Things to Do in Belgium 1 guide

Why visit Belgium

Three languages, two halves and a thousand breweries — a small country that behaves like several at once.

Belgium packs an improbable amount into an area smaller than Maryland — medieval guild squares, the birthplace of Art Nouveau, 16 UNESCO World Heritage sites and a beer culture UNESCO lists in its own right. Brussels is the EU capital and the country's gateway, but Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp sit less than an hour away by train, and the forested Ardennes roll south towards the Meuse. Nowhere is far: the whole country crosses in under three hours by rail. Use this hub to plan your trip — browse our Belgian city guides below, or read on for the regions, seasons and routes that tie the country together.

Cities in Belgium

Map of Belgium

Countries near Belgium

Trip planner Plan your trip to Belgium

Best time to visit — season by season

Spring
Mar–May

The best-value season: café terraces reopen, the parks and the Sonian Forest green up, and the crowds have not yet arrived. Showers are frequent and April can still turn cold, but May is reliably mild and the light on the old squares is at its best.

Summer
Jun–Aug

Warm rather than hot, and the busiest stretch — Bruges and the coast fill up, and city festivals run most weekends. Long northern evenings mean it stays light past ten, which is ideal for terrace dinners. Rain is possible in any month, so pack a layer even in July.

Fall
Sep–Nov

September keeps summer's warmth without its queues and is arguably the sweet spot. October brings colour to the Ardennes forests and the Sonian beeches; by November the days are short, grey and damp, and the country turns firmly indoors — which is what its museums and brown cafés are for.

Winter
Dec–Feb

Cold, dark and often wet, with snow more likely in the Ardennes than the lowlands. December is the exception: Christmas markets take over the main squares in Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Liège, and the cities look their best after dark. January and February are the quietest, cheapest months to visit.

Regions of Belgium

  • Brussels & the capital region

    The officially bilingual capital and seat of the EU, where a UNESCO guild square sits ten minutes from the glass of the European Quarter, and where Art Nouveau, comic-strip murals and a working lambic brewery are all inside the same nineteen communes.

  • Bruges, Ghent & the Flemish art cities

    The medieval heartland — Bruges preserved almost whole and ringed by canals, Ghent younger and livelier around its castle and cathedral, with Leuven and Mechelen nearby. All are day-trip distance from Brussels and all reward staying the night once the coach parties leave.

  • Antwerp & the north

    Belgium's port city and style capital, built on diamonds and Rubens, with a cathedral, a fashion museum and one of Europe's grandest railway stations. North and east lie the Kempen heathlands and the cycling country of Limburg.

  • The coast & Flanders Fields

    A 42-mile ribbon of North Sea beach linked end to end by a single coastal tram, from Ostend's promenade to the dunes of De Panne. Just inland lie Ypres and the First World War cemeteries and memorials of the Western Front.

  • The Meuse valley & Wallonia's cities

    French-speaking Belgium along its great river — Namur under its citadel, Dinant wedged between cliff and water beneath a bulb-domed church, and Liège, a big, blunt, likeable city with the country's best Sunday market.

  • The Ardennes

    Belgium's wild south: forested hills, river gorges and castle villages like Durbuy and La Roche-en-Ardenne, plus the Battle of the Bulge sites around Bastogne. This is walking, kayaking and Trappist-brewery country, and the one part of Belgium where a car genuinely helps.

Getting around

Belgium is small and densely railed, which makes the train the default: Brussels to Antwerp, Ghent or Bruges takes well under an hour, and no two major cities are more than about three hours apart. Trains are frequent enough that timetables barely matter on the main lines, and the historic centres of Bruges, Ghent and Brussels are compact, walkable and largely closed to through traffic — so a car is a liability in the art cities, where parking is expensive and the old streets are not built for it. Cities add trams, metro and buses on top; Brussels and Antwerp both have extensive networks. Where a car does earn its keep is the Ardennes and the Meuse valley, where the villages, viewpoints and abbeys are genuinely rural and public transport thins out. Note that road signs and station names switch language at the regional border — the same city is Mons in French and Bergen in Dutch, Liège is Luik, Antwerp is Antwerpen or Anvers — so navigate by the name your map is using.

