Cocktails, wine bars and dives: drinking in Bruges for grown-ups.
Cocktail bars, wine bars, dive bars and gastropubs: drinking in Bruges for grown-ups.
't Brugs Beertje on Kemelstraat is the reference beer cafe of Bruges, pouring around 300 Belgian beers with five on draft in a small brown room.
Signature drink: 300 Belgian beers, five on draft
Food: Cheese plates and bar snacks
Tip: Ask the staff to steer you; the list is encyclopedic. The cheese plate soaks up a Trappist.
De Garre hides down the narrowest alley off Breidelstraat in Bruges, pouring its 11% house Tripel van De Garre brewed by Van Steenberge in a snug brick room.
Signature drink: Tripel van De Garre, 11%
Food: Cheese and pâté boards
Order: The house Tripel van De Garre, served with a cube of cheese; the limit is three for good reason.
Tip: The alley is a doorway-wide gap off Breidelstraat; blink and you miss it. Cash and card both work.
Le Trappiste pours beer in a vaulted 13th-century cellar on Kuipersstraat in Bruges: 27 taps and around 150 bottles, heavy on Trappist and abbey styles.
Signature drink: 27 beers on tap, 150 by the bottle
Food: Bar snacks
Tip: Closed Wednesday. The downstairs cellar is the room to ask for; the taps rotate often.
Cambrinus on Philipstockstraat near the Burg in Bruges is a beer brasserie with a 400-strong list and a full Flemish kitchen of beer-braised classics.
Signature drink: 400 beers, Flemish plates
Food: Flemish brasserie kitchen
Order: A stoofvlees cooked in dark Belgian ale, with a matching abbey beer from the list.
Tip: Open daily, kitchen and bar both. The list is bound like a book; take your time with it.
't Poatersgat on Vlamingstraat in Bruges hides down a small gate into a candle-lit medieval cellar, with a long Belgian beer list and a warm vaulted room.
Signature drink: Belgian beers in a medieval cellar
Food: Bar food and snacks
Tip: Look down for the gate or you walk straight past it. Quieter on weeknights than the Markt bars.
2be on Wollestraat in Bruges fills a 15th-century townhouse with a wall of hundreds of Belgian beers and a canal-side terrace worth the tourist prices.
Signature drink: Belgian beers by the canal
Food: None, drinks only
Tip: The canal terrace is the whole point; prices reflect the view. Buy bottles in the shop to take home.
Bar Ran on Kuipersstraat in Bruges is the city's serious cocktail room, with a deep spirits back bar and disco on the speakers. Walk-in only, no reservations.
Signature drink: Seasonal cocktails, fine spirits
Food: Bar snacks
Tip: Walk-in only; arrive early on weekends. The bartenders will build off-menu to taste.
Groot Vlaenderen on Vlamingstraat in Bruges is an elegant cocktail bar in a grand room, with a winter fireplace and a quiet courtyard out back.
Signature drink: Classic and signature cocktails
Food: Light snacks
Tip: The courtyard out back is the warm-weather seat. Closed early in the week; check before you go.
l'Estaminet by the Astridpark in Bruges is a local brown cafe with an old wooden interior, carefully pulled beers and a famous plate of spaghetti.
Signature drink: Well-pulled beers, bar snacks
Food: Spaghetti and bar plates
Tip: The park terrace is the spot in summer. Cash works fastest; the spaghetti is the order.