Must-see attractions in Wallonia

  • Pairi Daiza

    Wallonia

    Set on the grounds of a former Cistercian Abbey, this 65-hectare park is home to more than 5000 animals (including pandas, koalas, gorillas and lemurs)…

  • Citadelle de Namur

    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…

  • Musée Hergé

    Wallonia

    The inventive and touchingly nostalgic Hergé Museum celebrates the multitalented creator of comic-strip hero Tintin with an engaging, inventive and…

  • Cathédrale Notre Dame

    Wallonia

    Dominating Tournai’s skyline are the five spires of its remarkable cathedral, which survived WWII bombs only for a freak 1999 tornado to compromise its…

  • Hôpital Notre-Dame à la Rose

    Wallonia

    Founded in 1242, this is Belgium’s only medieval convent-farm-hospital complex to have survived reasonably intact. Laboriously restored, it demonstrates…

  • Memorial 1815

    Wallonia

    Inaugurated for the 2015 bicentenary, this showpiece underground museum and visitor centre at the battlefield gives some detail on the background to…

  • Grand Place

    Wallonia

    Tournai’s gorgeous triangular main square is ringed with cafes in fine gable-fronted guildhouses merrily flying guild banners. Kids play in ‘dare-you’…

  • Château de Bouillon

    The Ardennes

    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…

  • Collégiale Ste-Gertrude

    Wallonia

    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…

  • Bastogne War Museum

    The Ardennes

    This highly recommended modern museum takes you into the heart of WWII, with an audio guide featuring four imagined voices of civilian and military…

  • Mons Memorial Museum

    Wallonia

    This superb museum mostly covers Mons' experience of the two world wars, though the constant sieges of this town's turbulent history are also mentioned…

  • Blégny Mine

    The Ardennes

    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…

  • Strépy-Thieu Boat-Lift

    Wallonia

    The world’s tallest ship lift (completed in 2002), raising or lowering gigantic ‘baths’ 73 vertical metres, is on a pharaonic scale, as was the €150…

  • Fourneau St-Michel

    The Ardennes

    Some 10km north of St-Hubert towards attractive Nassogne village, Fourneau St-Michel is a superb open-air museum featuring around 50 historic buildings…

  • La Chocolaterie Darcis

    The Ardennes

    Playing a 21st-century Willy Wonka, one of Belgium’s foremost chocolatiers has turned his modern factory into a superb interactive museum experience. Walk…

  • Hougoumont

    Wallonia

    This classic fortified farm is around 20 minutes’ walk southwest of the Butte du Lion. Had Napoleon broken through here early in the battle, everything…

  • Grand Curtius

    Liège

    Splendid Grand Curtius unites four disparate museum collections in the former mansion-warehouse of a 16th-century Liège arms dealer. The building's red…

  • Musée de la Photographie

    Wallonia

    One of Europe’s biggest and most impressive photography museums, it has an engrossing collection of historic, contemporary and artistic prints. Don’t miss…

  • Brasserie à Vapeur

    Wallonia

    Started in 1785, this tiny affair is Belgium’s last traditional steam-operated brewery. This wonderfully authentic family enterprise is best known for its…

  • Parc d’Enghien

    Wallonia

    Originally set out in the 17th century by the dukes of Arenberg, the Parc d’Enghien incorporates vast stands of woodland, fountains, statues, a tiny …

  • Église St-Jacques

    Liège

    Arguably Liège's most fascinating church, this architectural hotchpotch was founded in 1015 and retains a heavily patched-up 1170 west end whose…

  • Grotte de Lorette

    Wallonia

    This cave system has fewer stalactites than nearby Han, and handling the 626 relatively steep steps is more physical. However, the small-group visits give…

  • Liège-Guillemins Train Station

    Liège

    Liège's main train station, around 2km south of the centre, is an incredible 2009 icon designed by Santiago Calatrava. Great for semi-abstract landscape…

  • Église St-Loup

    Namur

    Baudelaire reputedly described this remarkable baroque church as a ‘sinister and gallant marvel’. With purple marble columns, black stone arches,…

  • Abbaye Notre Dame d'Orval

    The Ardennes

    A Cistercian monastery since 1132, Orval's abbey complex was wrecked in 1793 by anti-religious French Revolutionary soldiers. Rebuilding only started in…

  • La Boverie

    Liège

    South of Liège's centre, this excellent gallery hosts many high-profile temporary exhibitions but always shows elements of its own fabulous art collection…

  • Rochehaut

    The Ardennes

    The scenery west of Bouillon reaches a memorable climax at Rochehaut, where a long balcony surveys a glorious view down across a perfect river curl…

  • Abbaye de Villers

    Wallonia

    Nestled in a pretty wooded dell are these extensive, ivy-clad ruins. Once one of Belgium’s biggest monastic complexes, Villers was never rebuilt after the…

  • Bunker d'Hitler 1940

    Wallonia

    For 22 days in 1940 the Nazi leader commanded Western Front operations from forest here, 8km south of Couvin. The chalet where he lived has been…

  • Collégiale Ste-Waudru

    Wallonia

    Within this lofty, airy, 15th-century Gothic church you'll find the golden reliquary of Ste-Waudru (hanging above the altar) and the fanciful 1782 Car d…

  • Château de Belœil

    Wallonia

    Sitting in an artificial lake within a vast manicured park, the Château de Belœil is a regal country palace-house that's packed with classical furniture…

  • Musée Wellington

    Wallonia

    Opposite the church and tourist office on the main road in Waterloo itself, this former inn is where Wellington stayed before the battle. The museum,…

  • Château de Reinhardstein

    The Ardennes

    The very picturesque Château de Reinhardstein was built in 1354 and restored to archetypal fortress appearance in 1969. Entry is by 75-minute guided tours…

  • Le Bois du Cazier

    Wallonia

    This sizeable complex occupies a mine site where a horrific accident killed 262 miners in 1956. A gripping multilingual video commemorates that; admission…

  • Souterrains

    Namur

    In its later guises, the fortress moved the majority of its key installations underground. Fascinating visits, by tour only, walk you through some 500m of…

  • Butte du Lion

    Wallonia

    Waterloo’s most arresting sight is a steep, grassy cone topped by a massive bronze lion. It commemorates, incredibly, not victory nor the glorious dead…

  • Limbourg

    The Ardennes

    Well worth the 1km detour if you're driving between Eupen and Verviers (turn south at Dolhain), Limbourg is one of Belgium's most delightful historic…

  • Citadelle de Dinant

    Wallonia

    Though sparse on sights, this vast, unadorned 1818 citadel looms menacingly on its clifftop, offering toe-curling views high over town. The entrance price…

  • Abbaye de Stavelot

    The Ardennes

    The once-gigantic church of the Stavelot-Malmédy prince-abbots was destroyed in the aftermath of the French Revolution. But behind the archaeological…

  • Val St-Lambert

    The Ardennes

    One of the world's best-known glassworks in the 19th and 20th centuries, Val St-Lambert has made lead-crystal masterpieces within this former monastery…

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