the side aisles and chancel.
It’s noted that one of the chapels in the church was created in 1482 for a wealthy man, named Lodewijk van Gruuthuse, as his personal worship area.
Madonna and Child by Michaelangelo
The altarpiece of the large chapel in the southern aisle, known as the “Cappella sacra”, created in the 18th century, in the Baroque style, enshrines the most celebrated art treasure of the church—a white marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo around 1504.
The block of marble used to sculpt the Madonna weighed close to a ton, so suitable locations for carving would have been limited. It is likely that Michelangelo began carving the sculpture in Carrara, as he was there for close to a year in 1505 with the Madonna completed in 1506.
While it was meant for a chapel in Siena, Italy, there was a financial issue that prevented the completion of the sale. Instead, it was purchased in Italy by two Brugean merchants, the brothers Jan and Alexander Mouscron. In 1514, it was donated to its present home.
The sculpture was a memorial to the Mouscron parents, "...which would include a 'sumptuous tabernacle' that would hold an 'excellent' sculpture of the Virgin that is 'very precious' and 'costly'..." No alterations are allowed to be made to the Madonna without proper permission.
While Michelangelo was alive, the Madonna was the only sculpture to be taken out of Italy. The sculpture was twice recovered after being looted by foreign occupiers—French revolutionaries c. 1794 and Nazi Germans in 1944. Close to the Michelangelo statue, important Brugeans are buried such as Françoise de Haveskercke, buried next to her husband in the black tomb of the Haveskercke family on the right side of the statue.
Unique Experiences
blinde ezelstraat (Blind Donkey Street)
In this street, which runs from the Burg to the Vismarkt, between the town hall and the Civil Registry, the inn Den Blinden Ezele was mentioned in a document from 1490, which was adjacent to the registry.
'Blind donkey' is in reference to the brewers' habit of blindfolding the donkeys that had to step onto the malthouse treadmill, thus preventing them from becoming dizzy. It was not the only inn that bore that name.
On the other side of this alleyway is the Bruges Vrije (you can spot some of this building in the above picture). It was once the administration center of Bruges when it was in its Liberty of Bruges phase in the 12th Century, and is still used as offices to this day.
Hidden Brugges Photo Tour
Half walking tour, half photography workshop, this experience brings out extra beauty in this spectacularly photogenic city. Following your local guide, you’ll wander across Bruges’ quiet, picturesque corners, hunting for wide shots and those overlooked details. Along the way, you’ll get to know this medieval city, famed for its cobbled streets, winding canals, and magical feel.
Historium
Go back in time and experience the bustling city of Bruges in the Golden Age in various ways. Hear the exciting tale of Jan van Eyck's apprentice in the Historium Story, featuring film, decors, and special effects. In the Historium Virtual Reality, you can take an impressive virtual flight past the 15th-century architecture, including the Water Halls - a large storage area that stood on the Market Square for five centuries. Climb the Historium Tower and enjoy a unique 360° view of the modern city and take a selfie with the Belfry in the background. It’s one of the top attractions in Bruges!
House Bouchoute
The oldest house in Bruges’ main square is certainly impressive to look at, but many fail to see what makes it much more impressive than its other historic counterparts.
On its front facade, just beneath the roof, you’ll see a massive compass that was installed in 1682, but this isn’t your typical compass. Instead of showing the magnetic North, it actually depicts the direction of the wind.
If you look up, you will see a golden metal flag on the roof. It’s a weather vane that shows the direction of the wind and it’s connected to the giant compass’ needle. Being able to see the way from which the wind blew was useful for merchants back when Bruges was one of Europe’s biggest harbors. It let them know whether their delivery sailboats would be delayed due to poor wind conditions.
Keep looking at the building’s roof and you’ll see another handy scientific instrument that’s a bit more modern. The golden globe was used at the dawn of the railroad era to keep all the city’s clocks coordinated. It was installed because the advent of rail system meant clocks needed better accuracy to ensure the reliability of the train schedules.
This clever device is actually quite simple. At noon, the sun’s shadow aligns with a small hole in the globe and falls upon a meridian line in the pavement. There were actually 41 such devices in Belgium and this one is the last surviving one. If you look at the ground in the square, you’ll also notice a copper nail that shows the sun’s path.
