BELGIAN CHOCOLATE · ON FOOT
The sweetest walkin Bruges
Belgium didn't invent chocolate, but it perfected the praline — and Bruges wears it on every corner. Here's how to taste it, watch it made, and carry the good stuff home.
A city that runs on cocoa
You're never more than a few doors from a chocolatier here. The trick isn't finding chocolate — it's knowing the difference between a factory box and a shop where someone is still tempering by hand.
Watch it made
Half the pleasure is the window: chocolatiers piping, moulding and dipping while you watch. For the full story — bean to praline, and a few tastings along the way — Choco-Story, the chocolate museum, is a short walk from the suites and worth the hour.
The praline
The Belgian praline is a filled chocolate — ganache, praliné, caramel or cream in a thin couverture shell. Buy a mixed hundred grams, eat them the same day, and you'll understand why people carry them back across borders.
TO GO
Take some home
Skip the giant tourist boxes near the Markt; the best shops are the quiet ones where the range is small and the turnover fast. Ask for a fresh box, keep it cool, and don't let it rattle around your bag — good pralines bruise.
GOOD TO KNOW
Questions
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There's no single answer — the city is full of excellent chocolatiers; look for shops making it on-site rather than reselling.
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A filled Belgian chocolate — a soft centre in a thin chocolate shell.
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Yes, in many shop windows, and in depth at the Choco-Story chocolate museum.
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If you like the story (and the tastings), yes — it's compact and central.
STAY IN THE MIDDLE OF IT
Stay where the chocolate is
Four suites in the middle of it — book direct and save 5%.
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