Western Europe
Medieval towns, world-beating beer, and the best chips in Europe.
Belgium is small, unshowy and quietly brilliant at the things that matter — beer brewed by monks, chocolate raised to an art, chips fried twice, and medieval towns so pretty they barely look real. Bruges is the jewel: a perfectly preserved little city of canals, cobbles and step-gabled houses, a Gothic belfry and swans on the water, walkable end to end in an afternoon. Touristy by day, magical once the coach crowds leave — with a beer hall on every corner.
What things cost: Belgium is comfortably mid-range — a world-class beer costs a few euros, a cone of chips less, and a canal-side room in Bruges runs dearer than the Belgian average but fair for what it is. Bruges's centre is priced for its beauty; a few streets out, or in the station quarter, it eases. When a zone below says 'low', that means low for Bruges.
Sometimes the event picks the city for you.
The Markt and Simon Stevin square fill with wooden chalets, mulled wine and an ice rink under the floodlit belfry, the whole medieval town strung with lights. One of the most storybook Christmas settings in Europe; cold, cosy and glowing.
Bruges · Markt & Simon Stevinplein
A hundred-odd Belgian brewers pour hundreds of beers over one weekend in the Beurshalle — a warming, convivial celebration of the country's UNESCO beer culture in the depths of winter. Buy a tasting glass and work your way, carefully, around.
Bruges · Beurshalle, 't Zand
The city's great day — a UNESCO-listed procession that has wound through Bruges for 700 years, thousands in costume re-enacting biblical scenes as the relic of the Holy Blood is carried through the streets. The one day to see the medieval city truly come alive.
Bruges · Through the old town
A friendly, well-loved indie and world-music festival set in the greenery of the Minnewater park, right by the Lake of Love — three days of eclectic live acts in a gorgeous, intimate setting. The best summer weekend to be in Bruges.
Bruges · Minnewater Park
One of Europe's biggest open-air cultural festivals — for ten days and nights the entire historic centre becomes a vast free party of music, theatre, street performance, food and drink, drawing over a million people to its squares and canalsides. Joyous, buzzing and utterly free, it's Ghent at its most exuberant; the whole floodlit city celebrates around the clock. A brilliant, if very busy, time to visit. The city's beloved summer highlight.
Ghent · Across the historic centre
A spectacular, hugely popular light-art festival held every few years, when the beautiful medieval city becomes a magical open-air gallery of dazzling illuminations, projections and glowing installations lighting up the towers, canals and squares after dark. Enchanting and free, drawing huge crowds who wander a route through the transformed city; if your visit coincides, it's an unmissable, breathtaking spectacle. Check whether it falls in your travel window.
Ghent · Across the historic centre
