The Belfry tower is without a doubt one of the most popular attractions in Bruges.
But is it worth visiting? How do you even visit the tower when there’s always a long line of people in front of it? And what can one even expect from it?
We’re here to answer all of your questions.
In this travel guide, we dive into how to visit the Belfry of Bruges by sharing all the information you need to know such as historical facts, entrance fee, opening hours, how long it takes, our own personal experience, and much more!
We wanted to make this guide so comprehensive that I literally counted all the steps between the ground and the top floor… I know, I can be a bit of a freak.
So if you want to visit this historical, beautiful, UNESCO-inscribed building yourself, you needn’t look no further. We got your back covered with all the information you need to know in this little travel guide.
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About the Belfry of Bruges
This section of the guide is for those of you looking to visit the belfry yourself.
Here you’ll find a few historical facts about the tower, how to buy the tickets, entrance fee, opening hours, how to get there, how long the visit takes, and the exact amount of steps to the top of the Belfry of Bruges.
History of the belfry tower
The Belfry of Bruges, more formally known as “Belfort van Brugge”, is one of many beautiful belfries that you can find around Belgium.
Belfries are towers, often attached to other buildings, which contain at least one or several bells.
A belfry can serve many purposes such as being home to the public archives, serve as a watch tower, or be the place to announce important events – which of all, the Belfry of Bruges did back in the day.
The belfry tower used to be 102 meters tall with it a wooden spire on the top. However, in 1741, the spire went up in flames, and left the building standing at a 83-meters height, which it remains today.
The belfry has 3 building layers. The 2 bottom brick layers dates back to the 13th century, and the top layer (known as the tower) was built in-between 1482 and 1486 and is made of Brabant Limestone.
It’s safe to say that the Belfry of Bruges is a very old and spectacular tower. And since 1999 it has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with many other beautiful belfries in Belgium and France.
How to get to the Belfry in Bruges
In order to get to the belfry tower, you first need to get to bruges.
As you probably know by now, “Bruges” in Dutch is “Brugge.” So when you’re looking for trains from Brussels (Or wherever you are), you should look for the destination “Brugge.”
From Brugge station it’s only a short walk to the Belfort.
The walk is around 1,5 kilometres and you’ll pass many beautiful places in Bruges on the way. So we definitely encourage you to enjoy this city walk.
If you prefer to take public transport to the Belfry of Bruges, then you have to look for a bus stop named “Brugge Markt”, which is the one closest to the tower.
Belfry of Bruges entrance fee 2024
| Ticket Type | Ticket Price |
|---|---|
| Adult 18+ years old | €15 |
| Young 7-17 years old | €13 |
| Children 0-6 years old | FREE |
| Musea Brugge Card | Free |
The entrance fee to the Belfry of Bruges varies depending on age and whether you have a Musea Brugge Card or not (there should also be free entry for holders of EU Disability Card + Residents of Brugge).
The Musea Brugge Card gives you access to several museums all over the city within 72 hours for €33. You can get it here: Musea Brugge Card.
Remember to reserve a spot to visit the Belfry Tower in advance or else it will get too crowded in the tower. Even if you’re a holder of the Musea Brugge Card, you still need to secure a spot for your visit.
You can only book a time slot that’s valid once every 20 minutes, for example between 9:00 – 9:20. The time slots are best to book a day in advance to make sure to get a spot.
We visited on a random rainy Wednesday, which meant that the tickets to the Belfry of Bruges hadn’t sold out. Hence, we just booked them over our phones in front of the ticket office. BUT you should book a time slot ahead if you want to secure a spot – especially during peak season in the Summer.
Belfry of Bruges opening hours 2024
The Summer (01 April – 02 November) opening hours to the Belfry of Bruges are from 9 AM – 8 PM.
During Winter (03 November – 31 March), the belfry is open from 10 AM – 6 PM – except for every Saturday when it’s open from 9 AM until 8 PM.
Please notice that last admission to the tower is always an hour before closing time, which means 7 PM in the summer and 5 PM in the winter.
How long is the visit to the belfry
Once we entered the Belfry of Bruges, we were told that we had 45 minutes to explore the tower.
My first thought was that this was a very limited time span, and that we would have to hurry up the stairs to make it to the top in time. But in reality, 45 minutes was more than enough time to explore the Belfort in Bruges.
There are 4 rooms you can visit on the way to the top. However, there are not much to see in the rooms, and you don’t need more than 5 minutes in each.
We found that the best part of the tour was definitely the viewpoint at the top.
However, it was so loud to stand there while the bells were ringing, so we only stayed for 10 minutes. Hence, 45 minutes was more than enough to visit the tower.
How many steps do you have to climb
According to a sign at the ground level, it says there are 366 steps to the top.
I counted 339 steps from the ticket office to the top of the Belfry. There are a few steps up to the ticket office from the ground level, so those steps are probably included in the official statement that says 366 steps.
Or else I need to go back and count again…
Other things to notice before your visit
We want to share two things with you that we wish we knew before our visit.
Firstly, the stairs become narrower the closer you get to the top. So if you suffer from claustrophobia, you should have this in mind before your visit.
We don’t want to scare you away at all… But just want to let you know that the last 30+ steps are very narrow.
Secondly, bring earplugs if you suffer from tinnitus because it’s not unlikely that the bells will ring at the top. We were standing there for 10 minutes, and the bells were constantly ringing.
It was SO LOUD! And we wish there had been a warning sign for those who suffer from tinnitus (like Glenn), because then you would know to bring some earplugs.
Our visit to the Belfry tower in Bruges
All right, now that you’re fully covered to do the trip yourself, we want to share our experience. This section is for the armchair traveler and for those who want to know a little bit more about the Belfry of Bruges.
