# Belgium

Belgium is known for its medieval canal cities, world-famous beer and chocolate, and the forested valleys of the Ardennes.

Five of the world's eight Trappist beers are Belgian. See which cities deserve a night and what a trip costs, then plan your own route in the Guided app.

Canonical: https://www.go-guided.com/en/destinations/belgium
# Belgium

# Belgium travel guide: Everything you need to know before visiting Belgium

Bruges and Ghent are 22 minutes apart by train, and Brussels is half an hour from Ghent and about an hour from Bruges. You can wake up beside a medieval canal in Bruges and be back in Brussels for a glass of lambic in the evening without booking a seat, because domestic trains don't take reservations. The average visitor stays just over two nights. We think that's far too short.

It also feels different from its neighbours. Dutch-speaking Flanders is a land of Gothic belfries and guild houses rather than Dutch Golden Age canal houses, and French-speaking Wallonia feels like France with the formality turned down. Belgian beer culture is on UNESCO's intangible heritage list, and the filled chocolate praline was invented in Brussels in 1912. With Rubens in Antwerp and the First World War sites around Ypres, the country suits art lovers and history buffs, and it's an easy rail trip from London or Paris. This Belgium travel guide covers where to go and the practical side of a trip, from trains to typical prices.

## 5 reasons to visit Belgium

Pick any two of these and you already have a very good long weekend.

1. Walk the canals of Bruges, whose whole historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2. Stand in front of the van Eycks' Ghent Altarpiece, finished in 1432, in the cathedral it was painted for.
3. Drink beer brewed by monks, since five of the world's eight official Trappist beers are Belgian.
4. See the Grand-Place and dozens of comic-strip murals in a single day in Brussels.
5. Hear the Last Post at the Menin Gate in Ypres, played every evening at 8pm since 1928.

## Where to visit in Belgium?

So where do you start? With Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp, almost certainly, since those four alone could fill a week. The rest of this list is what we'd add once you've seen them.

### Spend two days in Brussels, Belgium's capital

The Grand-Place has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998, and its guild houses are reason enough to stand in the middle of the square for a while. The Manneken Pis received his 1,206th outfit in August 2026. Further out, the Atomium was built for Expo 58 and models an iron crystal enlarged 165 billion times (adults €17). The Royal Museums of Fine Arts, home to the Magritte Museum, open their permanent collections for free from 1pm on the first Wednesday of the month. We'd give the city two full days, then use it as a base for day trips.

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### Stay the night in Bruges

Is Bruges too busy? In the middle of the day, often yes, which is exactly why we'd sleep there at least one night. The whole historic centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, and once the day-trippers and cruise groups leave in the late afternoon, the canals go quiet. Climb the 366 steps of the 83-metre Belfry (€15 to €16, with a time slot booked online), or catch a carillon concert on a Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday morning. The Groeningemuseum closes on 11 January 2027 for about four years, and its Flemish Primitives, including Van Eyck and Memling, move to the new BRUSK art centre for the renovation.

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### See the Ghent Altarpiece in Ghent

Ghent holds the most important painting in Belgium, in our view, and it still hangs in the cathedral it was made for. The Ghent Altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral was begun by Hubert van Eyck and finished by Jan van Eyck in 1432. One panel, the Just Judges, was stolen in 1934 and has never been found, so a copy fills its place. The visitor centre costs €12.50, or €16 with the augmented-reality tour, and weekend slots sell out. The Gravensteen castle, built in 1180 by Philip of Alsace, costs €15 with an audio guide, and the Graslei and Korenlei quays line the water nearby.

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### See Rubens in Antwerp

For shopping and eating out, Antwerp beats every other Belgian city. Arrive at Antwerpen-Centraal, a 1905 station with trains on four levels, then walk to the Cathedral of Our Lady, where four works by Rubens include the Elevation of the Cross (€12). That's the place to see Rubens right now, because his house is closed for restoration until about 2030, although the garden and the underground Rubens Experience are open. The KMSKA fine arts museum costs €20 and stays open until 10pm on Thursdays. The Museum Plantin-Moretus, a UNESCO site, reopens in December 2026 after a renovation.

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### Take a half-day trip to Leuven

Leuven is about 16 minutes from Brussels by train, which makes it the easiest half-day on this list. The Town Hall facade carries 235 statues, and a guided tour inside costs €4. Climb the University Library tower (€8), then wander the Groot Begijnhof, a UNESCO-listed béguinage that's free to walk around, as is the 18th-century botanical garden. Beer fans can tour the Stella Artois brewery at weekends for €14. Don't leave without an hour on the Oude Markt, though, a square of bar terraces where an afternoon drink easily turns into dinner.

