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FrançaisThe 15 In Bruges filming locations are all real places inside the medieval centre of Bruges, and every one of them is still standing and still visitable. Most are free public squares, bridges and streets; five charge admission, and two are a working restaurant and a working hotel. The film was shot on location in 2007, directed by Martin McDonagh and starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, and the city has barely changed since.
In Bruges is a black comedy about two Irish hitmen sent to lie low in Belgium. It was not a hit in cinemas, but it picked up a cult following and it is now the best known of the films shot in Bruges. That matters for a visitor, because the locations were mostly famous before the crew arrived, so following them is also a good way to see the city.
I had already been to Bruges a few times, so I made this a thematic trip and went looking for as many filming locations as I could find. Finding them was easy: the Bruges tourist office publishes a map that marks them. Photographing them was the hard part. It poured for two entire days. I ran around with my camera tucked under my rain jacket like I had something to hide, pulled it out at each spot, took the shot and put it away again.
It would have been logical to follow the storyline when listing these locations, so of course I did not do that. I listed them in the order that makes sense to walk if you arrive at the train station, so you can use this post as a self-guided In Bruges tour. That order also gives away less of the plot, though I cannot promise there are no spoilers at all.
Spoiler warning: if you have not seen In Bruges yet, this post gives away a few things.
Listed below are the In Bruges filming locations.
- Minnewater Bridge. The Lake of Love bridge where gangster boss Harry arrives in Bruges near the film’s end. The bridge and the park around it are the quietest corner of the walk.
- Gruuthuse Museum, Arentshof and Church of Our Lady. Near the film’s end, Ray stumbles wounded through the courtyard of this museum of medieval Bruges life.
- Groeningemuseum. Ray and Ken visit this art museum, where Ray warms to Hieronymus Bosch’s “Last Judgement” and its demons.
- Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce Hotel. The In Bruges hotel where Ray and Ken share a room. Ray later jumps from its flower-covered upper terrace.
- Rozenhoedkaai. The canal corner where a reluctant Ray is taken on a boat tour by Ken. It is the most photographed spot in the city.
- Koningin Astridpark. Ray sits on a bench near the pond in this public park and thinks about his life, and Ken finds him there.
- Huidenvettersplein. The small square Ray sprints through while Harry chases him near the end.
- Vismarkt. The old fish market Ray runs through while trying to get away from Harry.
- Jerusalem Church. Stood in for the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Site of the church scene between Ken and Ray.
- Jan Van Eyckplein. Ray and Ken sit on a bench here and talk about their work, in the square named after the painter.
- ‘t Zwart Huis. The bistro where Ray and Ken drink their first Belgian beers together.
- Restaurant Cafedraal. Ray takes Chloe on a date to this restaurant, and the evening ends in a fight with the diners at the next table.
- Meestraat Bridge, Steenhouwersdrijk, Groenerei and Peerdenstraat. Ray and Chloe make up while leaning on the stone railing of this bridge over a quiet canal.
- The Bruges Market Square, the Belfry and the Breidelstraat. Ken climbs the tower’s narrow steps for the view while Ray waits below in the Markt. Their confrontation at the top was filmed on a replica.
- Basilica of the Holy Blood. Seen from outside near the end as Ray sprints past. The chapel holds the relic said to contain cloth stained with the blood of Christ.
1. Minnewater Bridge
Minnewater Bridge is the brick arch bridge over Lake Minnewater at the southern edge of the Bruges centre, and it is free to cross at any hour. It is the first In Bruges location you reach walking in from the train station, which is about 10 minutes away on foot. The bridge is worth the detour on its own: it gives you the long view down the lake, and the park beside it is the one place in central Bruges that stays quiet in high season.
Minnewater Bridge dates from 1740, and Visit Bruges gives that year for the crossing now known as the Lovers’ Bridge. Lake Minnewater itself is older and was part of the city’s water system, feeding the River Reie into the canal network. The stepped brick Sashuis, the sluice house at the north end of the lake, was built in 1519 and has been a protected monument since 1996. Swans live on the water year round, and photographers come for the reflection of the arch in the still lake.
