# Damme

The village that was the port of Bruges: Gothic town hall, the tower of Our Lady, a windmill on the rampart, second-hand bookshops and walks across the polders.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/damme · Revisado: 2026-11-14

Damme is seven kilometres north-east of Bruges, at the end of the Damse Vaart, the straight poplar-lined canal. In the Middle Ages it was Bruges's outer port, on an arm of the Zwin sea inlet that gradually silted up; of that wealth there remain the Gothic town hall on the square, a church too big for the village and fifteenth-century merchants' houses. Today it is a small, quiet village, with second-hand bookshops, terraces and polders all around, and it can be seen in full on foot in a morning.

## How do you get there from Bruges?

By bike is the most usual way: you leave through the Dampoort gate and follow the canal path, flat and almost free of cars, about seven kilometres. It is described step by step in by bike from Bruges to Damme, with where to hire a bike in the centre of Bruges.

By boat, the Lamme Goedzak makes the trip in 35 minutes from April to October, with four departures a day; it does not take bikes. Many go by boat and walk back along the bank, in an hour and a half.

By car, Damme has car parks on the outskirts, such as Damme Oost, on the Oude Sluissedijk, from where the canal walking route also starts. If you prefer the bus, check the line and timetable with De Lijn beforehand.

## What to see in a morning?

Start at the Markt, in front of the town hall, built between 1464 and 1468. Next to it, in the Huyse de Grote Sterre, a fifteenth-century patrician house, are the tourist office and the Till Eulenspiegel museum, the rogue of Flemish legend whom the village has adopted as its own. Walk down the Kerkstraat, pass the former St John's hospital, documented since 1249, and climb the tower of Our Lady: 206 steps and, at the top, the polders, the canal and the line of the seventeenth-century ramparts.

In the afternoon, walk around those ramparts, four flat kilometres, or look in on the Schellemolen, the 1867 windmill on the embankment beside the canal. If you have the whole day and good legs, the Damse Vaart walking route makes a twelve-kilometre loop through the polders to Oostkerke.

## Where to eat?

Tante Marie, on the Kerkstraat, serves meals without a break from 11:30 to 17:45, with shrimp croquettes and the house pastries; it is closed on Saturdays. On that day, or if you arrive late, eat back in Bruges.

## A perfect day

The day by bike to Damme from Brussels brings together the train to Bruges, the canal, lunch at Tante Marie and the return past the Bruges rampart windmills. With more time, the three nights with Damme and the coast link it with Ostend and De Haan.

