Why Bruges is still Europe’s big overtourism success story

There’s a set of 47 bronze bells at the top of the Belfort, the old belfry at the centre of Bruges. From a keyboard close by, the city’s official carillon player taps out tunes in a series of scheduled concerts that ring out over the rooftops below, throughout the year. It’s just one of the many quirky charms of this little gem of a city which now attracts more than 7 million visitors a year.

It’s a secular belltower, not attached to a church, and one of its historic functions since medieval times was to serve as a watchtower and to sound the alarm in the event of fire or enemy attack. Should it be ringing now in the face of the ever-growing tourist invasion?

Certainly alarm bells were ringing in the press this summer. The mayor of Bruges, Dirk De fauw, was widely quoted as saying in an interview: “People have started indicating that there are just too many visitors... If we just let everyone do what they want, things will quickly go wrong.” It was enough for many to leap to the assumption that Bruges had joined the throng of destinations − Barcelona, Venice, Florence, Dubrovnik, Amsterdam − buckling under the weight of tourist numbers, and seeking drastic action to turn the tide.

On the face of it, Bruges’s statistics do sound alarming: 7 million tourists in 2023 set against a city population of just 120,000. But statistics can give a distorted impression. Express this number as an average of about 24,500 tourists a day (including those who stay more than one day) and suddenly it seems rather more manageable.

In fact, the city authorities have been mindful of the threat of excessive tourism for many years. From 1996, a “hotel-stop” policy put a cap on the proliferation of new hotels in the city centre, and in 2002, and most recently in 2020, restrictions were extended to holiday rentals.

The vast majority of visitors (85 per cent) are day trippers. Measures to control the impact of their numbers include the restriction of access to the city centre by coach, and, indeed, by road traffic generally. Since 2019, cruise ships docking at Bruges’s port Zeebrugge, nine miles to the north, have been limited to two per day (from a capacity of five), reducing the influx of their excursion coaches.

In their Strategic Vision Memorandum Tourism [sic] 2019−2024, the city and tourist authorities give a clear indication of what they hope to achieve: “A positive story that contributes to the well-being of our residents, visitors and entrepreneurs.” The strategy appears to be working. Regular polls suggest that Bruges’s citizens are generally very supportive of tourism (75 to 90 per cent, depending on the question asked).

The authorities remain vigilant as they prepare tourist policies for 2025-2030. But for now, Bruges can still bask in its reputation as a city that has faced the threat of overtourism and found ways of managing it successfully.

On the ground, it is a tale of two cities. The historic centre can definitely feel crowded. Essentially egg-shaped, it is encircled by a ring of canals that mark the former course of the medieval city walls. The main clusters of coach and car parks, as well as the railway station, lie just beyond this perimeter to the south and southwest. Pleasant, tree-lined walks connect these arrival points to the city centre in a tapering triangle, like a slice of cake, with its point in the Markt, the central marketplace dominated by the Belfort.

In, or very close to, this slice of cake lie many of Bruges’s key attractions, such as the Minnewater lake and the timelessly tranquil Begijnhof (Béguinage); the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, with its Madonna and Child by Michelangelo; the Groeningemuseum, with its priceless early Flemish paintings; the classic canal view from the Rozenhoedkaai (also a hub for canal trips); and the lavishly Gothic and Neogothic Stadhuis (town hall).

In other words, you don’t need to stray far off this narrow slice to see much of the best of Bruges − and many day trippers don’t. Those that see only this part of Bruges will be the first to complain about the crowds.

Stray beyond the central hub, however, and a quieter Bruges quickly reveals itself, with its own attractions, such as the Jerusalem Chapel in the Adornesdomein, the Volkskundemuseum (Museum of Folk Life), and the four historic windmills lining the eastern dyke.

Stay a few days (yes, the city is digestible on a day trip, but it deserves a more languorous look); base yourself at one of Bruges’s numerous charming hotels and B&Bs, enjoy the best of Belgian cuisine in some seriously good restaurants, and lose yourself in the alleys and the quiet canals.

Autumn is a lovely time of year here, as the leaves turn and a low sun lights up the medieval skyline. The two Christmas markets (November 22 to January 5 2025) bring lustre to the gloomy months of the year’s end. Listen out for the tunes of the carillon-player above the joyous hubbub. Busy, yes – but you certainly won’t hear alarm bells.