I would definatly take the eurostar again. You could drive it but i personaly would rather do with out the hassle. Once you get to brussels it is only a matter of changing platforms for a journey of about an hour by train, also as i think already mentioned your eurostar ticket covers you to bruge so wont cost you anymore.
To sum up i would say time wise would be much the same as driving, cost wise would depend on the deals at the time, for a hassle free and relaxing journey, well the train would win hands down, so much easier.
I would personaly go for eurostar but i guess it would depend on price and convienience for you and your party.

thanks Jessop .I had more or less decided eurostar but just needed to make sure . If we were taking the children it would obviously be more cost effective to drive b ut as its just the 2 of us as you say probably no difference in time or money so will go with the less hassle aspect.

just need to wait for eurostar prices to come out for end may.

just booked my eurostar tickets for sat 24th may for 3 nights .cost me £50 worth of Tesco clubcard vouchers. Im so excited. .now i can start planning our trip nd looking for a decent hotel at a good price . Any tips or recommendations welcome

What about bars and restaurants? I'm going to Bruges for 4 days in August, so would be gald of any tips or recommendations.

There are so many beers in Bruges to try Jay jay . We loved it there . Can't remember any of the restaurant names but I thorougly recommend hiring a bike if your hotel doesnt have them (ours did) and pushbiking around the canals . We found some lovely restaurants on one section of the canal. You can also cycle up the canals to Damm a little village further up with more bars and restaurants to explore . Everybody rides them there . I thought I was going to be useless but became surprisingly good .

There arnt a deal deal of toursist attractions as such but the delight of bruges is the lovely architecture and sitting beside the canals with a beer or two . or a log fire in the winter .

Thanks for that Lyn. I'll certainly give the bikes a try.

Finally finished my review of our trip last month - here you go:

Bruges, September 2012

The Journey

This was our first ever ‘holiday by rail’ using the Eurostar so we were looking forward to comparing it with our usual flying trips. We booked our Eurostar tickets as soon as they were released – they ended up coming to £81 each for the return trip between St Pancras and Bruges (‘Any Belgian Station’ ticket). We were also lucky enough to get cheap First Class tickets from Nottingham to St Pancras and back again. Door to door, the journey was about 8 hrs but seemed less stressful than going by plane. The most hectic bit was getting from Brussels to Bruges as we were travelling at peak time but other than that we had no problems and would certainly consider going on the Eurostar again.

The Weather

Given the forecasts over the preceding weeks, we were hoping it would be warm and sunny while we were there. Unfortunately our arrival coincided with the start of autumn in northern Europe so the weather was quite blustery and not overly warm. It didn’t stop us from doing anything though!

Accommodation – B&B Bariseele - http://www.bariseele.be

We wanted to stay somewhere that was nice, but still good value and in a quiet part of town so we were delighted to come across the Bariseele on Trip Advisor. Based on the photos on their website, we decided to book the top floor ‘Room with a View’. We certainly weren’t disappointed when we got there – the room is large and thoughtfully laid out and it was especially nice to have the use of a kettle, toaster and microwave. Bruges is not cheap for eating out so we managed to save quite a bit of money by making our own lunches and hot drinks. We had breakfast in our room on the first day and there was loads to eat – on the other days we ate in Benny’s home which was a lovely experience. The location is ideal, in a quiet area but only a few minutes away from the main square and there are plenty of bars and restaurants nearby. Benny was the ‘host with the most’ and you can tell he really enjoys what he does. We will definitely be recommending this place to all our friends!

Bars & Restaurants

There are literally hundreds of bars and restaurants to choose from – these are the ones we tried:

Restaurant Sint Joris (INVALID URL – On the Markt with great views of the Belfort from the terrace. We had the 18.90 euros set menu and it was very nice – good value for money.