Let’s start near the end of the film. The bridge at the Minnewater, or “Lake of Love”, is where you see Harry, Ken and Ray’s boss, arrive in the city to sort things out himself.
The lake got its name from a local legend that goes back to the Roman advance into Gaul. Minna was to be married to a man her father had chosen, but she loved Stromberg, a warrior from another tribe. When Stromberg left to fight the Romans and Minna could not hold off the wedding any longer, she fled into the woods near the lake. Stromberg came back wounded and went looking for her, but she was already weak, and she died in his arms. To honour her, he dammed a small lake, buried her in the dry part and let the water flow back over the grave. That is the Minnewater. Cross the red brick bridge with the person you love, the story goes, and the two of you will stay in love.
2. Gruuthuse Museum, Arentshof and Church of Our Lady
The Gruuthuse Museum is open again and charges €15 for adults (about $17, £13), and it is one of the three paid stops on this walk. It stands on the Dijver canal next to the Church of Our Lady, in the medieval palace of Louis of Gruuthuse, and it tells 500 years of Bruges history through tapestries, stained glass, lace, Burgundian manuscripts and Chinese porcelain. Musea Brugge opens it from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closes it on Wednesdays. If you are also visiting the church museum next door, the combined ticket is €19 (about $21, £16) rather than €25.
The highlight inside is the late 15th-century oratory, a private prayer box that hangs off the palace and looks straight down into the chancel of the Church of Our Lady. From the balcony you get a view over the Bonifacius bridge and the museum quarter. Older guides still describe the Gruuthuse as closed for renovation; that work finished and the palace has been open since 2019, so ignore that line if you meet it elsewhere.
Arentshof is the small park behind the Arentshuis, wedged between the Gruuthuse and the Groeningemuseum. It costs nothing to walk through. The humpbacked St-Bonifaciusbrug crosses the canal at the end of it, and in the cobbled courtyard you will find The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Rik Poot, four riders on heavy horses that look considerably grimmer than the rest of the garden.
In In Bruges, this is the ground Ray crawls over. At the end of the film he lies wounded on the cobbles and looks up at the spire of the Church of Our Lady and the gables of the Gruuthuse. Just before that, he walks through a film set inside the Arentshof courtyard, his footsteps bouncing off the walls.
The Church of Our Lady goes back to the 13th century and its brick spire, at 115.5 metres (378.9 ft), is the second highest brick tower in the world. Walking into the church is free. Seeing Michelangelo’s marble “Madonna and Child” and the tombs of Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy means buying a museum ticket, €10 for adults (about $11, £9), and the museum section keeps the same 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours, opening at 1.30 p.m. on Sundays.
3. Groeningemuseum
The Groeningemuseum is the art museum Ray and Ken visit on their cultural day out, and a standard adult ticket costs €15 (about $17, £13). It sits on the Dijver a two-minute walk from the Gruuthuse, and it holds the city’s collection of Flemish and Belgian painting from the 15th to the 20th century. Musea Brugge opens it from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. between 1 April and 2 November, from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. the rest of the year, and closes it on Mondays.
Groeningemuseum highlights include The Madonna with Canon van der Paele by Jan van Eyck, the Adoration of the Magi triptych by Hugo van der Goes and The Last Judgement by Hieronymus Bosch. The Flemish Primitives are the reason most people come, and the Groeningemuseum holds more of them in one room than any other collection.
In the film, Ray hands Ken the choice of what to do for a day in return for a night in the pub, and Ken picks the museum. Ray decides that most of the medieval portraits and painted suffering are rubbish. The Bosch is the one he stops in front of, which tells you a lot about Ray.
4. Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce Hotel
The Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce is the In Bruges hotel, it is still open, and it stands at Wollestraat 41-47 on the corner of the Rozenhoedkaai. This is the building in the film where Ray and Ken are made to share one small room. Its half-timbered facade is on the corner that is probably the most photographed and most painted view in Bruges; my dad once spent an entire session shooting it at different times of day.
