Best What to Do Bruges Day 2023

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Greetings, Intenet Stranger! I’m Stella Jane, author of the travel guide Get Lost! So you want to have a perfect what to do Bruges day? How do you feel about Madonnas, bagels, free beer, free harp concerts, and graphic paintings of people’s intestines?

Sound fun! Then let’s not hesitate! Come with me and dance, you Bruges Fool, you! This will be the what to do Bruges day of a lifetime!

what to do Bruges day

Morning: Groeninge Museum

The Groeninge Museum is one of the best museums in Belgium, so no what to do Bruges day is complete without a stop here. (This is not damning with faint praise because Belgium has a lot of nice museums.)

The Groeninge Museum, despite its name, is not a museum dedicated to bad puns; rather it’s dedicated to Belgian and Flemish art. Any Belge who’s anyone can be found in the halls of the Groeninge Museum.

I recommend taking the paintings in chronological order and seeing what you can discover about the changes in technique and subject matter throughout the history of Belgian art. Trust me, this is more entertaining than it sounds! I will help you see why with…

Approximately Top 5: The Groeninge Museum

1) “Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele”

This work was painted in 1434 by Jan Van Eyck, a Netherlandish painter. Of course most paintings in Europe at the time would have had Christian subject matter, so it’s not remarkable that Van Eyck painted the Madonna and child.

But what is unique about this painting is the use of vivid color to depict the Virgin Mary’s clothes and the details in the carpet. You almost feel as if the scene is real. I’m not used to seeing such realism in 15th century paintings, but perhaps this is because I’ve led a sheltered life.

Even though this was primarily a painting of the Madonna and baby Jesus, the work was commissioned in honor of Canon van der Paele, and so his portrait is inserted in the picture. He’s the old Dutchman at the bottom right of the painting.

As time progresses in European art, we see more and more straight-up portraits of rich guys and fewer portraits of the baby Jesus.

2) Portrait of Louis de Gruuthuse

According to the Groeninge Museum, this work was done by a painter who was not known by his name, but by his title: “Master of the Portraits of Princes”. I feel like that job is going to be a lot more profitable than “Master of the Portraits of Swineherds”.

Louis de Gruuthuse was no slouch in the money-making department himself. In fact, he was made Earl of Winchester by Edward IV of England for doing Eddie IV a great service, and it is really hard to get made an Earl if you are not an Englishman.

I’ve sent in my application for Earldom like a million times, but King Charles III has seen fit to never respond, and I just assume leftover anger at America for the whole Revolution thing is the explanation. I even told him I would settle for being declared the Duke of Earl, but still no response.

3) Portrait of a Man

As time went on, it apparently became less necessary to be a Very Important Person to have your portrait painted because this 1697 work by Jacob van Oost is simply called “Portrait of a Man”. You’d think you could have written this poor schmoe’s name down somewhere, Van Oost! Talk about lazy! And The Man looks like such a nice guy, too.

Note how much more realistic this portrait is than the one of Louis de Gruuthuse. (Louis de Gruuthuse is a really fun name to say, BTDubs. I think the Groeninge Museum could increase their traffic if they used the name in their advertising.)

4) 20th-century religious art

Now the Groeninge Museum moves on to the 20th century and behold! A return to religious subject matter and a move away from realistic representation! Unless those green creatures at the bottom are regular guests in your home, in which case I want to try some of your absinthe!

5) Belgian Cubism

In the 20th century, the common Belgian worker gets in on the act. Why, our friendly neighborhood woodsman even has the right to have his own portrait. Unfortunately, Cubism has already taken off by this point so our poor woodman doesn’t have the right to a recognizable face, just some angles and a pipe.

See how much of the history of European art is encapsulated in the history of Belgian art? Visit the Groeninge Museum yourself and see what insights you can find!

What to do Bruges day

Afternoon: Explore Belgian Culture

Now that you’ve spent the morning of our what to do Bruges day inside the Groeninge Museum, it’s time to feel the fresh Belgian air on your face and get to exploring!

We can check out some of the smaller, less expected sights in Bruges, but first your tummy must be grumbling. After all, we’ve reached the midpoint of our what to do Bruges day. Let’s start with lunch.

Approximately top 5: what to do Bruges day

1) Lunch at Li O Lait

As a native New Yorker, I never thought I’d be recommending a bagel that I ate in Belgium. But Li O Lait, a cute little coffee shop, serves excellent bagels with a variety of toppings. I suggest the classic with cream cheese and smoked salmon, which is like mother’s milk to someone from NYC.

