Where better to experience a magical Christmas atmosphere than in the centuries-old city centre of Bruges? During the Christmas period, the winter event ‘Winter Glow’ goes on in this historic city. Two separate Christmas markets, the Light Experience Trail, a skating rink, a winter bar, the ‘Warmest Week’ and plenty of magnificently lit shopping streets: that’s what Bruges Winter Glow 2024 has in store for you! Join this 7.9-kilometers (4.9 miles) walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024 and don’t miss a single highlight of this unique winter event.
(Map data: OpenStreetMap)
Start and end point
Square 't Zand in Bruges
Coordinates of start and end point
North: 51.205286° East: 3.217439°
Distance
7.9 kilometers (4.9 miles)
Parking
In the underground parking garage under 't Zand square or neighboring parking lots
Public transport
By train to Bruges station and from the station with various bus lines to 't Zand (buses free during shopping days!)
Accessibility for wheelchairs
The route is accessible for wheelchair users
Attractions
Warmest Week, Concert Hall, St. Salvator's Cathedral, Church of Our Lady, St. John's Hospital, De Halve Maan Brewery, Beguinage, Minnewater (Lake of Love), skating rink, winter bar Vorst, tower Poertoren, Minnewater park, almshouses, Diamond Museum, Groeninge Museum, Gruuthuse Museum, Christmas market Simon Stevin square, Christmas market town square, Belfry, Provincial Court, Beer Museum, Town Hall, Holy Blood Basilica, Choco-Story museum, Jan Van Eyck square, street Spaanse Loskaai, street and canal Gouden Handrei, street Potterierei, mill Sint-Janshuismolen, Guido Gezelle Museum, chapel Jeruzalemkapel, church Sint-Annakerk, street Sint-Annarei, street Spinolarei, museum Frietmuseum, City Theater, square Eiermarkt
Food and drinks
In a very large number of catering establishments in the center of Bruges
Gpx and pdf files of this walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024
Don’t get lost in Bruges! If you want to walk with GPS navigation on your mobile phone or hiking GPS, you can download the gpx file of this walk below (to be used with a navigation app). Even Op Stap also offers two pdf files with a detailed hiking map and with the text and images of this article. You can easily print these pdf files or view them on your mobile phone. For the gpx file and the two pdf files together, we charge a small fee of 1.95 euros. The files are available immediately after online payment.
Walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024: not one Christmas market, but two!
If you want to taste the Christmas atmosphere to the fullest, the historic city of Bruges is the place to be. Like Brussels, Antwerp, Hasselt and numerous other Belgian and Dutch cities, the city of Bruges is organising a grand winter event. The winter event Winter Glow 2024 will cover the entire city centre and will take place from Friday November 22nd 2024 till Sunday January 5th 2025. This walk along Bruges Winter Glow Bruges shows you all the attractions of the winter event, and also leads you through the most famous shopping streets that are beautifully lit and decorated for the occasion. No fewer than 22 shopping days with free bus transport are planned in Bruges during the end-of-year period. Winter Glow 2024 also has two Christmas markets, the Light Experience Trail, an artificial ice skating rink, a winter bar and the ‘Warmest Week’ in store for you.
Walk along Winter Glow Bruges 2024: start at ‘t Zand
’t Zand: largest square in town
The starting point of this walk is the square ‘t Zand, the largest square in Bruges near the modern concert hall. There is a large car park under the square where you can park your car. By the way, we recommend everyone to travel to Bruges by public transport. During the special shopping days in the end-of-year period and during the ‘Warmest Week’ (December 18th – 24th), bus transport in the city is free. In this period, you can take a bus from the train station to ‘t Zand free of charge.
The Warmest Week during Winter Glow Bruges 2024
From December 18th till December 24th, ‘t Zand will host a first attraction: the Warmest Week, with non-stop live radio from the Flemish radio stations Studio Brussel and MNM. During the Warmest Week, money is raised that goes to good causes. This year, the Warmest Week’s central theme is ‘Flame together against loneliness’. From ‘t Zand, head to Zuidzandstraat, a well-known shopping street in Bruges where shopaholics can indulge. Stroll down the beautifully decorated shopping street to the majestic St Salvator’s Cathedral, the main church of the diocese of Bruges.