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### Climb St Rumbold's Tower in Mechelen

Mechelen is the stop most people rush past between Brussels and Antwerp, and we think that's a mistake. It's about 20 minutes from Brussels by train and sits on the line to Antwerp, so it fits neatly into a day between the two. St Rumbold's tower has 538 steps and stands 97 metres high. The spire planned for the top was never built, and there's a skywalk at the summit today. Tickets cost €8, and the tower is part of UNESCO's listing of the belfries of Belgium and France.

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### Remember the First World War in Ypres and Flanders Fields

Every evening at 8pm, the Last Post is played beneath the Menin Gate in Ypres (Ieper), as it has been since 1928, with a break only during the occupation of 1940 to 1944. The gate carries more than 54,000 names. In 2023 it joined UNESCO's listing of First World War memorial sites, along with Tyne Cot cemetery, where nearly 12,000 soldiers are buried. Both are free. Ypres is 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours from Brussels with a change at Kortrijk, so stay the night, and a car or a tour makes the outlying cemeteries far easier. Keep to marked paths on the old battlefields, because unexploded shells still turn up.

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### Ride the tram along the Belgian coast

The Kusttram runs 67 kilometres along the whole Belgian coast, from De Panne to Knokke-Heist, and it's often called the longest tram line in the world. Trams come every 10 to 20 minutes by day, so ride it end to end and get off wherever looks good. Ostend is the big seaside town, about 1 hour 16 minutes from Brussels by train. We'd stay in De Haan instead, a quieter resort of Belle Époque villas with no high-rises. At Oostduinkerke, about a dozen fishermen still catch shrimp on horseback, a tradition on UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2013.

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### Take the cable car up to Namur's citadel

Namur is the capital of Wallonia and the easiest first taste of French-speaking Belgium, 52 minutes from Brussels by train and 45 minutes from Liège. Its citadel spreads over more than 80 hectares above the town, with about 7 kilometres of underground passages. A 652-metre cable car has run up to it since 2021. Take it up and walk back down into the old town afterwards, which is the better way round for your knees and for the views.

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### Kayak the Lesse from Dinant

Dinant's citadel sits high above the Meuse, reached by cable car or 408 steps, and below it the Gothic collegiate church has an onion-dome bell tower you can't mistake. The best reason to stay, though, is the Lesse. Kayak routes of 9 to 21 kilometres run from Houyet or Gendron down to Anseremme between April and October, water levels permitting. Dinant is about 1 hour 20 minutes from Brussels by direct train, so pair it with Namur in one day, or give it two nights if you want to paddle.

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### Drive through the Ardennes

This is the one region of Belgium where we'd hire a car. Bouillon has no train station and sits about two hours' drive from Brussels. Its castle dates from the 10th century, and Godfrey of Bouillon sold it in 1096 to pay for the First Crusade. Durbuy received its town rights in 1331 and calls itself the smallest city in the world, which is a marketing slogan more than a fact. At Han-sur-Lesse, the PassHan ticket (€41.50) covers the caves and a wildlife park, and the cave tour passes through the 62-metre-high Salle d'Armes. Expect snow here in winter.

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### Give Liège a chance

Liège is a gritty, food-led city that most visitors skip, and we'd go anyway. Santiago Calatrava's Liège-Guillemins station, opened in 2009, makes arriving by train a pleasure, about an hour from Brussels, and the city has had a tram line since April 2025. The Liège waffle, made from brioche dough with pearl sugar and eaten plain, comes from here. Climb the 374 steps of the Montagne de Bueren, then order a pèkèt, the Walloon version of jenever. If you have a spare day, Spa is one of UNESCO's Great Spa Towns of Europe and pairs well with a night in Liège.

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## Belgium itinerary ideas for your trip

Most of Belgium's main cities sit within an hour of Brussels by train, so you can change hotels less often than you'd think. The first route covers the four big cities, and even on that one we'd keep a night in Bruges. The second adds the coast and Ypres, then heads south.