Even if you’re not in a bagel mood, you should definitely order a latte. The coffee is very good, but it also comes with a side of speculoos cookies, which are these amazing spiced cookies that are very popular in Belgium and the Netherlands. They taste like Christmas but better because you can eat them any day you want.

2) Saint John’s Hospital

Ask me how much I would like to be a patient at an 11th century Belgian hospital and the answer is: not even at all.

But ask me if I would like to pay 8 Euros for the privilege of exploring an 11th century Belgian hospital and the answer becomes, “Yes please!” If you are like-minded, then the St. John’s Hospital is for you.

24 Hour Tip

Don’t miss any temporary exhibitions that may be going on upstairs. The one I saw was a contemporary art exhibit about reflections from people with terminal illnesses. It made all my mascara run off from crying. But I like the idea that the upstairs gallery is for modern shows that still have some thematic connection to this medieval hospital.

Temporary exhibitions aside, the SJH is notable for two kinds of exhibits: artifacts related to medieval Belgian hospitals and works by German-Flemish artist Hans Memling.

Memling is mostly famous for his lushly colored and precisely detailed diptychs. Here is his “Diptych of Maarten Nieuwenhove”. On the left is the Virgin Mary and on the right is the donor, Maarten Nieuwenhove. (I’m going to be kind of relieved when we leave Bruges, and I don’t have to keep typing Flemish names.)

It reminds me of the Van Eyck painting of the Virgin Mary because of the similar color palette, realistic human figures, and the subject matter of the Virgin Mary juxtaposed with the dude who paid for the picture.

The Memlings are great but very crowded and hard to photograph, so I preferred to document the hospital goodies. The medical facility was naturally staffed by nuns, so there’s tons of nun fun to be had. Here’s a triptych of a nun:

It seems a bit anachronistic to me to have a woman in a nun’s habit present at the Crucifixion, but I never claimed to be an expert on the history of nuns. And here we have a stuffed nun:

I already think taxidermy is creepy, so I’m definitely not on board with stuffing a nun, even if she’s from medieval times. Also, what did they do to her face?

24 Hour Treasure

My favorite work at the St. John’s Hospital is this gruesome portrayal of a surgery. Check out the contrast between the mustachioed dandies with their pinkies in the air and the dead guy who’s letting it all hang out.

This image seems like something of one of the Saw movies to me. I mean, that guy’s intestines are all in your face here. What was the purpose of this painting? I can’t imagine that nuns wanted to look at it. Did some wealthy Bruggian merchant want this hanging in his foyer? That seems unlikely to me.

3) Halve Maan Brewery Tour

The Halve Maan (Half Moon) Brewery is the last family-run brewery in Bruges. It has been run by several generations of the Maes family, most of whom were named Henri. For this reason, one of the Halve Maan’s most popular beers is called the Strong Hendrik. (Hendrik is Henri in Flemish.)

The brewery has also been run by a lady member of the Maes family named Veronique, and I think Netflix should definitely do a show about a Belgian lady brewer taking over her family’s business.

Your 45-minute tour will give you all the beer highlights, from the brewing process to the bottling. Apparently the bottling plant is located miles away from the brewery, so there actually needs to be an underground pipeline that takes the beer from the brewery to the bottling plant.

That sounds like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or rather its little known sequel, Charlie and the Beer Bottling Plant.

The brewery is fun to tour because of all the pipes and beams and plants to explore. That’s right, there are hops growing in the brewery! You probably know that hops are the flowers used to give beer its flavor, but before visiting this brewery I had never even seen one hop!

I don’t really understand why they are called hops because they don’t have any legs and it must be very hard to hop when you are a plant stuck to a wooden beam.

You can also have a great view of Bruges when you reach the top of the brewery building. It’s like something out of a fairy tale!

24 Hour Tip

Wear comfy shoes and long pants/skirts when attending the brewery tour. You have to climb up and down lots of skinny ladders, sometimes even backwards.

24 Hour Treasure

At the end of the tour, you get to snuggle up with a cozy glass of Brugse Zot, which means Bruges Fool. This beer gets its name from that Emperor Maximilian of Austria who didn’t like his rebellious citizens in Bruges. (Maybe they didn’t like being ruled by an Austrian. Belgians are funny like that.)

Anyway, they asked him if they could build a mental hospital and he suggested that they just close the gates of the city if they wanted to keep all the fools locked up. So ever since then, citizens of Bruges have called themselves “Bruges Fools” with pride.

