Travel by Plane Train ,Boat or Car or Bus, Brugge

2 more images

Once you get to Brugge you should park your car and leave it. In order to get to your hotel, you may want to know what a couple of important signs mean.

Picture 1-round red sign with a white strip in the middle means that you should not enter that street, it's either one way or pedestrian only.

Picture 2-the blue sign with a red \ means no parking, if there's an X it means no stopping. A

Picture 3-at the entrance of Bruges I saw this sign, it means that if you see the sign with the parking disk that you can park for 4 hours for free, if you see pay parking it's a maximum of 2 hours

A sign with a red arrow going one way and a black arrow the other means two way traffic, if one arrow is larger than the other, the larger arrow direction gets priority (usually on narrow sections of roads or narrow bridges)

Below are some other examples of European street signs from Wikipedia.

Updated September 2011

If you are driving through Belgium and have a car, find a place to park it and don't plan on using it again until you leave. Brugge is a very walkable city as it isn't that big and it's a delight to walk through the streets.

Check with your hotel regarding parking, parking restrictions exist throughout the entire city. On both visits we were staying far enough outside the center that the parking was free between 7pm and 9am and also on Sunday. The 1st hotel had 5€ parking in a garage, the 2nd hotel suggested we change the disk a couple of times through the day for free parking which we did with no problem. During the day from 9-19 (7pm), you could park for 4 hours for free by using the parking disk you should find in your glove box, you set the disk to the time you park. The sign in the photo is the 4 hour free parking sign, closer to the center you may a different sign that says you can park for 2 hours for a fee, look for parking meters if you see that sign.

If you are arriving to Brussels, but trying to get to Brugge right away, you can take the train from the airport to Brugge. There is no direct train, but it is really easy to switch from one train to the next at Brussels Central Station. The ticket will cost you 13.20 euro ($18) per person and one way for 2nd class. It is not a very long ride and trains are very comfortable. It is much easier than taking a bus. The price of the fare includes the train ride from the airport to Brussels Central Station. If you are at the station already, it will cost you a little less.

This is a great website to check for other fares and order tickets on-line, although I am not sure if they ship the tickets to US.

Getting to brugge is exptremely easy - and this in particular if you come from Antwerp: the ride takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes, so if you leave early in the morning it's possible to see the major sights as a day trip from there. If I'm not mistaken there's about a train every hour- from early morning to late evening.

You can easily go from Brussels to Bruges and I think the best way is by train. It only takes you 1 hour to get there and there are trains every half hour.

There is a choice of 1st and 2nd class tickets. I traveled in 1st class but ,to tell you the truth ,it's not worth the extra price. A return ordinary ticket in 2nd class is 24,60 EUR while in 1st class you will pay 37,80 EUR , depending on the week days and departure/arrival times.

Take a local train from any Brussels train station to Brugge (Bruges). There will be a stop in Ghent. Once you arrive in Brugge, you could possibly walk to the town center, but you can take a bus. You can purchase an all day bus pass for a nominal fee and take advantage of using it to get from place to place. We took the bus to the center and then walked everywhere that we wanted to go.

The trainstation of Brugge is an interesting building. The enormous clock on the outside, the interior of the hall. It's like going 30 years back in time. You'll experience the same grandeur as in the citycentre.

Furthermore there is a very cheap parking garage next to it. Already for 3 years the price is 2,50 EUR per car per day, which can be called pre-war.

If you don't like walking too much you can take the bus from Market Square. The bus runs on the hour from here. Prices are 11.50e adult and 6e per child family tickets are available two adults + two children 30e. The tour runs Summer 10.00 - 20.00 Autumn 10.00 - 18.00 Winter 10.00 - 16.00 Spring 10.00 19.00 hours. The tour is offered in seven languages so every thing can be explained perfectly for you.