Starting our first walking tour from the main marketplace, the Markt, which you will come back to time and again during your visit because it's in the center with wonderful sights all around. This is the main square in Bruges, surrounded by restaurants and historic buildings. The square is a popular spot for tourists and locals alike and is a great place to people-watch or enjoy a cup of coffee.
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Most prominent among the sites is the belfry, the most famous building in town and symbol of the city, This bell tower dates back to the 13th century and is 83 meters high, with the Market Hall's courtyard at its base. You can purchase a ticket to the staircase that will lead you 366 steps to the top. UNESCO protects it and the entire historic center as a World Heritage sites.
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In the Markt center stands a colossal old monument with a statue of two heroes who were skilled masters and leaders of the citizens of Bruges in the massacre of the French garrison in 1302, which helped the Flemish gain their freedom from France. Naturally, you will see many bicycles in Belgium, like the nearby Netherlands. They love getting around on two wheels; some are quite innovative, such as the ever-popular cargo bike. You always want to be alert for those bicycles whizzing by because they don't make much noise and can go quickly. So pay attention. Another way to get around town is taking a horse carriage ride tour. You can find many of them here waiting for you at the market. Of course, walking in this pedestrian-friendly city is the best way to get around.
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Every Wednesday morning, an outdoor produce market sells all kinds of foods from the local farms. They've got cheeses, fruits and vegetables, freshly baked bread purchased directly from the baker, rotisserie chickens, a big variety of locally grown flowers. Open from 8 a.m. till 1:30 p.m, it's mostly for the locals who live in the historic center, but always a delight for visitors to see this colorful action. Come early before sunrise and you can watch them set up and chat with some of the customers.
Consider the dining options here at the market, which has got more than a dozen restaurants all around it in colorful 17th-century houses, with the general consensus that these are obviously tourist places. So let the buyer beware, but don't just dismiss them all out of hand because of this great setting. If you're just eating mussels and fries or a pizza, what can go wrong? And you might be pleasantly surprised by other decent items on the menus.You can sit outdoors, have a decent meal, or at least drink a beer.
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This grand setting is a perfect place to people-watch and enjoy the fantastic architecture all around you. If you'd like a simple snack of fries and soda, they're served up at a kiosk right on the square, then sit down on the bench enjoying a budget meal, alfresco. You can find many much better restaurants elsewhere in town, but none of them have this splendid location.
During this visit you will see many other locations where there are lots of restaurants. as you venture out from the central market square, you’ll also see the canals with some beautiful reflections of those historic old buildings, shopping streets, little cafes, quiet side lanes, parks offering a peaceful green oasis, historic plazas and picturesque neighborhoods. You’ll see more of these shopping streets later. But now you are starting a walking tour out from the market square.
The walking route we suggest goes out from the central market to the south then continues around in various directions, forming a big loop around the historic center. There are two more walks presented in other pages that take you further south and north, along with a page for the boat ride and one for museum and churches.
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Exiting the Markt south edge, begin along Wollestraat, with lots of fascinating shops, the usual for souvenirs and clothing, restaurants and cafes and little side streets. An ancient portico is on the back side of the halls that support the belfry tower along one of the oldest streets in town. Here you'll find little corner bars for a fast thirst quencher, jewelry shops and chocolate shops.
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You reached the Rosary Quay, the city's most photographed spot, one of the most astonishing sights you might ever see in your travels, with the great belfry of Bruges in the background and reflections in the canals. Nice any time, but if you can get up early in the morning, around sunrise, it's nice and quiet, with golden light and calm reflections, a supreme sight. Here the bridge of St John Nepomuk crosses the Dijver canal, which preserves the route of the original main river running through Bruges.
The same canal continues northeast as the Groenerei, one of those very beautiful and famous waterways of the city, close to the center, yet quiet and peaceful with some hotels along its banks. This is only 300 meters away from the market, and yet here the atmosphere is completely different. It's quiet, peaceful. It's not even touristic. No horse carriages are going by, very few shops along the way. It's just a great spot to be.
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You can walk along it in one direction on the beautiful sidewalk right along the banks of the canal that gives you lovely views and then at the end, just turn around and walk back the same way, leading to a broader section of Dijver Canal with a green park along its bank that hosts a lively crafts and flea market every weekend and public holiday, mid-March to mid-September. It's open from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m. Goods for sale include the usual assortment of old ceramics and some jewelry. There are some handmade crafts for sale here, and there are souvenirs, of course.
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You are always welcome to try a little bargaining, especially if you're buying several items from one vendor. But don't expect to find an undiscovered painting by Rembrandt or other underpriced works of great value. It's mostly tried and true used merchandise. You might even walk away with a fantastic bargain while enjoying the thrill of that hunt with many tour boats going by. It's more than just a place to shop in this beautiful setting, and the locals are all quite friendly, so it's a place to strike up a conversation. Nearby is the oldest fish market in Belgium, still selling fresh fish in the mornings from Wednesday till Saturday. Sometimes in the afternoon vendors are selling handmade goods. The neo-classic building rests on 126 Tuscan columns.
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A block away, there's a small restaurant plaza whose name translates as the Tanners Square, where they used to work on leather. Now, it's a popular terrace for outdoor dining, surrounded by picturesque medieval-style buildings.
From here walk over the bridge to Burg Square, birthplace of the city. From the 9th century onwards, Bruges grew out of Burg Square, which has served as the city’s administrative centre for centuries. The Counts of Flanders had their residence here, and today the City Hall is home to Bruges’ city council. You can visit inside some of these majestic buildings, which emphasize Burg’s role as a center of power.
