Café des Spoors

Belgium

　　Mushroom fans will be in heaven at this homage to funghi: dine on black chanterelle, black trumpet, truffles and more. The dark-coloured decor mimics the mushroom. An eccentric winner. ...

Château de Bouillon

Belgium

　　Slouching like a great grey dragon high on Bouillon's central rocky ridge, Belgium’s finest feudal castle-ruin harks back to AD 988, but it's especially associated with Crusader knight Godefroid de Bouillon, the first 'Belgian' ruler of Jerusalem. The super-atmospheric site has everything you might wish for in a castle: dank...

Pierre Marcolini

Belgium

　　Rare chocolate beans, experimental flavours (eg tea) and designer black-box packaging make Marcolini’s pralines Belgium’s hippest and most expensive. ...

Pairi Daiza

Belgium

　　Set on the grounds of a former Cistercian Abbey, this 65-hectare park is home to more than 5000 animals (including pandas, koalas, gorillas and lemurs) living in beautifully designed settings with elements from every corner of the globe. You'll find a recreated African stilt village, the red desert outback of...

Sint-Antoniuskapel

Flemish Brabant

　　Though originally built before 1329, this chapel is now an archetypal work of 1960s church design, made memorable as the last resting place of Father Damian, Belgium's missionary 'saint'. 　　His black-slab grave still attracts pilgrims and boards in the church illustrate Damien's work with Hawaiian lepers, which was the basis...

St-Michelskerk

Flemish Brabant

　　This church's enormous baroque frontage remains impressive despite considerable age-erosion to the limestone capitals. It's topped with trumpeteer angels and the allegorical cherub frieze halfway up is enchanting. 　　Much of the interior is hidden due to long-term restoration. Stand in the middle of the nave to make sense of the...

Stella Artois

Flemish Brabant

　　Just off the main inner ring road around 800m northwest of Leuven train station, this world-famous, highly automated brewery offers mostly group tours, though individual visitors can join weekend visits at 1pm (in Dutch) and 3pm (in English). Buy tickets from the tourist office or through the website as far...

M Van Museum

Flemish Brabant

　　This state-of-the-art gallery houses a priceless collection of 15th- to 18th-century religious works, fascinating Leuven-relevant historical objects and plenty of contemporary art displayed in thought-provoking if sometimes disorienting ways. Upper floors host high-profile temporary exhibitions. 　　Curiosities include a golden city key, playing 'spot the difference' in a room full of...

Universiteitsbibliotheek

Flemish Brabant

　　Dominating Monseigneur Ladeuzeplein, this imposingly grand Flemish Renaissance–style palace features a soaring Scandinavian-style brick tower topped with a three-storey octagonal stone cupola. 　　The library was convincingly rebuilt after WWI with the financial aid of 400 American universities, having been infamously put to the torch in August 1914 during the schrecklichkeit...

St-Pieterskerk

Flemish Brabant

　　At Leuven's heart is this soaring Brabantine-Gothic church (1425) whose remarkable wooden pulpit is fashioned like twin palm trees that drip with cherubs. The elaborately carved stone rood screen is magnificent too. Tickets are required to go beyond here into the apse, whose schatkamer (treasury) most notably includes two priceless...

Grote Begijnhof

Flemish Brabant

　　This idyllic, village-like corner of Leuven would make an ideal film set for a medieval drama. The lantern-lit cobbled streets are lined with step-gabled brick houses with stone window frames. Semi-wild roses scent several green oases, which are richly serenaded with birdsong, and a couple of pretty footbridges cross the...

Stadhuis

Flemish Brabant

　　Far and away Leuven’s most iconic sight, the incredible 15th-century stadhuis is a late-Gothic architectural wedding cake flamboyantly overloaded with terraced turrets, fancy stonework and colourful flags. Added in the mid-19th century, a phenomenal 236 statues smother the exterior, each representing a prominent local scholar, artist or noble from the...

Mercator

Ostend

　　This fully rigged, three-masted 1932 sailing ship was once used for Belgian Navy training purposes and is now a nautical museum that hosts changing exhibitions. The 36m-long Icelandic fishing trawler Amandine is moored permanently nearby and can also be visited. ...

Earth Explorer

Ostend

　　Themed by the elements, this heavily interactive series of experiences is made to awe primary-school-age youngsters with the forces that shape the earth. The most dramatic attractions are a walk-through earthquake and a volcano ride. When quiet, some sections close on hourly rotation. Look for half-price vouchers at hotels. ...

Léopold II Statue

Ostend

　　Most of the beachfront is overshadowed by 10-storey concrete buildings, but beside the very ‘50s Thermae Palace Hotel there's some respite where a neoclassical arcade is topped by a striking equestrian statue of Léopold II. Below him stands a fawning gaggle of European and African subjects. ...

