Why Visit Bruges? Because it’s a perfect fairy tale

Why visit Bruges? Over two years ago, when the pandemic began, I became a traveler blogger who couldn’t travel. I offered my readers “virtual vacations” while we were all cooped up inside. One virtual vacation was this review of my four-day visit to Bruges, Belgium. In honor of one special reader who is planning a Belgium trip in 2023, and in honor of all the new subscribers I’ve picked up along the way, I am re-releasing this article. Thank you for reading Mrs. HomeFree and remember to share an article or two with the travelers in your life.

Why Visit Bruges, Belgium?

Don’t leave this planet without visiting Bruges, Belgium at least once.  In four short days it became one of our favorite places in Europe.  It has the old-world charm of Edinburgh on a smaller scale.  It has the romance of the Venetian canals with the convenience of cobblestone streets.  It has the clip-clop of horse-drawn carriages with the ding-ding of bicycle bells down every lane.  And, perhaps most importantly, every street has at least half a dozen chocolate shops.  Bruges might get overlooked by many European travelers in favor of larger cities but, few big cities will stay with you once you are back home quite like this one will.

I grew up in a town with one traffic light (population 2,000) and now I reside in a town of 100,000.  While my current locale offers undoubtedly offers more amenities than my hometown did, it is not a city by most standards.  It has taken me many years of traveling, both domestic and international, to realize that I don’t always prefer the big city, big name destinations.  I have been to New York, Dallas, Paris, Barcelona, Dublin and other well-known cities.  But, the small-town girl in me felt comfortable in Bruges much more quickly than usual.  Bruges has a population of roughly 120,000 people. It may have been this factoid that I identified with so easily.  The old city center is so easy to walk that it feels like all of Bruges has been thrown in the dryer and shrunk down from city size to town size. 

Avoid Driving in Bruges

It is true what they say.  Bruges is not meant to be driven in!  In the last few years, new laws were passed to encourage a pedestrian-friendly city.  We circled the tiny cobblestone lanes and one-ways in our rental car until we found our B&B. We parked on the sidewalk long enough to get the luggage inside then drove 10 minutes to the train station.  We parked the car there for the next four days and did not use it again until it was time to leave the city.

Visit Bruges to See the Best Square in Europe

The first thing we did was wander out to Markt Square and gasped at its splendor.  Many will say that the “best” square (medieval or otherwise) in Europe is the Grand Place in Brussels.  I saw that square, too, on this very same trip and I promise you those people are wrong. . . very wrong.  For me, there is no moment that can match the awe of the first moment that the Markt takes your breath away. 

Whether you see it in daylight (as I did) or all aglow after dark, it sets the tone for all of Bruges.  This is a medieval city that has been referred to as a fairy tale city.  The first page of your fairy tale should begin at the Markt with its stone buildings so ornately carved that they look as if they have been topped with lace.  Orient yourself to the rest of the old city by following a basic walking tour.  We used one out of our guidebook and spent the better part of a day following it & taking photos.  Now that we knew where everything was, we spent the second day going back to a select number of the museums and attractions and actually touring the inside.  We had purchased a 72-hour Brugge City Card for 49 euro each.  This gave us free or discounted entry into many of the museums and attractions. We believe we were able to fit a lot more of them in because by the second day we had gotten our bearings so well that we were able to walk quickly from one to another without getting lost.

Belgian Food

Aside from the traditional activities that the guidebooks will tell you all about, I suggest never missing an opportunity to eat the local salamis and cheeses.  On Wednesdays, Markt Square fills up with carts, wagons and stalls of every culinary delight.  Don’t worry, all the walking will help you work off the hot waffles, cheeses, meats, and desserts you will buy and happily sample.  I was in Bruges in late May, so the weather was temperate and fairly dry.  But, if you are there in cooler, wetter weather my next suggestion will be even more valuable.  Just off Markt, down a side street, there is a restaurant called De Vlaamische Pot (The Flemish Pot).  My husband and I both ordered beef stew, which came in individual cast iron pots with free refills on Belgian frites.  It was clearly made with local beer and had a sweetness to it that I did not expect.  The fact that it was the best beef stew I have ever had nearly made up for the brusque server with whom we were saddled. If you can’t make an international trip, you could visit Greenville, South Carolina for the 2nd best beef stew on the planet. Read about that here.

I also burned off those stew and frites calories by renting a bicycle the next day.  Besides walking, bicycles are the other major mode of transportation for locals in Bruges.  I had not ridden in at least 20 years, so I was nervous about balancing and about riding in traffic along bumpy, stone streets.   I do not think I would trust Americans in my town to share the road with me and my bicycle, but the Belgians are quite used to it and, in the end, I felt relatively safe.  My husband and I rode 8 miles (4 miles each way) out of Bruges to a village called Damme.  We spent 2-3 hours leisurely riding to Damme, exploring the shops there and pedaling home.  The ride was flat and good for a beginner.  I am sad to admit that even this beginner’s ride made my legs a little wobbly the next day.  It had been 20 years, after all.

Create Your Own Fairy Tale

On the outskirts of the old city we rode past the four remaining windmills that Bruges still has.  Any guidebook can give you more information about them.  We paused in traffic with other cyclists to wait for a draw bridge to open and close to allow a house barge to glide through.  Then, we rode along a tree-lined lane with a canal on our right and lovely, stone farmhouses on the left.  For me, it all added to the mystique of Bruges.  There were moments when I felt like I was in the first thirty, black & white, minutes of the Wizard of Oz where things were too quaint to be modern.  Then I watched high school students ride past me to school and men & women dressed for offices cycling past me to work and I realized that this was daily life in Bruges.  It was real but it was a fantastical fairy tale too.  Apparently, you can have both and this particular princess lived happily ever after.