Last December I spent 2 magical days in Bruges, but didn’t get around to publishing this until now! As the saying goes, “better late than never”, so thought I’d share a few photos and notes from my very short stay there.
Bruges is tiny, so you only really need a couple of days there, although I’d definitely be partial to spending a little more time in this beautiful place (especially when it’s a little warmer).
Getting to there from London was incredibly easy, as you can catch the Eurostar from St. Pancras to Brussels, and then jump on a second train to Bruges which is about an hour away. I stayed at Hotel Aragon, which was really central and close to the Market Square. It’s a great hotel, very basic but extremely comfortable. Besides, if you’re like me and prefer to be spending more of your days exploring, then a comfortable bed and a shower with hot water and decent water pressure are all you really need.
The gorgeous cobblestone streets, canals and gingerbread buildings are beautiful, so you can imagine how much I enjoyed taking photos there. Besides the fairytale landscape and architecture, there were so many chocolate shops! On top of that, I was up to my eyeballs in marzipan and found the most incredible biscuit bakery called Juliette, where I developed a fondness for speculoos and spent a small fortune on a bag of cookies which didn’t make it back to London, as well as a recipe book. My favourite chocolate shop by far was Crevin on Rozenhoedkaai, firstly for their gorgeous shop window and then their delicious pralines, ganaches and dark chocolate-dipped orange slices.
One thing I wish I’d known beforehand was the fact that a lot of restaurants are closed on Mondays because I walked past quite a few places where I would’ve loved to have eaten but they were unfortunately closed. Nevertheless, I did have a fantastic waffle at House of Waffles (very close to Juliette on Wollestraat), a lovely meal on the Market Square, and breakfast on my second day at a bakery with the biggest crystal chandelier I’ve ever seen.
Despite the trip being planned around visiting the Christmas Market, I only spent about an hour tops there, as it was incredibly small and there are loads of other things to see, do and eat around Bruges. That said, it’s incredibly festive and a really lovely time of the year to be there. I highly recommend visiting Bruges if you can, and if you go during the winter months then make sure to dress warmly as you’re going to be doing a lot of exploring on foot!
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