Bruges: How Long?
 

Hi,

I'm planning to visit Paris and Turin this June. I'd like to visit Bruges (by train), but I don't know how long I should stay. I have two weeks available.

Thanks!

2-3 days.

it is very small, we found a day and night enough

I've been to all three cities- all lovely!
For Bruges..a day with one overnight would be plenty...unless you plan on using Bruge as a base to see Brussels or Ghent. Then you could consider a couple nights. Both cities are easy trips from Bruge.

Ditto tast

We were in Bruges for 2-1/2 days--that was long enough for us to see all the major sights, but not quite long enough to see everything we wanted to see.

Thanks everybody,

I just want to stroll through the city and enjoy it. I'm interested in visiting museums. Since I'm staying 5 nights in Paris, I was wondering whether 2 nights in Bruges would be OK to complete a week. Then, I'll spend 5 nights in Turin and 2 nights in Orta San Giulio (Lago d'Orta) to complete another week.

I don't think a day is enough - there are quite a lot of small museums and galleries worth seeking out (The Old Hospital, The Apothecary) plus lots of good restaurants and tearooms. If you go in the winter there are the xmas markets and the ice festival. In the summer I think it's possible to take boat trips to Ghent, or even to the coast. I wouldn't want as long as a week, but 48-72 hrs is ideal

I'd rather spend more time in Paris than Bruges any day !

I agree with everyone so far, but why not go to Amsterdam for a couple of days. There are beautiful museums there and the canals are wonderful.
P

Thanks again,

I've decided to add an extra night in Bruges, so I'll spend 5 nights in Paris and 3 in Bruges.

On my previous post, I meant to say "I am NOT interested in museums". I've already been to the Louvre and Orsay in Paris.

Thanks!

Don't miss the chocolate in Brugge:
http://www.soultravelers3.com/blog/5...D3249F3B6.html

and the Michaelangelo:
http://www.soultravelers3.com/blog/3...900ABB92B.html

Brugge is very sweet and pretty, a living museum ...definitely worth a few days or more.

The Erasmus hotel(1 block from the Markt)should be finished with their renovations. Tom the owner is as sweet as they come, I felt like family after my stay in December. He has a wonderful breakfast which is included with the room. If you are into magnificent food "Kardinaalshof" will blow you away. 5 courses of amazing treats and the best service around. Frankie and Madam are generous and kind, honestly I wish I could send everyone their way! We planned on staying 2 nights in Brugge but we extended our stay by 2 nights due to the wonderful people, food and architecture. How ever long you stay you will want to go back. I could have spent a half a day with the swans crusing the canals and taking fantastic pictures! Enjoy!!

When we visited Bruges (Brugge) a few years ago, we went on a mini-bus tour of the World War I battlefields nearby--Ypres (Eiper), Passchendale (sp?). We went with a small, local, family owned tour provider. Here is the website: http://www.quasimodo.be/
It looks as though the original owner has sold the company (he was talking about moving to New Zealand), but it seems to be offering the same tours and based on TripAdvisor reviews it seems like it is still very good. We thought the all day Flanders tour was so good, that we signed up to go on their "Belgian Delights" tour the next day which we also thought was excellent. We were going to do a city bike tour with them also, but it poured rain so we bailed (pun intended).
P.S. Although Flemish and French are the two national languages of Belgium, you'll find that the inhabitants of Bruges (or Brugge as they prefer to call it) will prefer to speak English instead of French (assuming you don't speak Flemish).
PPS: I am not a beer drinker, but it was fun to try different beers, each with its own glass. Try the cherry beer.
PPS: For some reason, the tour company website insists on being repeated in this post, but you just enter it one time.

Two days in Bruges would probably suffice, but be advised that the town is packed with day-trippers from abiout 11:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Exploring the town in the off hours is most rewarding. We stayed at the Hotel Bourgoensch hof; the room overlooking the canal was huge and airy...loved it.

We did 3 days in Bruges - and then a day in Ghent on the way west. It's a breuatiful town that's quite small - so to "see" it can be done in one day. But to really enjoy it - and get a better midievela feel you need to be there different days of the week at different hours and at a slower pace.