Europe · City guide
Brussels, Bruges and events like Tomorrowland, all within easy reach of the UK.
Is it right for you?
A strong fit for
Short breaks, food and festival trips.
We would think twice for
Travellers who need beach or blockbuster sights, because Belgium deals in atmosphere, squares and small pleasures, and its charm is cumulative rather than headline.
What we would want you to know
Festival dates drive accommodation prices and availability hard, so book early.
We’ve been here
We went to Tomorrowland ourselves, at Boom between Antwerp and Brussels, so we know how completely one big event can swallow every room within reach and push prices up across the region. On any Belgian booking we check the festival and holiday calendar first, then choose between Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp.
A plan to start from
Day 1
Climb the Belfry on an early slot, then the Basilica of the Holy Blood, a boat from the Rozenhoedkaai and the Flemish masters in the Groeninge Museum. Dinner inside the ring once the coaches leave.
Day 2
A short train east for the Ghent Altarpiece in St Bavo's, the Gravensteen and lunch in the Patershol, then a walk along the Graslei at dusk before the train back.
Day 3
The Salient with a guide or a hire car: Tyne Cot and the Passchendaele museum at Zonnebeke in the morning, the In Flanders Fields Museum after lunch and the Last Post at the Menin Gate at eight.
An idea to react to, not a fixed package. We shape the real thing around your dates, your pace and what the flights are doing that season.
Neighbourhoods
The medieval merchant town inside its ring canal, all bridges, belfry and stepped brick gables, and small enough to cross on foot. Stay inside the ring and you have the lanes to yourselves early and late, after the coach parties leave. Hotels are mostly small and full of character, and December weekends book out early.
A university city with a castle in the middle, medieval guildhalls along the Graslei and Korenlei quays and far more locals than tourists. Evenings are livelier than in Bruges, prices are lower, and the city takes vegetarian cooking seriously. Quick trains to Bruges and Brussels make it a clever base for a longer stay.
The capital centres on the gilded Grand Place, with the museums of the Mont des Arts, the chocolatiers of the Sablon and the comic strip murals a short walk away. It is a working city, grittier around the big stations, and better for two nights than a week. Eurostar trains arrive at Brussels-Midi, which makes it an easy first stop.
Belgium's port city has Rubens altarpieces in its cathedral, the Plantin-Moretus printing museum and a grand station often called a railway cathedral. It is stylish and busy, with fashion shops, a strong dining scene and a lively Zuid district. On Tomorrowland weekends, rooms here and in Brussels are among the first to go.
The rebuilt Flemish market town at the centre of the First World War's Ypres Salient, with the Menin Gate, the In Flanders Fields Museum and the cemeteries of the old front line around it. A night here lets you stand at the Last Post at eight without a late drive back. Evenings are quiet and hotels are small.
Things to do
The 83-metre tower above the Markt has 366 steps up to the carillon and a long view over the rooftops. Numbers inside are limited, so book a time slot, and be ready for the noise near the top when the bells ring the quarter hours.
The Van Eyck brothers' Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, finished in 1432 and restored to startling colour, hangs in St Bavo's Cathedral, where a visitor centre tells its story of thefts, wars and one panel still missing.
Brussels' great square of gilded guildhouses and the Gothic town hall looks finest at breakfast time or lit up at night. The famous little statue is a few streets away and smaller than people expect; he is often dressed in one of his hundreds of costumes.
Every evening at eight, buglers sound the Last Post beneath the memorial to more than 54,000 Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave. Arrive half an hour early in summer, and keep silent through the short ceremony.
The largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world, on the Passchendaele ridge, with nearly 12,000 graves and a wall of the missing. In the visitor centre a voice reads out names one by one; entry is free.
Half-hour boat trips leave from jetties around the centre and slip under low bridges past the backs of houses and gardens. Boats run most of the year, weather permitting, and queues are shortest first thing.
The giant model of an iron crystal built for the 1958 World's Fair, with exhibitions in its spheres and a lift to the top one for views over Brussels. Queues for the lift build at weekends and in school holidays, so go early.
A printing family's house and workshop in Antwerp, UNESCO-listed, with the two oldest surviving printing presses in the world among its type, books and portraits by Rubens, a friend of the family.
Brussels' smartest chocolate shops cluster around the Place du Grand Sablon. Buy pralines by weight in a ballotin box, taste before you choose, and keep them cool on the way home; they are made to be eaten within a few weeks.
Food and drink
A pot of mussels steamed with white wine, celery and onion, with frites on the side. They are best in the season that runs from July through the winter.
Twice-fried chips from a roadside stand, served in a paper cone with mayonnaise or one of dozens of sauces. Belgians claim them as their own invention and eat them standing up.
Two kinds: the light, rectangular Brussels waffle dusted with sugar, and the dense, caramelised Liège waffle with pearl sugar baked in, best warm from a street stall. Locals rarely pile them with cream.
Beef slow-cooked in dark beer with onions and a slice of bread spread with mustard, served with frites: the Flemish comfort dish of every café.
Beer brewed within the walls of Belgium's Trappist monasteries, strong, complex and served in its own chalice. Many are close to twice the strength of a British pint, so sip slowly.