### 5 to 7 day Belgium itinerary

**Day 1-2**: Brussels, with the Grand-Place, the Magritte Museum, the comic-strip murals and the Atomium.

**Day 3**: Ghent, for the Ghent Altarpiece and an evening on the Graslei.

**Day 4-5**: Bruges, with a night inside the canal ring.

**Day 6**: Antwerp, for the cathedral's Rubens paintings and the KMSKA.

**Day 7**: Leuven or Mechelen on the way back to Brussels, or a morning at Waterloo.

### 10 to 14 day Belgium itinerary

**Day 1-3**: Brussels, with a half-day in Waterloo or Leuven.

**Day 4-5**: Ghent and its old quays.

**Day 6-7**: Bruges and the coast, riding the Kusttram to De Haan.

**Day 8**: Ypres, with the Last Post at the Menin Gate and a night in town.

**Day 9-10**: Antwerp, stopping in Mechelen on the way.

**Day 11**: Namur and its citadel.

**Day 12**: Dinant, kayaking the Lesse in season.

**Day 13-14**: The Ardennes by car (Han-sur-Lesse, Durbuy or Bouillon), or Liège and Spa by train.

Want to swap Ypres for an extra day by the sea, or add a night in the Ardennes? You can build or adjust this route in the **Guided app**.## Fun things to do in Belgium

If you only do one thing on this list, make it the beer. Belgian beer culture has been on UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2016, and an afternoon in a proper café tells you more about the country than most museums.

### Drink Trappist beer close to the abbeys

Five of the world's eight Authentic Trappist beers are Belgian (Westmalle, Westvleteren, Chimay, Rochefort and Orval), but don't expect brewery tours. Westvleteren's abbey is closed to visitors, so you drink its beer at In de Vrede, the café opposite, which also sells six-bottle boxes when stock allows. Orval makes the better day out, with abbey ruins and an old pharmacy to see (€8), although the brewery isn't part of the visit. For something sourer, Cantillon in Anderlecht has brewed lambic since 1900, and a visit with two tastings costs €12.

### Learn how pralines are made

Neuhaus opened in Brussels' Galerie de la Reine in 1857, and in 1912 Jean Neuhaus II invented the filled praline in the city. Choco-Story runs chocolate workshops in Bruges and Brussels, and the Bruges session lasts two hours including the museum. For buying rather than making, skip the generic shops on the main tourist streets and head for Pierre Marcolini, Wittamer, Mary or Dominique Persoone's The Chocolate Line in Bruges.

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### Follow the Comic Strip Route through Brussels

Brussels began painting comic-strip murals on its walls in 1991, starting with Frank Pé's Broussaille, and there are now more than 50 across the city. The route is free, and the map is online at parcoursbd.brussels. Tintin, who first appeared in 1929, has his wall on Rue de l'Étuve. It's the best free half-day in the city.

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### Cycle Flanders on the node network

Flanders has about 13,000 kilometres of numbered cycle routes, where you ride from one numbered junction to the next instead of following a map. Blue-bike rents bikes from more than 300 stations for €12 per 24 hours if you're not a member. Cycling fans could plan a spring trip around the Tour of Flanders, which runs on 4 April 2027.

### Time your trip for a festival or a Christmas market

Belgium's folklore calendar is packed. The Carnival of Binche, on UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2003, takes over the town for the three days before Ash Wednesday, in February or March. In early July, the Ommegang procession fills the Grand-Place in Brussels (tickets €59 to €89), and Ghent holds its ten-day Gentse Feesten later the same month.

Winter is the other big season. Brussels Winter Wonders runs from 27 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, and Bruges' Christmas market opens on 20 November. If you can only pick one, we'd choose Bruges on a weekday.

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## When to go to Belgium?

When is Belgium at its best? We'd go in May or June, or in December for the Christmas markets, and September is nearly as good. Brussels averages highs of 18.4°C in May and 23.2°C in July, and its 837 mm of rain a year is spread across every month, so pack a rain jacket whenever you go.

- **Spring (March to May)**: highs of 11 to 18°C with fewer crowds, plus the Tour of Flanders in April.
- **Summer (June to August)**: highs of 21 to 23°C and the biggest crowds in Bruges, with rain still likely even in July.
- **Autumn (September to November)**: the Belgian Beer Weekend in September and colouring Ardennes forests in October, with highs falling from about 20°C to 10°C.
- **Winter (December to February)**: highs of 6 to 7°C and short wet days, with Christmas markets from late November.[grid: non-text section]

## Where to stay in Belgium?

We'd base ourselves in Ghent rather than Bruges. Rooms are easier to find, the evenings are livelier in a big university city, and Bruges is only 22 minutes away by train.

### Brussels, for day trips in every direction

The streets around the Grand-Place and the Îlot Sacré suit first-timers, though they're pricier and very busy in December. Saint-Géry and Dansaert have cafés and mid-range hotels, while Ixelles is the one for restaurants and a local feel. A central 3-star hotel costs about €80 to €130 a night and a 4-star €130 to €170, plus a tourist tax of €5 per room per night.