In the ending (spoiler again) Ray jumps from the flower-covered upper terrace of this hotel into one of the canal boats drifting below. Not every cramped hotel interior was shot in the actual building. Some were filmed on a set that looked far smaller and plainer than the real rooms.
The hotel has 16 individually designed rooms, antique furniture, marble bathrooms and a canal-view breakfast salon. Its own description mentions a collection of antiques and artworks inspired by Botero, Chagall, Klimt and Matisse, and the building has appeared in other productions besides In Bruges, including the 2019 film Love, Romance & Chocolate. Sixteen rooms in a city this busy means it books out months ahead, so check dates and rates at the Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce early if you want to sleep in the film.
5. Rozenhoedkaai
Rozenhoedkaai is the canal quay on the Dijver where Ken takes a sulking Ray on a boat tour, and it is free to stand on. It is the view that ends up on the postcards: crow-stepped gables, the Belfry behind them and all of it doubled in the water. Rozenhoedkaai is a two-minute walk from the Burg and about five from the Markt, and it is busiest in the middle of the day, so come early or in the evening if you want the shot without a crowd in it.
Five boat companies run the half-hour canal tour, and each has its own jetty. The route is the same for all of them, between Jan van Eyck Square and the Beguinage, and the City of Bruges sets the fare rather than the operators. Visit Bruges lists it at €15 per adult (about $17, £13) and €9 for children aged 4 to 11, held at that level to the end of 2026. Individual visitors cannot book ahead; you buy at the jetty and queue.
Listed below are the five jetties where the Bruges canal boats depart.
- Huidenvettersplein 13: boat company Venetië van het Noorden.
- Rozenhoedkaai: boat company Coudenys.
- Wollestraat 32: boat company De Meulemeester.
- Nieuwstraat 11: boat company Gruuthuse.
- Katelijnestraat 4: boat company Stael.
From November through February the companies work a rota, so at least one jetty is open every day and the others open when they feel like it. Even in the cold and the scattered rain of my trip, people were queueing, sitting under umbrellas as the boats slid through the city.
6. Koningin Astridpark
Koningin Astridpark is the public park where Ray sits and thinks about his life, and it costs nothing to walk into. Locals call it the “botanieken hof”, the botanical garden. Ken finds Ray on a wooden bench near the small pond in the middle, and that bench scene is one of the quietest in the film.
Queen Astrid Park was a cloister garden until the French dissolved the religious communities in 1796. It went private after that, and the city of Bruges bought it in 1850 and opened it as a park. It runs to roughly 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres) of mature trees, winding paths and lawn, with a painted bandstand and the 19th-century Church of Saint Magdalene at the southern end. The park took Queen Astrid of Belgium’s name after her death in 1935.
I am surprised you cannot tell from the photo, but it was pouring when I took it. I was soaked through, half under a tree, and I got two quick frames off and hoped one of them would be usable.
7. Huidenvettersplein
Huidenvettersplein is the small square Ray sprints across while Harry is chasing him, and it is open all the time and free. It sits between the Vismarkt and the Rozenhoedkaai, a minute from both, which is why it works as a chase route: the alleys funnel you straight through it.
In the 14th century Huidenvettersplein belonged to the leather tanners, who worked the hides by the canal and kept their guild house here. The column in the middle carries a weathered sculpture of two lions holding a shield. Today the square is lined with restaurant and cafe terraces under stepped gables, and it is a better place to sit than the Markt because it is a fraction of the size. If you want a proper meal rather than a terrace beer, our guide to the best restaurants in Bruges covers the streets around here.
At the end of the film Ray runs from the Markt through the Vismarkt, the Huidenvettersplein and several other spots as Harry closes on him.
8. Vismarkt
The Vismarkt is the colonnaded old fish market Ray runs through in the dark, and it is free and open day and night. Fresh North Sea fish was once sold on the Markt itself, but in the 18th century the fishmongers were pushed off the main square because of the smell. City architect Jean-Robert Calloigne designed the classical stone colonnade in 1820, and it is the oldest surviving fish market building in Belgium.
