Belgium is one of those countries that never crosses your mind when contemplating visiting Europe. It’s forgotten since it doesn’t have the best weather, and there are not that many attractions. It’s also overshadowed by Holland to the North.
Nonetheless, Belgium is quite a beautiful country with a high standard of living. It’s a super clean country with walkable cities, numerous canals, and stunning architecture. Similar to Holland most people walk or ride bikes. Since the population is smaller than Holland it is not as cluttered as its Northern neighbor. This means walking around is a much more enjoyable experience since you are not dodging incoming bicycles at every moment.
We visited Belgium for an entire month staying in various AirBNB rentals. We stayed in four cities which are Ghent (my favorite!) Antwerp, Brussels, (the Capital) and Bruges.
Bruges is the city that you want to visit if you are Belgium for a short period of time. This city is centered around its beautiful canals, medieval buildings, and cobbled streets. The Burg square is the epicenter of this city and is where most of the restaurants and shops are located.
The Burg is a historical area and features a variety of architectural designs including Gothic to Neo-Classicist. The most stunning building in the city is located here. This is the Stadhuis (or Gothic Town Hall) and dates back to 1376.
The name Burg Square name originates from a fortress that the first Count of Flanders built in the 9th century. While this fortress no longer exists the city that has replaced it is one of the most beautiful that I have encountered in my travels to Europe.
Two days in this city is more than enough as almost everything is centrally located and revolves around Burq Square. When in Bruges the goal is not to visit as many attractions as possible, instead it is simply to walk around this well maintained city, perhaps have some of the chocolatier offerings, and enjoy some great dining. Belgium does food very well, and everywhere that I ate the food was consistently great.