Ghent's purple, cone-shaped sweet with a raspberry syrup centre, sold from carts on the Groentenmarkt. Eat them within a few weeks, before the centre crystallises.
Weather and seasons
Belgium's weather is close to ours, a little warmer in summer: July days in Bruges average 21°C and January days about 7°C, with rain spread through the year, so a trip here is timed by crowds more than climate. April, May and September are the gentlest months for walking the canals. In summer, day-trippers and coach parties fill Bruges from mid-morning until late afternoon, and late July brings Tomorrowland and the Ghent Festival within days of each other. From late November into early January the Christmas markets draw weekend crowds to Brussels and Bruges.
Worth timing a trip around
On Shrove Tuesday the Gilles of Binche, in wax masks, bells and ostrich-feather hats, dance through the town from dawn and throw oranges into the crowd. A UNESCO-listed tradition; catching one is lucky, throwing it back is not done.
Bruges' relic of the Holy Blood is carried through the streets in a long costumed procession of biblical and historical scenes, as it has been since the Middle Ages. Grandstand seats along the route are ticketed.
Ten days of free street theatre, concerts and late bars across Ghent's squares. Rooms in the city fill and the centre is loud until dawn, so book early or stay elsewhere.
The electronic music festival at De Schorre park in Boom, between Antwerp and Brussels, famous for its elaborate stages. Tickets sell out within minutes of the worldwide sale months before, and nearby rooms go almost as fast.
Every other year the Grand Place disappears under hundreds of thousands of begonias or dahlias laid in an intricate design for a long weekend, best seen from the town hall balcony.
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7°C | 4°C | 48 mm |
| February | 9°C | 4°C | 43 mm |
| March | 10°C | 5°C | 43 mm |
| April | 12°C | 7°C | 27 mm |
| May | 16°C | 11°C | 32 mm |
| June | 19°C | 14°C | 51 mm |
| July | 21°C | 16°C | 61 mm |
| August | 21°C | 17°C | 62 mm |
| September | 20°C | 14°C | 67 mm |
| October | 16°C | 11°C | 30 mm |
| November | 11°C | 7°C | 63 mm |
| December | 9°C | 5°C | 63 mm |
Temperatures are 2015 to 2024 averages from NOAA records for Zeebrugge, 16 km away at 9 m. Rainfall is from the same station and shows the typical (median) month, so one freak storm does not skew it.
Money
Belgium is kind on most things except Bruges rooms on summer and December weekends, which can cost far more than the same room midweek, and anything near Boom on Tomorrowland weekends. Trains between the cities are cheap and frequent, so staying in Ghent and visiting Bruges saves money without losing much. Spend on food: a long lunch of mussels, a Trappist in an old café and a box of pralines from a chocolatier are the point of the trip.
Flights and transfers
Brussels is served by direct flights from Manchester, and the Eurostar from London runs directly to Brussels with Bruges under an hour beyond by train. For a couple travelling light, the train route is often the more civilised journey door to door.
Flights from UK airports
Route check September 2026. Some routes are seasonal and schedules change, so we confirm the live options when we quote.
Practical details
1 hour ahead of the UK
Euro (€)
Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia, both in Brussels, and German in the east
Type C and E, 230V
On the right
Safe to drink, though restaurants usually serve bottled water and charge for it
Service is included; rounding up or leaving a few euros for good service is plenty
Entry for British passport holders
Visa. No visa needed for tourist stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen area.
Passport. Issued less than 10 years before you arrive, and valid for at least 3 months after the day you leave the Schengen area.
The EU Entry/Exit System is now in use, so you may be asked to register your fingerprints and photo at the border on your first visit. It is free.
Summarised from the FCDO travel advice on gov.uk, checked 29 September 2026. Rules change: read the current entry requirements and the full travel advice before you go.
Questions we get asked
Bruges for a romantic first visit, when having the medieval lanes to yourselves early and late is the point. Ghent for a livelier, more local city with better value and more going on at night. They are a short train ride apart, so many people stay in one and spend a day in the other.
Yes. Day visitors see it at its most crowded, between mid-morning and late afternoon, while staying the night gives you the canals at dawn and the squares after dark, when the town is at its loveliest. Two nights lets you add Ghent or the battlefields without rushing.
Easily. Frequent trains link Brussels, Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp, and the historic centres are compact and partly car-free, with parking both scarce and costly. The Flanders battlefields are the exception: they are spread across the countryside, so we use a local guide with a vehicle or a hire car for that day.
Through the festival's own worldwide sale early in the year, which needs a pre-registration; tickets and packages with camping or hotels sell out within minutes. Register as soon as registration opens, and book accommodation the moment tickets are confirmed, because rooms nearby go almost as fast.
Not strictly: the Menin Gate, Tyne Cot and the museums are well signed and easy to visit alone. A local guide makes the Salient's gentle landscape make sense, though, finding the trenches, craters and individual graves that maps miss, and many will research a family soldier before you go.
Yes, especially midweek. Brussels runs a long market from the Bourse to Place Sainte-Catherine, with a big wheel and a sound and light show on the Grand Place, while Bruges fills the Markt and Simon Stevinplein with stalls. Weekend evenings are crowded, and Bruges rooms need booking early.
Photographs
Also worth a look
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