The highlights Belgium's signature sights & road trips

Belgium's signature sights at a glance

Suggested routes

The art-cities rail loop

~4–6 days

The classic first trip, and the strongest argument for leaving the car at home — every leg is a short, frequent train, and each city is walkable the moment you step out of the station.

  1. Brussels — fly in; two days for the Grand-Place, Art Nouveau and the museums
  2. Ghent — half an hour on; castle, cathedral and a student city's nightlife
  3. Bruges — stay the night so you get the canals before the day-trippers
  4. Antwerp — Rubens, fashion and the cathedral before the train home

Battlefields & the North Sea

~3–5 days

A sombre, memorable route through the Western Front, finished on the coast — pair the Ypres Salient with the beaches and the coastal tram that links them all.

  1. Brussels — start point and rail hub
  2. Ypres — the museum, the cemeteries and the Last Post at the Menin Gate
  3. Ostend — promenade, seafood and the coastal tram in both directions
  4. Bruges — twenty minutes inland; end here or continue to Brussels

The Ardennes & the Meuse

~4–6 days

The one route where a car is worth hiring: river gorges, castle villages, Trappist breweries and the Battle of the Bulge, all in Belgium's forested south.

  1. Namur — citadel above the confluence of the Meuse and the Sambre
  2. Dinant — cliff, citadel and the birthplace of the saxophone
  3. Bastogne — Battle of the Bulge museum and memorial
  4. Durbuy — a castle village billed as the smallest city in the world
  5. Liège — finish on the Meuse; Sunday market and a direct train back

Belgium travel FAQ

When is the best time to visit Belgium?

May, June and September are the sweet spots — mild, long-dayed and less crowded than midsummer, when Bruges and the coast are at their busiest. December is the other good window if you want the Christmas markets, which take over the main squares in Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Liège. Rain is possible in any month, so bring a layer and a jacket whenever you come.

How many days do you need in Belgium?

Four to six days covers the country's headline sights comfortably: two in Brussels, then day trips or overnights in Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp, all within an hour by train. A long weekend of three days is enough for Brussels plus one art city. Add three or four more days if you want the Ardennes, the Meuse valley or the Flanders Fields battlefields, which sit in the opposite direction from the art cities.

Do you need a car in Belgium?

For the cities, no — the rail network is dense and fast, the historic centres are compact and walkable, and parking in Bruges, Ghent and Brussels is expensive and restricted. A car only earns its keep in the Ardennes and the Meuse valley, where the villages and viewpoints are rural and train and bus links thin out. Many visitors do the whole trip by rail and hire a car for two or three days at the end.

What is Belgium best known for?

Beer, chocolate, fries and waffles on the food side, and on the sightseeing side its medieval guild squares, the canals of Bruges, and Brussels as the capital of the European Union. It is also the birthplace of Art Nouveau and the home of the European comic strip — Tintin and the Smurfs are both Belgian. Belgian beer culture is on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list, and the country has 16 UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Do people speak English in Belgium?

Widely, especially in Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent, and almost universally among younger people and anyone working in tourism. Belgium has three official languages — Dutch in Flanders to the north, French in Wallonia to the south, and German in a few eastern cantons — and Brussels is officially bilingual Dutch and French. English is often the neutral common ground, and using it is not taken as rudeness the way choosing the 'wrong' one of the two can be.

What currency does Belgium use, and is it in the EU?

Belgium uses the euro (€) and is a founding member of both the European Union and the Schengen area — Brussels hosts the European Commission and much of the European Parliament. Cards are accepted almost everywhere and contactless is standard, though it is worth carrying a little cash for small market stalls, some fry shops and the older brown cafés.

What should you eat in Belgium?

Fries — properly twice-fried, served in a cone from a friture with mayonnaise rather than ketchup — plus moules-frites in season, carbonnade flamande (beef slow-cooked in dark beer), waterzooi in Ghent and shrimp croquettes on the coast. For sweets, look for real Brussels and Liège waffles, which are two different things, and speculoos biscuits. Chocolate is worth buying from a chocolatier rather than an airport counter.

What kind of trip is Belgium best for?

Short rail trips, city breaks, food and museums.