You can still buy day-fresh seafood at the Vismarkt from Wednesday to Saturday morning. Craftspeople and artists take the other stalls, selling jewellery, paintings, scarves and prints, so there is usually something laid out under the columns even outside fish hours.
9. Jerusalem Church
The Jerusalem Church is where the In Bruges church scene was actually filmed, and it is part of the privately owned Adornes Estate on Peperstraat, about a 10-minute walk northeast of the Burg. The film never names it. The small church Ken and Ray visit is meant to be the Basilica of the Holy Blood, but the crew could not shoot inside the crowded basilica, so they used this chapel instead.
Jerusalem Church was built by the Adornes family, Genoese merchants who settled in Bruges, and the present chapel dates from the 15th century. It is modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which is where the name comes from, and it is still owned by descendants of the family. Admission to the Adornes Estate is €11 for adults (about $12, £9) according to Visit Bruges, with the Scottish Lounge and the garden included. The estate opens Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from 1 April to 30 September, Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. the rest of the year, and closes on Sundays and public holidays. That Sunday closure catches people out, so plan this one for a weekday.
10. Jan Van Eyckplein
Jan Van Eyckplein is the square in northern Bruges where Ray and Ken sit on a bench and talk about the work they do, and it is free and always open. It is named after the painter Jan van Eyck, whose statue stands in the middle of it, and it is about a 10-minute walk north of the Markt. Jan Van Eyckplein is in Bruges, not Ghent, which is worth saying because a number of guides confuse the two cities on this one.
This square was the port of Burgundian Bruges. Ships came up the Reie to unload here, traders arrived from across Europe, and the buildings around the water were built for that trade: the Tolhuis, where the toll was levied, the Rijkepijndershuis next to it, and the Poortersloge or Burghers’ Lodge, put up between 1395 and 1417 for the merchant elite. Visit Bruges keeps a VR viewer on the waterfront here so you can see the 15th-century harbour where the empty quay now is.
The bench scene works because the square is empty in a way the Markt never is. That is still true today, and it is the point at which most visitors turn back, which is exactly why you should keep walking.
11. ‘t Zwart Huis
‘t Zwart Huis is the bistro where Ray and Ken drink their first Belgian beer together, and it is open and trading at Kuiperstraat 23. “The Black House” reopened under new management with a menu of Flemish classics, so expect beef stewed in trappist beer, vol-au-vent, cod à l’Ostendaise and house-made shrimp and cheese croquettes rather than the menu of a decade ago.
The room is the reason to come: brick walls, dark wood tables and a bar with 18 beers on tap, plus a bottle list that runs from gueuze to the heavier speciality beers. Live music still happens here regularly, which is what the bar scene in the film borrowed. Book ahead at the weekend, because it is small.
12. Restaurant Cafedraal
Restaurant Cafedraal is where the In Bruges dinner scene was shot, and it is open at Zilverstraat 38, closed on Sunday and Monday. Ray takes Chloe here, a local drug dealer he has fallen for, and the evening goes well until she steps out to the bathroom and he knocks out the couple at the next table.
The building sits in the shadow of St Saviour’s Cathedral, five minutes’ walk from the Markt and from ‘t Zand. Cafedraal cooks French-Belgian food from daily ingredients and serves a two-course lunch at €35 per person (about $38, £30) from Tuesday to Saturday, plus tapas and seasonal plates. Reservations are taken from 11.30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. There is a walled inner garden that opens in warm weather, and it is one of the better courtyards in the centre.
13. Meestraat Bridge, Steenhouwersdrijk, Groenerei and Peerdenstraat
The Meestraat Bridge is where Ray and Chloe make up after the restaurant, and this whole stretch of canal is free to walk at any hour. They lean on the stone railing over the water between the Steenhouwersdijk and the Groenerei, and it is about three minutes on foot from the Vismarkt.