This beer has a pleasingly sour and pungent taste, like what hard lemonade should actually taste like instead of resembling a foul lemon sugar drop. Belgian beer really is the best in the world. You can’t have a what to do Bruges day without trying some.

4) Canal Tour

Canal tours are another highlight of any what to do Bruges day because Bruges is proudly referred to by Belgians as “the Venice of the North”. Keep in mind that other cities, such as Amsterdam and St. Petersburg, Russia, like to be called this as well.

I suggest we settle the matter with a Hunger Games-style contest! But I’m pretty sure everyone knows Russia will win that, especially if it snows.

The canal tours only last half an hour and are conducted in both English and Flemish (Dutch). But they are definitely worth the ten Euros for the spectacular views of Bruges’s adorable buildings and canals.

If you’d rather have a private boat tour, you can always book one with excellent reviews right here.

24 Hour Treasure

My favorite is that purple house because if you’d asked my childhood self where she wanted to live when she grew up, I’m pretty sure “a medieval purple house surrounded by swans” would have been her answer.

Check rates and availability for this canal tour right here!

5) Harp Concert

By mere chance, I stumbled across this harp concert given by Luc Vanlaere three times a day. It is presented in a little hall right next to the St. John’s Hospital. There will be signs to show the way. Get there early because the seats will fill up, and you definitely don’t want to miss this on your what to do Bruges day

Vanlaere’s music is so special because he plays all his own compositions. He also doesn’t just stick to the traditional harp. In fact, he knows how to jam on the Celtic harp, the steel harp, harps from India, Japan, and China—the list goes on and on.

In Vanlaere’s hands, each harp has its own unique tune and its own special contribution to the piece. It’s also quite entertaining to watch Vanlaere move back and forth between the various instruments during the course of one song. He really is a one-man band!

24 Hour Tip

You don’t have to pay anything to attend this special show, but I really think you should consider leaving some money in the collection box as you exit. It’s so wonderful to be able to hear world-class harp music in a medieval setting like Bruges, and surely you want this opportunity to remain available to all. #guilttrip

what to do Bruges day

Evening: Dinner at De Verbeelding

It’s that time on our what to do Bruges day when we’ll be wanting dinner. Fortunately, De Verbeelding is an adorable little family-run restaurant that serves pretty much anything you could want. They have everything from Flemish classics to tapas to pasta.

Ordinarily, that kind of wide reach spells disaster for a restaurant, but in De Verbeelding’s case, it all comes together beautifully. I stuck to the Flemish classics because when in Flemland, do as the Flems do.

I started with a creamy (yet cream-free vegetable soup). This was accompanied by a cool glass of Brugse Zot.

24 Hour Treat: chicken waterzooi

Waterzooi is a popular kind of Belgian stew. It’s made with cream and egg yolk, so you can imagine how rich the sauce tastes. It’s so rich they should call it the Bill Gates of chicken dishes. I’m also impressed with how bright and pretty the carrots and parsley look. In some stews, they would be wilted to a mush.

24 Hour Treat: Dame Blanche

A Dame Blanche is basically Belgian for ice cream sundae. There was nothing especially revolutionary about the combination of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, but the chocolate sauce was extra tasty. After all, miss, this is Belgium, and the chocolate here is never second best.

Once you are done, take a final stroll through Bruges at night to see how pretty the buildings look all lit up. After that, you’re on your own for the rest of your what to do Bruges day! That Brugse Zot made me sleepy.

What to do Bruges day

Where to Stay?

Since we might only have one what to do Bruges day, you’re going to want to choose a hotel that’s in a convenient location, within walking distance of all the beautiful buildings and delicious beer.

I strongly recommend the Rose Suites. It was both affordable and convenient, which are two of the words I always keep in mind when choosing a hotel. The other words I keep in mind are adorable and friendly, and the Rose Suites staff and rooms are both of those things.

You can book a room at the Rose Suites here.

And if you’d rather explore tons of other great deals on hotels in Bruges, click here. This search engine will help you find the perfect place to stay. With plenty of options to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something for your schedule and budget.

That’s a Perfect what to do Bruges day

What would you do on a what to do Bruges day? Are you ready to start booking your hotel in Bruges now? And seriously, what was up with that intestine painting? Please email me at stellajane@aroundtheworldin24hours.com and let me know!

Note: If you want to know how I put my travel itineraries together, just click here. Keep in mind that while each article is about how to spend 24 hours in a place, that doesn’t mean you should ONLY have a what to do Bruges day.

If you need an extra what to do Bruges day, try adding this 24 hours in Bruges.