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In the middle stands the 14th- century Gothic City Hall, one of the oldest in the Low Countries and a model for the city halls of Leuven and Brussels, among others. The innovative use of façade sculptures was particularly admired at the time. The impressive Gothic Hall is an absolute must-see. Bruges couples still get married here and it is where the city council meets.
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Stroll a couple of blocks to Philipstockstraat, which has some excellent restaurants, always with a large supply of varieties of beer and traditional brick buildings with those Flemish gables. That connects up with another major street, Vlamingstraat, with shops and traditional old buildings. And along the way, pass the Municipal Theater, with a few little tree-shaded plazas and outdoor tables, leading us to another of the major historic sites of the city, Jan van Eyckplein.
This plaza is now dedicated to that famous painter who lived in Bruges for the last 15 years of his life. In those days, this square was one of the most important trading centers in all of Europe because Bruges played a central role in the distribution of trading and merchandise from the south of Europe and from the north of Europe. The Toll House collected money from all the merchants, and the Burghers Lodge was the headquarters for the merchants and elite international traders.
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Nowadays, Jan van Eyckplein isa quiet, peaceful place with a small outdoor restaurant. The only boats coming through now are filled with a cargo of tourists, and in the morning it's very quiet and tranquil with the golden light. You'd never realize that this had been the very busy, almost chaotic merchant trading center. It was the main harbor where important traders and merchants assembled from all over Europe.
You could hear every imaginable language, a tangle of people loading and unloading processed goods on the busy docks. It was a time of great prosperity and wealth. They were dealing in Dutch flax and hemp, English wool, Spanish leather, Italian silk, wines from Portugal, Greece and France, hardware from Germany. This canal was the main harbor where all the action happened, called Spiegelrei, which means mirror because of the calm reflections that are often here.
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This was the global headquarters for the Hanseatic League, Europe's main trading network. In the 15th century, the Duke of Burgundy established one of his courts here, luring even more people to move to Bruges, which finally swelled to a population of about 60,000 people, one of Europe's largest cities in those days. Another of the main canals extends beyond this bridge, so take a stroll along it, another beautiful location in the city.
Trading goods were also shipped through the city on this canal. The golden age for Bruges was in the 14th and 15th centuries. Because there were so many wealthy people here, they moved into majestic city mansions and spent fortunes on decorating their residences. This brought in many artists and craftsmen from all over Europe to do their work here, organized in guilds or unions, that ensured that all of the products were of the highest quality. With that powerful economy, Bruges also became a manufacturing center, employing many thousands of people in textile production, enhanced by their monopoly on English wool. But later in the 15th century, the economy of Bruegel's collapsed -- several problems.
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The river silted up. The mud prevented boats from coming in for trading. The political leaders had problems with Bruges and so they left and they brought the business with them, moving it to Antwerp. During the next several centuries, there were no further developments in Bruges, which is a good thing for us today because it preserved all of these historic sites.
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Walk along the Spiegelrei canal, cross Koningsbrug, and continue to the Strobrug, then to Carmersbrug, which is where the canal changes names to become the Langerei Canal. This section of water is often calm as a mirror, with spectacular reflections of the old Flemish gabled buildings.
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Another of the main canals, Gouden-Handrei, extends perpendicular to Langerei Canal, and we now take a stroll along it. It's another beautiful location in the city. Passing Torenbrug, and reaching another picturesque bridge, Augustijnenbrug (Augustine Bridge), where the canal changes names to become the Augustine Canal, named after an Augustinian monastery that was here centuries ago but is gone now.
Continue walking along this canal to another bridge, Flemings, and notice the beautiful cobblestone paving. Well, that takes a lot of work to get it so perfect, often involving the use of some heavy machinery. Belgium is the land of cobblestones.
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During the Middle Ages, Bruges was a fortified city with a protective wall running around it, which has survived here and there in town in various fragments, such as along this canal. Just beyond that, stroll along Pottenmakersstraat, a delightful and quiet side lane there will lead back over to the canal again, protected by the Madonna, as seen often in town.
The bridge called Ezelbrug is about the halfway point of this canal, which now begins to get narrower and still more picturesque, a quiet neighborhood with very few tourists.
There is a variety of canals here in Bruges, including these lovely small canals in the residential neighborhoods. There's no boat traffic and sometimes no sidewalk next to it, but it's very pleasant when you cross the bridge. You can look down the canal and get a nice view.
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Continue past the Church of St James, originally built around 1240 and expanded later in the Gothic style with later Baroque enhancements to the church interior. This rounded corner at Sint-Jacobsstraat in has one of the nicest collections of old Flemish buildings in town with a picturesque little outdoor cafe serving that ever-popular Belgian beer, Duvel, on a street that has several hotels, shops, private homes, restaurants and one of the narrowest alleys in town that dates back to the Middle Ages, connecting straight through to Naaldenstraat on the other side. There used to be a butter factory here.
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There is a fascinating restaurant on Sint-Jacobsstraat with a big garden courtyard out back, the Republique, not the traditional Belgium kitchen, with a lot of vegan choices. Try the beet salad with tomatoes and onions, or how about nachos Republica, maybe haddock with sweet potato cream and white beans. It's more than just a restaurant because this historic building functions as a meeting place and community hub for locals, hosting events and workshops and exhibitions, forming a creative hub that focuses on innovation, with the Grand Cafe inside the building where residents, tourists and entrepreneurs meet and connect.
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Sint-Jacobsstraat continues for several blocks with more restaurants, shops and beautiful old buildings until it reaches the market square at the end of the road, where we began this walk.
Next we continue in the second walking tour, heading to the south end of town.
