When you think of Brussels, Belgium, chocolate always comes to mind.
For me, anyway.
Well, Belgian chocolate and beer to be exact. Mmmm… Belgian beer.
And delicious Belgian chocolate.
I mean, chocolate, beer and touristy tours is enough to guide you through your entire stay in Brussels, Belgium.
(And your wallet. Trust me. Chocolate in Belgium is delightful. But a little pricy. Pricy; however definitely worth it!)
And with these two delicious Belgium perfections in mind, along with sight seeing, who would ever stop to think what else Belgium has to offer? Espeicially when you can relax and stay in one place?
“Visiting Brussels is enough for all the sight seeing, chocoloate and beer I need, right?”, you ask?
Nope.
I’ll be the one to inform you that Brussels isn’t the first, last and only stop you should make in Belgium.
It was Dan, my husband, who thought outside the box and decided to detour away from the Brussels-Capital Region and set out to the medieval village of Bruges. And it really was a phenominal idea!
I mean, Bruges is not on most tourist itineraries. Just like the movie, In Bruges, the black comedy emphasizes just how remote this little city in Belgium is.
And since the typical tourist usually doesn’t think about visiting Bruges, means you must travel here. So…
Welcome to Bruges.
A little medieval city covered in culture, cobblestones, bridges and canals – like a little mini-Amsterdam.
You can even take a boat ride through the canals around the whole city center.
The historic city center is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO, just like the medieval castle of Le Mont Saint Michel in France.
You can find many delicious, cosy restaurants to grab a bite as well as many bars, beer stores and cafes to grab a pint of delicious Belgium beer.
Head over to 2be/The Beerwall where you can pick from a massive selection of Belgium beer and sit out on a terrace driectly on the canal, watching boats cruise around and people walking by.
The beer garden (terrace) is located in the middle of the picture above, overlooking the water. The photo below is the view from the terrace.
It’s pretty awesome.
With hundreds of phenominal Belgian beers (and at least 16 on tap), you really can’t go wrong.
I’ll tell ya something. This was seriously the best sour (lambic) beer I’ve ever had in my entire life.
(I mean, lambic sours did come from Belgium. Eye-roll to myself)
And that is coming from a beer-loving girl who is obsessed with lambic beer – of course first learning about it in the micro-brewery scene where I lived in San Diego.
Now, on to transportation since I have your attention.
There are several ways to get to Bruges from Brussels; one being the train. In my opinion, it’s the best way. I don’t know what it is about trains in Europe.
They’re fast. Cheap. You always have a lovely view of, uh, Europe. And you can drink wine. Or in this case, Belgium beer.
And, did I mention dogs?! Once we boarded the train, 8 weimaraner dogs jumped on and sat right next to us. Gahh!!
It costs roughly 20 euros one way and takes around an hour from Brussels to Bruges. You can find train tickets at Omio or at The Train Line.
You can easily do Bruges in a day, but why not stay a night or two? It’s so relaxing and fairy-tale like.
We both loved Brussels; but I have to say Bruges took our heart in Belgium and I’m sure it will take yours, too!
