Hi,
I am planning on spending a few days in Brugge in November and am looking for ideas on places to visit i'm driving down there so have a car in which to go further afield if necessary any ideas?
Joe
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Really nice city - no great expert but been for a day on a couple of occasions. You can park almost in the centre in a big underground car park - well signed, just keep heading for town centre ('t Zand, I think). Centre itself is very pretty, surrounded by canals, big square (Markt) in centre with huge bell tower, various other impressive historic buildings and loads of restaurants for coffee/lunch/evening meal and watching world go by. Prices cheaper on back streets and if you like chocolate there are loads of places to buy "home made" chocolate. Tobacco also v. cheap in Belgium. And the thousands of types of beer!
To south (30 miles?)are WW1 battlefields near Ypres (Ieper on their maps)- memorials and cemeteries that will bring a tear to your eye.
Have a look at
www.brugge.be/toerisme/en/
www.bruges.gb.com/sightseeing.htm
www.bruges.gb.com/get-around-bruges.htm
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The Brewery. Any bits of Belgium, Flanders (Ypres) and the Ardennes. Prefer Belgium to France. Mons is intersting if you like anything to do with WW1.
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You could try this link: www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/...l
I've stayed at the Cordoeanier hotel mentioned: it was fine. Not luxurious, but clean and £45 per night. Friends stayed there again this year to celebrate No 1 sons 21st.
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We normally stay at the IBIS hotel, which has civic (and cheap) parking nearby - an easy walk into town centre avoiding the need to drive once you get there.
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Do this trip about once a year at about the same time of year as you. Wrap up it can get wet and cold there. To do in brugges? Eat and drink mainly*. Its a doddle getting into the town and I stay in a hotel with an underground car park.
Ask for a quak to drink, comes in a wierd glass. The belgian brown beers are yummy.
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Kwak, isn't it? You will find that most beers have their "own" glass. Kwak is like a yard (or half) glass but in a wooden frame.
Many Belgian Trappist beers are a refreshing change...
Leffe is my personal favourite Belgian beer...not the brown though
And fruit beers are...well...different. Have to be tried though.
And don't have too many Grimbergens unless you enjoy headaches...
Ghent (or Gent) isn't too far away and is an interesting old place with cobbeled streets and old churches. I wouldn't recomend Brussels, it's just another city.
Brugges itself is a great place in December - like many towns they set up a public ice rink in the main square, together with the Christmas stalls selling hot wine etc, you can really get in the Christmas spirit, in more ways than one. There was an ice sculpture exhibition there last time I went (near the station) which was damn cold (not surprisingly, I suppose!) - in the middle of it was a bar created from ice which sold vodka in glasses made from ice.... It might be an annual fixture, but the Xmas stuff doesn't start until Dec 1.
Beware when driving through Belgium that places often have two names. We booked a hotel in Liege, which disappeared off the signs at some point pn the route, to be replaced with somewhere called Luik, which was the same place...Flemish v French I think.
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I've been to Brugge/Bruges twice in the past couple of years. It has museums and historic buildings aplenty. Most of the locals speak perfect English, which is fortunate, as the native language is Flemish, a dialect of Dutch. They are also more tolerant of tourists than you might expect. Try to avoid being there at the weekend as that is when it gets horribly crowded, mostly with British tourists. Thankfully, the sort of Brits abroad you see in Bruges are a different breed from those you'd find in certain Spanish resorts! The city is probably best viewed from its canals and despite being a tourist trap/cliche, boat trips are very reasonably priced.
I'd like to visit Ghent some time but haven't done so: I'm reliably informed that it's comparable to Bruges but much less touristy. I'd disagree with Smokie's opinion of Brussels. Admittedly there are bits that are about as picturesque as the Birmingham inner ring road and, if you arrive at the Gare du Midi, you'll think you may have been better off with a few days in Rochdale. Nonetheless, there are enough historic sights to keep you going for days. The Grand Place (Grossmarkt) is a must see. There are some impressive museums and the Atomium at Heysel (which has become a sort of Belgian Eiffel Tower) has to be done, despite the fact that it's overdue for refurbishment. If you like wallowing in tackiness, you can't beat Mini Europe next to the Atomium: it's a whistle stop tour of Europe through miniature versions of its famous buildings. The guide booklet you're given on arrival would be to Robert Kilroy-Silk as garlic is to a vampire.
Aside from its attractions, I'd say Brussels is the friendliest and possibly the safest big city you're likely to find. If you're not much of a linguist, you can pretend that your failure to speak either Flemish or French is your way of maintaining a neutral stance. Although geographically in Flanders, Brussels is offically bi-lingual. The street signs are in both languages and this can confuse unwary first time visitors. It did me. Once you venture out of the capital you'll find that the signs soon change to one language or the other, depending on the direction of travel.