Winter Glow 2024 walk past St Salvator’s Cathedral
Don’t forget to visit this impressive cathedral, with its 79-metre-high tower (259 feet). The cathedral houses mausoleums, tapestries, murals and numerous valuable artworks by famous Flemish masters, including Rogier van der Weyden, Dirk Bouts and Hugo van der Goes.
After your visit to the cathedral, continue your walk along the street Sint-Salvatorskerkhof, the street that runs just in front of the cathedral’s tower. Keep following this street along the southern side wall of St Salvator’s Cathedral and then turn right into the street Heilige-Geeststraat. At the end of this street, you will reach the Church of Our Lady, which is one of the tallest buildings in Belgium.
From the Church of Our Lady to the Minnewater (Lake of Love)
Church of Our Lady
Our Lady’s Church is the second tallest brick building in the world, with a 115-metre-high tower (377 feet), typical of Bruges’ skyline. The church is best known for the mausoleums of Mary of Burgundy and Charles the Bold, located in the choir. Another unmissable art treasure, in the museum section of the church, is the statue ‘Madonna and Child’ by none other than Michelangelo. Entry to the church is free, but you have to pay for the museum section.
St John’s Hospital
Continue walking down Mariastraat along the west side of the church. About fifty metres further on, you will see the entrance to the Saint John’s Hospital Museum on your right. The oldest part of the Saint John’s Hospital, where the sick, poor and needy were taken care of for centuries, dates from the 12th century. Besides a hospital collection and a 17th-century pharmacy, the museum contains a collection of historical paintings by Hans Memling and a series of modern artworks.
Our walk along Winter Glow 2024 in Bruges continues through the street Mariastraat, with the famous bridge Mariabrug (Maria Bridge) a little further on. On this historic bridge, enjoy the beautiful view over one of the Bruges canals (the small canals or city canals in Bruges), where you can also hop on a tourist boat for a tour of the city’s canals.
Brewery ‘De Halve Maan’
Walk straight ahead to Katelijnestraat, a busy shopping street in Bruges. About 70 metres further on, you will see a narrow street on your right between two houses: Walstraat. Follow this narrow street until you come to Walplein, a picturesque little square with numerous cafés and restaurants on the left, which is beautifully decorated at Christmas time.
Turn left onto Walplein street. After approximately 30 metres (33 yards), you pass the family brewery ‘De Halve Maan‘ on your right, where the famous beer ‘Brugse Zot’ (Fool of Bruges) is brewed. De Halve Maan is the last authentic family brewery in the heart of Bruges. To visit the brewery, you have to book in advance, but you can always enjoy a nice beer in the courtyard. In the passageway leading to the courtyard, don’t forget to take a look at a fragment of the brewery’s famous beer pipeline. This 3.3-kilometre (2.05 miles) beer pipeline connects the brewery to the bottling plant in an industrial area outside the city centre.
Walk Winter Glow 2024 past Wijngaardplein and Begijnhof
Walk further down the street Walplein, where you will still come across plenty of quaint shops and historic house facades. At the end of the street, turn right into the street Wijngaardstraat, which leads to the square Wijngaardplein. Notice the old fountain with a horse’s head just in front of the square. The coachmen of the tourist carriages passing through Bruges usually fill their buckets with water for their horses here.
On the right, you can see a street leading to ‘Begijnhof’ (the Beguinage). Feel free to take a look there when the entrance gate is open. The small houses are built around a central grassy square with tall trees. At the edge of this square is also the beguinage church, which is also well worth a visit. There are no more beguines in Bruges, but the old houses are still inhabited, including by some nuns of the Order of Saint Benedict.
