best of Bruges

The Dumon chocolate shop (just off the main square) would be at the top of my "don't miss list".

I second David's suggestion of Dumon! We spent quite a bit of time there talking with the one of the owners and her staff - they gave us samples and explained all the different chocolates and how they are made in addition to stories about the area.

Also at the top of my list are a canal cruise, being there for market day in the main square, and just wandering the town during the day and at night. Rick's summary on this site is a pretty good overview and pretty much what we did with our 2 1/2 days in Bruge. We really wanted to see the brewery but the tour was full when we got there.

Enjoy your long weekend!

I'm going to nominate my favorite chocolatier, Moeder Babelutte. BEST PRALINES EVER!

Brugge is very cool. If you like beer, there is a brewpub there you can visit - and it has a great tower view of the town: http://www.halvemaan.be/e/brouwerij.htm

Also, as unlikely as it seems, this hostel has a very cool bar with 25 Belgian brews available and very reasonable prices (the clientele are backpackers, after all): http://www.snuffel.be/accomodation.html

Rent a bike! There are lovely places to ride - both urban and rural.

Just arived in Brugge last night. Have a lot of good ideas from fellow travelers. Will report back at end of day.

We arrived late the day before yesterday after a long drive from Bayeaux, France. The toll roads really gave us a hard time. On more that one occasion, we went to an unattended line and could not go further as we did not have a french credit card or other approved ticket. We could not back up as either cars were in back of us or there was no way to turn around except against traffic. The experience was something you would want to go through. In the end, we broke several laws and decided to use the country roads to continue on to Brugge. A normal 6 hour trip took 9 hours, but we did see a lot of the country.

When we arived we called the owner of the Hotel Fevrey who was kind enough to come to there we were in the middle of town and we followed him home.

The next morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we begun our tour of Brugge. We first took a horse carriage ride - poor choice, it was expensive (36 Euro) and the driver did not talk much. Ignore thie option.

We later visited several of the cathedrials - See them- they were outstanding. St Savoirs was the best. a Sampled chocolate at Dumonds and Van Oost.

Excellent. Bought a few gifts for the grandchildren and a tile for us. We collect tiles as our home.

Walked, walked and walked and then came to the the end of the day at 4:00 and went to the nirvana of bars. The Brugs Beetje is a little hole in the wall that served over 300 belgium beers each with its own special glass. We met some visiting Englismen who come to this bar twice a year to sample some great beer. They were in line with us when they opened. Enjoyed too much beer and when we left around 9:00. We had a hard time finding our way home. Met up with a tourist from Slovakia who helped us locate our hotel.

What a trip. Now on to Colmar another 7 hour trip Hopefilly, we will not have the same problems with the road tolls

Dean: I hope it makes you feel better to know you are not the only North American traveler who has been blind-sided by problems on the French (or Italian) roads that you would not have anticipated based on your experience driving in America, such as the problem at the autoroute toll plazas.

I am more excited about Bruges than any other place on my 3 week journey. The pictures are breathtaking - everyone I know who has gone said they went there and almost cried when they left because it was the coolest place in Europe.

I have 5 goals while i'm there:
1)Belgium Beer, Belgium Beer, Belgium Beer - never try the same one twice
2)Chocolate
3)Cathedrals
4)Authentic Belgium CUisine
5)Maybe venture to the Hoegaarden brewery if I can find it.

okay...thanks for the info...stories are good...you ate chocolates and beer and left....guess we'll do about the same, though i don't care for beer and the chocs will be take-away...and i'm starting to wonder why i inisted that we go to Bruges...

Once you see Brugge, you won't regret visiting. Its more of an overall experience than a list of highlights.

JB-Have you been peeking at our itinerary for when we're in Bruges? :-)

haha no actually i'm trying to figure out Paris and Epernay before I can work on Brugges more heavily.

Since i've got until August 11th i'm doing as much research as I can for each place.

I've been peeking at info on brugges some though :)

After re-reading my comments, I realized that they could have been better.

My wife and I were in Brugge about 25 years ago and remembered it as one of our top 3 cities in Europe. We took a seven hour detour from our French and Switzerland vacation to re-visit Brugge. The detour was worth it. Brugge is unique town and worth a visit for anyone going to Europe. We are now in Luzerne and hope to compile a trip report for our three week vacation.

The Brewery Tour was my favorite part of Bruges, if you enjoy beer at all you should go, the wall of beer cans was a highlight of mine, they have beer from all over the world and I even found one from my hometown, the view from the top of the brewery was great too. Afterwards they have a nice little patio area outside to enjoy your beer in, we went in March and they had heaters so we could still enjoy it