Who will run Bruges’ canal tours from 2028 — and what will change for visitors?

Visit Bruges lists boarding points at Huidenvettersplein 13, Rozenhoedkaai, Wollestraat 32, Nieuwstraat 11 and Katelijnestraat 4. Every operator follows essentially the same route through the Bakkersrei, Dijver, Groenerei, Sint-Annarei and Spiegelrei. The municipal rules require a journey of at least 32 minutes, although the visitor website describes the experience more simply as a half-hour cruise.

As of August 2026, the published fare is €15 for adults and €9 for children aged four to eleven. Children up to three travel free. A reduced rate is available to some European Disability Card holders, while a companion may travel free in the circumstances specified by Visit Bruges. Because individual advance booking is unavailable, passengers should allow for queues during weekends and holiday periods and check the official website for subsequent fare changes. The gemeenteraad has already published a separate tariff regulation taking effect on 1 January 2027.

The boats are open rather than fully covered. Operators may stop sailing during prolonged bad weather, and visitors cannot bring food, drinks or large luggage aboard. Small bags are normally acceptable; lockers are available at Brugge railway station and the Historium on the Markt. Visit Bruges advises passengers with dogs or pushchairs to ask the operator at the landing stage what can be accommodated.

Commentary aboard is adapted to the passengers present. Visit Bruges says most skippers speak Dutch, French and English, while some also use German or Spanish. The revised city regulation requires historically responsible information and says Bruges may provide reference texts in Dutch, French, English, German and Spanish. For newcomers, the useful linguistic distinction is that the city’s official Dutch name is Brugge, while Bruges is the familiar French and English form; municipal regulations and application material are normally published first in Dutch.

A concession is the right to operate the commercial service, not the same thing as an individual skipper’s annual authorisation. The five successful concessionaires must insure their own liability and that of their operators and skippers. They must maintain an approved landing stage and provide safety equipment including flotation devices for every passenger, an extinguisher, first-aid equipment, ropes and an emergency means of propulsion, according to Stad Brugge

Individual skippers must apply separately for permission from the burgemeester, or mayor. The official Visit Bruges form asks for supporting documents, while the regulation requires applicants to be at least 18, medically fit and able to produce the prescribed swimming qualification, boating credentials, passenger-transport certificate and first-aid certificate. Anyone interested only in working as a skipper should therefore use the free online schipperstoelating form; a business seeking an entire concession must instead follow the city’s market procedure and concession documents. The relevant municipal contact is Visit Bruges’ buitenattracties service, while Belgian public tenders and concessions are commonly published through the federal BOSA e-Procurement portal.

Environmental and neighbourhood conditions will increasingly shape the experience. From 1 January 2028, every operational tour boat must be electrically powered. A non-electric reserve boat may remain temporarily only if an electric replacement was ordered before that date, and the reserve must also be electric by 1 January 2030. Visit Bruges currently describes a fleet of 20 boats and says electrification is already being phased in.

The rules also address what residents hear from their windows. Skippers must speak no louder than necessary, and amplified commentary will be prohibited from 1 January 2029. Operators will then need a system that makes the explanation audible to passengers without broadcasting it along the canals. That requirement captures the city’s central balancing act: canal cruises are both a popular attraction and a repetitive daily presence in residential streets.

The current operators include long-established family businesses. VRT NWS reported in 2025 that some of Bruges’ carriage and boat activities had remained with the same families for generations, prompting anxiety among incumbents when the city announced that access would be opened to other candidates. Existing boat permissions run until 31 December 2027.

The wider legal logic comes from the EU Services Directive. Where only a limited number of authorisations can exist because natural resources or technical capacity are scarce, Article 12 requires an impartial, transparent selection procedure and adequate publicity. It also says expiring authorisations cannot be renewed automatically or confer a special advantage on the incumbent. The same provision allows authorities to consider environmental protection, safety and cultural-heritage preservation when setting selection rules.

That framework is especially relevant in Bruges. UNESCO describes the historic centre’s canals and open spaces as part of the urban pattern that survived from the medieval city and says durable, high-quality cultural tourism remains important to its management. The Reien once helped connect a European trading centre to the sea; today they carry visitors through a living World Heritage city.

For established operators, the competition creates uncertainty after substantial investment in specialised boats and local expertise. For outside candidates, the market is formally open but the entry threshold is high: a bidder needs financial capacity, compliant vessels, trained personnel and the ability to deliver a multilingual service under strict operational constraints. For residents and visitors, the test will be whether competition improves accessibility, sustainability and service without turning a distinctive public space into a louder or more commercial one.

The next decisive steps are the submission and assessment of candidatures, followed by the city’s selection of up to five operators for the period beginning in 2028. The full candidate list, final scoring and identity of the future concessionaires were not confirmed in the material available for this article. Until awards are announced, travellers should continue using Visit Bruges for current landing stages, fares and operating hours, while prospective businesses should rely on the formal Dutch-language concession notice rather than the ordinary skipper application.