A weekend in Bruges, a medieval city in Belgium
Getting there
We drove from Bedfordshire all the way through to Bruges (though, obviously, not across the channel!). Norfolkline sail every hour both ways between Dover and Dunkerque from £7.50 each way. Alternatively, P&O go between Dover and Calais, return from £20 plus 6 free bottles of wine and a BOGOF meal on board – but you have to return same-day.
The E40 motorway is a 5-minute drive from the ferry deck, and the Belgian border about 10 minutes’ drive from the motorway junction. No fear, though: the border consists only of a sign at the side of the road welcoming you to Belgium – crossing borders the way it should be.
Bruges from there is about a 40-minute drive straight up (and a little bit across) on the motorway. After about 25, you come to a junction going west to the seaside town of Ostende (more below) or west to Bruges, Brussels and – eventually – onto the China border having travelled through Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
Ostende chocolate factory
A good place to stop en route is the PJ chocolate factory in Ostende. It’s also a great place to swap drivers. On the outskirts of this historic Belgian seaside town, the factory produces and sells chocolate, and also has two rooms at the back, one filled with alcohol products and the other stuffed full of tobacco goods. Although there was not much production of the silky brown stuff going on while we were there, we did see moulds of chocolate of both breast and penis shapes stacked up on the 'factory floor' – later, in Bruges, we saw the breasts choco-dressed up in frilly bras (luckily we didn’t see the dressed penises, I dread to think…). We bought our families loads of Easter presents, a big box of chocolates each for work, plus a few bars for the rest of the journey, for about £30 – about a third of the price you would expect to pay for the amount and quality received (Sarah didn’t like the cranberry-infused chocolate though – I was happy to finish it off...)
Bruges attractions
The best first thing to do in Bruges is just to walk. ‘Get lost,’ as some guide books put it. Wander around the little cobbled streets, along the beautiful canals, stick your head into some of the Flemish courtyards, and stroll around the daffodil-lined squares. There’s lots of picturesque little spots and corners, and you’ll be able to get your bearings on the city ready for the assault on the attractions.
The Belfry is the most odd-looking of the three towers in Bruges. You can pay a nominal amount for the privilege of losing your breath (or keeping fit, however you look at it...) while climbing up the 350-odd spiral steps to three levels of the tower. The first is where the city’s treasury was based many years ago, and you can still see the iron gates which kept any thieves out and the cash in, requiring nine keys to open them. The next level up enables you to see the amazing cogwork of both the giant clock, and the massive barrel which produces the folk-song-by-bells music heard every 15 minutes.
The next and final level, thankfully only another 15 or so steps up, is where the actual folk song bells (as well as the traditional big bell to sound the time) live, and gives fantastic views across the city.
You don’t want to spend too much time here in bad weather though: the wind and rain whip right across you as it’s almost entirely open. Make sure you see the bells working on the second level: it’s an amazing sight.
Sleeping in Bruges
We stayed in the cheapest place we could find – the St Christopher’s Inns Bauhaus budget hotel. It certainly was a gamble on two counts – we’d never stayed in a hostel before, and we’d never just booked the cheapest hotel possible without in-depth research into reviews (usually using the excellent TripAdvisor) first. But the gamble certainly paid off.
Each guest at the Bauhaus is given a Bruges Card free of charge – offering a 5-20% off various city attraction entrance prices (Update January 2013: The Bruges Card website previously linked to here no longer exists. A search brings up the Bruges City Card with even bigger benefits - although I don't know if St Christophers still give them out for free). There’s also a voucher for three free half-pints (one cherry beer, one Belgian beer and one wheat beer) at the hostel’s bar, plus 10% off all drinks and meals at the attached café-cum-restaurant-cum-pub. For £40 for a double room (with shared toilet but private shower and sink), free parking plus self-catering breakfast of cereal, toast, fruit and hot drinks, it was definitely good value – especially when you consider its location just a 10-minute walk from the centre of the city.
Eating in Bruges
We had two main meals in Bruges – one evening dinner on day 1 and a lunch before we headed back to the ferry on the second day.
At night, we made full use of the free beer and discount voucher at the hotel restaurant. The three beers went down nicely after a day wandering around the city, and we ordered two more pints of the cherry beer to accompany my beef stew in Belgian beer, and Sarah's pizza. Both were very nice, but not special enough to write home about.
At lunch the next day, we walked around trying to find one particular place – highly recommended by the guide book – called BarChoc (Update January 2013: BarChoc, sadly, no longer seems to exist). Tempted by some highly unusual meal descriptions in the book, we headed there – and headed there – and walked around a bit – and headed there. Or, at least, tried to head there. The book said BarChoc was on Zilverstraand, in the south-west of the city. Upon arrival, we found a road full of buildings which looked like bank or embassy offices, and a small shopping arcade with extra-trendy shops – most of which were closed (it was a Sunday). Wandering around, slightly lost, we did a full circle of the block – and discovered the shopping arcade wasn’t small – but covered multiple interior courtyards, with tiny undercover walkways between them.
Sure enough, three squares on from the one we originally looked in, we found BarChoc – one of the only buildings open in the entire complex – and (you know this is a good sign when choosing a restaurant) there were locals eating inside.
Looking at the menu, we realised that the book had underestimated just how much of a chocolate-lovers’ haven this place is. We started off with drinks – hot chocolate of course – with Sarah having a gorgeous white chocolate and me having an even more gorgeous banana-infused hot chocolate. For mains, I had lamb stew cooked in Belgian beer on a bed of pasta, and Sarah had the rabbit in beer on a pasta bed. Everything - including the pasta - was cooked in dark chocolate.
Photo gallery
See more photos in the gallery '24 Hours in Bruges'
Date and Updates
Originally written in April 2008.
Updated information about Bruges Card in January 2013.
Removed web-link and updated information about BarChoc in January 2013.
Edits for clarity and to improve writing style in October 2013.
