Must-see attractions in Northeast Belgium

  • Museum Plantin-Moretus

    Antwerp

    The medieval building and 1622 courtyard garden alone would be worth a visit, but it's the world's oldest printing press, priceless manuscripts and…

  • Belgium, Antwerp, garden in Peter Paul Ruben's house

    Rubenshuis

    Antwerp

    This delightfully indulgent 1611 mansion was built as a home and studio for celebrated painter Pieter Paul Rubens. It was rescued from ruins in 1937 and…

  • Interiors of Notre dame d'Anvers cathedral, Anvers, Belgium

    Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal

    Antwerp

    Belgium’s finest Gothic cathedral was 169 years in the making (1352–1521). Wherever you wander in Antwerp, its gracious, 123m-high spire has a habit of…

  • Stadhuis

    Leuven

    Far and away Leuven’s most iconic sight, the incredible 15th-century stadhuis is a late-Gothic architectural wedding cake flamboyantly overloaded with…

  • St-Romboutskathedraal

    Northeast Belgium

    This soaring, Gothic-vaulted cathedral features a 1723 monumental pulpit, a 1630 Van Dyck crucifixion scene in the south transept, and dozens more fine…

  • Bokrijk Openluchtmuseum

    Northeast Belgium

    One of Europe’s largest open-air museums, Bokrijk Openluchtmuseum offers a nostalgic look at Flanders’ past, with over 100 old buildings originally…

  • Grote Begijnhof

    Leuven

    This idyllic, village-like corner of Leuven would make an ideal film set for a medieval drama. The lantern-lit cobbled streets are lined with step-gabled…

  • St-Katharinabegijnhof

    Northeast Belgium

    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…

  • Turnhout Begijnhof

    Northeast Belgium

    Hidden behind big wooden gates, one of Belgium’s loveliest begijnhoven loops round a long, narrow garden set with a grotto, church and religious statues…

  • Museum Mayer van den Bergh

    Antwerp

    Styled as a 16th-century town house, this superb place was actually constructed in 1904 as one of the first museums in the world built around a single…

  • Lier Begijnhof

    Northeast Belgium

    Originally founded in 1258, this Unesco site is one of Belgium’s prettiest 'street' begijnhoven, a picture-perfect grid of cobbled lanes lined with…

  • Speelgoedmuseum

    Northeast Belgium

    With 7000 sq metres of dolls, teddies, toys, games and other pastimes, the wonderful Speelgoedmuseum has lots to keep the kids busy. Meanwhile, adults can…

  • Snijder-Rockoxhuis

    Antwerp

    Combining the impressive 17th-century houses of artist Frans Snijders and of Antwerp lawyer, mayor and Rubens-patron Nicolaas Rockox, this recently…

  • Brabo fountain and medieval houses in the Grote Martk in Antwerp. (Photo by: Loop Images/UIG via Getty Images)

    Grote Markt

    Antwerp

    As is the case with every great Flemish city, Antwerp’s medieval heart is a classic Grote Markt (market square). Here the triangular, pedestrianised space…

  • Fort Breendonk

    Northeast Belgium

    Some 12km northwest of Mechelen, this haunting, moated prison-fort was built in 1906. However, its use as a notorious Nazi internment camp in WWII is the…

  • KMSKA

    Antwerp

    In a monumental neoclassical building topped with winged charioteer statues, KMSKA holds a world-class collection of artistic masterpieces. However, the…

  • 500px Photo ID: 83525221 - The MAS ( museum ) in Antwerp, Belgium. It has an observation deck on the 10th floor witch you can visit every day for free until midnight in the summer and 10 in the winter. It gives you a great view over Antwerp city and its harbour.

    MAS

    Antwerp

    Opened in 2011, MAS is a 10-storey complex that redefines the idea of a museum-gallery. Floors are designed around big-idea themes using a barrage of…

  • ANTWERP, BELGIUM, MARCH 5, 2014: Red star line museums attracts a lot of visitors willing to know history of one upon a time famous transport company.; Shutterstock ID 224863564; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Red Star Line Museum POI

    Red Star Line Museum

    Antwerp

    Over two million passengers sailed from Antwerp on Red Star Line ships between 1873 and 1934, the great majority of them immigrants bound for America…

  • ANTWERP, BELGIUM - MAY 10, 2006: Machinery of city brewery De Koninck, beer brewed here since 1833. The Belgian beer culture is on the list of intangible cultural heritage UNESCO.; Shutterstock ID 564151312; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: De Koninck POI

    De Koninck

    Antwerp

    Antwerp’s historic brewery is both a temple to the city’s favourite beer and an evocative example of early-20th-century industrial architecture. Self…

  • Het steen antwerp

    Het Steen

    Antwerp

    On a riverside knoll, Het Steen is a dinky but photogenic castle dating from 1200 and occupying the site of Antwerp’s original Gallo-Roman settlement…

  • M HKA

    Antwerp

    M HKA is considered to be one of Belgium's best contemporary galleries. Its exhibitions focus on work produced since the 1970s by both Belgian and…

  • 500px Photo ID: 23880225 - The train is arriving.

