Wallonia

Wallonia (La Wallonie), Belgium's mostly French-speaking southern half, includes many a pretty rustic village in rolling green countryside, interspersed by a handful of postindustrial cities. The heavily wooded Ardennes is a major area for outdoors activities, a plateau land cut by rivers for kayaking, honeycombed with fabulous cave systems and offering just the tiniest hope of skiing in midwinter. Centuries of history are evident in the attractive cities of Mons and Tournai, in the unforgettable carnivals of Binche, Stavelot and Malmédy, and in a plentiful scattering of medieval castle ruins and grand châteaux. Sniffing out Liège's deep historical pedigree takes a little more delving beneath its rather disfigured surface. And then there's Waterloo, where Napoleon met his ABBA song. In many ways Wallonia feels like a different country from Flanders. Finding English speakers can't be so easily taken for granted and to reach the more rural highlights you’ll appreciate having your own wheels.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Wallonia.

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Citadelle de 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 and the café Le Panorama, by the curious art deco sportsground Stade des Jeux. Most open areas, including the rampart footpaths, are accessible at any time. Be careful not to get caught in the Terra Nova zone, whose main gates lock at 6.30pm. Citadel access for pedestrians is on the steep sloping Rampe Verte from Rue des Moulins or via a stairway from Place St-Hilaire. By car use Rte Merveilleuse from behind the 1911 casino building. Six shuttles (€2) run between the train station and Terra Nova on weekends. Alternatively take bus 3 (hourly) to the Château de Namur and stroll downhill from there.
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Musée Hergé
The inventive and touchingly nostalgic Hergé Museum celebrates the multitalented creator of comic-strip hero Tintin with an engaging, inventive and extensive display. Highlights include numerous models, pictures and source materials assembled by the artist to ensure the accuracy of his sketches. There's an entertaining audioguide. Note the original triptych portrait of Hergé by Andy Warhol, for whom Tintin was a cited influence. The gift shop is worth a peek too. The museum’s unique architecture alone is worth the visit: an abstract glass-and-concrete boat-shaped creation filled with multistorey geometrical forms slashed through with a central ‘light chasm’ filling the structure with intriguing angles and views. Driving, it's best to park (for free) on the N250 just above town. From there's it's a short downhill stroll to the museum. The museum is also a short walk from the bus and train stations.
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Hôpital Notre-Dame à la Rose
Founded in 1242, this is Belgium’s only medieval convent-farm-hospital complex to have survived reasonably intact. Laboriously restored, it demonstrates the development of medieval medicine from a beautiful herb garden via different eras of hospice to a collection of historical medical implements. Don't miss the bird-beaked plague doctor in his leather cape. The collection of religious art includes a curious 16th-century painting showing Jesus with a female breast. There's a decent restaurant here, so you can lunch before your visit (open noon onwards). Admission includes an audioguide, which has a wealth of information on the collections and provides insight into medieval medicine and life in the convent.
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Château de Bouillon
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 dripping tunnel passages, musty half-lit cell rooms, falconry displays, rough-hewn stairwells and many an eerie nook and cranny to discover. Plus there are off-beat surprises like maturing cheeses and a caligraphy mini-museum. Audio guides (€2.50) or guidebooks (€1.50) offer extra historical background in four languages. Access is across crag-spanning stone bridges from the car park at the castle's upper northeastern tip. Between March and October, time your visit to include the 45-minute open-air bird shows (11.30am, 2pm and 3.30pm; no extra charge), when trained ‘wig-snatching’ owls, hawks and eagles swoop low over spectators’ heads. In July and August there's an extra 5pm show. To really get the heebie-jeebies prebook a night-time torchlight tour (adult/child/torch hire €10/7/2.50, 10pm Wednesday to Sunday in July and August).
