For the second year in a row, the Bruges beer ‘Brugse Zot‘ wins the gold medal on the ‘World Beer Cup‘ in the category ‘Belgian- and French-Style Ale’. The prestigious World Beer Cup awards were presented Saturday, April 19 at the close of the annual Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego (California) to a crowd of 1500 excited brewers and their colleagues.

10 reasons why you really should visit Bruges at least once in your life:

1. It is the most well preserved medieval city in Belgium
2. If you like good food, then Bruges is the place to be. There are a lot of excellent restaurants and it even got one with 3 Michelin-stars (De Karmeliet)
3. If you like good food, then you probably like a good drink too. We can recommend you the local beer ‘Brugse Zot’. It already won a lot of prices. You can visit the brewery (De Halve maan) and taste the beer afterwards in the bar.
4. If you like a good drink, then you certainly need to visit the oldest bar in town (café Vlissinghe). It exists since the 16th century. Really a must-see!
5. If you like (older) art, you can visit the ‘Groeningemuseum‘. It has a worldfamous collection of the Flemish Primitives, with masterpieces by Jan Van Eyck, Hugo van der Goes, Hans Memling and Gerard David. Here you can find some examples of the collection.
6. For a beautiful panoramic view of the city of Bruges, you need to climb the 366 steps of the Belfry. It has an impressive clock mechanism and a carillon with 47 bells. The Belfry has an important role in the movie ‘In Bruges’.
7. You can make a beautiful walk around the city and visit one of the 4 remaining medieval gates (Ezelpoort, Smedepoort, Gentpoort and Kruispoort)
8. Bruges has a lot of chocolate shops. Take a walk on ‘The Chocolate Walk’ – A chocolate trail that takes in all the finest chocolate shops of Bruges.
9. Probably the most romantic place in Bruges is the ‘lake of love‘ (’Minnewater’ in Dutch). It’s the former harbor of Bruges and now a peaceful and very romantic place.
10. ‘The church of our lady‘ is the tallest structure in the city. It’s also the second tallest brickwork builing in the whole world (122,3m). The altarpiece of the large chapel in the southern aisle enshrines the most celebrated art treasure of the church—a white marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo around 1504.