Reasons to Spend a Day in Bruges

Bruges is such a beautiful city, and a surprisingly cheap and easy one to visit from Yorkshire (check out the Minicruises from P&O Ferries!) The minicruise gives you about eight hours in the centre - it's not tonnes of time but it's certainly long enough to tick off a couple of the main things Bruges has to offer. Here are a few of my favourite reasons to visit:

The Chocolate

Chocolate is always the best reason for anything - but especially in Bruges. The city is practically dripping in the stuff!

Not only is Belgian chocolate largely agreed upon to be the best in the world, but the sheer variety on offer here is astounding. Pretty much anything you can think of, you can get - in chocolate. I brought home chocolate swans and chocolate frogs, chocolate toolkits and chocolate shoes. Novelty shaped treats sit alongside classic bars and the most beautiful individual chocolates you can imagine. And lets not forget about the hot chocolate, rich and dreamy and available in flavours I'd never have dreamed of!

The Chocolate Line might have the prettiest and most unique chocolates, and I have a real soft spot for Chocolatier Dumon, but really you can't take many steps in the city without tripping over another adorable chocolate shop.... and a lot of them offer free samples too! 

The Beer

When I think of Belgium, I think of chocolate. When I've finished thinking about chocolate, I think about beer. And like the chocolate, Belgian beer is generally of great quality and available in a huge range of styles and flavours. 

I'm particularly fond of the fruity beers commonly found in Bruges, and the Duvelorium (above the Historium attraction) is one of our favourite places to call in for a drink - it's an obvious tourist spot but has a great beer range and the balcony has fabulous views of Markt Square! 

The Waffles

So this is closely related to the chocolate, as waffles (like so many other things) can be hugely improved by the addition of chocolate. All chocolate-d out? Opting to concentrate on the chocolate  in the form of an accompanying hot cocoa based beverage? You can also get delicious Belgian waffles with a variety of other fruity or creamy or gooey toppings! 

The Fries

Yes, I realise that all my reasons are food based. But food is really good, so what's your point?

Fries might not strike you as a particularly 'exotic' food to be eating in a new city, but they sure do take their fries seriously in Belgium! Bruges even has a museum dedicated to the humble potato snack.

As he's not particularly excited by waffles or chocolate (I know, right?), fries are KC's food of choice when we are in Bruges. On our most recent visit we hit up The Potato Bar for beautifully cooked fries serves with a pot of delicious homemade smoky pepper sauce. If I had one word of advice? The large is not a one-person portion. SO. MANY. FRIES.

The Christmas Shopping

On this occasion, we were lucky enough to visit Bruges just as their Christmas market was getting underway. It's not the biggest or most impressive European Christmas market, but its certainly not without charm. 

However, even if your visit isn't directly pre-Christmas, there's Christmas-themed shopping to be had year round in Bruges! There's a number of permanent Christmas shops in the city, my favourite of which is the festive wonderland that is De Witte Pelikaan.

A visit to this beautiful shop fills me with festive joy no matter what time of year we visit, and I've never been able to resist bringing home some cute Christmassy critter for the house - out house will look like this one day! 

Because It's Just So Darn Pretty

Bruges really is a fairy-tale town. Though there's lots to do (as well as allllll the eating, you can climb the Belfry tower for great views of the city, take a boat trip on the picturesque canals or take a tour of one of the many breweries or museums), one of my favourite things to do is just wander around the beautiful ancient streets. 

It's many canals and bridges have earned Bruges the nickname 'Venice of the North', and give you the opportunity to spot the famous Bruges swans. 

One day I'd love to visit Bruges for longer than a 8 hours, but its certainly not a bad way to spend a day!