The walk along Winter Glow Bruges 2024 goes straight through Wijngaardplein street. At the next junction, keep following the street to the right, with the water of the canal on your right. You arrive at a T-junction, where you turn right, across the bridge with the so-called ‘Sashuis’ on your left. The Sashuis was built in 1519 and served to operate a complex of locks used to regulate the water level of the canals. Past the Sashuis, turn left onto the street Begijnenvest. The small lake on the left is the ‘Minnewater’ (Lake of Love), where two attractions of Bruges Winter Glow are located.
Walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024: skating rink and winter bar on the Minnewater
During Winter Glow 2024 in Bruges, a sustainable artificial ice rink will float on the Minnewater. So you do not skate on ice, but on plastic. Ambient lights hang above the rink. A unique location to skate! You can bring your own skates or rent some on site. The artificial ice rink is not the only winter experience on the Minnewater: you will also find the Winter Bar ‘Vorst’. The organisers work together with local suppliers from the Bruges region to run this winter bar.
Along Katelijnevest and Katelijnestraat to Groeninge and the Dijver canal
Poertoren and Minnewater Park
Continue the walk along Winter Glow 2024 in Bruges via the street Begijnenvest, with the Minnewater lake on your left. Continue up to the ‘Poertoren’, a 14th-century tower originally used to store gunpowder. At the Poertoren tower, turn left, across the Minnewater bridge to the other side of the lake. There you enter Minnewater Park and follow the path straight ahead (Katelijnevest) until you reach the intersection with Katelijnestraat.
At this intersection, turn left onto Katelijnestraat, towards the city centre. This famous shopping street in Bruges is sure to please shopaholics. During the Christmas period, Katelijnestraat and the other shopping streets are decorated with decorative Christmas lights in the theme of Bruges’ famous lace.
Hertsberghe and De Generaliteit almshouses
On Katelijnestraat, you pass the almshouse Hertsberghe and the almshouse De Generaliteit on your right. Both have recently been beautifully renovated. The almshouses date from the 16th and 17th centuries. They consisted of several small houses for the sick and needy. Today, the renovated and enlarged houses are still used for social housing.
Walk over 400 metres (438 yards) down Katelijnestraat until you reach the junction with Nieuwe and Oude Gentweg on the right. Take the street Nieuwe Gentweg (at right angles). On your right you will see the Bruges Diamond Museum. The Diamond Museum’s collection contains a large amount of documents and tools related to the diamond industry in Bruges and Flanders.
At the next intersection, turn left at right angles onto Groeninge street. This narrow street with old house fronts makes a right turn after about 200 metres (219 yards) and then left again. Both left and right you will see gates in the wall. The gate on your left leads to the Arentshof park. Especially in the evening, you have a nice view here of the tower of the Church of Our Lady and a façade of the Gruuthuse Museum. The little gate on your right is a gateway to the Groeninge Museum.
Christmas Walk Winter Glow 2024 past the Groeninge Museum and Gruuthuse Museum
The Groeninge Museum collection offers an overview of Belgian visual art, from the 15th-century Flemish Primitives to 20th-century expressionism. Continue down Groeninge street until the T-junction with Dijver street, which runs right next to the city canal Dijver (one of Bruges’ canals). Turn left at this junction until you reach the entrance to the Gruuthuse Museum on your left. The Gruuthuse Museum brings Bruges’ glorious history back to life, through tapestries, stained glass windows, wood sculptures, Bruges lace and so on.
To the first Christmas market on this walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024
With your back to the Gruuthuse Museum, you cross the street and enter Nieuwstraat. You cross a small bridge over the Dijver, where you can also board a tourist boat for a city tour on the canals.
At the end of Nieuwstraat, turn left. Via the street Oude Burg, you will arrive on your right at the square ‘Simon Stevinplein‘, where you will find one of the two Christmas markets in Bruges on this walk along Winter Glow 2024.
The statue of Flemish mathematician and physicist Simon Stevin, born in Bruges in 1548, proudly shows off among the cosy Christmas stalls on the square. The Christmas market at Simon Stevin square is mainly dedicated to craft products and direct contact with the people who manufactured the product. Besides the Christmas stalls, you will find covered picknick tables where you can enjoy a bite to eat. The youngest visitors will have fun on a children’s carousel.
