Residents of Bruges love their beer, Belgian fries and chocolate – Bruges even has its own official city chocolate: the Bruges swan, or Brugsch Swaentje. Bruges offers plentiful chocolate shops ...

You will definitely encounter great food in Bruges, but it can be expensive, so look out for lunchtime set menus at the best restaurants. For intimate, but "exceptional" dining check out Bistro ...

A solo trip can seem like an intimidating venture but once you start you won't be able to stop - here are my recommendations to anyone heading solo to Bruges soon ...