You'll find a huge amount on the web but have a look at
www.visitflanders.com
www.atomium.be
www.minieurope.be
www.brusselsmuseums.be
One final point: Belgians are generally very nice people but they have a reputation for being not terribly safe drivers. If you fancy a break from driving, bear in mind that it's a small country, with fast and efficient rail links. Tickets are reasonably priced, especially at weekends.
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I can second the recommendation to visit Ghent, I go there every year for the 10 day festival in July.
Its about 40 mins from Brugge and its cheap as chips on the train especially on a Sunday when all rail fares in Belgium are cheaper. Worth thinking about if you want to sample the beer. There trains are frequent even into the early morning and the timetable is much the same at weekend as in the week, IIRC they were every 20 mins between Ghent/Brugge both stations are on the edge of town but a cheap bus or tram to the centre takes no more than 10 mins.
Ghent has a similar canal network and there are lots of waterside watering holes/dining places. In Ghent the main Church in the square has a long walk to the top if you are fit and the castle is worth a look as are the small streets and shops around the castle area.
In Brugge the canal trip is worthwhile as you see aspects of the buildings not visible from dry land and many good dining places are just off the square and cheaper/better than those in the square. If you smoke its well worth stocking up as its very cheap in comparison to here and again I can also endorse the Ypres suggestion, there is a fantastic WW1 museum in the town hall and allow about half a day to see all thats in there, the Menin gate is worth seeing and the last post is sounded in the early evening, the ramparts by the gate are a good walk as well.
as always
Mark
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When we visited Belgium last year we found it difficult to find a reasonably priced hotel in Brugge. However there were plenty of good deals available in Ostende.
Ostende is reasonably pleasant with its sea front, fishing port and casino. The train to Brugge took about 20 minutes and cost peanuts.
Brugge was really nice. Made us think of Ankh Morpork (at least those of us who read Terry Pratchett), especially viewed from the canals. Food and drink were excellent and the natives were very friendly. The only downside was losing about eighty quid in the casino !
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"Belgians are generally very nice people but they have a reputation for being not terribly safe drivers"
Having driven loads of miles in France Belgium and Holland I can safely say the Belgians make the rest look like Advanced drivers. Even the French!
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I went about 2 years ago and stayed at
www.desnippe.be/eng/frameset.html
Not the cheapest but me and the mrs needed some quality time. Clean friendly and a really good meal.
Bruges was not the cheapest place I have ever been too but we had fun. This year we are off to Marrakech where it will be a bit warmer!! As you are driving there be careful of the police and speeding. I hear that they are very tough.
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Things to do ? got kids with you ?
If you have then the dolphinarium (16:00 Sun after sept I think) is ten mins away, sealife centre in Blankkenburg is 30-45 mins.
As for somewhere to stay
try www.bookings.com or do a search for holiday flats in brugges if you don't mind selfcatering.
Generally, you can spend alot of time just walking and exploring and finding somewhere to eat is no problem. Just remember that everyone decends on the town centre on Sat nights
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>>This year we are off to Marrakech
Cool. About 20 years ago I used to live there; I'd love to know what its like these days. Horribly touristy I suspect whereas when I was there they were few and far between.
I'd appreciate hearing about it when you get back.
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Joe, personally I found that we had more than enough to keep us occupied for a long weekend so I don't think you'll really need to drive out to find things. Having said that the WW1 battlefields are well worth a journey break, certainly a sobering place to visit, really makes you think.
In Brugge itself would recommend the tour of the Straffe Hendrik brewery (I think I've spelt it correctly), includes a free beer which means the tour costs about a £1 more than a beer!
Couple of other things which might be of interest, Groeninge Museum which houses fine art of the Flemish school from Brueghel through to Magritte, if you like art not to be missed. Also the flea market on Sunday morning along the side of the canal near the Fish Market is worth a look, a lot of stuff over priced but some good interesting things amongst them.
One word of warning, the residents seem to eat early and therefore the restaurants seem to shut early. We found most restaurants full by 19:30 and some strange looks when we asked for a table about 21:15, certainly we were the last people in one restaurant on the Friday evening at 22:30 and left only one couple behind when we left another at 22:00 on the Saturday evening.
Oh, and the beer is strong, round about the potency of table wine, so don't feel insulted when they query you ordering a pint, they tend to savour their beer and drink it by the half!
Have a good time!
Cockle
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Somewhere I have stayed outside Ypres. Highly recommended.
www.varletfarm.com/
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