An Afternoon In Brugge[INVALID]worth it?

Hi Don. I found Bruges to be just okay but some people on this board really like it, so you'll get different opinions. Read about what there is to see and do in Bruges and then you can decide if it's worth stopping in for a day.

While I am a big fan of Brugge, I view it more as a place to go and relax - ride bikes, drink beer, tour the country side, etc. - rather than a must see tourist site. So, with that in mind, I would suggest that it is not worth a five hour stop over but if you need to kill five hours that it is a good place to do. It is a small town. Walk around, visit a brewery, enjoy the sights and get back on the train.

I quite liked Brugge when I visited this summer. Mine was only a day and half trip and I have to confess that I spent half of that day in the aforementioned Bier Garten. ; ) It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. - It's smaller than either Paris or Amsterdam so that can be appealing. There are good art museums, or you could just do a canal tour and relax with a bier before catching the train to Paris. You could also climb the tower and then relax with a bier until the train. It's very easy to get back and forth between the train station and the city centre. - I think it's up to whether or not you want a break in the middle of your train trip or if you want to just get to Paris. Either decision would be good. Pam

Don, Bruges is worth a stop. The center is about a 20 minute walk from the train station. Go to the Beerwall or the Half Moon Brewery and just enjoy.

Don, yes and no. (it PAINS me to possibly not encourage someone to go to Bruges) What about Bruges caught your eye in the first place? That will help in my suggestions...I'm not one to skip a trip to Bruges if at all possible ;-)

Bruges for an afternoon is a nice break. Different pace from Paris and Amsterdam; slower. you can wander around and absorb. I remember the canals, the greenery, little parks, the Beguinage, churches. Not counting food, waffles, beer etc etc. You will enjoy the change in pace

From what I am hearing, it would be worth a stop-over, however brief. Does the train station have a place to store bags? WIth a few short hours, I think a walk around, a canal tour and a visit to the must-see beer garden would fill the time.

YES!

I agree with the Yes votes! We loved Brugge. We stayed 3 nights and wished we had had more time there. I think a 5 hr visit is very worthwhile, and then you'll know if you'd want to return someday for a longer stay.

My memory was that there were lockers. I just looked at the Belgian railway website www.sncb.be clicking EN for English and it informs me that, indeed, there are lockers and manned left luggage. Both apparently open 0600-2130. Shame you can't stay overnight. Bruges is chock full of lovely, reasonably priced B&Bs, and really deserves more than a quick tick box tour.

Kelly and I are going to open an apartment complex in Bruges - min stay 4 nights, and you'd better have a good excuse for not staying longer LOL!************Don, Bruges does have storage lockers at the train station; you can either take a taxi to the "Centrum" (town center) or buy a bus ticket at the ticket booth outside (turn left) and take the bus into town (again, any that says "Centrum"). Have a map with you; if you can't get one at the train station (their TI in the past has kept some unusual hours) just use the one in your guidebook, or print one from the internet. See the main square, perhaps Berg Square, too (very close), wander some - follow the beautiful canals, then head to De Halve Maan for lunch and beer...If you get away from the center of town, it's very peaceful to walk around - DO get to the area known as Minnewater if at all possible...If you haven't seen RSs videos on Bruges, then definitely watch his current one, available on this website, or search for it on YouTube! To get back to the train station, maybe get a business card from the taxi driver that brought you from the train station into town and call him for a pick-up from in front of the Belfry Tower...

There is no way you could stay at least one night and get up early to catch train to Paris? I would live in Bruges, so I am offended when I hear someone say that Bruges is just ok, or they did not like it, or that they only have a few hours for it. Just joking, really, but Bruges is the perfect in between for Amsterdam and Paris. We did it a few years ago, spending 3-2-4 nights in each respective city. I really fell for Bruges. Great food, awesome museum, fantastic beer, beautiful medieval scenery.

Bruges is really lovely, but I think an afternoon is just about enough. I spent a couple of days there a few years ago, but aside from strolling around, drinking beer, etc., there wasn't much to do. But for an afternoon stop it would be nice.

We rented bikes by the 24 hrs when we were there for 3 nights and rode all around town and to another small town - it was very, very fun. We found lots to do in Brugge besides that - they have a great outdoor market, horse and carriage ride, boat ride, several museums, great shops and restaurants, a church...plus it's just unbelievably charming.

Eileen you trigger memories -=- I remember our second trip to Bruges. It was a few years ago, as you will be able to tell. We traveled by International Train from Haarlem via Den Haag and via Antwerpen Berchem. We had lots of guilders left and a pocketful of French francs. Guess what we didn't have? Right, BEFs. No BEFs, no LUFs. Actually we did have a couple, 18 BEFs to be exact. You can't sneeze with 18 BEFs! -=- As per usual for Belgium, nowhere to exchange money, so it is on foot to the centre. The buses looked >SO< tempting!! Now we had the old ETBD France, Belgium, and Netherlands book, so all we had to do was follow the city map, right? Oh hold on, not so fast! This was when the maps were, how do I say, not completely to scale or precision.... -=- We got completely lost, hauling luggage in the days before we had taken on board less is more, and then the heavens opened and we got drenched!! Eventually found our destination and loved it, but oh, boy!! Thank goodness for the Euro!!!!

Nigel, sounds like you needed a good Belgian biere, or 4...;-) And ain't the Euro great?!? Those of us who have had to plan to exchange money first thing at every border...especially for bathroom money (!) - what a pain-in-the-rear that was! (and I liked your '-=-'; clever!)