This is the prettiest quiet corner in Bruges and it is worth walking twice, once in daylight and once after dark. Later in the film Ray runs the Peerdenstraat and crosses the Groenerei again with Harry behind him, so the same 200 metres carries both the softest and the tensest scene in the picture.
14. The Bruges Market Square, the Belfry and the Breidelstraat
The Belfry is the tower Ken climbs in In Bruges, it has 366 steps, and a standard adult ticket costs €16 (about $17, £14) in summer and at weekends, €15 (about $16, £13) on winter weekdays. Ray waits at the bottom in the Markt while Ken makes the climb for the view. The Belfry is a UNESCO World Heritage site as one of the Belfries of Belgium and France, and with its lean and its exposed beams it is the building people picture when they picture Bruges.
Musea Brugge opens the Belfry 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. from 1 April to 2 November, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on winter weekdays with longer hours at weekends. Book a time slot: only 15 to 25 people start the climb every 20 minutes, and walk-up tickets go early in summer. In high wind the tower closes without notice, and holders of a ticket get a voucher rather than a refund. Allow an hour, and take the climb seriously, because 366 steps in a stone spiral is a real effort.
Ken makes the climb a second time at the end of the film, after talking to Harry at an outdoor table at the De Beurze cafe across the market square. That final struggle was not filmed in the tower. There was not enough room at the top to shoot it safely, so the crew built a replica of the tower interior on a closed set.
The Breidelstraat is the short lane that links the Markt to the Burg, and Ray crosses it in the chase. It takes 90 seconds to walk and it is lined with chocolate shops, which is either the point or the problem depending on your mood.
15. Basilica of the Holy Blood
The Basilica of the Holy Blood is free to enter and opens daily from 10 a.m. to 5.15 p.m., and it stands on the Burg beside the city hall. Ken wants to see the reliquary said to hold cloth stained with the blood of Christ. The scene of the two of them looking at the relic was filmed in the Jerusalem Church instead, but the exterior of the basilica appears near the climax as Ray is chased around the Burg.
The relic is brought out for veneration every day from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and on Fridays from 10.15 a.m. to 11 a.m. Entry to the basilica itself costs nothing; the museum and treasury next to it charge €5 (about $5, £4), and under-12s go free. During services the upper or lower church is open only to people attending.
The basilica has two levels, and they do not look like the same building. The lower chapel of St Basil is dark, heavy Romanesque work from the 12th century. The upper chapel, reached by a wide stone staircase off the courtyard, was rebuilt in the Gothic style and painted in the 19th century. Together with the Church of Our Lady, this is one of the two churches every visitor to Bruges ends up inside.
Find below a map of the In Bruges filming locations.
There are other streets and corners that appear in the film, such as the Wijngaardplein and the train station, and not all of them are marked on the map.
What is “In Bruges” film about?
In Bruges follows two Irish hitmen, Ray and Ken, sent to lie low in Bruges after a job in London goes wrong. Ken takes to the history and the architecture; Ray hates every minute of it. They meet Chloe, a local dealer Ray falls for, and Jimmy, an American actor working on a film in the city. Their boss Harry then orders Ken to kill Ray as punishment for what happened in London, and the three men end up in a confrontation among the canals and cobbled streets.
Martin McDonagh wrote and directed it, and it was his first feature. It came out in 2008.
Where was the “In Bruges” tower scene shot?
The In Bruges tower scene was not shot at the top of the real Belfry. It was filmed on a closed set built as a replica of the tower interior, because there is not enough space at the top of the actual tower to stage a fight safely. The exterior shots, the Markt below and the stairwell are the real building.
In the scene, Ken and Harry climb to the top. Ken will not fight back, Harry cannot bring himself to shoot him, and Harry settles for shooting him in the leg. It is the moment the film’s moral argument stops being talk.
Was the scene important to the overall plot?
Yes, the tower scene sets off everything in the final act. Ken’s decision not to kill Ray leads directly to his confrontation with Harry, Ken’s death puts Ray on the run, and the chase and the shootout follow from there. Take the tower scene out and the ending does not happen.