After your visit to the Christmas market, head to the other side of the square, which borders Steenstraat. With your back turned to the square and the Christmas market, turn right and follow Steenstraat towards ‘Grote Markt’ (Market Square). Steenstraat is one of the main shopping streets in Bruges. During the Christmas period, Steenstraat is attractively lit and decorated.
Bruges’ Market Square with the second Christmas market
Sights on Bruges’ Market Square
Of course, on this walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024, don’t miss the world-famous Market Square, where Bruges’ second and largest Christmas market is set up. Bruges’ Market Square is dominated by the impressive Belfry and the neo-Gothic Provincial Court. The 13th-century World Heritage-listed Belfry is 83 metres (272 feet) high. After 366 stairs, you will be at the top and have unparalleled views over the city. The Provincial Court on the east side of the Market Square housed the provincial council of Western Flanders until 1999. It is now being transformed into a tourist information centre for the province of Western Flanders. On the Market Square, also notice the statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter De Coninck, two freedom fighters from the time of the Battle of the Golden Spurs (early 14th century).
Highlight of Winter Glow 2024: Bruges Christmas market on the Market Square
The Christmas market on the Market Square offers you everything you expect from a cosy Christmas market. Christmas decorations in all colours and shapes, drink and food stalls with the indispensable Glühwein, Christmas ball fishing for young children, stalls with warm winter clothes: it’s all there. Especially in the evening, when the historical buildings around the Market Square are brilliantly lit, you will experience a unique Christmas atmosphere here.
From Burg square to Jan Van Eyck square
Beer museum and Burg
After your visit to the Christmas market, walk, with your back turned to the Belfry, to the right into the street Breidelstraat. On your left, you will walk past the Beer Museum (Bruges Beer Experience). The Beer Museum aims to provide a total experience of the most fascinating facets of beer. For beer lovers: you can taste no less than 16 types of draught beer!
Via Breidelstraat, you enter the large Burg square. This is one of the city’s oldest squares and a true tourist attraction. Coming onto the square from Breidelstraat, you will see Bruges’ 14th-century City Hall on your right. In the far right corner you will find the entrance to the Basilica of the Holy Blood, where the relic of the Holy Blood is kept.
Chocolate Museum Choco-Story
Make a sharp left turn and walk, with your back turned to the Town Hall, towards the street Philipstockstraat. Here you will pass a beautifully lit park with spruce trees, a pop-up that is only there during Winter Glow.
In the street Philipstockstraat, turn right for a good twenty metres (21.9 yards) and then turn left into Wapenmakersstraat. Go straight ahead in Wapenmakersstraat until you reach the triangular square Sint-Jansplein. There, on your right at the corner of Sint-Jansstraat with Wijnzakstraat, you will see the chocolate museum Choco-Story. The chocolate museum holds a collection of just under a thousand objects explaining the origins and evolution of chocolate. Not only the history, but also the production process of chocolate is discussed.
Continue your walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024 straight ahead via Wijnzakstraat and Biskajersplein to Jan Van Eyck Square. During the Christmas period 2024-2025, Jan Van Eyck Square will be the starting point of the unique Light Experience Walk, a three-kilometre (1.86 miles) light trail with ten unmissable light installations.
If you are too early for the Light Experience Trail or just want to shop and see the Christmas markets, you can walk back to ‘t Zand via the Frietmuseum, the city theater and some of Bruges’ busiest shopping streets (read more at ‘Further along Bruges Winter Glow 2024: past Frietmuseum, city theater and Bruges shopping streets’). Afterwards, you can return to Jan Van Eyckplein on foot or by bus to start the Light Experience Trail from 5.30 pm.
