Just letting you know in advance that this is a very, very, very picture heavy post…

When I wrote that I was going to Belgium, specifically to Brussels, many people told me that if I was going all the way there, I shouldn’t just stay in Brussels, but also should go to Bruges, called the “Venice of the North”. Upon looking into it, it did seem a really wonderful place to visit, and I decided to pay a visit there, even if it cost more money. I wasn’t planning on spending much money on nearly anything this trip, but decided my splurge would be the trip to Bruges. And splurge it was, but very worth it. My trip to Bruges cost me more than my flight to Belgium!

Ok, let me also mention that Bruges is spelled Brugge in Dutch, and is pronounced Broozh, so you know how to read this post properly.

My trip to Bruges was by train, something that I’d booked in advance not long after I booked my flight. On the way to the AirBnB from the airport, extremely exhausted, I thought I’d have to leave early in the morning to catch my train, but fortunately someone in the car with me pointed out to me that my ticket was open ended for that day, that it didn’t matter what time I left. I enjoyed myself so much more by sleeping in and going to that city well rested.

My train ticket that I bought in advance cost 31 Euros round trip. As I said, a splurge, since my airfare to Belgium itself cost only 20 Euros. I only learned about the option of taking a ride with Blabacar after I’d already purchased my tickets, and if I had, I could have done the ride for 8.5 euros each way, which would have saved me 14 Euros. Oh well, live and learn.

I took the Metro to the train station, so that was 2.1 Euros, the first expense of my day. While at the train station, I learned that my ticket was open ended, meaning that I could get on and off the train anywhere between Brussels and Bruges, and then get back on and continue the rest of the way (and the same on the return). Another city that was along the train route was Ghent, a city that I heard a lot about and was also highly recommended to visit. I was torn whether I should cut my trip to Bruges short and go to both in one day, or stick just to Bruges, and in the end decided to fully experience Bruges instead of seeing both cities in a rush.

The train ride, admittedly, wasn’t the funnest, as it was very packed, and I got the pleasure of listening to a five year old kid whine and fight most of the ride. But hey, at least I got a selfie in.  This is in the second class car. Honestly, I walked through the first class cars and they didn’t look much nicer, if at all, so I’m not sure why people spend more money on first class.

When I arrived in Bruges at the train station, it was a bit of a walk to the city center, where I was planning on going on a tour, and I could have taken the city bus there, but to save money I decided to walk instead, with the added benefit of being able to see and enjoy the city more via walking anyhow. I probably would have walked even if I wasn’t looking to save money.

It was pretty cold, so I bundled up in layers (a long sleeve shirt, two sweaters, and a coat, plus tights, thermal leggings, regular leggings, thermal socks and a skirt) so I ended up looking much plumper in the pictures than I actually am. Oh well.

I took this picture a very short walk from the train station- this river or canal goes in a ring around the city of Bruges.

Once I was past that river or canal, I was in the cutest looking city ever. Seriously cute and quaint.

I’m not exactly sure what I can compare this city’s looks to, but it was cute and adorable.

I had planned on joining an organized tour at 1 pm, and arrived in the city at 11:30, so had plenty of time to explore the areas leading to the city center… Here’s some of what I saw.

And cute brick houses…

People walking and bike riding…

People could walk in the middle of the roads, not on the sidewalk, it was that quiet.

Eventually I made my way to the city center square…

In the center of the city square, they had a giant ice skating rink set up…

The amount of bicycles parked in the center square was astonishing to me, especially since I don’t come from a bike heavy culture…

You might notice my outfit changing in the pictures… the weather was fluctuating a lot, and my energy output was adjusting a lot, so I kept on putting on layers and taking them off….

Before I went to Bruges, I did some research about free tours there, and found 3 different companies that provide these free tours. One was Viva Tours, one was Sandeman, and one was Legends of Bruges. Sandeman and Viva also do tours in Brussels, so I arranged/planned tours with them for the days I was in Brussels, and decided to go with Legends of Bruges (who had good reviews on Tripadvisor, etc…)

I looked for the guy with the red umbrella….

And when I got there, 15 minutes before the tour was scheduled to start, the amount of time beforehand it says to get there if you want to join the tour, I was the only one there… I inquired how many people need to show up for a tour, and I was told there needs to be a decently sized crowd, and I got nervous that the tour wouldn’t take place…

Eventually, though, more and more people showed up, enough to have a group.

But as I was waiting for the people to show up, I took some more pictures of the city center.

Quite a large and pretty square!