    Antwerpen-Centraal

    Antwerp

    With its neo-Gothic facade, vast main hall and splendidly proportioned dome, the 1905 Antwerpen-Centraal building has been rated as one of the five most…

  • ANTWERP, BELGIUM-DECEMBER 6: Antwerp mode museum indoor   on Dec 6, 2014 in Antwerp. ; Shutterstock ID 237792160; Your name (First / Last): Josh/Vogel; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: 65050/Online Design/Josh Vogel/antwerp/if-you-like

    MoMu

    Antwerp

    Closed for renovation until late 2020, Antwerp's fashion museum has a rich avant-garde collection and typically produces exhibitions highlighting the…

  • De Vier Seizoenen

    Antwerp

    Four matching corner houses face off across a Zurenborg junction, with glaze-brick exteriors enlivened by fine mosaic work and triangular protruding box…

  • St-Pieterskerk

    Leuven

    At Leuven's heart is this soaring Brabantine-Gothic church (1425) whose remarkable wooden pulpit is fashioned like twin palm trees that drip with cherubs…

  • Universiteitsbibliotheek

    Leuven

    Dominating Monseigneur Ladeuzeplein, this imposingly grand Flemish Renaissance–style palace features a soaring Scandinavian-style brick tower topped with…

  • M Van Museum

    Leuven

    This state-of-the-art gallery houses a priceless collection of 15th- to 18th-century religious works, fascinating Leuven-relevant historical objects and…

  • Zimmertoren

    Northeast Belgium

    Lier’s most iconic monument is the photogenic Zimmertoren, a partly 14th-century tower incorporating a fanciful 1930 timepiece that’s eccentrically…

  • Stads Museum Lier

    Northeast Belgium

    Undergoing a total renovation at the time of research, this well-endowed provincial art gallery sits behind a classic step-gabled facade and, when…

  • St-Leonarduskerk

    Northeast Belgium

    Partly dating to the 13th century, St-Leonarduskerk is topped with a fanciful tower reminiscent of a galleon’s crow’s nest. Miraculously, given Zoutleeuw…

  • Gallo-Roman Museum

    Northeast Belgium

    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…

  • Onze Lieve Vrouwebasiliek

    Northeast Belgium

    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…

  • Scherpenheuvel Basilica

    Northeast Belgium

    This 1609 basilica has a domed roof distinctively dotted with gilded seven-pointed stars that's visible for miles as you approach from the west. The…

  • Kazerne Dossin

    Northeast Belgium

    The 18th-century Dossin Barracks were used by the Nazis as a WWII deportation centre. Some 25,834 victims (mainly Jewish, 352 Roma) were sent in 28…

  • Nationaal Jenevermuseum

    Northeast Belgium

    Hasselt has been at the centre of the jenever (gin) industry since the 17th century, and this beautifully restored 19th-century distillery houses a…

  • Lillo

    Northeast Belgium

    When Antwerp's vast Kanaldok (port extension) was built in the 1960s, seven villages were bulldozed to make space. Of most, just an isolated church tower…

  • Stadhuis

    Northeast Belgium

    Opposite St-Leonarduskerk, the old town hall building is a 19th-century faux-medieval delight with majestic pre-Raphaelite murals in the ground-floor hall…

  • Stadhuis

    Antwerp

    Presiding over the vast Grote Markt, the 1565 stadhuis has a palatial facade blending Flemish and Italian styles in an innovative departure from the…

  • St-Jacobskerk

    Antwerp

    The tomb of Rubens is the reason most visitors come to St-Jacobskerk. Located in a small chapel behind the high altar, the tomb is adorned with Our Lady…

  • St-Carolus-Borromeuskerk

    Antwerp

    Rubens turned interior designer as part of the team that created this superb 1621 baroque church, designed to give worshippers a very visceral foretaste…

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