Light Experience Trail
Below, we describe in detail the route of the Light Experience Trail, which is an integral part of this walk along Bruges Winter Glow Bruges. You can admire the light installations from Friday evening November 22nd, 2024 until Sunday evening January 5th, 2025, each time from 5.30 pm to 11 pm (on Fr. and Sat. and from 20/12 to 5/1: until midnight). The three-kilometre Light Experience Trail starts and ends on Jan Van Eyck Square. This year, the theme of the Light Experience Walk is ‘fire and ice’. During the Light Experience Walk, you will take a magical journey from the warm heart of the city centre (the ‘fire’) to the fairytale ice landscape at the borders of Bruges, the ‘Brugse Vesten’ (the ‘ice’).
Light experience walk Bruges Winter Glow 2024 : start on Jan Van Eyck Square
The area around Jan Van Eyck Square developed around 1200, when a thriving port grew around the waters of the Bruges canals. The square is surrounded by beautiful historic buildings with stepped gables. In the middle of the square you will find a statue of Jan Van Eyck, the 15th-century painter of the Mystic Lamb, who was especially active in Bruges. The first light installation ‘Solar Wind’ of the Light Experience Trail creates a rising sun behind Jan Van Eyck’s statue. A warm glow spreads across the square. Then Jan Van Eyck’s shadow starts to work as a painter again.
With the statue of Jan Van Eyck in front of you, turn diagonally left off the square into the street Genthof. After about 80 metres (87,5 yards), turn left into Oosterlingenplein street. To your left, you pass the square Woensdagmarkt with a statue of Hans Memling. This painter, who lived in Bruges and died there in 1494, is among the most important Flemish Primitives. Continue straight ahead until just before a bridge over the canals, called the ‘Torenbrug’.
The street on the left before the bridge is called ‘Spaanse Loskaai’. This neighbourhood was home to warehouses and depots of Spanish merchants in the 15th century. On Spaanse Loskaai you find the second light installation of the Light Experience Trail: ‘The Rhythm of the Phoenix’. A phoenix, a mythical bird that repeatedly rises from its ashes, is projected on a water curtain in the canal Augustijnenrei. In the process, the phoenix casts a very fiery glow on the surroundings.
The walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024 continues via the street Gouden Handrei. Turn right just before the bridge Torenbrug. Both the canal and the street are called ‘Gouden Handrei’ (Golden Hand Canal) because, according to a Bruges legend, a golden hand can sometimes be seen holding a golden eel. This is supposed to warn fishermen not to fish for eels in this canal. About halfway down the canal, you will find the third light installation of the Light Experience Trail: ‘Wings of Fire’. The light projection creates fluttering firebirds that nest in the historic buildings and bring the centuries-old facades along the Gouden Handrei to life.
Along Potterierei and Snaggaardstraat to Kruisvest
At the end of the street Gouden Handrei, turn right for about ten metres (11 yards) and then turn left to cross the Carmers Bridge over the canals. Just after the bridge, turn left into Potterierei street. In the 14th century, many potters worked here, hence the name ‘potterie’. The canal on your left is the Langerei. The fourth light installation ‘The Stream of Renewal’ of the Light Experience Trail symbolises the transition from fire to water on this canal. The light projection shows a symbolic flow of lava plunging into the water as the fire slowly dies out. Afterwards, the lava flow turns into a waterfall.
At the next bridge (the Snaggaard bridge) over the canal Langerei, turn right into the street Snaggaardstraat. The street’s name comes from the Snaggard family who lived here in the Middle Ages. The famous Bruges hotel and tourism school Spermalie is located in this street.
In the second part of Snaggaardstraat, you walk past a high stone wall on your right, enclosing the garden of the neighbouring English Convent. The English Convent stands on Carmers Street and was founded in 1629. The stone garden wall and trees form the setting for the fifth light show of the Light Experience Trail: ‘Ice Light’. Needles of ice symbolically swirl down from the trees along the wall of the English Convent here. The symbolic cold is now real, but the warmth can still return if you fan the fire. You can do that fanning yourself, with a kind of ‘bellows’ on pedestals along the road. The ice needles then turn into needles of fire.
Walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024 in the street Kruisvest
At the end of Snaggaardstraat, turn right into the street Peterseliestraat. Here you enter Bruges‘ “Lost Corner”, a green and pleasant neighbourhood that has been part of the urban area within Bruges’ fortifications since the 14th century. The two windmills along the street Kruisvest, the Sint-Janshuismolen and the Bonne-Chièremolen, immediately attract attention.
At the intersection with Carmersstraat, take the first path on the left, which leads you through a small park to Kruisvest. Here you will find the sixth light installation of the Light Experience Walk: ‘Winter Ground’. The light installation transforms the surroundings here into a magical ice landscape. It’s like taking a walk in the Ice Age, with ice crystals growing out of the ground.
Continue the walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024 on the path along the water, towards the mill Sint-Janshuismolen. This mill has been there since 1770. It is still used for grinding in the summer months. The second mill, the Bonne-Chière, is originally from Olsene and replaced an older mill that stood on this site in 1911. Between the Sint-Janshuismolen and the Bonne-Chière Mill, the seventh light show of the light walk takes place: ‘Echoes of the North’. The light show brings mammoths to life in an icy plain. A young mammoth searches for its parents and explores the winter landscape between the mills.
In the street Rolweg, diagonally opposite the mill Sint-Janshuismolen, stands the birthplace of the famous Flemish priest-poet Guido Gezelle (1830-1899). The birth house is now a museum (Gezellehuis).
Light experience walk from Kruisvest to Jeruzalemkapel
The Light Experience Trail continues along Hugo Verrieststraat, past the Sint-Janshuismolen the second street on your right. The eighth light show continues on the ‘Guido Gezellewarande‘, a small cosy park next to the building of the historic St George’s Guild. This Bruges guild of crossbowmen has existed for almost 700 years. The light installation ‘Winter Playground’ transforms the Guido Gezellewarande into a winter playground, where you can rock on luminous swings and walk on illuminated stepping stones.
The Hugo Verrieststraat makes a right-angled bend to the right and ends at a T-junction with Rolweg. Turn left on Rolweg and after 80 meters (88 yards) turn left again into the street Balstraat. At the end of Balstraat is the chapel Jeruzalemkapel, where you will find the ninth light installation of the Light Experience Trail. The Jerusalem Chapel belongs to the Adornes domain, founded by the Italian Adornes family in the 15th century. The Adornes domain, consisting of the chapel, several almshouses and a mansion, is still in family ownership. The Count and Countess Maximilien de Limburg Stirum are the current owners. You can visit the Adornes domain for a fee.
The ninth light installation symbolizes ‘The dance of ice and fire’. The closer you get to the city center of Bruges, the more you symbolically leave the icy world and feel the warmth of the fire in the city again. The chapel is the meeting place of the moon’s cold dust wind with the sun’s glowing stardust. On top of the tower, both fight for the upper hand.
Last part of the Light Experience Trail: via Sint-Annakerk and Sint- Annarei to Spinolarei
At the Jerusalem Chapel, turn right into the street Jeruzalemstraat. After about 70 meters (77 yards), turn left and walk along the side facade of the church Sint-Annakerk. This church was built at the beginning of the 17th century as a parish church for the Bruges St. Anne district. The church has a simple appearance, but has a very rich Baroque interior. Continue your walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024 via Sint-Annastraat (front of the church). At the end of the street, turn right to Sint-Annarei street. This street runs on the bank of the canal Sint-Annarei.
The Light Experience Trail continues via the picturesque Sint-Annarei to the bridge Strobrug, the first bridge over the Sint-Annarei on your left. Walk straight across the bridge to the Spinolarei street, which runs on the southern bank of the Spiegelrei canal. The name ‘Spiegelrei’ (‘mirror canal’) may come from the mirror reflections on the water of the historic houses along the canal, or from the 15th-century mirror makers who lived here.
Just before the bridge Koningsbrug over the Spiegelrei canal you will find the tenth and last light installation ‘Sparks Play’. Here, fiery hues dance on the water of the Spiegelrei canal, bathing the picturesque surroundings of the canals in a warm glow. The spectacle is an ode to the fire of life that burns in each of us.
