Where to Stay in Brugge, Flanders

What is Brugge known for?

Brugge is known for its canals, its medieval trading houses, and one of the best-preserved historic centres in Flanders. A tower rises over the market. The Belfry of Bruges climbs above the great square, the Church of Our Lady lifts a brick spire nearby, and the Groeningemuseum holds the Flemish Primitive paintings that made the city a centre of early Netherlandish art.

Water and brick define the old town.

What are the main landmarks in Brugge?

Brugge keeps its landmarks packed within the ring of the old canals. The belfry commands the market. The Belfry of Bruges rises over the Markt, the Bruges City Hall and the Basilica of the Holy Blood face the neighbouring Burg, and the Church of Our Lady lifts one of the tallest brick spires anywhere.

Museums fill the medieval halls. The Groeningemuseum and the Gruuthusemuseum hold the city's art, the Sint-Janshospitaal shelters the Memling in Sint-Jan collection, and the Sint-Salvatorskathedraal and the Jeruzalemkerk anchor the quieter streets beyond the centre.

What is the history of Brugge?

Brugge grew from a medieval Flemish settlement into one of the wealthiest trading cities of northern Europe. Cloth and water made its fortune. A tidal inlet once linked the town to the sea, letting merchants ship Flemish cloth across the north, and the wealth of that trade raised the Belfry of Bruges over the market and the great brick spire of the Church of Our Lady.

Guilds and bankers filled the centre. The city stood among the leading markets of the medieval north for generations. The Bruges City Hall rose to govern it, the Sint-Janshospitaal cared for the poor and the pilgrim, and painters gathered whose Flemish Primitive works now hang in the Groeningemuseum.

Then the sea route silted shut. Trade drained away as the water to the coast closed, the harbour town slipped into a long quiet, and the medieval fabric survived largely untouched because little was pulled down to rebuild. That stillness preserved the old town whole.

The canals, the belfry, and the merchant houses of the wealthy Flemish centuries still stand within the ring of the walls.

Where is Brugge?

Brugge sits on the low, flat coastal plain of West Flanders in the northwest of Belgium, a short way inland from the North Sea. Canals lace the whole centre. The old town rests inside an egg-shaped ring of water that traces the line of the medieval walls, threaded by canals that once carried trade to the sea, on ground barely above the tide across the surrounding polders of Flanders.

Windmills still stand on the ramparts.

What is the climate of Brugge?

Brugge has a mild maritime climate of cool, damp winters and soft, temperate summers. Cloud and rain are frequent. Westerly weather off the nearby North Sea keeps the flat Flanders plain grey and wet through much of the year, frost stays light and snow is uncommon on the coast, and the summers turn warm rather than hot over the canals.

Sea air drifts inland across the polders.

How do you get to Brugge?

Brugge is reached by the rail line that crosses Flanders and the motorways running in from the wider Belgium. Trains stop just south of the centre. Frequent services link the city to the ports and cities of Flanders and on toward the capital, the coast tram runs to the nearby North Sea resorts, and roads feed in from Wallonia and the surrounding country.

The station sits a short walk from the old walls.