Day 1

10.00 a.m.: Start the first day of your stay in style with a horse-drawn carriage tour or a boat trip, where you will find out a fair bit about what there is to know, giving you a good idea of what the city has to offer. The City Tour minibus is the better bad-weather alternative.

11.00 a.m.: Give yourself a break and stop during your stroll at one of the city’s many cosy coffee and tea shops. Looking for couleur locale? We can recommend the following addresses: Gulliver Tree, Café Vero and li-o-lait.

12.30p.m.: Lunch! Enjoy lunch at one of the following addresses that are open during the day only Forestière, De belegde boterham, Books and Brunch, Merveilleux, Mariloup or Nomad.

2.00p.m.: Bruges would not be Bruges without its Flemish Primitives! Admire the works of Jan Van Eyck and Hans Memling in the city where they were created. So do not fail to visit Groeninge Museum and Hospital Museum (closed on Mondays).

4.30p.m.: Swans and Bruges have been linked for centuries. With a bit of luck, you will see them swimming in the canal behind the Hospital Museum.  On the terrace of the B-IN along the water, you can see (and smell) De Halve Maan, the only active brewery in the city centre. An ideal resting place, therefore, to catch up over a ‘Brugse Zot’, the city beer that is brewed round the corner.

5.00p.m.: Time for a musical aperitif close-by! Harpist Luc van Laere treats you to a free concert in Oud Sint-Jan (Tue-Sat). Recommended by Bruges visitors on TripAdvisor as one of the unmissable events.

6.00p.m.: Time for a bite to eat because at 8.00p.m., there is a show at the state-of the art Concert Building, an architectural reminder of 2002, when Bruges was Cultural Capital of Europe. With Concertgebouw Servies, you are guaranteed a table at a restaurant nearby.

8.00p.m.: At the Concert Building, you can enjoy classical music or contemporary dance, both of international repute. Consult the events calendar beforehand and also check out what the city theatre and the other cultural centres of Bruges have to offer.

10.00p.m.: Time for a nightcap at the Concert Building café or a nearby café.