Souvenirs from Bruges

Bruges has made bobbin lace for centuries: dozens of wooden bobbins crossed over a pillow, pinned stitch by stitch. Much of the lace in the souvenir shops around the Markt is machine-made; real handmade lace costs more and takes hours for a small piece. At the Lace Centre you can watch lacemakers at work in the afternoon before you buy.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The shop of the Lace Centre (Kantcentrum), Balstraat 16, sells handmade lace plus bobbins, thread and patterns (Mon–Sat 09:30–17:00, demonstrations 14:00–17:00, closed Sunday).

The beers of De Halve Maan, the family brewery in the centre: Brugse Zot, a blond with a jester on the label, and the stronger Straffe Hendrik tripel. You will find them all over Belgium, but the brewery's own shop also has the 75 cl bottles, glasses and gift boxes.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The gift shop of De Halve Maan brewery, Walplein 26 (Mon–Thu 11:00–18:00, Fri–Sat 10:00–18:00, Sun 10:00–17:00), and The Bottle Shop, Wollestraat 13.

A red-brown Flemish beer that came back to the centre of Bruges in 2015, when its brewery reopened by the canal on Kartuizerinnenstraat. The same house distils genever from its beers: a Jong Genever and a Hop Genever. A bottle of each makes a Bruges pair you will not find in every beer shop.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The brewery shop on the corner of Wollestraat and Kartuizerinnenstraat (Wollestraat 26), where the brewery and distillery visits also start.

Nearly every Belgian beer has its own glass, and a gift pack of bottles with the matching glass is the classic Bruges present. Bruges shops stock hundreds of beers, from abbey beers and Trappists to lambic and small West Flemish breweries. Bottles over 100 ml go in checked luggage, not in your hand luggage.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The Bottle Shop, Wollestraat 13 near the Markt, with hundreds of beers, gift packs and matching glasses (daily 11:00–19:00).

Bruges has more chocolate shops than almost any city its size, and many sell factory chocolate in a pretty box. Look for a chocolatier that makes its pralines in its own workshop: from the classic fresh-cream pralines of the family houses to the wild flavours of The Chocolate Line. Fresh pralines do not keep for months, so buy them near the end of your trip and keep them cool.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The Chocolate Line (Simon Stevinplein 19), Chocolatier Dumon (Eiermarkt 6, Mariastraat 14 and Walstraat 6), Sukerbuyc (Katelijnestraat 5) and Chocolatier Van Oost (Wollestraat 11, closed Tuesday).

Paper-thin, crisp biscuits of butter, sugar and almonds that melt in the oven into a lacy web: the Bruges biscuit, fittingly for the city of lace. Bought fresh from a baker they are much better than the boxed ones; carry them flat, as they break easily.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Maison La Confiance, Wollestraat 31A, a shop with an open bakery (daily 10:00–18:00; Sundays only in school holidays, long weekends, November and December), and Confiserie De Clerck, Academiestraat 19.

The spiced caramelised biscuit that Belgians dunk in their coffee, sold everywhere in supermarket packs. In Bruges you can buy it freshly baked by an artisan bakery, in several flavours and as a speculoos spread for your toast at home.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Maison La Confiance, Wollestraat 31A, which bakes organic speculoos and makes its own speculoos spread.

Nunnebillen, muiletrekkers and poeptjes: old-fashioned Bruges sweets with cheeky names, still sold by the paper bag. A mixed bag is a cheap, very local present, and the names alone start a conversation back home.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Confiserie De Clerck, Academiestraat 19, a sweet shop in the same family since 1948 (hours not published), and Zucchero, Mariastraat 12, where candy is pulled and twisted by hand in front of you.

The region around Bruges makes farm and abbey cheeses you rarely see abroad, and the city even gave its name to Brugge Oud, an aged cheese found in every Belgian supermarket. For something better, let a cheese shop give you a taste first; hard, aged cheeses travel best.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Diksmuids Boterhuis, Geldmuntstraat 23, a family cheese shop known for West Flemish cheeses (Tue–Sat 10:00–12:30 and 14:00–18:00), and De Kaasbolle, Smedenstraat 11 near 't Zand (closed Wednesday and Sunday).