Bruges
travel guides

Bruges (Brugge in Dutch) is the best-preserved medieval city in Northern Europe - a UNESCO World Heritage centre of canal-laced cobbled lanes, Gothic step-gabled houses, and 13th-century guild halls within a moat-shaped circle of just 4 sq km. The historic core feels frozen between 1300 and 1500 because the harbour silted up in the 16th century, ending the city's wool-trade boom and freezing development for 400 years.

The city of 120,000 sits in West Flanders, 90 minutes by train from Brussels and 60 minutes from Antwerp. Major sights cluster around two adjacent squares: Markt with the Belfry, and Burg with the Basilica of the Holy Blood and the Renaissance Town Hall. Within a 15-minute walk are the Church of Our Lady (with Michelangelo's only sculpture outside Italy), the Beguinage, Minnewater Lake, and the Bonifacius Bridge.

Two days are right for Bruges - one for the central squares, museums, and a canal cruise; one for slower wandering, the De Halve Maan brewery, and a Damme cycling trip. Day trippers from Brussels can do it in a long day if they skip the museums.