Finally, walk across the street Spinolarei to the Jan Van Eyck square, the start and end point of the Light Experience Trail of Bruges Winter Glow 2024.
Further along Bruges Winter Glow 2024: past Frietmuseum, City Theater and Bruges shopping streets
The historic ‘Poortersloge’
Back at Jan Van Eyck square after walking the Light Experience Trail, you continue your route past Bruges Winter Glow towards the Frietmuseum and Stadsschouwburg. The 15th-century building with the turret that you see straight in front of you is the historic ‘Poortersloge’ (Burghers’ Lodge). This is where Bruges businessmen received their trading partners, at a time when this area was a thriving international port area. Turn right in front of the facade of the Burghers’ Lodge and then turn left into the street Academiestraat. Take a look at the side wall of the Burghers’ Lodge: on the corner you will see a statue of a bear with a coat of arms. This bear, the ‘Bear of the Lodge’, was the mascot of a 15th-century jousting club and recalls a Bruges legend about a white bear that made the area unsafe.
Frietmuseum and City Theater
At the end of Academiestraat, turn left into the street Vlamingstraat. On your right you will pass the museum ‘Frietmuseum’, the only museum in the world dedicated to… fries! The museum shows the history of the potato, the processing of potatoes into fries with different machines and the preparation of sauces. Of course you can also enjoy tasty Belgian fries with accompanying sauces.
A few dozen meters further on you will arrive at the City Theater. The Royal City Theater is an impressive building from 1869 in neo-Renaissance style. It is one of the best preserved city theaters in Europe, with a majestic theater hall illuminated by a monumental chandelier.
Square Eiermarkt and shopping streets
The last part of this walk along Winter Glow at Bruges takes you via a number of well-known shopping streets from the City Theater back to square ’t Zand. Take the street Adriaan Willaertstraat on the right next to the City Theater and turn left again at the end, to the street Kuipersstraat. About 130 meters (142 yards) further you will pass the square ‘Eiermarkt’ (‘Egg market’) on your left. This small square with an 18th-century water pump is almost completely surrounded by catering establishments and is known for its evening ambiance.
Walk straight ahead to the street Geldmuntstraat, which turns into the street Noordzandstraat after about 150 meters (157 yards). Both shopping streets are a mecca for shopping enthusiasts. Clothing stores in particular are well represented, but you will also find souvenirs, jewelry, leather goods, cosmetics, books, food and so on. At the end of Noordzandstraat you reach the large square ’t Zand, the start and end point of this walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024.
Shopping days in Bruges during the end of the year
On this walk along Winter Glow 2024 in Bruges you will also pass through the main shopping streets. Combine your visit to the Christmas markets in Bruges with a wonderful day of shopping! During the end-of-year period, the city provides no fewer than 22 special shopping days. On such a shopping day you can use buses for free in the Bruges region. In addition, some shopping streets are being made car-free. The shopping days in the end of year period 2024-2025 are:
- Saturday November 23rd and Sunday November 24th
- Saturday November 30th and Sunday December 1st
- Saturday December 7th and Sunday December 8th
- Saturday December 14th and Sunday December 15th
- every day from Wednesday December 18th to Sunday December 29th
- Saturday January 4th and Sunday January 5th, 2025
Walk along Bruges Winter Glow 2024: location, period, opening hours and extra information
- Location: Christmas markets in Bruges on the Market Square and Simon Stevin square, skating rink and winter bar on the Minnewater (Lake of Love), Light experience walk in the center and the Sint-Anna district northeast of the Market Square, Warmest Week on square ’t Zand
- Period: from Friday, November 22th, 2024 until Sunday, January 5th, 2025
- Opening hours: the two Christmas markets in Bruges are open on Sunday to Thursday from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM, on Friday and Saturday from 10:30 AM to 11:00 PM. The Light Experience Trail takes place from Sunday to Thursday from 5:30 PM to 11:00 PM. On other days and from December 20th to January 5th from 5:30 PM to midnight. For the other attractions: see Winter Glow 2024 website
- Additional information about Bruges: Visit Bruges website