Jeruzalemkerk
Known as the Jerusalem Church in English, it’s home to an eye-catching altar dotted with human skulls and other bones. To make this unique feature even more unusual, the altar also has carvings of several ladders and tools.
The Jeruzalemkerk was built in the 15th century by the Adornes family (a merchant family from Genoa) and was modeled on the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It was consecrated in 1429. The church is also home to an effigy of Jesus Christ’s corpse.
How to find: It is accessed, via the Adornes Estate.
Lucifernum
The Lucifernum is the private home of Barnum-esque provocateur Don “Willy” Retsin. However, often opens the doors of his repurposed Masonic Lodge to wild parties among the strange portraits and curious artifacts he has accumulated. Thanks to him and his Peruvian wife, a truly interesting combination of live performance and libation awaits.
The self-described “vampire” says his house originally housed a chapter of the Freemasons during the time of Napoleon. However during his ownership, he has refurbished the interior to resemble a living cabinet of curiosities. The walls are covered in huge portraits of vaguely nightmarish figures and the surfaces are covered with countless horror statues and figures that seem to have been collected from a wide range of eras and locations.
There is also a distinctly Cuban flavor to much of the space. During events, rich rum cocktails are served from the old bar and Latin music is always playing. This owes to Retsin’s professed past of textile trading in Central America. Regardless of the origins, the sense of Havana nights decadence pervades the home although it has been filtered through the morbid sensibility of a living oddity/most interesting man in the world.
Today, The Lucifernum is open to the public on Sundays from 8 p.m to 11p.m. when daring party animals can ring the bell and be welcomed into the vampire’s lair.
Rozenhoedkaai (Rosary Quay)
Rosary Quay gets its name from its past vendors who sold rosaries there. It’s very much like a fairytale setting when you get to see it in person!
How to get there: It’s is on the corner of Rozenhoedkaai Street and Huidenvettersplein town square.
Smallest Gothic Window in the world
When you cross Bonifacius Bridge, heading West, look up to your right, where you’ll see a teeny tiny stained glass window set in the wall of the Gruuthusemuseum. Though there is not much specific information available from the museum, it’s been called the smallest window in Bruges, the smallest Gothic window in Europe, and the smallest Gothic window in the world. Either way, it’s adorable!
Smedenpoort Skull
The Medieval Smedenpoort (Blacksmith’s) Gate,” dates back to 1297, and is one of the four remaining city gates of Bruges. Look closely at the upper lefthand corner above the arch and you’ll notice a morbid curiosity: A bronzed human skull is affixed to the gate’s yellow brick facade.
It is a replica of the skull of an executed traitorous statesman whose head was prominently displayed as a warning to the people. In 1691, hostile French troops had gathered near Bruges but could not infiltrate the city’s ramparts. They conspired with Belgian statesman François van der Straeten to enter the city through the Smedenpoort. Unfortunately for the conspirators, the plot was discovered and relayed to the city council. François van der Straeten was arrested on June 26, 1691, and hanged. His head was dipped in bronze and then hung from an iron pin on the gate as exemplum justitiae.
The skull disappeared during the French Revolution and was rediscovered in 1876. The remnants of the original skull are housed in the Archaeological Museum in Bruges, and a bronze replica now hangs on the Smedenpoort.
HOW TO FIND: The Smedenpoort is located on the edge of the west side of the city.
The Dark Side of Bruges
Avoid the crowds that fill Bruges' streets by day by embarking on a private nighttime walking tour. In the company of just your party and a guide, discover the intriguing histories hidden behind the city's ancient walls and top off your evening with an included beer at the Bauhaus bar.
The Devil’s Pants
Just a few minutes’ walk from the northeast corner of the Bruges Grote Markt is #13 Cordoeaniersstraat, a façade popular with walking tours that explore the darker side of the city.
As the story goes, a well-to-do gentleman, described as a Spanish trader, was said to have asked to be boarded at a house located at Cordoeaniersstraat 13 in Bruges. Donning fine clothes and being of impressive stature, this was granted. The stranger made a habit of leaving the premises every night, which raised some questions as to the nature of his activities. Another oddity was that though the stranger displayed fine changes of clothing from day to day, he never changed his pants.