Anno 1465

Ostend

　　Once a vibrant fishing village, Walraversijde disappeared entirely following the strife of 1600 to 1604, leaving mere foundations. Today the archaeological site is enhanced by four convincingly rebuilt and furnished thatched houses. An audioguide tells the village’s history through the voices of well-acted 1465-era characters. An interactive museum explains why...

Belle Epoque-weg

Ostend

　　This lesser-known residential part of Ostend was once in ill repute, but savvy homebuyers have recently snapped up its wealth of utterly charming art nouveau/belle epoque townhouses, restored them and transformed the neighbourhood into a very desirable part of town. There's nothing in particular to do but wander the narrow...

Atlantikwall Raversyde

Ostend

　　The gripping Atlantikwall is a remarkably extensive complex of WWI and WWII bunkers, gun emplacements and linking brick tunnels created by occupying German forces. Most bunkers are furnished and ‘manned’ by waxwork figures, and there’s a detailed audioguide explanation (albeit sometimes overly concerned with gun calibres). This is one of...

Fort Napoleon

Ostend

　　The impenetrable, pentagon-shaped Fort Napoleon is an unusually intact fortress dating from 1812, though there’s comparatively little to see inside. The audioguide covers many of the same topics you’ll have heard at the Atlantikwall. Drinking at the fortress café gets you decent glimpses without paying the entrance fee. ...

St-Petrus-&-Pauluskerk

Ostend

　　Ostend’s most striking historical building features beautifully ornate twin spires, a rose window and a gloomy neo-Gothic interior. It was consecrated on August 31 1908, though it appears eons older. It's a massive, magnificent building and quite a surprise the first time you come upon it: it's somewhat incongruous with...

Musée de la Fraise

Namur

　　This little museum-cum-store in the Wépion area sells strawberry beer, strawberry liqueurs and strawberry jams. The five-room museum, 7km south of central Namur, delves into the local history of strawberry growing, touching on gastronomy, commerce, art and folklore. 　　A short stroll south of the museum is the city-owned jardin des...

Place d'Armes

Namur

　　Namur's central square has been marred by a 1980s department store yet still features the elegant stone-and-brick Palais des Congrès conference centre, rebuilt in the 1930s with war reparations from Germany (the German army having torched the whole square in 1914). Behind lies the Unesco-listed Beffroi, a medieval stone fortress...

Musée Félicien Rops

Namur

　　Celebrated local artist Félicien Rops (1833–98), born a few streets away at Rue du Président 33, had a penchant for illustrating erotic lifestyles and macabre scenes, as you'll rapidly discover at this eponymous museum. ...

Terra Nova

Namur

　　The citadel’s central section is a 19th-century former barracks with a modern visitor centre exploring the history and architecture of this important military bastion. From here, subterranean tours (adult/child €8/7) depart, as well as tours on a tourist train (adult/child €6/5). ...

Musée des Arts Anciens du Namurois

Namur

　　In an 18th-century mansion, this interesting museum displays old artworks from the local region, paintings by 16th-century artist Henri Blès and many religious pieces, including a hoard of priceless Mosan chalices, crosses and reliquaries with a very colourful history. Entry fees rise during temporary exhibitions. Enter opposite the tall, red...

Souterrains

Namur

　　In its later guises, the fortress moved the majority of its key installations underground. Fascinating visits, by tour only, walk you through some 500m of the citadel's web of dripping tunnels showing you never-tested 1939 gas-proof bunkers and clever Vauban architectural tricks. Guides help bring the past to life using...

Église St-Loup

Namur

　　Baudelaire reputedly described this remarkable baroque church as a ‘sinister and gallant marvel’. With purple marble columns, black stone arches, elaborately carved confessionals and complex ceiling tracery sculptured in white tufa, it's a curious and imposing sight. ...

Citadelle de Namur

Namur

　　Dominating the town, Namur's mighty fortress covers a whole hilltop with ramparts, tunnels and grey walls. What you see now is more 19th and 20th century than medieval, but is still compelling, great for strolling and offers terrific views. The best are from a section known as Château des Comtes...

Trésor

Liège

　　Off the closed-in cloister of Cathédrale St-Paul, the slickly presented three-level Trésor guards many artworks, vestments and chalices rescued from St-Lambert’s Cathedral in 1793. 　　These items include the jewel-studded gold-and-silver reliquary of St-Lambert in the form of a life-sized bust. It supposedly contains Lambert’s skull, though enough other fragments of...

Montagne de Bueren

Liège

　　Several tiny medieval passageways burrow beneath the house fronts of Rue Hors Château. Most disappear into picturesque hidden yards, but Montagne de Bueren, built in 1821, continues steeply all the way up to the top of the former citadel hill in one long flight of 373 steps. At the top...