### Ghent, for lively evenings and a cheaper base

Stay around the Graslei or in the Patershol to be in the old centre. Hotels add a tourist tax of €4.40 per person per night.

### Bruges, for the canals after dark

Pick a room inside the canal ring so you can walk out once the crowds leave. Book well ahead for weekends and December, and budget for the tourist tax of €3.75 per person per night.

### Antwerp, for restaurants and fast trains

Stay in the old town for restaurants and the cathedral, or near Antwerpen-Centraal if you plan to take trains most days.

### The Ardennes, for gîtes and forest walks

Durbuy, La Roche-en-Ardenne and Bouillon have gîtes and small hotels, and you'll need a car to reach them.

> **Guided tip: **Brussels hotels in the EU Quarter drop their prices at weekends, when the business travellers go home.

## Getting around when visiting Belgium

Belgium's domestic trains don't take seat reservations, so you can buy a ticket in the SNCB app and step on the next train. Trains cover nearly everything in this guide, and a car only earns its keep in the south.

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### Take the train with SNCB

The national operator, SNCB (NMBS in Dutch), sells tickets on its app and on belgiantrain.be. Since October 2025, fares depend on distance, with an adult second-class single capped at about €21, and Brussels to Ghent costs about €10. Every ticket is now a single. Adults aged 26 to 64 get 30% off at weekends, and under-26s and over-65s get 40% off at all times. Children under 12 travel free with an adult.

### Use city trams and buses

Each region runs its own network. In Brussels, STIB charges €2.40 for a single and you can tap a contactless card at the gates. De Lijn covers Flanders for €3 a single or €9 for a day pass, and its tickets work on the Kusttram. TEC in Wallonia charges €2.80 for a 90-minute ticket.

### Arrive by Eurostar or from the airports

Eurostar reaches Brussels from London in about 2 hours, which makes it the easiest way in from the United Kingdom, and from Paris in 1 hour 22 minutes. Since March 2025, Eurostar tickets no longer include onward travel to other Belgian stations, so buy your SNCB ticket separately. From Brussels Airport, about six trains an hour reach Brussels-Central in about 18 minutes, with a €6.90 airport supplement on top of the fare.

### Hire a car only for the Ardennes and Flanders Fields

Motorways are toll-free and rental averages about €54 a day. Brussels has a low emission zone, as do Antwerp and Ghent, and foreign-registered cars must register before driving into them.

> **Guided tip: **Buy your train tickets in the SNCB app and do your longer journeys on Saturday or Sunday, when adults get 30% off.

## Food and drinks you should try when visiting Belgium

What should you eat first? Fries from a fritkot, in our opinion, well before anything with a Michelin star, even if Antwerp's Zilte does hold three of them.

### Frites from a fritkot

Belgium has about 4,500 chip shops, and just under 1,000 of them are standalone kiosks called fritkots. Fritkot culture has been recognised as Flemish intangible heritage since 2014, and Flanders now protects some of the historic kiosks. A cone costs about €4 to €6, with mayonnaise or one of a long list of other sauces.

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### Liège and Brussels waffles

These are two different things. The Liège waffle is made from brioche dough with pearl sugar and eaten plain from a street stand for €2 to €5. The Brussels waffle is lighter and rectangular, and comes with toppings. We'd take the Liège one every time.

### Stoofvlees and waterzooi

Stoofvlees, or carbonade flamande in French, is beef braised slowly in beer and served with fries, and it's the dish to order on a cold evening. Ghent's waterzooi is a creamy stew made with chicken today, though it was originally made with fish.

## Culture and local habits you'll notice when visiting Belgium

Belgium has 11.9 million people, three official languages and two big language regions, Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia, plus officially bilingual Brussels, which mostly speaks French in practice. German is spoken in the East Cantons around Eupen.

Café life is where you'll notice the habits most, and it's the part of Belgian culture we like best. Every beer is served in its own branded glass, and a Kwak comes in a wooden holder. Expect a handshake on first meeting and usually three kisses among friends. Service is included in the bill, so rounding up or leaving 5 to 10% for good service is plenty.

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## Costs of a holiday to Belgium

Belgium is not a cheap country, but it's not the priciest of its neighbours either. Numbeo's 2026 cost of living index puts it at 68.6, level with France (67.7) and Germany (68.7), a little below the Netherlands (73.4) and well below Luxembourg (78.0). Eating out is the exception, because restaurants cost noticeably more than in France or Germany. Bruges hotels at weekends and in December are where the money goes, and if something has to give, we'd cut back on restaurant dinners before giving up that night in Bruges.[grid: non-text section]

## Practical tips for visiting Belgium

What catches people out in Belgium? Mostly small stuff, like a strike on the day you planned to travel or a fritkot that won't take your card. The strike check matters most, in our view.

