Attractions

Art enthusiasts swarm Ghent's Saint Bavo's Cathedral 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-k…

In the restored chapel of a 12th century hospital building with superb timber beamwork, this museum shows various torturous-looking medical implements, hospital sedan chairs and a gruesome 1679 painting of an anatom…

Bruges’ most celebrated art gallery boasts an astonishingly rich collection whose strengths are in superb Flemish Primitive and Renaissance works, depicting the conspicuous wealth of the city with glitteringly reali…

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 …

Styled like a Greek temple, this superb 1903 fine-art gallery introduces a veritable A-Z of great Belgian and Low Countries’ painters from the 14th to mid-20th centuries. Highlights include a happy family of coffins…

No museum gives a more balanced yet moving and user-friendly introduction to WWI history. It’s a multi-sensory experience combining soundscapes, videos, well-chosen exhibits and interactive learning stations at whic…

Dotted with half-hidden restaurants, enchanting Patershol is a web of twisting cobbled lanes whose old-world houses were once home to leather tradesmen and to the Carmelite Fathers (Paters), hence the name. An aimle…

Belgium’s National Botanic Garden is a 93-hectare park located in the village of Meise, 12km north of Brussels. It’s based around two lakes and includes the Kasteel van Boechout, a moated castle that Léopold II gave…

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 a…

St-Baafs cathedral's towering interior has some fine stained glass and an unusual combination of brick vaulting with stone tracery. A €0.20 leaflet guides you round the cathedral’s numerous art treasures, including …