The Treasury and Bell Room
Upon checking in at the entrance hall, Glenn and I immediately started our ascent in the tower.
At first I thought, WOW this is going to be easy peasy! The stairs are so wide that we’re going to be at the top in no time. However, as I later learned, the further up you go, the narrower the staircase becomes.
After only 29 steps, we were in the first room, The Treasury. In the Treasury room you’ll see some wrought black iron doors and two padlocked chests. Important documents and other treasures of the city were kept in these chests during the Middle Ages.
The iron doors were made back in 1290, and they were sealed off with 10 different locks. This meant that 10 different keys were needed to open these doors – all of which were handed out to 9 different important people around the city. As you can imagine, it wasn’t always easy to gather the 9 people at once, and therefore, the doors were rarely opened.
In the Treasury Room, you’ll also learn a bit more about the history, and what it means to have a belfry in the city.
The Flanders was a rich and prosperous region back in the Middle Ages, which is exactly what the belfry symbolises. Having such a grand, beautiful tower back in this time shows that Bruges was a wealthy city.
After the Treasury, we walked an additional 57 steps up to the next room, The Stone Floor. This is probably the biggest room in the tower (Look up! And see the woodwork in the ceiling, which is pretty impressive). In this room, you can read a bit about what the bell tower was used for.
The Belfort was used to communicate to the people of Bruges. There was a work bell, which marked the beginning of the working day. Another bell rang when there was a fire in the city. And the city also used bells to announce new decrees or to bring good news to the citizens. Isn’t that cool?
The belfry served so many different purposes back in the Medieval times.
Climbing higher into the Great Bell and Drum Room
Once we were done exploring the Treasury and the Stone Floor, the real climb began.
I counted 108 steps to the next room, The Great Bell Room. Apparently, there are several bells in Belfort van Brugge, but one stands out from the rest – The GREAT Bell.
In 1800, this bell was transferred from the iconic “Church of Our Lady” and is named “Bell Maria”. It weighs 6 tons and has a diameter larger than 2 meters. So that’s a pretty big bell…
After visiting the Great Bell, we climbed an additional 112 steps into The Drum Room. By this time, the steps are starting to become narrower, yet there is still enough space to pass other people on the way (if you squeeeeeze really tight past each other).
In The Drum Room, you’ll see a massive golden thing. Apparently, this is what they call a “Brass Drum”. The drum was cast by Antoon De Hondt in 1748, and it’s 2,5 meters long and weighs 9 tons.
Is it just me, or is this bell tower carrying some seriously heavy instruments?!?!
A hint of claustrophobia on the way to the top
All right! So, we’re almost at the top of the Bruges Belfry Tower now.
This is where it starts to get a bit claustrophobic because the staircase becomes very narrow. You can’t really pass each other on the way anymore, so you’ll need to wait for people to pass if they’re heading down.
Fortunately, there aren’t many steps left.
The next 19 steps took us to the Carilloneur’s room. It’s not possible to enter this room for one simple reason – someone is working in here. Yep, we saw a man playing the carillon that you hear. Isn’t that cool?!
So apparently, every quarter of the hour (I think), this man is playing music from the tower. If you listen closely, you might recognize some of the songs.
Anyways, we couldn’t stand here and stare at this man forever, so we continued to climb the remaining 14 steps to the top.
Beautiful (and deafening) viewpoint from the Belfry of Bruges
Glenn and I finally reached the viewpoint at the Belfort in Bruges.
And honestly, at first, we were a tiny bit… disappointed. Just a tiny bit. Don’t get me wrong, the views are amazing, but there are wires in front of the view. Now, I understand that this is for safety reasons, but it was hard to fully appreciate the views behind the wires.
Just my honest opinion.
However, I think that the coolest part of this tour was that we got to experience the bell tower while the bells were ringing.
I can’t tell you how cool it feels to stand on top of Brugge and listen to “I will Survive” rung by bells. Seriously, what a fun experience! I never thought that you could dance to bells, but it’s apparently 100% a thing now (at least for me and Glenn).
At the top, you almost get a 360 view over the city, and you can spot all the incredible landmarks of Bruges from here.
After spending 10 minutes at the lookout, Glenn and I decided to head back down as we were starting to become deaf from all the ringing. Definitely bring earplugs if you’re visiting the Belfry of Bruges.
Is the Belfry Tower of Bruges worth a visit
Before we end this blog post, we want to give our honest opinion about visiting the Belfry of Bruges in Belgium.
We think that the price is a bit steep. The regular adult entrance fee to the Belfry of Bruges is €15, and in our opinion this is a lot of money for just 45 minutes of exploration.
We think that it’s the most expensive price for any tourist attraction in Brugge, but then again, it’s also the most popular attraction in the city. You can consider getting the Musea Brugge Card if you plan to visit many attractions in Bruges – that way you can save some money.
So compared to other incredible belfries in Belgium, like the Belfry of Ghent, then we think that the price is a tad too steep.
However, the experience of dancing to Gloria Gaynor’s “I will survive” rung by bells in one of Belgium’s most beautiful cities will forever be locked in our memories.
So to answer the overall question, “Is the Belfry tower of Bruges worth visiting?” we’d still say YES!
You should definitely visit the belfry tower on your trip to Bruges in Belgium. But if the tickets sell out, it’s not the end of the world… Because there are so many other great things to do in Bruges, apart from visiting the Belfort.
We hope you enjoyed this little blog post about our visit to the Belfry of Bruges in Belgium. It’s obviously a popular tourist attraction, but it’s also an important historical landmark that’s definitely worth a visit.
Don’t hesitate to ask us any questions in the comments.
Thanks for reading and happy travels!
Like this kind of post? Check out: Gravensteen Castle in Ghent
