Flanders · Self-guided walk
Bruges in one walk 8 sights, 45 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Bruges Old Town: 8 sights on one 2.9 km loop, about 45 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 2.9 km, a loop
- Time
- about 45 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Basiliek van het Heilig Bloed
- Steps
- on Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Bruges walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Bruges, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Basiliek van het Heilig Bloed
the start · inside open Mon–Sun 10:00–17:15
Easy to walk past. It is wedged into a corner of the Burg with a face narrower than the neighbours on either side, and from out here it looks like one small thing. Go in, and then go up. That is all I am telling you.
Next: Stadhuis Brugge, 70 m, about 1 min.
2. Stadhuis Brugge
about 1 minute of walking from the start
Cross to the far side before you look at it, because from underneath you only get the lower half. Then go inside and look up. The best thing in the building is on the ceiling, and it is made of painted wood.
Next: Belfort, 250 m, about 4 min, along Breidelstraat, Markt.
3. Belfort
about 5 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 09:30–18:00
This is what you have been using to find your way all day, noticed or not. Before you decide about the climb, go in under the arch: the halls below hold a yard that most people cross the Markt without ever seeing.
Next: Sint-Salvatorskathedraal, 490 m, about 7 min, along Hallen, Sint-Salvatorskoorstraat, Sint-Salvatorskerkhof.
4. Sint-Salvatorskathedraal
about 12 minutes of walking from the start
The heavy west end of the Old Town, and the one to walk around before you walk into. Its big blunt face is a stack of different rock: grey-green fieldstone, tufa, brick, Tournai and Gobertange, in three goes with a moulding drawn across at every join. I could read that wall all afternoon, and once did.
Next: Gruuthusemuseum, 290 m, about 4 min, along Heilige-Geeststraat.
5. Gruuthusemuseum
about 16 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Tue–Sun 09:30–17:00, Mon closed
The big one on the Dijver with its feet in the water. Come at it from the yard on Gruuthusestraat rather than from the far bank, and take the little bridge beside it on your way past. The people who paid for all of this were not selling anything you would guess.
Next: Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, 120 m, about 2 min.
6. Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk
about 18 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 09:30–17:00
It shows up at the end of half the lanes on this level, so you will meet it long before you reach it. When you do, go in and look for the smallest thing in the building, cut in marble, with a small crowd of its own in front of it. It came a very long way to stand there, and the rest is the church's to tell you.
Next: Ankerplein, 200 m, about 3 min, along Katelijnestraat.
7. Ankerplein
about 21 minutes of walking from the start
A wide spot in a long street on the way south, and the shortest stop on this whole round. Ten seconds, standing still in the middle of it. Not every bite is a main course.
Next: Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde, 330 m, about 5 min, along Wijngaardstraat, Wijngaardplein, Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde, Begijnhof.
8. Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde
about 26 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 06:30–18:30
You get in over a bridge and through a gate, and the noise stops at the gate as if somebody had turned a tap. Go slowly and go quietly, because this is not a monument. It is an address.
Back to the start: Basiliek van het Heilig Bloed, 1,110 m, about 17 min, along Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde, Begijnhof, Wijngaardplein, Ter Steeghere.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Bruges.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 129 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Bruges Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.