Photos and Stories from Bruges, Belgium

During our Fall 2025 trip to Northwest Europe, we spent three nights in Bruges, a small yet Instagram-famous town in northwest Belgium. And by the way, it may be spelled Bruges or Brugge, depending on the language, but it’s pronounced “broozh.”

We enjoyed our stay! It was charming and picturesque, with plenty to see and do (and eat and drink!). The downtown was predictably touristy, with its breweries, chocolatiers, restaurants, regal town square, and canals. But the residential neighborhood where we stayed and the ones we passed through were appealing and livable.

We took a half-hour canal boat tour, which is practically a must for visitors to Bruges. It is a great way to see the town. Our guide provided interesting commentary throughout the tour.

Five companies offer canal boat tours. They’re all the same length (30 minutes), the same price (15€), and they cover the same route. The only difference is the launch point.

We took a brewery tour on each of the two days we were in Bruges. The first, at Bourgogne des Flandres, was a self-guided tour that came with an audio guide and included a flight of six beers afterward. It was an informative tour with good visuals that covered the history of the brewery and the process for brewing beer.

The next day, we took the brewery tour at De Halve Maan (The Half Moon) Brewery. It was a guided tour and included one full-size beer afterward.

Funny story: We took the right bus and got off at the right stop, then Dave typed “De Halve Maan brewery” into the map app on his phone. It indicated that it would be a half-hour walk. That seemed long, but we started walking. Instead of heading toward downtown, the route took us along a thoroughfare that passed a variety of restaurants, businesses, residences, and parks. Jeff kept asking, “Are you sure this is the right way?” Dave would double-check the map, then say, “Yep.”

After a while, the route took us into a light industrial area. We kept walking until we reached this building, which was De Halve Maan’s factory brewery on the edge of town.

Fortunately, there was a bus stop nearby. We took the bus back into town rather than backtrack the half-hour walk. 

At one point, our tour took us to the rooftop of the original downtown brewery. Our guide pointed in the distance and said that much of the brewing was done at a factory 3 km away, on the edge of town. We told her we had been there earlier that day.

Fun fact: The company built an underground pipeline from its downtown brewery to the factory. The brewing process begins downtown, but then the beer is piped to the factory for aging and bottling.

At the end of the tour, we decided to enjoy our beer in their restaurant, along with a meal.

The downtown area of Bruges is small enough to be easily walkable. Here are a few photos.

We passed a sax quartet performing for tips, so we stopped and listened. And yes, we tipped. They’re musicians after all!

A bar downtown had a beer wall, with dozens of Belgian brews on display behind a glass case. We saw Mort Subite, which we drank when we were in Brussels.

We enjoyed a nice dinner at Le Panier d’Or, one of the restaurants at Grand-Place, the main square.

Our apartment was lovely – one of the nicest places we stayed on this trip. The owners put a lot of thought and care into furnishing and decorating it nicely. It felt homey and comfortable. 

The building held four apartments, which were owned and rented out by the same couple. In a small room behind the building, they had an “Honesty Shop” stocked with all sorts of food and beverages that renters could pay for on the honor system. There was a price tag on everything, and we could leave the money in an envelope they provided, indicate what we took, and drop it in a box. Very thoughtful!

We availed ourselves of two cans of Coke Zero when we first arrived. There was a nice Carrefour supermarket a few blocks away, so we shopped there for the rest of our food and beverage needs.

We passed this curiosity on the way.