One evening, after the stranger had left for the night, the daughters of the household, Wanne and Siska, entered the man’s room and discovered his one pair of pants (that for some reason he departed without), which had no opening in the front and a hole in the back. Bringing this to the attention of their father it was determined the guest was Satanic, the hole being for his Devil’s tail. Having no interest in hosting the Devil, the father cast the pants into the fireplace. At that moment the stranger reappeared in his true form and enraged by being discovered, set the house aflame.
Though the original facade is long gone, a stonework relief of the two girls discovering the pants, commemorating the event, is set into the exterior of the house that now occupies the same spot.
HOW TO GET THERE: The site and the stonework can be reached and seen from the street just a few minutes walk north of the Bruges Belfort at Cordoeaniersstraat 13.
Torture Museum
The Torture Museum of Brugge is located in a former fortress that was designed to protect Bruges. During the 14th century, the building became known as “the Old Stone” as it became the site of a medieval prison. The museum now plays “host” to more than 100 different torture devices, all displayed in chronological order.
As visitors wander through the rooms of the former prison, they also journey through a time where torture was a widespread form of punishment and public executions were the norm. The various devices on display range from the 13th century to the 18th century.
Apparently, this is not for the weak-stomached.
Windmills
There are four our of 25 windmills remaining in Bruges, only one of which can be toured. They can be found right along the canal in Park Kruisvest.
Sint Janshuismolen Mill
This mill is only one of four still standing in its original position, since 1770. While still used today to grind flour, they do allow tours, so if you have ever wanted to see a working mill, this would be the one. Click here for more info.
Bonne Chiere Mill
Rebuilt in 1911 at its original location, it was built purely for decoration.
De Nieuwe Papegaai Mill
The original version of this mill was built in 1790. In 1970, it was rebuilt and moved to a new site. It got its name from the giant parrot on its roof.
Koeleweimill
It was originally built in 1765. It was rebuilt in 1980 and moved to its current location.
How to get to the windmills: It’s a 15-20 minute walking tour, straight from the Markt.
A History Summary
Prehistoric - Bruges was a coastal settlement during prehistoric times.
1st century - In the Bruges area, the first fortifications were built after Julius Caesar's conquest of the Menapii to protect the coastal area against pirates.
4th century - The Franks took over the whole region from the Gallo-Romans and administered it as the Pagus Flandrensis.
9th century - The Viking incursions prompted Count Baldwin I of Flanders to reinforce the Roman fortifications. Trade soon resumed with England and Scandinavia.
9th and 10th centuries - Early medieval habitation starts on the Burgh terrain with a fortified settlement and church.
11th century - Bruges became the capital of the County of Flanders in 1089
12th century - The city had received its city charter. A wool market, a woollens weaving industry, and the cloth market all profited from the shelter of city walls where surpluses could be safely accumulated under the patronage of the counts of Flanders.
13th century - In 1277, the first merchant fleet from the Republic of Genoa appeared in the port of Bruges - the first of the merchant colony that made Bruges the main link to the trade of the Mediterranean.
14th century - In 1309, the Bourse opened (most likely the first stock exchange in the world) and developed into the most sophisticated money market of the Low Countries in the 14th century.
15th century - Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, set up a court in Bruges, as well as Brussels and Lille, attracting several artists, bankers, and other prominent personalities from all over Europe. The weavers and spinners of Bruges were thought to be the best in the world and the population of Bruges grew to at least 46,000 inhabitants.
1500 - The Zwin channel, (the Golden Inlet), which had given the city its prosperity, began silting up and the Golden Era ended.
17th century - The city was the base for Charles II of England and his court in exile. The maritime infrastructure was modernized and new connections with the sea were built… but without much success as Antwerp became increasingly dominant. Bruges became impoverished and gradually faded in importance.
Second half of 19th century - Bruges became one of the world's first tourist destinations, attracting wealthy British and French tourists.
20th Century - In 1909, the 'Bruges Forward: Society to Improve Tourist' association had come into operation. However, the city was occupied by troops, both in WWI and WWII (no damage was sustained), which meant a delay on restoration efforts until 1965.
Today, nearly 8 million people visit Bruges a year.