### ✔ Check the entry rules and carry your passport

Belgium is in the Schengen area. Many nationalities, including the UK, EU and US, can visit without a visa, with non-EU visitors allowed up to 90 days in any 180. Since 10 April 2026, the EU's Entry/Exit System takes fingerprints and a photo from non-EU visitors at the border instead of stamping passports. ETIAS, the planned EU travel authorisation, isn't running yet and has no start date. Check GOV.UK's Belgium entry requirements or your own government's advice before you book, and carry your passport at all times while you're in the country.

### ✔ Keep a little cash for fritkots and markets

Contactless cards work almost everywhere, and businesses have had to offer an electronic payment option since 2022. Bancontact is the local debit scheme, though, so a few small places may not take foreign cards.

### ✔ Check for strikes the day before you travel

Rail and general strikes have been common through 2025 and 2026, and some have cancelled flights. Check SNCB and your airline the evening before any big travel day.

### ✔ Watch your bags at Brussels' big stations

Belgium's threat level is 3 out of 4, and the US rates it Level 2 for terrorism. The more likely problem is pickpockets at Brussels-Midi and Brussels-Nord, especially at night, and around the luggage racks on high-speed trains to Paris and Amsterdam. The emergency number is 112.

### ✔ Start conversations in the right language

In Flanders, open in English rather than French. In Brussels and Wallonia, open in French. Never describe a Flemish person as French-speaking, or the other way round.

### ✔ Plan around Sunday and Monday closures

Many shops close on Sundays outside the tourist centres, and museums often close on Mondays. Plugs are type C and E at 230 V, and tap water is safe to drink.

## Fun facts about Belgium

Beer and chocolate are what most people picture first. The country has a few other claims to fame.

- Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone, was born in Dinant in 1814.
- Georges Lemaître, a Belgian priest and physicist, first proposed the theory now known as the Big Bang.
- Belgium once went more than 500 days without a federal government, in 2010 and 2011.
- Voting in federal elections has been compulsory since 1893.
- Gerardus Mercator, of the Mercator map projection, was born in Rupelmonde in Flanders in 1512.
- Belgium has more than 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

And if you're travelling with children, the Smurfs are Belgian too, created by Peyo in 1958.Ready to map out your trip to Belgium?

We hope this Belgium travel guide has given you a clear starting point, whether you're planning a weekend between Ghent and Bruges or two weeks that finish in the Ardennes. And don't forget to check out the **Guided trip planner**, where you can create your own trip or use trips shared by other travellers for free.## FAQS about visiting Belgium

### How many days do you need in Belgium?

Five to seven days gives you time for Brussels and the three big Flemish cities, with a night in Bruges after the crowds leave. With 10 to 14 days, you can add Ypres and the coast, then head south to the Meuse valley and the Ardennes. In the **Guided travel planning app**, you can build your own route and see how many places fit into your trip.### What is the best part of Belgium to visit?

For a first trip, Flanders, which has the medieval cities and most of the Flemish art. Wallonia is the pick for the Meuse valley and the Ardennes forests, and Ypres for First World War history.### What is Belgium known for?

Beer and chocolate come first, then fries and waffles. Belgium is also known for Flemish painting and Tintin, and for hosting the main EU institutions and NATO's headquarters.### Can you travel around Belgium without a car?

Yes. Trains link every main city, most of them within an hour of Brussels, and domestic trains need no reservations. You only really need a car for the Ardennes and the outlying First World War cemeteries around Ypres.### Is Belgium expensive to visit?

Overall it costs about the same as France or Germany, and a little less than the Netherlands. Restaurants cost more than in France or Germany, while weekend train fares and café beer stay cheap. Bruges is dearest at weekends and in December.### Is Belgium safe to visit?

Yes, with normal care. The US rates Belgium Level 2 (exercise increased caution) because of terrorism, and the UK government doesn't advise against travel to any part of the country. The main day-to-day risk is pickpockets at Brussels' big stations and on international trains.### Should you visit Bruges or Ghent?

Do both, since they're only 22 minutes apart by train. Bruges has the postcard medieval centre and is best if you stay overnight. Ghent makes a livelier, cheaper base and has the Ghent Altarpiece.### What language is spoken in Belgium?

Dutch is spoken in Flanders, and French in Wallonia and most of Brussels. A small area in the east speaks German, and English is widely spoken, especially in Flanders.