In which city was “In Bruges” film shot?
In Bruges was shot in Bruges, in the province of West Flanders in northwest Belgium. The crew worked on location in the medieval centre, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the canals, the Markt, the Burg and the Belfry in the film are the real ones. Bruges is about an hour from Brussels by train and 15 minutes from the North Sea coast.
Is In Bruges movie good?
Critics rated In Bruges well, and it has held up better than its box office suggested. Reviewers picked out the dialogue, the performances by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, and the way the city is used as more than a backdrop. The common criticisms are the level of violence and, for some viewers, the ending. Colin Farrell won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for the role, and Martin McDonagh’s screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award.
What movies are shot in Bruges city?
Bruges has hosted around 900 productions since the city set up its Film Office in 2007, from features and television drama to commercials. In Bruges is the best known of them internationally.
Listed below are productions filmed in Bruges besides In Bruges.
- PK. The first Bollywood production shot in Belgium, with Bruges as one of its main locations.
- Buddenbrooks. A German feature based on the Thomas Mann novel, filmed in the historic centre.
- The White Queen. A British television series that used Old St John’s Hospital, the Groeningemuseum garden and the Bonifacius bridge.
- Love, Romance & Chocolate. A 2019 romance filmed across Bruges, Ghent and Brussels, including at the Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce.
- Beau Séjour. A Flemish drama series whose second season was based in Zeebrugge, the port on the coast north of the city.
The Film Office publishes its own movie maps if you want to walk a different production’s locations.
Where to stay in Bruges?
Stay inside the ring canal, because everything in this post is then a walk rather than a bus ride. One night is enough for the film locations alone; two lets you go inside the museums, taste chocolate and drink beer without rushing. Prices in Bruges climb sharply at weekends and during the Christmas market, so book early for those dates.
Listed below are three places to stay in Bruges, from budget to luxury.
- Ibis Brugge Centrum. The budget option, in the historic centre and a 15-minute walk from the train station. It is a plain hotel and it does not pretend otherwise, but the location is what you are paying for. I was glad of my room at the Ibis Brugge Centrum after two hours of walking around soaked, and warmed up there before heading out again.
- Braamberg B&B. The boutique option, in the historic centre and within walking distance of everything on this list. Rooms have a seating area and a flat-screen television, breakfast is included and the wifi is free. Guests consistently single out the host for how helpful she is. Check dates for Braamberg B&B well ahead, because it is small.
- Hotel Dukes’ Palace Brugge. The luxury option, a five-star hotel in a 15th-century ducal residence 280 metres (0.2 mi) from the market square. Rooms have air conditioning, a minibar, a desk and a marble bathroom. There is a lounge, a terrace for high tea, a restaurant cooking Belgian food with local ingredients, and a spa and gym. Rates and availability for Hotel Dukes’ Palace move a lot by season.
Bruges has far more rooms than those three, and the centre is small enough that almost any of them works for this walk. Beyond the shortlist, a Belgium accommodation search covers the rest of the city and the coast.
What are the transportation options to get to Bruges, Belgium?
There are 3 transportation options to get to Bruges. These are by train or car, by air, and by cruise ship into Zeebrugge.
Firstly, by train or car. Bruges station is a 15-minute walk from the historic centre, and trains run there from Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp all day. I drove, because there is a large car park next to the station: the Centrum-Station car park holds 1,690 cars, charges a maximum of €7.10 per 24 hours (about $8, £6) and includes a free bus ticket into the centre for up to four people on the day you arrive. It is an 8-minute walk from the car park to town anyway. If you are not driving, take the train, and you can check Belgian rail timetables and fares before you go.
Secondly, by air. The nearest airport is Ostend-Bruges (OST), 24.6 km (15.3 mi) away, and Brussels Airport (BRU) is 94.5 km (58.7 mi) away. Brussels Airport has its own station under the terminal, so you can be in Bruges in roughly an hour and a half, with at most one change. Ostend has few scheduled passenger flights, so most visitors arrive through Brussels or Brussels South Charleroi. Search by route rather than by airport, because the train often beats the plane from Amsterdam, Paris and London, and one search can compare trains, buses and flights into Belgium side by side.
