Bruges

Why go

A medieval city preserved by economic failure — the harbour silted up and nothing was rebuilt. Flemish Primitives in situ — Van Eyck and Memling in the buildings they were painted for. Canals and brick gables — the townscape that made the city a UNESCO site. Beer as a serious tradition — a brewery in the centre with a pipeline under the streets.

The character

Bruges was one of the richest cities in Europe in the fourteenth century — the northern anchor of the Hanseatic trade with Italy, where the world's first stock exchange took its name from the Van der Beurze family's square. Then the Zwin channel silted up. Ships could no longer reach the city, trade moved to Antwerp, and by 1600 Bruges was poor and shrinking. Nothing was demolished because nothing needed replacing.

That failure is why the medieval city survives, and the Flemish Primitives with it: Jan van Eyck worked here, Hans Memling spent his career here, and both are shown in the hospital and the museum that commissioned them. Rediscovery came in the nineteenth century with Georges Rodenbach's novel Bruges-la-Morte, which made the city's melancholy fashionable and started the tourism that now brings eight million visitors a year to a town of twenty thousand in its centre. Go early, stay overnight, and it is a different place.

Places of character

Groeningemuseum — Van Eyck's Madonna with Canon van der Paele and the core of the Flemish Primitives. Sint-Janshospitaal — Memling's works in the medieval hospital that owned them, including the Ursula shrine. Belfry — 366 steps to the carillon and the whole town below. Begijnhof — a thirteenth-century courtyard of white houses, now Benedictine, silent by rule. De Halve Maan brewery — brewing since 1856, with a beer pipeline running 3 km under the city to the bottling plant. Damme — a canal-side village 7 km out by bicycle, along the waterway that once carried the trade.

The way to do it

Stay overnight — the day trips from Brussels and the cruise passengers from Zeebrugge fill the centre from eleven to five. Do the two museums first thing. Cycle to Damme along the canal. And drink lambic and Trappist beers properly, at a café rather than a tourist bar.

One perfect day

Out at seven when the canals are still and the squares are empty. Groeningemuseum at opening for Van Eyck, then Sint-Janshospitaal for Memling in the ward that owned them. Coffee. The Belfry's 366 steps before the queue. Lunch of moules and a Westvleteren if you can find one. Afternoon cycling the canal to Damme and back, seven kilometres each way on a flat towpath. Beer at De Halve Maan, then the Begijnhof at six when it is silent. Dinner late, and the canals lit with almost nobody on the bridges.

Grand hotels

Hotel Dukes' Palace — a fifteenth-century ducal residence, the city's only historic grand hotel. Hotel Heritage — a nineteenth-century mansion on a quiet street two minutes from the Markt.

When to go

Best expression: October to March, when the day-trippers thin and the mist suits the place. Consider: May and June, before the peak, with long evenings on the canals. Avoid if possible: July and August, and any day with a cruise ship at Zeebrugge.

The frame

Ideal stay 2 nights · Minimum 1 night · Best arrival train from Brussels, an hour · Airport BRU, 100 km · Walkability total; the centre is car-restricted · Best without a car yes, with a bicycle