Tis Me Michelle

We’ve covered the highlights of Amsterdam and London, the last location review is Bruges. We had basically a half-day trip which I booked through Get Your Guide. I’ve booked a lot through them over the years. They can honestly be a hit or miss. This one I’d say was kind of right in the middle.

I went with Get Your Guide, because when we looked up trains to just go on our own there were a bunch of transfers, and ended up being just as much if not more expensive than with the tour group. With the tour group, it was a straight bus ride there and back plus it included a tour. If we had a few days I would have either booked a flight or gone on the train, but for the day trip, this made the most sense.

After our ~3-hour bus ride, we hit the ground running on our walking tour. It was just my friend and I, plus two others, which made for a nice little group. Our guide was rather quirky, and honestly, it was better than some of the more boring guides I’ve had in the past. I’d rather them be a little weird and fun than dry. The tour lasted probably an hour and a half or so, then we had a couple hours of free time before we headed back. Basically, we had from 12pm to 5pm in the actual city.

It went by fast. I wish I had like a full day, because once we were done our tour there wasn’t really time to explore much. I enjoyed the tour, but we really just walked by a bunch of things and didn’t have time to go inside anything. Afterward, we went to a recommended brewery, grabbed some drinks, and then had just enough time to get lunch/dinner before heading back.

I thought the city was super cute and charming. I’m not sure what holiday it was, but there was something cause quite a few shops were closed. This seems to happen to me quite a bit when I travel, or Europe really doesn’t look for any excuse to have a day off.

So overall I was bummed I didn’t have a whole lot of time, but I’m still glad we squeezed it in. Til actually going, I had mainly heard that there isn’t a whole lot to do in Bruges. As I’ve probably mentioned a bunch before, my friend and I chose to go here because we love the movie In Bruges, so most of what I had heard was there isn’t much to do other than to say you were ‘In Bruges’. But I disagree. I don’t think it’s enough for a week-long vacation, but definitely a good couple of days.

I’d love to go back and have maybe 2 days In Bruges and then split time in other cities in Belgium. It was just so lovely, I honestly loved the vibe of it much more than Amsterdam. I don’t know if there’s a whole lot more to see than the area I was in, but I’d like to check out the touristy attractions we didn’t have time for and then just wander. Even just having time for a slow morning at a coffee shop in that cute town would be lovely. So I’d say, don’t write off Bruges, it may just charm you.