Bruges

The 83-metre medieval bell tower over the market square, leaning slightly, with 366 steps up to a carillon and a view across the whole red-roofed city to the sea. The symbol of Bruges; climb early to beat the queue, then take in the gabled guild houses ringing the Markt below.

Glide the medieval canals that earned Bruges the name 'Venice of the North' — under humpback bridges, past the backs of old houses and mossy waterside walls you'd never otherwise see. Touristy, brief and completely worth it; the loveliest half-hour in town, best in soft evening light.

The old seat of power, a square of extraordinary architecture tucked behind the Markt — the fairy-tale Gothic City Hall with its gilded facade and a vaulted, muralled Gothic Hall inside. Smaller and quieter than the Markt, and arguably even more beautiful.

Its brick spire is the tallest in the Low Countries, and inside is a genuine treasure — Michelangelo's serene marble 'Madonna and Child', the only sculpture of his to leave Italy in his lifetime. A small, unmissable brush with a giant of the Renaissance.

A serene willow-fringed lake at the southern edge of the old town, swans drifting under a stone bridge — the 'Lake of Love', and the prettiest, most peaceful corner of Bruges. A gorgeous walk in on the way from the station, especially in the low morning light.

A walled enclosure of white gabled houses around a green courtyard of trees, founded in the 13th century for the Beguines, laywomen who lived a quiet religious life — now nuns, and profoundly peaceful. A UNESCO-listed pocket of calm; hushed, timeless, and a balm after the crowds.

A jewel-box of a museum holding the 'Flemish Primitives' — the astonishing, minutely detailed early-Netherlandish paintings of Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling, made in this city when it was one of Europe's richest. A short, world-class art hit; van Eyck alone is worth the ticket.

A double church on the Burg — a plain Romanesque lower chapel and a richly painted Gothic upper one, guarding a venerated relic said to hold a drop of Christ's blood, brought back from the Crusades. Small, atmospheric and central; the relic is shown daily.

Belgium makes the best chocolate in the world, and Bruges is wall-to-wall with artisan chocolatiers — watch pralines hand-made in the window, taste your way round, and duck into the quirky Choco-Story museum for the how and why. Sweet, serious, and everywhere.

The Belgians invented these and guard them fiercely — thick-cut potatoes fried twice till golden, served in a paper cone with a dollop of mayonnaise, from a frietkot on the Markt. Cheap, perfect, and the national dish; eat them hot, standing up, watching the square.

Belgium's beer is a UNESCO-listed art, and Bruges does it beautifully — hundreds of Trappist, blonde and fruit brews in cosy brown cafés, each with its own branded glass. Settle into an old bar like 't Brugs Beertje with the beer menu, or tour the in-town De Halve Maan brewery.

A grassy walk along the old earthen ramparts on the eastern edge, past a row of working wooden windmills turning in the wind above the canal. Green, breezy and almost tourist-free — the loveliest stroll in Bruges, and you can go up inside the Sint-Janshuis mill.

A tiny, ivy-draped stone footbridge tucked behind the Church of Our Lady, over one of the prettiest stretches of canal in the city — a hidden, romantic spot that feels centuries old (though it's barely a hundred). The most photographed quiet corner of Bruges.

A strange and striking private chapel in quiet Sint-Anna, built by a merchant family as a copy of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, with an eerie crypt — and next door the Lace Centre, keeping alive the delicate craft Bruges was once famous for. An offbeat, atmospheric pair.

The bold terracotta concert hall on 't Zand square is Bruges at its most modern — top-class music and a 'sound factory' inside, and a rooftop with a fine view over the old town. Check what's on, or just enjoy the contrast with the medieval streets a block away.

A flat, poplar-lined canal cycle out to a storybook village of a Gothic town hall and bookshops — five kilometres and a world away from the crowds. Rent a bike and go.

A medieval hospital, one of Europe's oldest, now a museum of Memling's luminous paintings and old apothecary jars. A serene, beautiful stop by the Church of Our Lady.

The single most photographed spot in Bruges — the canal corner where the belfry rises over the water. Come at dawn or dusk to have the postcard to yourself.

Bruges's last family brewery — tour the old copper works, climb to a rooftop view, and drink the beer piped to the bottling plant through the city's first 'beer pipeline'. Fun and tasty.

The city's oldest parish church and its cathedral — a soaring brick Gothic nave, Flemish tapestries and a treasury, quieter than the famous Church of Our Lady. Free to wander.