Top 10 Places to Visit in Bruges, Belgium

The Burg is Bruges's civic square - smaller and more intimate than the Markt, but with more architectural variety per square metre than anywhere in Belgium. The 14th-century Stadhuis (Town Hall) with its Gothic facade, the Renaissance Brugse Vrije, the Provost's House, and the Basilica of the Holy Blood all stand within 50 metres.

The Basilica of the Holy Blood holds a relic said to be drops of Christ's blood, brought from Jerusalem after the Second Crusade in 1150. The lower chapel (Romanesque, 12th century) is austere stone; the upper chapel (rebuilt Gothic, 16th century) is gilded and painted. Entry is free; the relic veneration runs daily 2-4pm. The Holy Blood Procession on Ascension Day each May parades the relic through the streets - a UNESCO Intangible Heritage tradition.

Bruges sits on a network of canals (reien) that thread through the historic centre - the city is sometimes called the Venice of the North, though Bruges came first. A 30-minute canal cruise reaches corners you cannot see from the streets, including the back facades of the medieval merchant houses, the Bonifacius Bridge, and the Old St John's Hospital.

Five companies operate from Rozenhoedkaai and four other quays - all charge the same EUR 14 and follow nearly identical routes. Boats are open and uncovered; bring a hat and sunscreen in summer. Cruises run 10am-6pm March to mid-November; closed in winter. No bookings - just queue at the next available quay.

The Begijnhof (Beguinage) is a 13th-century walled courtyard founded by Margaret of Constantinople for beguines - lay religious women who lived in semi-monastic communities without taking permanent vows. White-washed houses with red roofs surround a grass courtyard planted with daffodils every spring (March-April). UNESCO recognises Belgian beguinages as collective World Heritage.

Today Benedictine nuns live in some of the houses; the Beguinage Museum (EUR 4) recreates a 17th-century beguine's home. Entry to the courtyard is free, daily 6.30am to 6.30pm. Silence is requested; the gates close at dusk. The chapel of Our Lady of Spermalie holds afternoon mass.

The Church of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk) has the second-tallest brick spire in the world (115.5 metres) and houses Michelangelo's Madonna of Bruges (1504) - the only sculpture by Michelangelo to leave Italy in his lifetime. The white marble Mary, holding the Christ Child standing rather than seated, was bought by Bruges merchant Alexander Mouscron and donated in 1514.

The choir contains the gilded tombs of Mary of Burgundy (died 1482) and her father Charles the Bold of Burgundy. The church museum (EUR 8) covers the choir, tombs, and apse. The nave is free. The work was twice almost lost - Napoleonic troops took it in 1794 and Nazi forces tried to ship it to Germany in 1944, recovered by the Monuments Men.

The Groeningemuseum holds the world's most important collection of Flemish Primitives - the 15th-century Northern Renaissance painters who pioneered oil painting and naturalistic detail decades before Italy caught up. Jan van Eyck's Madonna with Canon van der Paele (1436), Hans Memling, Rogier van der Weyden, and Hieronymus Bosch's Last Judgement triptych are the unmissable pieces.

Entry is EUR 16 (or covered by the Musea Brugge Card EUR 35 / 72h, also valid at 12 other museums). Allow 90 minutes. The collection runs from 14th-century manuscripts to 20th-century Flemish expressionism, but the 15th-16th-century rooms are the reason to come.

De Halve Maan (The Half Moon) is the last working brewery in central Bruges - run by the Maes family since 1856 and known for the Brugse Zot (Bruges Fool) and Straffe Hendrik beers. In 2016 the brewery built a 3.2 km underground beer pipeline beneath the city to send wort from the medieval brewhouse to a modern bottling plant on the outskirts - the only urban beer pipeline in the world.

The 45-minute brewery tour (EUR 18) climbs to the brewhouse roof for a panoramic view of the city, then descends through the cellars and the bottling line. The price includes one Brugse Zot Blond at the end. The taproom and beer garden serve all six house beers plus moules-frites at lunch.

Minnewater (Lake of Love) is a placid willow-fringed canal-lake at the southern edge of the historic centre, named after a medieval legend of doomed lovers Minna and Morin. Swans glide on the water (a tradition dating to the 15th century), the 14th-century Lokkerten Powder Tower stands at one end, and the stone arched Minnewaterbrug bridge frames the most photographed view of Bruges from the south.

Adjacent Minnewater Park is the city's prettiest green space - benches, weeping willows, the Sashuis lock house, and a clear path between the Beguinage and the train station. Free, open 24/7. Couples come at sunset for proposals; locals walk dogs at dawn.

Bonifacius Bridge is the most photographed pedestrian bridge in Bruges - a small stone arch crossing a narrow canal between Arents Park and the back facade of the Old St John's Hospital. The bridge looks 14th-century but was actually built in 1910 in deliberately old-fashioned style; locals still call it 'the new bridge'. The Gruuthusemuseum's mossy stone tower rises directly above.

Free, open 24/7. The view from the bridge looking north captures the Church of Our Lady spire, the canal, the Gruuthuse facade, and several merchant houses with stepped gables - a postcard-perfect frame. Arents Park itself is a small free public garden with sculpture by Rik Poot.

Damme is a tiny medieval village of 700 people 7 km northeast of Bruges, reached by a tree-lined towpath along the dead-straight Damme Canal (built 1810 by Napoleonic engineers). The 13th-century Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk church, a 15th-century Town Hall (Stadhuis), and a market square with the statue of Tijl Uilenspiegel are the main sights.

The 7 km cycle from Bruges takes 25 minutes each way at a relaxed pace, mostly flat. Rent bikes at Bauhaus or B-Bike (EUR 12-14 per day). The Lamme Goedzak paddle steamer also runs from the Noorweegse Kaai in Bruges April-October (50 min, EUR 14 return). Damme has eight bookshops - it has been a designated 'book village' since 1997.