Lastly, by cruise ship. Ships dock at Zeebrugge, about 15 km (9.3 mi) north of the city. The port runs a shuttle from the terminal to Blankenberge or Zeebrugge station, and the train from there into Bruges takes about 15 minutes. Cruise lines sell their own coach transfers, and independent shuttle operators work the terminal on port days. A port day gives you roughly six hours in the centre, which is enough for the film locations but not for the museums as well. Zeebrugge also puts you within an hour of Ghent and Ostend, so read our Belgium hub before you decide where the day goes.
Is there a “In Bruges” movie locations map?
Yes. I used this In Bruges locations map and got round all 15 in a couple of hours. If you go inside the museums and monuments as well, the same route fills two days, especially if you stop for chocolate on the way. The Bruges Film Office publishes its own movie maps too, and the tourist offices on the Markt and at the station hand out the printed version.
What are the best Bruges tours?
Listed below are three guided tours of Bruges that cover the film locations and the streets around them.
- Discover Bruges with a local. A 3-hour walk away from the main tourist streets, through narrow alleys, past the oldest brewery in town and one of the oldest hospital buildings in Europe, ending with a drink in a Belgian pub. Book this tour online.
- Private tour by bike carriage. Your guide pedals, you sit, and you cover the main sights faster than you would on foot while the guide fills in the history. Book this tour online.
- 2-hour private walking tour. A private guide takes your group through the highlights and the quieter corners, and answers whatever you ask along the way. Book this tour online.
You can also compare everything on offer in Bruges on GetYourGuide, including this private highlights and hidden gems tour and this electric scooter tour with a private guide.
What are the best things to do in Bruges?
The best things to do in Bruges fit inside one square kilometre, so you can walk between all of them. Listed below are 10 things to do in Bruges, most important first.
- Climb the Belfry: 366 steps to the widest view over the rooftops, with a booked time slot.
- Visit the Church of Our Lady: the church is free and the museum section holds Michelangelo’s “Madonna and Child”.
- Take a canal boat trip: half an hour on the water from one of the five jetties, for €15 per adult.
- Walk the Minnewater: the Lake of Love and its park, quietest early in the morning.
- Explore the Begijnhof: the walled Beguinage, a UNESCO World Heritage site of white houses around a courtyard of daffodils in spring.
- See the Markt: the main square, the guild houses and the Provincial Court, best photographed before the terraces open.
- Go to the Groeningemuseum: the Flemish Primitives, including Van Eyck, Memling and Bosch.
- Taste chocolate and beer: the Breidelstraat and Katelijnestraat for chocolate, De Halve Maan for the brewery tour.
- Ride a horse-drawn carriage: a fixed 30-minute circuit from the Markt with a stop at the Beguinage.
- Wander the cobbled streets: north of the Markt, where the crowds stop and the city gets its shape back.
Bruges packs the landmarks, the museums and the food into a centre small enough to cross in 20 minutes, which is why one day works and two days work better.
What are the best cities of Belgium?
Eight Belgian cities are worth a trip in their own right, and each one is described below. They are ranked and compared in more detail in our guide to the best cities in Belgium.
- Brussels: the capital and the largest city, home to the EU institutions, the Grand-Place and a serious restaurant scene.
- Bruges: the best-preserved medieval city in the country, with canals, gabled brick houses and the settings from In Bruges.
- Ghent: a historic city with a student population that keeps it lively, and the castle of Gravensteen in the middle of it.
- Antwerp: a port city known for fashion, its diamond trade and the Rubens collection.
- Ostend: the biggest of the Belgian seaside resorts, with a promenade, a beach and the James Ensor house.
- Leuven: a university city with the late-Gothic Town Hall and the Stella Artois brewery.
