RPMatt

Bruges from London, a weekend trip to a fairy-tale village

April 29, 2023

3–4 minutes

For this weeks blog, I’ll be talking about my stop in Bruges, Belgium on my trip to Europe last month. We took a detour to Bruges from London on the way to Amsterdam.

Getting to Bruges from London

Getting there was super simple, we just booked a Eurostar train from London to Brussels, with the option to continue to any city within Belgium via their IC trains. It was about a 40 minute ride from Brussels, and a 10-20 minute walk from the Bruges train station to the old town. Once we got there, we elected to try some Belgian fries near our hotel, which then resulted in us counteracting the salt with sweet Belgian chocolates and Belgian waffles. The fries were a bit harder to find in Bruges, but the other two were very easy to find on pretty much any street in the old town. We stayed at the IBIS hotel, which was pretty much in the middle of the train station and the Markt (town square).

The street right outside of our hotel

Most of the streets were cobblestone, so walking with your suitcase can be quite riveting due to the noise. Luckily, there were many other tourists there so the subtle embarrassment I tend to get walking with my bags through the streets was not as strong.

Spending time in Bruges

The majority of what there is to do in this cute little town is centered out being picturesque, or unique in a touristy way. There are some very cool sites, such as a cloth that claims to have the stains of Jesus’ blood on it. Pretty much everywhere you look, you are surrounded by beautiful medieval architecture, cobblestone, or canals, so there are no shortage of photo-ops. In The Markt, you will find The Belfry of Bruges, a medieval bell tower which used to be used for spotting fires and also as the treasury. It is surrounded by many colorful buildings which primarily house restaurants and boutiques.

The Belfry of Bruges

Conclusion

It is quite straightforward to get to Bruges from London, Paris, Amsterdam or Brussels. I really enjoyed the stop here, but did find it to be a bit of a tourist trap, where locals were few and far between outside of the employees of the businesses. I think that is because we stayed in Old Town, and many of them live slightly outside of the Old Town. It was a very romantic place to spend a night or two on a trip, or a weekend if you live close enough to do so. I was originally inspired to visit by the movie “In Bruges”, and was somewhat surprised that my friends who lived within a few hours of it had not been. There were, however, schools of French children on tour the day we left, so perhaps it is a field trip destination for many.