Planning a trip to Westvleteren

I'm sure you could find a bottle or 3 in Brugge, although I couldn't name a place there. So it's just a question of whether to go to the place. Personally, unless the cafe is *the* bucket list item (as opposed to seeing, & drinking, Bruges), I wouldn't pressure yourself to do a really long bus ride + walk. (I can't advise on the routing or length by public transport; https://www.delijn.be/en/ might.) It's nice to see the countryside and all that. The cafe is good but on its own, it's not a life-defining experience.

It's hard to give advice for something this personal. You wouldn't be crazy to do it — go for it if you really want to. (And come back here for more specifics — and let us know how it goes!) Just consider that it's a pleasant cafe with 3 different beers to try, and a view on the outside of the monastery, and for the most part that's all you see. "Worth a detour" as the Michelin guide would say.

Let others weigh in here!

 

If you *really* want to hit up In De Vrede to experience Westvletern at the source, I’d recommend renting a car for the day, as that’s going to be the optimal combination of price/use of your time to get there from Bruges. Otherwise, it is also possible to get from Bruges to Poperinge by train.

But as others have mentioned, the cafe is nice, but…not really enough of a draw to to dedicate a daytrip just to going there. Save that area for a future trip to Belgium, and enjoy your evenings in Bruges at ‘t Brugs Beertje or Cafe Rose Red. Most decent beer bars in Belgium have Westvletern available (‘t Brugs Beertje has it listed on their online menu, for example).

 

I'll echo those who say that if you're expecting some kind of holy grail of beer drinking, the cafe is nice but can be a little disappointing in how modern and borderline cafeteria-like it feels. Still, I've been there four times and loved it every time. There's something about drinking all the Westvleteren you want, eating the cheeses, ice cream and other stuff made by monks, and watching locals, mostly old people, do the same.

If you go on a Wednesday, there is a city bus you can catch at the Poperinge train station around noon and it'll drop you about a 10-minute, very pleasant walk from the abbey. Note that you'll likely be the only grownups on the bus, as it's mostly for schoolchildren. School lets out early on Wednesdays and that's why the bus runs around noon. Otherwise it runs at like 4 or 5 p.m.

Another option is to go to the cafe right next to the train station and ask the bartender to call you a taxi to go to the abbey. Might be nice to order an Orval or something first. Negotiate the price with the driver up front, as they charged us like 15 euro but I've heard of people being charged much more. When the driver drops you off, you can arrange a time for them to pick you back up. In our case, it was the taxi driver's mother who picked us up, with a sleeping child next to us in the back seat haha.

At the cafe, you can also ask your waiter to call you a taxi when you're ready to go. The waiter might say he has a friend who'll drive you to the train station cheaper than a taxi. Ours did and it worked out fine.

 

I looked at the street view on Google Maps so I could give you the name of the cafe next to the Poperinge train station and it now shows as "permanently closed." So you wouldn't be able to go there and ask them to call a taxi for you. (You can call the taxi yourself, but in my experience the driver didn't pick up and the bartender at the cafe said it was because the driver didn't recognize my phone number.) There is a pharmacy across the street from the train station and they might call a taxi for you.

You might email In De Vrede before your trip and ask if they have suggestions on getting a taxi at the train station. I emailed them before a trip a couple years ago and they confirmed that they would call a taxi to take me back to the train station. Maybe they'd say you could call them when you arrive and ask them to call a taxi for you.

Just know that there are no guarantees and that, worst case, you might end up having to walk. Things worked out the four times I went there, but there's always a chance the taxi isn't available or something.

 

Another option to get to In De Vrede from Poperinge is via bike rental; in 2018, we rented bikes from Hotel Amfora (which is on the Grote Markt in the city center). The price is a little steep for a day rental - €11, but it's a flat 20-minute ride each way and a decent way to enjoy the Belgian countryside.

The hotel was also more than happy to call a cab for my wife (who wasn't interested in riding a bike out and back), and I'm sure the tourist center nearby would call a cab, too.

 

Trappist in Bruges had all three Westvleteren at a good price when I was there a few years ago.

 

I agree with the other posters - In De Vrede is nice to go to, but a bit too cafeteria-like for me to consider it a required stop. If you rent a car, though, it can make a nice pit stop on a driving tour of Flanders. If you decide not to dedicate the time though, I don't think you'll have much difficulty finding Westvleteren at a bar to enjoy there or store to carry out if you keep your eyes open. Over maybe half a dozen trips, I don't think I've ever entirely missed out, even with 12. You may have to pay a premium for bottles to take home, but they're not that hard to find.

 

Something worth mentioning about In De Vrede - sometimes they'll have a sign up in the gift shop that says "Westvleteren bottles are not currently available" or something to that effect. That DOES NOT mean they won't be for sale later that same day. It just means they don't have any right that second. I drove from Brussels and was pretty disappointed to see a sign like that, but was still happy to make the trek. It's a beautiful area and they still had bottles available to drink on-site. Yet about an hour or so later, that sign came down and they started wheeling 6-pack boxes into the shop.

 

Conversely, if they do have bottles for sale in the shop when you arrive, that doesn't mean they'll have them all day. Sometimes they sell out. So if you want to get bottles, get them when you arrive and keep them at your table rather than planning to grab them on the way out.

 

Most definitely. Once the sign went down and the dolly full of bottles showed up, a line also formed. Really quickly, too. At the time I think you could buy up to 3 6-packs of each beer and quite a few people in that line bought the maximum. Mostly folks from the UK that could get 'em home easier than I could. I was that weird Yank at the front of the line who only bought a single 6-pack. I think they sold out in around an hour (it was around 1:30 PM), but the guy at the counter told me they would probably stock more later. No clue if that's typical or not.

 

If you want to do "everything possible" at the Abbey, join the monks for a prayer. Thats the only chance of seeing the church and the inside of the abbey (but sadly no view on the brewery...).


You need to be 5 min prior to the prayer-times at the door (right beside the large gate, this sign is next to it) and ring the bell. A monk will open and show you the way to the church.

 

I have experienced this.... thnx to old BA Brabander.... very moving.. and afterwards we picked up 2 cases of Westy 12 he had pre-ordered.... ;-)

Prosit!!

 

Thijs is indeed, The Man.

 

I'm considering hitting this up in Dec, let us know how it goes.

I thought you could only order a minimum of like 20 beers in advance, or is that false?
I'd love to secure a selection to bring home, but that is way too many. Maybe there is a great bottle shop in the area or in Bruges or Brussels that I could get a few bottles for a reasonable price and just forgo the stop if it didn't show similar options.