Travel Reviews, News, Guides &Update; Tips

Header
collapse
...
Home / TRIP IDEAS / A-List Travel Advisors / Bruges's Christmas market guide for 2022

Bruges's Christmas market guide for 2022

2022-12-15  Diana Solomon

What to do and see in Belgium's party capital.

3 Getty Images

The name of Bruges' Christmas celebration is "Winter Glow." It conjures up the joyous greeting of Christmas amid the long, gloomy winter evenings and the biting cold of the weather blowing in from the North Sea across the polders. It mentions the cozy boutique hotels and log fireplaces in the pubs, the warm, golden lights of the stores that gather around the crowded Bruges Christmas market booths, shimmering street decorations, and Christmas trees.

Bruges handles everything with taste. At moments, it might resemble entering a nativity scene that a Flemish master painted, so pinch yourself.

1 Getty Images
Square in Bruges, Belgium

This year, the traditional Christmas markets run from Friday, Nov 25, to Sunday, Jan 8, spanning the holiday season. As a result, they celebrate not just Christmas and New Year's, but also the Feast of St. Nicholas (Sinterklaas) on December 6, when the man himself, dressed as the Bishop of Myra—the original Santa Claus—tours the streets and distributes gifts to children. The Christmas markets are put up in two areas that are close to one another in the center of this historic town. The broad, "typical" Christmas market, complete with presents, holiday decorations, and clothes for the cold months, is located on the Markt (the central market square, beneath the majestic city of Belfry). The second is devoted to local artisanal and handmade goods, including food, and has a merry-go-round for kids in the smaller, tree-lined Simon Stevinplein area. You may find friendly pop-up bars offering mulled wine, tots of jenever gin, and a variety of consistently good Flemish beers among the vendors in both. These pubs are popular with residents, especially on weekends.

But in reality, the "Winter Glow" initiative's focus is a dazzling light show that serves as an additional, alternative attraction outside of the city center, rather than the Christmas markets. Since it was originally unveiled in 2019, this "Light Experience Trail" has grown ever more grandiose (the pandemic notwithstanding). It has always occurred in the vicinity you would travel through on your approach to the train station, southwest of the city center. This year, it expands farther north, to a peaceful neighborhood of historic almshouses and religious buildings tucked between the expansive 't Zand plaza and the canal that finally round the entire old city.

2 Getty Images-1
Traditional structures decorated for Christmas

The subject of this year's Winter Glow is "Awakening," with the intention of "making us aware of the changing world around us, full of new challenges." Alternatively put, "new versus. old." The Bruges Meeting & Convention Centre (BMCC), Bruges' newest showcase of modern architecture, will be opened in January 2022. If you complete the eight light installations in order (you don't have to), the first one is a light and laser display on the façade of the building. This structure is tangible proof that Bruges is a vibrant, breathing city, not the static museum piece it once threatened to become, with the strident elegance of its 25 tall brick columns set against the glass. The Old Water House, in contrast, appears next, wonderfully lighted up among the trees like a scene from a fairy tale, on the city walls and canal. This horse-powered pump building provided the city with subterranean water throughout the Middle Ages, which was a modern marvel. The garden of the Abbey of St. Godelina (or St. Godelieve), illuminated by millions of LED lights and decorated with low-energy and sustainable lighting, is reached after a little stroll. This community and cultural center was established here in Boeveriestraat in 1623 and functioned as an active Benedictine monastery until 2013.

3 Getty Images
Aerial image of the Christmas ice rink in Bruges' main square

The neighboring Kapucijnenplein presents a 2D holographic performance, then it's a short walk over 't Zand, through the boldly contemporary Concert Hall (finished 2002), to the Koning Albertpark for two additional spectaculars: a light structure radiating skyward, symbolic of a fresh beginning after the epidemic, and a big chandelier floating over a vast fountain pool. Turning to the east, you travel the Begijnenvest (Rampart of the Beguines) through a route of dynamic geometric lights. Finally, you reach the Minnewater, also known as the "Lake of Love," where a floating ice rink has been set up right next to the water. Before milder winters and rising energy prices, a real ice rink served as the focal point of the Christmas market in the Markt. This variant is constructed of "Glice," a synthetic polymer. Skate rental is included in the cost, so you may zoom around the rink while admiring the fairy lights, or you can sit back and relax with a drink and something to eat from the nearby "Vorst" ("Frost") bar.

4 Getty Images
Wintertime canal vista in Bruges, Belgium

When Bruges was a bustling international commerce hub in the Middle Ages, the Minnewater served as its harbor. If you gaze behind the ice rink, you can see it crowded with ships and barges. The historic "Sashuis" (sluicegate house), which is still standing at the northern border, has been converted into a showroom for the "Handmade in Brugge" initiative, which brings together regional businesses with a more artisanal focus. Pick up their booklet to take a tour of many of Bruges's more intriguing and alluring stores and outlets, which includes a map of where they are located across the city.

Bruges's Christmas markets and "Winter Glow" are worth more than just a day trip, even if it lasts into the evening. I'm sure you get the point. Stay for a single night, two nights, or a long weekend. Several of the beautiful boutique hotels and upscale B&Bs in the old city, including Hotel Van Cleef, De Orangerie, Heritage, De Pand, 't Fraeyhuis, Bonifacius, Maison le Dragon, and Canal de Luxe, participate in the holiday cheer by lighting Christmas trees and fireplaces (or their eco-substitutes). The top-notch restaurants in Bruges concentrate on serving seasonal foods like oysters, a game with wild mushrooms, and berries.

5 Getty Images
Belgium's Brugge.

The Groeningemuseum, a tiny but ideal museum, is worth a visit just to see Jan van Eyck's "The Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele" (1436), which is one of the paintings that grace the most beautiful Christmas cards. The Sint-Janshospitaal museum's outstanding present show includes several Madonna-and-Child treasures of comparable antiquity and ferocity. A celebration of life and death is very much a part of the Christmas story, as medieval Bruges - with all its rich and gilded glory - understood all too well. The exhibition's title, "Face to Face with Death: Hugo van de Goes, old masters, and new interpretations" (28 October 2022–5 February 2023), may not exactly sing "Merry Christmas!" That kind of experience depth is what Bruges offers. Worth a night or two, particularly during the "Winter Glow" season.


2022-12-15  Diana Solomon