Archéoforum

Liège

　　Once one of the greatest churches in northern Europe, St-Lambert’s Cathedral was demolished from 1793 in the aftermath of the Révolution Liégeoise, very decidedly marking the end of the independent prince-bishopric of Liège. All that now remains is a mere scattering of foundation stones hidden beneath bleak Place St-Lambert. These...

Institut Zoologique

Liège

　　Built in 1888, this palatial building has a deep-eyed bust of Darwin on its central pediment, best spotted from the river-ferry as it approaches the Pôle Fluviale jetty. Even if your French isn't sufficient to warrant visiting the building's two educational museums, it's still worth nipping inside the foyer to...

La Boverie

Liège

　　South of Liège's centre, this excellent gallery hosts many high-profile temporary exhibitions but always shows elements of its own fabulous art collection. Much is locally relevant, from 16th-century masterpieces by Lambert Lombard to a superb Seraing iron-foundry scene by Constantine Meurnier. 　　There's also fine work by Magritte, Monet, Gauguin and...

Liège-Guillemins Train Station

Liège

　　Liège's main train station, around 2km south of the centre, is an incredible 2009 icon designed by Santiago Calatrava. Great for semi-abstract landscape photography, its bold white sweeping curves create the impression of a vast glass-and-concrete manta ray. 　　From platform 1 there's a nicely framed view of the Tour Paradis,...

Église St-Jacques

Liège

　　Arguably Liège's most fascinating church, this architectural hotchpotch was founded in 1015 and retains a heavily patched-up 1170 west end whose Romanesque brown limestone and brick-filler clash discordantly with the 16th-century Gothic nave. 　　A 1557 north portal by celebrated local artist Lambert Lombard adds yet another dimension. Inside, the colourful...

Grand Curtius

Liège

　　Splendid Grand Curtius unites four disparate museum collections in the former mansion-warehouse of a 16th-century Liège arms dealer. The building's red outer walls had originally been painted with ox blood. The museum's ambitious aim is to explain the whole history of art, from prehistoric stone chippings to art nouveau pianos,...

Korenmarkt

Ghent

　　Ghent's best-loved waterfront square, the 'Wheat Market' is where you'll find some of the city's best architecture, including the former post office (now shops and the 1898 The Post boutique hotel) and the imposing Sint-Niklaaskerk, a Tournai bluestone church started in 1200. ...

Stadhuis

Ghent

　　Ghent’s magnificent and flamboyant city hall was started in 1519 but not finished until 1600, by which time it had transformed into a Renaissance-style palazzo. It's a prime spot for weddings, but visitor access is limited to one-hour guided visits that can be booked online or through the tourist office....

Kasteel Ooidonk

Ghent

　　Thought to have been originally constructed around the 13th and 14th centuries, and reconstructed in 1595 after much savagery and repeated pillaging, Ooidonk Castle (replete with moat) is considered one of the most beautiful in Belgium. Former residence of the Lords of Nevele and once owned by the Dukes of...

St-Pietersabdij

Ghent

　　Once the country’s biggest abbey, St-Pieters was the original centre around which Ghent grew. Its fabulous wealth evaporated after French revolutionary armies confiscated all its properties, stripped its interiors and demolished the abbot’s house. At the heart of the complex, its vast baroque-fronted church survived; the shell of the main...

MSK

Ghent

　　Styled like a Greek temple, this superb 1903 fine-art gallery introduces a veritable A–Z of great Belgian and other Low Countries' painters from the 14th to mid-20th centuries. Highlights include a happy family of coffins by Magritte, luminist canvases by Emile Claus, and Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s 1621 Dorpsadvocaat –...

Belfort

Ghent

　　Ghent’s Unesco-listed 14th-century belfry (91m) is topped by a large dragon weathervane: he's become something of a city mascot. You’ll meet two previous dragon incarnations on the 350-stair climb to the top; there are elevators to help some of the way. Enter through the Lakenhalle, Ghent's cloth hall that was...

Gravensteen

Ghent

　　Flanders’ quintessential 12th-century stone castle comes complete with moat, turrets and arrow slits. It’s all the more remarkable considering that during the 19th century the site was converted into a cotton mill. Meticulously restored since, the interior sports the odd suit of armour, a guillotine and torture devices. The relative...

The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb

Ghent

　　Art enthusiasts swarm the Sint-Baafskathedraal to glimpse The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (De Aanbidding van het Lams God), a lavish representation of medieval religious thinking that is one of the earliest-known oil paintings. Completed in 1432, it was painted as an altarpiece by Flemish Primitive artists the Van Eyck...

MAS

Antwerp

　　Opened in 2011, MAS is a 10-storey complex that redefines the idea of a museum-gallery. Floors are designed around big-idea themes using a barrage of media, from old master paintings and tribal artefacts to video installations. But many people come just for the views over the city (no ticket required),...