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Me and a mate were talking at the weekend about taking our wives for a weekend in Brugges, call it a double date if you will (I won't).
Outline plan discussed so far would be to get the Eurostar from London on Friday evening, stay in a hotel for two nights and return on Sunday afternoon/evening.
Romantic strolling, eating and looking at pretty stuff will probably be on the cards; along with massive accumulation of brownie points.
Anyone got any recommendations for places to stay/eat/entertain ourselves? Should we go somewhere different? Is there a best time train to get? Any top tips for leaving luggage anywhere? restaurants we shouldn't miss, or should avoid? etc. etc.
Give me the lot!
Thanks in advance,
Dave
Place to stay: Charming Brugge [url= http://www.charmingbrugge.be/ ]http://www.charmingbrugge.be/[/url]
Place to eat: Ribs n' Beer [url= http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g188671-d2294477-r129596178-Ribs_n_Beer-Bruges_West_Flanders_Province.html ]http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g188671-d2294477-r129596178-Ribs_n_Beer-Bruges_West_Flanders_Province.html[/url]
Assuming you're driving the Eurostar is great, if you turn up early, you can just jump on an earlier train.
We stayed at the Relais Ravestein, a small boutique hotel on one of the canals - 5 mins walk to main square, 15 mins walk from train station.
Can leave luggage easily at station (did this in Brussels so we could sight see before getting flight home). Trains are brilliant, had a few days there so once we had seen Bruge we went to Ghent and did a day trip to the coast (Knocke).
Restaurants weren't cheap (ate lots of nice steak though). Generally, if you eat just off the main square you will get something less of a tourist menu.
Its small enough to walk around everywhere, perfect for what you want to do.
Assuming you're driving the Eurostar is great, if you turn up early, you can just jump on an earlier train
do you mean eurotunnel?
We'll be going by passenger eurostar from st. pancras.
Dave
Sounds fine though for what it's worth me and my g/f were a bit bored of Bruges after a day.
It is incredibly picturesque and there's lots of quaint buildings and churches etc but you might want to consider maybe going to Brussels or Ghent for the day maybe? Should only be an hour on the train and they're really easy to use.
But then again we're not exactly culture vultures so if you're quite into your history and architecture stuff then I imagine it would be perfect for a weekend.
do you mean eurotunnel
Ah yeah, my bad.
As mentioned food/drink isn't very cheap, and you can pretty much see most of what Brugges has in a single day.
@Duggan, fair point - I'm thinking that arriving friday night, and leaving Sunday afternoon will mean we don't get too bored.
Considering the following itinerary:
Friday: Arrive late, eat, drink, bed.
Saturday: Full day doing stuff followed by big nice dinner.
Sunday: Get up late, leisurely brunch, bit of a wander, then head to the station.
I've seen mention of boat trips around the city; are they worth doing?
Dave
Didn't actually go on the boat trips when we were there but from seeing them I would say your wive(s) would probably love them, so that's affirmative.
They also do tours in the old fashioned horse drawn carriages as well.
I had a great time at hotel casselburgh 😉 thoroughly recommended, especially if they stick you in the old quarter of the hotel (request it).
It's very central, although bruges being so small most places are. Bruges is a great little place, enjoy.
hire tandems.
We stayed here: http://www.martins-hotels.com/en/hotel/martins-brugge
Some good informative bits in here
I loved it. We also drove down to Ypres. I still remember trying to fight the tears when I heard names being read out.
if you're with the missus the boat trip is worth doing. Spend one evening in a bar with a massive beer menu, sampling the different varieties and getting slowly smashed
No one? really? Okay [url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780536/ ]I'll do it[/url]:
"If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't.
...
..at least in prison and at least in death, you know, I wouldn't be in f**' Bruges. But then, like a flash, it came to me. And I realized, f man, maybe that's what hell is: the entire rest of eternity spent in f**** Bruges.
😉
we did the boat trip when we were there for Tour of Flanders. well worth doing, some amazing architecture to be seen by river. A weekend is the max i could do to be honest, evenings spent getting pissed on fine belgium ales, days spent walking around, that's about it really!
Actually, if you really must have somewhere to lie down in between beers, I recommend this place:
glenh, we spent a few hours in there. what a place. discovered Arend tripel, the greatest beer ever made...
Good stuff so far, keep it coming guys 🙂
Not sure I could swing hiring tandems - that would go down well with my missus, but not the other 'other half'.
Beer is sounding good to me, but I might have to enjoy in moderation if I want my brownie points to last me beyond the Sunday!! having her carry me back to the 'romantic hotel' and clean up my sick isn't the aim of the trip!
'charming brugge' that prezet linked looks pretty damn nice. Could have the necessary 'wow factor' (to use a hated phrase) to set the weekend off right.
Another important question I forgot to ask. How the bloody hell do you spell bruges/brugge/brugges/brug ??
Dave
I'm a hyper-active, can't plan or keep my mind on one thing type.
Anyway, when I got there we only planned on staying for one night as (at the time) it all looked abit too 'twee' for me.
We stayed three. We didn't do much just wander around. Sit and drink coffee. Some nice clothes shops etc there as well.
How the bloody hell do you spell bruges/brugge/brugges/brug
Bruges if you are french speaking, Brugge if you speak dutch.
cheeky bump for the evening crowd. anyone in the after work demographic got anything to add?
Dave
Know it's not particularly helpful, but I think Antwerp is more fun - not so chocolate box pretty, but more to do.
was there last weekend for a 50 birthday with friends
had a great time if a tad expensive
stayed at the Arogon hotel very nice
had plenty of different beers. MMMMM Straffe Hendricks
did the boat trip. yep good
do nt forget a trip round the brewery very entertaining tour guide and a free beer at the end.
went to Ribs n beer and Both me and the wife thought it was crap but we are not ribs fans.
all in it was a good visit but echo the long weekend is enough to see it all .
went to Ribs n beer and Both me and the wife thought it was crap but we are not ribs fans.
😕 😆
Went there on a cheap ferry trip from Yorkshire. Bored the crap out of me. Walk round it once, then expect to spend money visiting all the museums (is the chip museum still there?) and touring the architecture during the day. At least at night you can relax in summer drinking beer and trying out the expensive restaurants.
Made the mistake of having two nights there was bored after the first day it's just wat to twee, worth a day trip I reckon tops, Ghent is way better a proper city that actually feels alive, rather than a tourist ghetto...
As others have said, don't bother with Bruges, Ghent is way better...
