My husband and I will be traveling to Belgium at the end of June for 10 days (25-July 4) + 3 days in London. The plan: 6 nights in Brussels (Thursday-Wednesday) with day trips to Antwerp, Leuven, & Namur. 1 night in Bruges (but 1.5 days sightseeing). 2 nights in Ghent (really 1.5 days sightseeing).
The question... is it worth getting a canal view hotel room in Bruges? We don't need much in a hotel (ie: breakfast & other services) as we like to be out and about. We'll likely do ibis in Ghent and Brussels. We're thinking Hotel Ter Brughe if we do a canal room.
Posted by
35 posts
We were in Bruges last May and found it magical! We splurged and stayed at Hotel Heritage, did not have a canal view room. I didn’t think it was necessary. But they did have champagne at the sumptuous breakfast! There is much to see and do in Bruges, and I would recommend getting the Musea Card and booking your slots for the museums and bell tower in advance. I would also recommend a private walking tour by Patrick Verleye. He has worked with Rick Steves and is in some of his videos. It was $35/pp plus tax/tip for a 2 hour tour; we booked it at 8am to get started on the day early before things got crowded. He was excellent. He also does food tours. https://tourinbruges.com/about/
We did the DeHalve Brewery tour and booked lunch afterwards. We also did the canal boat cruise; there are numerous options of where to embark and it was nice to see the sites from the canal. There are so many chocolate shops along the streets that the air always smells of chocolate! Many wonderful dinner choices too: Cambrinus, DeGastro.
Posted by
Belgium
250 posts
I'm just giving you my opinion (being Belgian, I might see things differently than a foreign tourist).
Most tourists visiting Bruges take a boat tour. This way, they see the medieval-looking town from the water (although you can also see everything from the streets).
There's no activity on the water before 10:00 AM and after 6:30 PM, which are the operating hours of these boats. So, there's nothing special to see on these canals, except for the illuminated bridges and the swans more in the southern section of the town with the Minnewater (... and the swimming zone at Coupure in July/August).
Furthermore, Hotel Ter Brughe is located on Speelmansrei, the section of the canals where the boat tours don't pass. On the other side, you look out at the trees that obscure the entrance to St. John's Hospital and the bicycle parking lot in front of it.
From my perspective, a room with a canal view doesn't really add anything here (except extra money).
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you both for your feedback. We decided to skip a room on a canal and booked at Martin's hotel. We'd rather save the premium room fee and have a nice canal-view dinner.