Bruges is one of my favorite cities in Europe. I did not know about this place before I first visited. Upon arrival, it was like love at first sight. Not surprisingly, we decided that it would be a great idea to celebrate New Years’ in Bruges, with a couple of our friends. Expectations were high, maybe a bit too high, but let’s start from the beginning.
Plan in advance
One thing is to plan a trip just for two people, and another story if you need to plan it for 4, or even more. Particularly, if you’re not a certified tour guide. When you need to agree on something, when there are more people, you automatically lose time. Otherwise, you shall be known as a dictator, that decides everyone on their own, not listening to suggestions. The first thing we were struggling with was accommodation. No one wanted to pay a lot, no one wanted to stay outside of the city center, and no one was very excited about staying in a hostel with a bunch of random people. When we completely ran out of time and options, we booked four beds in a hostel not too far from the center of Bruges. Another worthwhile, advanced booking, is parking. Our group arrived in Bruges via automobile. There was little street parking available (not even talking about free parking – forget about it) and we needed to find an underground one. That also became quite an issue since most of them were already filled. Eventually, we found one and were ecstatic that we did not need to waste time. At that point, 30 euros per day did not seem like a problem.
Time until midnight celebration
Firstly, we needed to check-in at the hostel. And here we finally got lucky. We got the whole room just for the 4 of us. I felt like we hit the jackpot. Not that I hate staying in hostels, but let’s be honest – it’s more comfortable to share the space with the ones you already know. And for two people in our group, staying in a hostel was a new experience, so I wanted to make it as less traumatizing as possible.
Our planned and booked activity was a brewery tour at De Halve Maan (yes, this is the brand that has a half-moon in their logo). We booked a basic tour that lasted approximately 1 hour and cost 12 euros. They also have a so-called XL tour for 21 euros but – surprise surprise – at the time of booking, it was already sold out. The group was enormous, so we were divided into two smaller groups and it was still difficult to hear the tour guide if you happened to stand at the end of the crowd. The brewery tour was pretty basic – a bit of history, a bit of beer making secrets, some jokes about Heineken beer, and a glass of free beer at the end of the tour. And then some optional shopping in their gift shop.
After the beer tour, we went sightseeing. Since, for Tyler and me, this was not the first time in Bruges, we introduced this city to our friends. Maybe not as good as a professional tour guide but hey – it was free 99. We circled the old town, took pictures in the most scenic places in Bruges, of course, ate some waffles, and got some hot wine. There was a beautiful Christmas market right in the main square (Markt). To be completely honest, we just were killing time and eventually decided to go to any beer place and wait for the grand festivities to start in a warm environment.
Happy New Year!
When the clock drew closer to midnight, we took off to find the square that was supposed to have a concert and “drones show”. We weren’t sure what it might be, but hey – the show is a show and the show must go on. It wasn’t difficult to find that big square since all the people walking in the same direction. We, naturally, followed them and found the square full of people. It was a huge crowd and there were zero chances to find a better place to view the intriguing drone show. And finally, it’s midnight! People were dancing and opening champagne (let’s be honest – it was sparkling wine). No one knew what a terrible year 2020 is going to be. And what about the drones? Let’s put it this way: don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Fireworks were invented in China centuries ago and 20 little drones did not give the same effect.
We left the square a bit earlier just to avoid massive crowds. We decided, before getting back to our hostel, to get some waffles. Most of them were closed, but thankfully we found one that was still open. We sacrificed ourselves and waited in a long line just to get our treats. And when our goal was so close the lady told us “sorry, we ran out of batter“. This is how our 2020 started. There was nothing else left just to get to our hostel and get some beer there. To be honest, these couple of hours that we spend in the hostel playing pool and drinking beer was the best part of all our New Years’ celebrations.
New Years in Bruges in a nutshell
I won’t tell you anything new, however, I’ll repeat the same truth – plan everything. The sooner, the better. The downside of our New Years’ trip was that we literally didn’t plan enough activities and were just wandering around. Add the cold, humidity, slight food poisoning (yes, some of us had experienced) and you’ll fail your New Years’ successfully.
