Budget · 3-hour walk · Bruges
The Markt to the Begijnhof in three hours
The Belfry, the two great squares, the chapel of the Holy Blood, the canal view everyone photographs, Michelangelo's Madonna and the beguinage.
Bruges grew rich on cloth and trade in the Middle Ages, then silted up and slept for four centuries, which is why so much of it survives. This route runs south through the old centre from the market square, with the city's one great climb at the start: go up the Belfry at opening, before the queue, then follow the canals down to the Church of Our Lady, the Begijnhof and the lake at the end of the city.
The route, stop by stop
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Markt
The market square, with the neo-Gothic Provincial Court on one side and gabled guildhouses on the other. The Wednesday-morning market still sets up here, as markets have since the Middle Ages.
15 min here Walk here → -
Belfort
The 83-metre belfry over the cloth hall, begun in the 13th century and finished with its octagon in the 15th. It is 366 steps to the top, past the 47-bell carillon, which still plays concerts.
35 min here Walk here → -
Burg
The square of the counts' castle, now gone, with the town hall begun in 1376, one of the oldest in the Low Countries. The Renaissance Civiele Griffie and the old Liberty of Bruges stand beside it.
10 min here Walk here → -
Heilig-Bloedbasiliek
Two chapels one above the other: a 12th-century Romanesque chapel of St Basil below, and above it the chapel of the relic of the Holy Blood, shown every day. On Ascension Day it is carried through the city in the Procession of the Holy Blood.
20 min here Walk here → -
Rozenhoedkaai
The quay where the Dijver meets the Groenerei, with the Belfry rising over the rooftops behind the canal. The most photographed view in the city, and a landing stage for the canal boats.
10 min here Walk here → -
Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk
The brick tower is about 115 metres high, one of the tallest brick towers in the world. Inside is Michelangelo's Madonna and Child, bought by a Bruges merchant family, and the tombs of Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy.
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Begijnhof
The beguinage founded in 1245 for lay women living in community, whitewashed houses round a lawn under tall trees. Benedictine nuns have lived here since 1927, and visitors are asked to keep quiet.
20 min here Walk here → -
Minnewater
The lake south of the Begijnhof, once the inner harbour where barges from Ghent tied up. A lock house stands at its head, and the old gunpowder tower, the Poertoren, at its southern end.
10 min here Walk here →
More walks in Bruges
More in Bruges
Every walking route in Bruges, the full Bruges guide for where to stay and what a day costs, or walks in other cities.