## Dónde está
- Cerca: Bruges (a 6.2 km), Ostend and De Haan (a 21.7 km), Ghent (a 37.5 km), Ypres (Ieper) (a 52.4 km)

## Qué hacer
- **The Church of Our Lady in Damme and the climb up its tower** (45 min · Anyone who is good on stairs; not suitable for pushchairs · Church free · tower €3 for adults, free under 16): The Church of Our Lady is what you see most of Damme from the canal: a flat, massive tower over the polders. It was begun in 1220 and grew in the 13th century, when the port brought in money; after the Calvinist rebels sacked the town in 1578, it was half-restored and never recovered what it had been, which is why part of the nave is in ruins.
What you see inside
On the pillars of the nave are 13th-century wooden apostles. Above the altar hangs a cross which, according to legend, the fishermen of Damme pulled out of the sea, and which goes out every year in the Procession of the Holy Blood in Bruges. The poet Jacob van Maerlant is buried here; his gravestone was lost in the 18th century and a plaque remains.
The tower
There are 206 steps to the top. From above you can understand Damme and its history: the line of the 17th-century ramparts, the Damse Vaart running straight to Bruges and the polders to the horizon. The church is free; the tower costs €3 for adults and nothing for under-16s. Both open from April to September, every day from 13:00 to 17:00.
- **The Damme Markt, the Gothic town hall and Till Eulenspiegel's house** (1 h · All ages; cobblestones · Free from outside; the town hall opens only for exhibitions or to guided groups): The Markt is the centre of Damme and almost everything that tells its history is in view from here. The town hall was built between 1464 and 1468, on the site of the old aldermen's house and the market halls, when Damme still lived off its port. Today it is still in use: the municipal council meets every month in the Vierschaere and civil weddings are held in the council chamber. You can only go inside when there is an exhibition or an event, or as a guided group booking three weeks ahead.
The Huyse de Grote Sterre
Around the corner, at Jacob van Maerlantstraat 3, is the Huyse de Grote Sterre, a late Gothic patrician house that in the 15th century joined two merchants' houses, De Sterre and Craeynest; in the cellar are remains of two others from the 13th century. From 1615 the town's military governors lived in it. Above the door it carries the motto "Pacem Opto". Inside are the tourist office, a visitor centre about Damme and the Zwin and the museum of Till Eulenspiegel, the rogue of Flemish tales, which puts his stories in the context of the period. The Visit Damme website does not publish a price or opening hours for the museum itself: ask at the office, which shares the house.
To the church along the Kerkstraat
From the Markt, the Kerkstraat runs down to the Church of Our Lady. Halfway along, at number 33, is the former St John's Hospital, documented as early as 1249: the main building dates from the mid-13th century and was a home for the elderly until the start of this century. Today it is managed by the heritage body Herita, which is deciding on its future use.
- **Rond de wallen, the circuit of Damme's ramparts** (1 h 15 · 4 km · All ages; flat · Booklet €0.50): Damme was a fortified town, and its 17th-century ramparts still surround the village. The Rond de wallen route goes round them in four flat, circular kilometres. Today those ramparts are the De Stadswallen nature reserve.
How to do it
It starts at the tourist office, next to the Markt. It is not waymarked: buy the booklet there, which costs €0.50 and comes in Dutch, French, German and English, with the route on the map. At an easy pace it takes a little over an hour. If you first climb the church tower, you will see from above the route you are about to walk.
- **The Schellemolen, Damme's windmill beside the canal** (30 min · All ages · The Visit Damme calendar gives no price): The Schellemolen is the windmill you see as you arrive in Damme along the west bank of the Damse Vaart, perched on the embankment of the old rampart. It was built in 1867 on the site of an older wooden mill: there for centuries ground the mill to which the villagers were obliged to bring their grain, whose right was sold to the town in 1267 by Countess Margaret of Constantinople. On the embankment itself there is an old oil mill.
When you can go in
From outside you can always see it, and it is a natural stop when arriving by bike or on foot along the canal. Inside it opens only on some days, from May to October, from 10:00 to 17:30: in 2026 that was about four or five days a month, almost always on a Saturday. Check the calendar on the Visit Damme website before you go; groups can book a visit.
- **The Damse Vaart walk, from Damme to Oostkerke across the polders** (3 h 30 · 12 km · Walkers; flat but long · Free): The Damse Vaart is the straight canal that comes from Bruges, and beyond Damme it continues north-east between rows of trees. This twelve-kilometre circular route uses it as its axis to cross the polder between Damme and Oostkerke: old dykes, rows of poplars, the siphon where one canal passes under another, the castle and windmill of the village of Oostkerke, Fort Verbrand, the Romboutswerve nature reserve and, on the way back, the ramparts of Damme.
How to do it
It starts at the tourist office, next to the Markt, or at the Damme Oost car park, on the Oude Sluissedijk, which is the option if you come by car. It is waymarked with hexagonal plaques and is walked in one direction only. It is flat from start to finish, but long: allow three and a half hours at an easy pace, plus stops.
- **The Damme book market, on the second Sunday of every month** (1 h 30 · Readers and the curious; with children, only briefly · Free entry): Damme presents itself as the book village, Boekendorp: its streets have several small bookshops, some of them antiquarian and second-hand, such as Boeken Diogenes, Napoleon & Maerlant or Feniks. On the second Sunday of every month, the village also sets up a themed book market.
How to make the most of it
Visit Damme does not publish the market's hours: arrive mid-morning, when the stalls are already set up, and ask at the tourist office about that month's theme. The bookshops keep their own hours and not all of them open every day, so the market Sunday is the best day to see them.
- **Franse forten, the French forts walk around Damme** (4 h · 13.4 km · Walkers with an interest in military history · Booklet €1.50, Dutch only): During the War of the Spanish Succession, between 1701 and 1713, France controlled the southern Netherlands and strengthened Damme: it added a hornwork to the north of the square and built new forts to guard the canals around it. This 13.4-kilometre route passes three of them.
How to do it
It leaves from the Markt and makes a flat loop, in one direction only. It is not waymarked: you follow it with the booklet sold by the tourist office for €1.50, in Dutch only, with the map. Allow about four hours on foot.
For the 18th-century part you can't see, the Huyse de Grote Sterre, where the military governors lived, is on the same Markt.

## Dónde comer
- **Tante Marie, in Damme** (Café, Damme · Kerkstraat, 7 km from Bruges along the canal, €€). Qué pedir: the house shrimp croquettes at lunchtime, and for dessert a pancake with its jam or a cake of the day

## Consejos

### Come on the second Sunday
There is a book market in the village of booksellers.

### Ask for the map at the tourist office
The rampart route leaflet costs €0.50 and they have it in Dutch, French, German and English.

### Check the wind before you pedal
It blows on the polders, and into the wind it is tiring.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### Is it worth going to Damme from Bruges?
Yes, if you feel like leaving the city: the canal path is the best part, and the village can be seen in a morning.

### How many kilometres is it from Bruges to Damme?
About seven along the flat Damse Vaart path.

### Can you climb the tower of the church in Damme?
Yes, from April to September, every day from 13:00 to 17:00: 206 steps, €3 for adults and free for under-16s.

### What day is the book market in Damme?
The second Sunday of each month.

### What day is Tante Marie closed?
On Saturdays; the rest of the week it serves meals from 11:30 to 17:45.