Tom’s Diner – This was just round the corner from our B&B and was recommended by the owner so we popped in and booked a table for later that day. When we arrived that evening, the staff seemed to be running around in a chaotic manner, despite the restaurant being only 2/3 full. We were shown to our table and told it would be cleaned in a minute – this never happened. After 10 minutes we were given a menu and placed our order, only to have one of our drinks arrive in a glass that was covered in lipstick. We were disappointed by this but took it to be because the staff were busy, though later we came to feel that the staff actually couldn’t be bothered just because we were tourists – the locals who came in were given bread sticks, olives and bread and even had the waiters individually pouring their drinks for them. It was a real shame that the service was so bad because the food was some of the best we had in Bruges (we both had the meatloaf). So 5/5 for the food – 1/5 for the service – definitely something that needs to be tackled by the management here!

Restaurant Pieter Pourbus (INVALID URL – Nice, traditional restaurant with excellent service – the 26 euro set menu was very good value for money.

The Olive Tree (INVALID URL – Amazing little Greek restaurant just off the Markt – reasonably priced drinks, lovely food and some nice extras in the form of mini-appetisers and desserts. Service was outstanding – highly recommended!

De Garre – firmly on the tourist trail but still worth a visit (if you can get a table).

Terrastje – just round the corner from where we were staying – cosy little place serving locals and tourists alike.

Vlissighe (http://www.cafevlissinghe.be/welcome.html) – apparently the oldest pub in Bruges – quaint looking inside and out with a nice beer garden.

Café Rose Red – (http://www.cordoeanier.be/en/rosered.php) – the nicest bar in Bruges – lovely staff, great selection of beers and not too crowded. The only place we went to twice!

Sightseeing

We were originally planning to buy Bruges Cards at 40 euros each but Benny (our B&B host) persuaded us that getting Museum Cards would work out better. These only cost 12 euros with the discount card that we gave us and gave us 3 days free entry into most of the city-owned museums etc. We managed to visit the following sites:

Groeninge – Good variety of painters and painting styles from across the ages. Definitely worth a visit, even if you’re not a massive art lover. We didn’t find the Arentshuis as interesting though.

St-Janshospital – Worth visiting just to see the building – don’t forget to visit the pharmacy round the back as well.

Our Lady of the Pottery – the chapel is worth a look if you’re passing but otherwise there’s not much here unless you like religious art.

Welcome Church of Our Lady – very impressive church with some interesting grave excavations.

Volkskunde (Folk Museum) – Very interesting little museum with numerous rooms recreating various aspects of life in Bruges. It even has its own pub!

Sint-Janshuismolen – the steps up to this are really steep so not great for anyone with vertigo. Worth popping in if you are passing.

Belfort – Avoid this if you are unfit our have an aversion to narrow spiral staircases! The views from the top are worth the effort though – it’s best to go up in the morning as only 70 people are allowed in at one time and the queues can get quite long.

Brugse Vrije (Liberty of Bruges) – We weren’t expecting much from this but found it surprisingly interesting thanks to the audio guide and the lovely carvings over the fireplace.

Stadhuis (Town Hall) – The main chamber upstairs is lovely – try and get hold of an audio guide if you can.

Gruuthuse – I think we had museum fatigue by this point so we didn’t spend much time here – the building exterior is lovely though.

Begijnhof – we didn’t have time to visit the museum house there but enjoyed strolling round the grounds.

We also went on a canal boat trip – definitely a must do while you are in Bruges and not bad value at 6.40 euros each with our discount card. Overall, we really liked Bruges and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a laid back city break.

Lovely read corinne. We enjoyed Bruges muchly and seemed to spend a lot of time on bikes ,something I thought I would never manage but I did amazingly well .

Very interesting Corinne I enjoyed reading that, thanks for sharing

Thanks Corinne, my friend and I have done a couple of day trips to Bruge and really like it there. I have to agree with you regarding prices it was raining heavily on our last trip a few weeks ago so we ducked in and out of the shops and couldn't believe the cost of clothing etc.