Northeast Belgium
Start from the south side of the basilica for this state-of-the-art iPod-led guided tour through the post-Roman history of Tongeren seen through the lens of archaeological layers and through Christianity as exemplified by the enormously rich collection of the church treasury.
The tour also provides access to the pretty Romanesque cloisters. Allow a couple of hours.
27.14 MILES
It’s impossible to overestimate the significance of Aachen’s magnificent cathedral. The burial place of Charlemagne, it’s where more than 30 German kings…
10.79 MILES
Built above and around the shrine of St Servaas (Servatius), the first bishop of Maastricht, the basilica presents an architectural pastiche whose…
13.04 MILES
For one of the best industrial-experience tours you'll find anywhere, don a hard hat, jump in the cage lift and descend through a pitch-black moment into…
21.36 MILES
Playing a 21st-century Willy Wonka, one of Belgium’s foremost chocolatiers has turned his modern factory into a superb interactive museum experience. Walk…
10.59 MILES
Splendid Grand Curtius unites four disparate museum collections in the former mansion-warehouse of a 16th-century Liège arms dealer. The building's red…
27.08 MILES
Aachen's cathedral treasury is a veritable mother lode of gold, silver and jewels. Of particular importance are the silver-and-gold bust of Charlemagne…
12.91 MILES
One of Europe’s largest open-air museums, Bokrijk Openluchtmuseum offers a nostalgic look at Flanders’ past, with over 100 old buildings originally…
22.72 MILES
Centred on a 14th-century church and sporting a few artists’ studio-galleries, this picturesque village-within-a-village is a five-street grid of lovely…
0.03 MILES
This central church mostly dates from the 14th to 16th centuries, with a finely proportioned stone tower that dominates Tongeren’s neatly cafe-lined Grote…
0.05 MILES
Sternly clad in battleship-grey stone, this very spacious modern museum devotes two well-crafted floors to the evolution of human culture then, after a…
0.08 MILES
Staring at the basilica from the main square is a muscular, mustachioed statue. This is local hero Ambiorix, a tribal chieftain who led a brief 54 BC…
0.18 MILES
Three blocks south and west of Onze Lieve Vrouwebasiliek is a small web of very pretty backstreets that once formed Tongeren’s begijnhof. One furnished…
9.2 MILES
One of the least-known uses of the St Pietersberg quarry tunnels was as a once-top-secret NATO HQ to be used in times of nuclear conflict. The hospital…
10.36 MILES
Set within a deep-cut dry moat, this hefty five-sided brick fort once formed the city's southern defence and is linked to a network of underground tunnels…
10.36 MILES
Maastricht Underground runs spooky, amusing and fascinating tours into sections of the vast tunnel network beneath St-Pietersberg massif. Departures run…
10.43 MILES
Several tiny medieval passageways burrow beneath the house fronts of Rue Hors Château. Most disappear into picturesque hidden yards, but Montagne de…