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)…
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.
Attractions
Must-see attractions
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…
Wallonia
The inventive and touchingly nostalgic Hergé Museum celebrates the multitalented creator of comic-strip hero Tintin with an engaging, inventive and…
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…
Wallonia
Founded in 1242, this is Belgium’s only medieval convent-farm-hospital complex to have survived reasonably intact. Laboriously restored, it demonstrates…
Wallonia
Inaugurated for the 2015 bicentenary, this showpiece underground museum and visitor centre at the battlefield gives some detail on the background to…
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’…
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…
