Over Tourism?

[LesW]

Recently stayed in Bruges, (the aire next to the coach park), we've stayed here before at this time of year when travelling west and it's been fine.

However, this time it was horrendous in the city, litterally people shoulder to shoulder at some 'pinch points', the coach park was rammed with coaches, maybe 50 or more, trying to cycle around was impossible people wandering all over the place with locals trying to get about shouting at them to get out of the way.

It appears that the tourists are mostly jettisoned from cruise ships onto coaches and dumped here, it was noticable that the eating places where not particularly busy considering the amount of people here... (we had a lovely meal in a near empty restuarant) the local authority are aware of the problem but the only course of action they have taken is to limit/prohibit more hotels being built and restrictions on Aire B&B type lodgings.. oh and of course introducing a totally ineffective tourist tax, I'd think putting a limit on the amount of coaches coming in, and making them have to book places in the coach park would have an immediate effect.

Anyway we're done with Bruges.

 

[nicholsong]

Recently stayed in Bruges, (the aire next to the coach park), we've stayed here before at this time of year when travelling west and it's been fine.

However, this time it was horrendous in the city, litterally people shoulder to shoulder at some 'pinch points', the coach park was rammed with coaches, maybe 50 or more, trying to cycle around was impossible people wandering all over the place with locals trying to get about shouting at them to get out of the way.

It appears that the tourists are mostly jettisoned from cruise ships onto coaches and dumped here, it was noticable that the eating places where not particularly busy considering the amount of people here... (we had a lovely meal in a near empty restuarant) the local authority are aware of the problem but the only course of action they have taken is to limit/prohibit more hotels being built and restrictions on Aire B&B type lodgings.. oh and of course introducing a totally ineffective tourist tax, I'd think putting a limit on the amount of coaches coming in, and making them have to book places in the coach park would have an immediate effect.

Anyway we're done with Bruges.

And to think that 20 years ago I thought it might be a nice place to buy a little house!

 

[Dolmen]

Recently stayed in Bruges, (the aire next to the coach park), we've stayed here before at this time of year when travelling west and it's been fine.

However, this time it was horrendous in the city, litterally people shoulder to shoulder at some 'pinch points', the coach park was rammed with coaches, maybe 50 or more, trying to cycle around was impossible people wandering all over the place with locals trying to get about shouting at them to get out of the way.

It appears that the tourists are mostly jettisoned from cruise ships onto coaches and dumped here, it was noticable that the eating places where not particularly busy considering the amount of people here... (we had a lovely meal in a near empty restuarant) the local authority are aware of the problem but the only course of action they have taken is to limit/prohibit more hotels being built and restrictions on Aire B&B type lodgings.. oh and of course introducing a totally ineffective tourist tax, I'd think putting a limit on the amount of coaches coming in, and making them have to book places in the coach park would have an immediate effect.

Anyway we're done with Bruges.

Exactly mirrors our experience, a nice place spoilt by too many people. Of course we are two of them but that doesn’t count

 

[Rog NotJane]

We were there yesterday. We thought it was busy but not awful. We climbed the bell tower without booking, wandered round a gallery, got a seat and a beer at one of the famous bars without queueing and then went next door for a steak without booking.

It certainly isn’t Venice busy.

 

[Rog NotJane]

Mind you, the aire is very expensive and a bit crap.

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[dunnah01]

Bruges , f(r)ekin Bruges

 

[Googlebot]

We liked it, it was busy though.

Our dogs don’t like horses, they really didn’t like the horses doing rides round the city. So much so, I had to take them back as it was too busy to ensure they didn’t annoy or bump into people going nuts over the horses that were every 2 minutes.

It is expensive, but at least it’s there. You pay about £15 to park a car in central Birmingham for 24 hours now. The Aire seems cheap…..

 

[daventess]

It was so wet when we were there this time last year that we had virtually no queues whatsoever

 

[Odd-no-more]

We found the same thing in Sete a couple of weeks ago. Early May and already packed, we didn't even bother with a meal there. But of course, we are part of the problem.

 

[barryd]

Try Ghent. Its a few years since we went to them both but I found Bruges a but "Twee" but Ghent I enjoyed. There was a festival on at the time in Ghent.

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[Rog NotJane]

We find that this type of thing is very subjective - it depends on our mood. We can have a great time in (busy, overpolished, expensive) Bruges and a miserable time in somewhere good value, authentic etc just because something put us off our stride. Bad weather particularly does this to us :-(

The trick is not letting things affect your mood, focusing on the positive (you are on holiday!) and going with the flow. Be stoic and the world seems to reward you.