- Liège: a Walloon city on the Meuse with a long stairway, a Sunday market and a nightlife reputation.
- Mechelen: a small city with St Rumbold’s Cathedral, a climbable tower and a good deal of street art.
A city list only takes you so far, because the distances between them are small enough to combine two or three in a week. Our round-up of things to do in Belgium sets out the country-level plan.
WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips
The 4 tips below come from walking all 15 locations in two days of rain and from lining up the opening days of every ticketed stop on the route for 2026.
- Pick the weekday before you pick the route. The paid stops close on different days, so only Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday give you all of them open at once. The Groeningemuseum closes on Mondays, the Gruuthuse Museum on Wednesdays, the Adornes Estate with the Jerusalem Church on Sundays and public holidays, and Cafedraal on Sunday and Monday.
- Climb the Belfry on the first dry, still morning you get, not on your last day. The tower closes without notice in high wind and ticket holders get a voucher instead of a refund, and only 15 to 25 people start the climb every 20 minutes, so a booked slot on a windy afternoon can turn into nothing at all.
- In winter, walk to a second jetty rather than queue at Rozenhoedkaai. From November through February the five boat companies work a rota, so at least one jetty is open every day and the others open when they choose. Individual visitors cannot book online in any season, which means the queue is the only mechanism there is.
- Walk the locations in the order on this page and leave the museums for a second day. I used the tourist office map and got round all 15 on foot in a couple of hours, in the rain, because only 5 of the 15 charge admission and the rest are streets, squares, bridges and buildings you simply arrive at. Those five ticketed stops are what turn the same route into two days.
About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this post come from her rainy two-day trip to Bruges hunting down the In Bruges filming locations. The team covers Belgium for independent travellers, including the hotels, canal tours and restaurants around the Markt and the Burg worth booking, and updates this page when museum prices, opening hours and venues change.
Great post, Sofie! Your photos brought back some great memories of Bruges and I love the connection to the movie “In Bruges”. I was hoping you would have a photo of the dog in the window that appears in the film! I think I got a picture of him when I was there. :)
Hey Brian, glad you liked it!
I think it was too rainy for the dog when I visited :-)
Fidelle the dog was old and died :-(
We miss him in Bruges
So I read :(
This is a great post! Thanks! I love Bruges and I love the movie ‘In Bruges’. The last time I was there, I thought a lot about the movie, but didn’t search out any of the scene locations. I may do that on my next visit, which I hope will be soon…and I’ll be sure to take a copy of this post and the TI map :-)
Thanks Gayla! Let me know when you go back :-)
I used to live in Bruges, too much tourists :-) it’s beautiful but just as a visitor, to actually live there, not at all nice
I can imagine. I don’t think I’d like it if Leuven would receive that many tourists all-year-round.
Very authentic and original way of visiting Bruges
Thanks!
Actually at this moment in time trying to get In Bruges 2 sequel. I have Colin Farrell saying would like In Bruges 2 but na Martin ain’t got script https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LZoApHKemwY the man responsible for In Bruges Jean Pierre Drubbel has retired of The Bruges City Film Office. He got the mayor at the time to do it. The one now is even less happy with tourists even as they made 1.3 million. What would a sequel bring in I have been with my girlfriend three times and love the place. By the way Martins Hotel was around £71 a night with euro star and bed and breakfast. Right next to the Belfry as well. Gruuthuse Hof Restaurant has superb food and has a three course for very good value. Plus 100 yards from it was the set where the In Bruges actors used
You can also try a free walking tour with the legends of bruges they are number one of the free tours on trip advisor.very good ratings and Al that you see in that movie in bruges is on u or tour together with all the highlights of bruges.A walk from 2h in the city with a good informed local guide
Thanks for the tip, Louis!
Hi Sofie, thanks for the amazing post and your pictures look very professional. I found some people and posts mentioned about the Sint-Salvatorskathedraal, I think it might be better to include this in your post? Just my two cents advise. :)
Thanks.
Hi, great post!
The link for the map doesn’t appear to work though?
I’ll check that soon!