what to wear in Bruges

I%26#39;m going to Bruges for a weekend at the end of September.

As you may have seen from my other posts, I hate looking like a tourist and would prefer to blend in with the locals. It just means that you%26#39;re less likely to be targeted by con-artists and pick pockets.

So what should I wear to blend in that would also be weather appropriate?

I have seen on another site (for females) that%26#39;s quite handy which tells you what to wear wherever you%26#39;re going in the world. It says that all women in Bruges wear black!

http://www.journeywoman.com/ccc/ccc-b.html

I found that Nice was like this when I went and I stuck out like a sore thumb in my pastel shades!

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Anyone would stick out like a sore thumb in pastel shades anywhere in Northern Europe in September. Just wear whatever you would in a town in the UK in the Autumn, and include a raincoat or at least jacket. Half the people in Brugge at any one time are going to be tourists, you can tell them by more than just their clothing.

Of course all women in Brugge don%26#39;t wear black, but many women in Northern cities wear mostly dark colours in the Autumn and Winter anyway.

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If you walk from historic place to historic place, take a boat ride and maybe horse carriage ride, you ARE a tourist and you will be noticed as such.

Also keep in mind that during the day most of us Belgians are at work, so another good way of being labeled a tourist in Brugge. And you better hide that camera and map too because.

Wear what you feel comfortable with and I wish people would stop asking what to wear to blend in because once a tourist opens his mouth there goes the blending in alltogether. Come to Belgium have fun and be who you are.

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I spend a lot of time in Bruges, and can honestly say I wear exactly the same as I do in London, with the addition of being even more careful not to go out without an umbrella. Evenings tend to be reasonably smart, but there are just so many tourists in Bruges at times, it is the locals who stand out, rather than the other way around.

I am sure there are pick pockets and con artists around in the city but just behave as you would in any busy place and you will be fine.

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Having just been there I can say that I haven%26#39;t come across many places that appeared or felt safer than central Bruges.

I am not sure why you would not want to look like a tourist. My view is that if you are on holiday you are a tourist and if you are always worried about what you look like, what you are carrying or who is behind you you won%26#39;t have a relaxing holiday.

Interestingly as others have said you may struggle to see many locals walking around etc so best thing to do to blend in is to have a camera, rucksack and guidebook

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I live in Liverpool so we%26#39;re having our fair share on tourists at the moment so I know what it%26#39;s like on the other side of the coin!

I%26#39;m sure we can all agree that you can distinguish between a tourist and a native but some tourists stick out more than others! (and the more obtrusive ones can be a source of amusement to the natives).

I%26#39;m not ashamed about being a tourist, likewise I love people coming to see our fair city but it helps me relax and feel a little more confident if I%26#39;m not sticking out as much.

Is that so bad? :)

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The problem is, it is nigh on impossible for people living in one country to determine what could possibly be distinctive about the way they dress, in such a way as to explain it to tourists. Apart from the obvious, e.g. avoid loud American golfing trousers (pants), beach clothes (in a city) and indeed bright %26quot;I%26#39;m on holiday%26quot; colours in general, it is extremely difficult to tell people %26quot;what not to wear%26quot;, when you cannot imagine what they could possibly be thinking of wearing that they feel a need to ask..!

All over the world, people wear a range of styles at any one time, with maybe more sharp suits in large cities and more casual wear in small ones, but there is rarely any one thing that marks locals from tourists. And if there were and tourists copied it, it would not look right. (I%26#39;m sorely tempted to say all Brugge inhabitants wear red caps...!)

My advice would be to dress like a smart student, so in a way that is clean and presentable but not flashy e.g. no designer labels. Even then, there is something indefinably alien about some foreign brands of clothing, and even if there were not, the person wearing them can still stand out a mile because of where they are (at what time of day), how they walk, how they look around them..

Maybe you would like to analyse this during your visit and then YOU will be able to answer this question for others.

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well I feel that I could tell people what to wear in Liverpool and other places that i have been.

I thought the whole point of forums was that you could ask other people questions and discuss things.

I did not expect to get terse responses back to what was just a throwaway question.

Thank you for your comments but if you are going to be rude I would rather you didn%26#39;t respond.

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I can%26#39;t imagine what you think is rude in what I wrote but will willingly do as you ask and stop answering questions.

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My fellow Belgian is not rude, just points out the facts just like I do.

If all you want are answers you agree with then I ask you what is the point of doing so on an open forum.

The question %26quot;what to wear%26quot; has been beaten to death on Tripadvisor and it gets old.

Enjoy Brugge and any other city in Belgium and wear what you want or feel like.

End of my comments on this too.

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I have to admit that the journeywoman website that was mentioned was pretty amusing - its mainly people in America saying pretty obvious generalised things about what people should wear in every other country in the world So for Belgium someone from Canada has said

%26quot;In Belgium, everyone wears tight pants and black is very common%26quot;