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Collégiale Ste-Gertrude
This 11th-century church was part of one of Europe’s foremost abbeys, founded in 648. It's 102m long with a soaring multilevel western facade topped with a squat octagonal tower flanked by turrets. The interior’s enormous Romanesque arches are unadorned, but notice the 15th-century chariot that’s still used to carry Ste-Gertrude’s silver châsse during Nivelles’ principal procession. Fascinating and detailed 90-minute guided tours in French get you access to the crypt, the tower gallery and the pretty cloister for photogenic views. The pleasant cloisters are another highlight. Outside, watch the southern turret to see a 350kg gilt statue strike the hour with a hefty hammer. Tours also take in archaeological excavations and the grave of Charlemagne’s lofty first wife, Himeltrude, whose 1.85m skeleton can be seen reflected by a well-placed mirror. The abbey's first abbess, Gertrude, was a great-great aunt of Charlemagne's, and was later sainted for her miraculous abilities, including rat catching (which warded off plague) and devil snaring (which saved the mythical Knight of Masseik from losing a Faustian bargain).
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Bastogne War Museum
This highly recommended modern museum takes you into the heart of WWII, with an audio guide featuring four imagined voices of civilian and military witnesses/participants. A usefully thorough summary of the war's context and key stages includes an engrossing 15-minute 3D film presenting Germany's early attacks as though to a press conference. Downstairs the focus is the Battle of the Bulge and defence of Bastogne. Two theatrical audiovisuals add impressively to well-displayed memorabilia. Do click on the buttons below several TV monitors to listen to moving civilian recollections of the atrocities that affected their lives during wartime. The audio guide that's a key part of the visitor experience (included in the ticket price) is available in English, French, Dutch and German. To get the most from it ensure that the black sensor faces forward. Allow around two hours to do justice to the visit and don't miss the cafe with its pleasant outdoor seating. The museum is 1.5km northeast of Pl St-Pièrre on the grounds of the Mardasson American War Memorial.
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Blégny Mine
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 the underground life of a 20th-century Belgian miner at this Unesco-listed coal mine. The two-hour guided subterranean tours run three to seven times daily in French, and almost as often in Dutch, but in English only by group reservation (minimum 15 people). Tours start with a 20-minute film (English subtitles). You also gain access to a mining museum that paints a bigger picture of coal and charcoal history. A gravel-base playground and tiny zoo, as well as a tourist train (adult/child €5/3.50), mean that there's stuff to keep children busy, but the cafe could be more impressive. If driving, consider combining Blégny with lunch at Val-Dieu abbey. Note that the mine is at Trembleur not Blégny. Some (not all) route 67 buses pass within 300m between Liège Gare Léopold (51 minutes) and Vise (22 minutes).
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La Chocolaterie Darcis
Playing a 21st-century Willy Wonka, one of Belgium’s foremost chocolatiers has turned his modern factory into a superb interactive museum experience. Walk through a Mayan temple, get seasick on Hernán Cortés' galleon and visit a 19th-century cocoa parlour, before sniff tests, quizzes, a 10-minute video tour of Mexican plantations and explanations of modern chocolate making. Allow at least an hour to do justice to all the information and complementary podcatcher audios. Wait until you're instructed before savouring the three sublime taster pralines. Even if you don't have time to visit the museum, the attached cafe is a place worth lingering over marvellous coffee, hot chocolate, cakes, pastries or one of Jean-Philippe Darcis' signature macarons.
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Fourneau St-Michel
Some 10km north of St-Hubert towards attractive Nassogne village, Fourneau St-Michel is a superb open-air museum featuring around 50 historic buildings salvaged from villages around Wallonia and authentically rebuilt in a rural setting of woodland and pasture. Many are furnished and they're arranged geographically into 'hamlets' linked by a 3km walking trail. Even if you don't have time to see the whole place, it's still worth having a drink or snack in the wonderful L'Auberge du Prévost, occupying one of the complex's finest half-timbered farmhouses (no ticket needed). Visit on 21 July to see the place come to life with volunteers dressed in traditional costumes. Without your own wheels getting here is awkward.