Bruges

Cheers, these will need to wait for another visit though as we ended up just taking a stroll then quiet night in the hotel as the Mrs wasn't feeling too well and we are now about to check out of our hotel and head to zeebrugge to catch the ferry to hull.

I need to go back asap and get less drunk on my last night so I can face buying beer on the day I come home.. Haha!

I am going in November for my wedding anniversary, going to take a massive empty suitcase with bubble wrap and bring back ALL the beers.

I think your wife needs to take an empty suitcase as well. I think we have more than 400 kinds of beer. ;-)

If you come to Ghent, stay sober for a day and I will take you for a guided bikeride through the "Flemish Ardennes" (climbing Koppenberg, Muur van Geraardsbergen and all the bloody cobbleroads that make our Tour of Flanders so famous). Fee: 1/400 th part of the content of those suitcases (with a mnimum of 1 liter). ;-)

Heh. I'm going in Nov for our getting engaged in Bruges anniversary <3

(And Oostende next month for my birthday - mad love for Belgium!

@Cazakstan we'll be driving on both occasions so if you need some beer shopping doing more than happy to oblige in it!

Also totally noting these thread suggestions!

!!! Yes pls @pootsmanuva

Again: come to Ghent and visit "De Hopduvel" (beer shop) ;-)

+1 for Le Trappiste bar in Bruges.

2 Attachments

It's an easy ride between Bruges and Ghent too (depending on the wind direction), just follow the canal, it's less than 50km.

1 Attachment

Ugh, a dozen bottles was all we managed to bring back. We had no suitcase though, only already well stuffed backpacks.

Oh and fuck me, Zeebrugge is a shithole innit?

Nothing open, not even the tourist info. Had to pay a lady in a bike rental place to phone a taxi for us as neither of our mobiles was connecting over there and we didn't fancy walking up the side of what looked like the M1 to get from the beachfront to the P&O terminal...

Any recent recommendations for things to see do eat in Bruges? I can’t stand the holiday guide pages. I will be making a trip to the cycling museum in Roeselare at least.

It's just an incredibly pretty place. I've been a few times (mainly for the purpose of drinking on an afternoon during the Gent 6) but I don't think you'll have much trouble amusing yourself and finding somewhere that looks good to eat. Just wing it.

The trip up the bell tower is worth it on a clear day as the view is nice. Go to the bars underground, the ones with dusty bottles of beer which has been ageing in a cellar, so good.

The old town centre's pretty small and very lovely - just wander around popping into bars, eating chips, doing boat trips, generally doing generic tourist stuff. Really wanted to go into a metal bar called Valhalla which looked fun, but being with a small child wasn't able to.

Interested in Art?
Ghent Altarpiece should be on your Must See list, (between bars/chips etc), just a short train ride away.

Bruges is worth a day trip at most, it's Disneyland Flanders.

Gent is much better as it's got a lot of the same medieval architecture, but is a living, working city, not one preserved in aspic. The bars and restaurants are better too.

The train to Roubaix is from Gent if I remember correctly.

Bruges is worth it for t'Brugse Beertje and De Garre. Café Red Rose too if you have the time. Tower and brewery if you have longer.

Like others, I prefer Ghent.

Nice thanks all. Whats the city bike situation like there? Are there city bike rental services?

Can't remember seeing many bikes or any rented ones. It's too small to really warrant anything other than walking, with slippery cobbles and boku pedestrian tourists.

I rented clunkers and rode to Oostende on the coast and back.

There is a rental place underneath the station - will do by the hour or all day. Standard Dutch bike type things. Good value. Staff v. nice. Rented bikes for me and kids there this half term.

Agree - small - nice cycle path around the old city - will entertain you for an hour, which was my reason for doing it - you'd need to be going further afield to warrant a day rental.

Me and the family hired bikes, it's great, there's a circular route that loops around the centre and then out to the suburbs