I don’t remember the details of the brewery so much, other than it being really old, being called the gruuthuse and having been run by some very powerful people, who were part of the Order of the Golden Fleece… 

According to legend, the punishment for killing this long neck guy, among other things, was to be tasked with taking care of these long necked birds… and to this day, the city feeds and takes care of these swans that you find all over, but mainly in this specific location.

Right near this swan central, was the beguinage (I had to look up how to spell that), pronounced beh-gin-azh, the place where the nuns who worked in the hospital lived.

But either way, absolutely gorgeous.

Wouldn’t you just love to live in this cute little house?

Speaking of horse drawn carriages, there were so many of them, absolutely everywhere…

And more…

They don’t say it’s the most photographed place for nothing, eh?

Apparently that picture and the building right next to it…

I took some more pictures on the tour, but I don’t remember if or what the tour guide shared about these places…

Such as this…

”

The last two things I remembered hearing on the tour were that there is a lot of hostility between the cities of Ghent and Bruges, historically, the apparently the people in Ghent stole a golden dragon from the roof of one of the churches in Bruges, and put it in Ghent. But someone from the tour was from Ghent, and he said that according to Ghent history, Bruges originally stole it from Ghent or Constantinople or something, I don’t remember. It was amusing seeing the rivalry.

We also learned about an underground beer tunnel from one brewery to its packaging plant, that apparently has been patented and therefore other companies aren’t allowed to use that method… 

And that was the end of our tour. 

I asked the other people on the tour what the standard decent but still frugal tip to leave the tour guide, and was suggested 5 Euros, so that’s what I gave him. These tours you’re supposed to pay what you think they’re worth, and 5 Euros was something I could afford while still remaining frugal on my trip, and since it was standard, I didn’t think it was a problem. 

While in Bruges, I saw a lot of these boats going through the canals, and decided that if I’m splurging on my trip to Bruges anyhow, I’m going to splurge on one of these boat rides, since the canals were the whole purpose of my trip to Bruges, and I wanted to experience them fully…

Such as the “Bridge of Love” that we went under…

We went under a lot of really low tunnels and bridges… Some buildings were built over the canals, that was fun to go under…

My one attempt of a selfie on the boat wasn’t so successful…

It was really fun to zip through the canals on the boat…

At certain points on the canal ride, you smelled the really strong smell of beer making…

My father used to brew beer, so I was familiar with the smell, but on the canals the smell was stronger than any smell I ever remember smelling…

 It was interesting to admire the architecture you could see from the canals…

We learned that this house, apparently with 5 different styles of architecture in one building, has been deemed a landmark by the city, and the people aren’t allowed to change what the house looks like even if they wanted to.

I also learned that the canals in Bruges, unlike Venice, are not just “free for alls”, people aren’t allowed to put boats in them for personal use, not even if you live on the canals. No goldolas and gondoleirs- only a few specific companies are allowed to run boat rides in the canals and that’s it.

I also learned that the canals go all the way to the Netherlands, if I’m not mistaken, and one year they froze over and they had an ice skating race all the way there.

It was starting to get cold, and the speed at which the boat was traveling didn’t help things.

I had heard about the night tour in Bruges, given by the same company, and apparently it involved ghost stories and other spooky legends…

The train station was nice and bustling and modern…

Then I went on the train back to Brussels, and made it to the grocery in time to go shopping- but just barely (but that I’ll cover in another post about what I ate on my trip)…

It was a really great day. The highlight of my trip.

Downside being that this was the most perfect part of my trip and I did it the first of three days, so the next two days, even though they were great, were a little bit of a “let down” after this phenomenal trip… Oh well…

Total cost of that day?

2.1 Euros to the train station, and 2.1 Euros when I got back. 31 Euros for the train. 5 Euros for the tour. 8 Euros for the boat ride. 10.5 Euros for the chocolate, and 6.9 Euros for the mug. Plus .5 Euros for the bathroom. 66.1 Euros, or 77.64 dollars.

Expensive, but not too expensive. This was the most expensive day of my trip, by far. But as I said, I knew that in advance.
And every cent I spent in Bruges was worth it!

Have you ever been to Bruges? After seeing these pictures, would you want to? When you travel, do you usually have a set budget per day? Per trip? Do you try to always do as cheap as possible or do you plan some splurges in advance, and if so, what do those tend to be?
If any of you know more about Bruges than I do and can correct any mistakes I made in my descriptions, I’m happy to be corrected and learn more!


Thanks for reading!