Must-see attractions in Northwest Belgium
Bruges
The church of St Anne features a plain Gothic exterior which belies its flamboyant baroque interior.
Bruges
This 17th-century Roman Catholic church was built by the Jesuits in the baroque style.
Bruges
This highly absorbing chocolate museum traces the cocoa bean back to its role as an Aztec currency. Learn about choco history, watch a video on cocoa…
Bruges
Known in English as the 'Lake of Love', the Minnewater harks back to Bruges' medieval heyday. This waterway was once a dock; ships from as far afield as…
Northwest Belgium
This museum of archaeology and local history occupies a site that in AD 925 was one of three main defences along the border between pre-medieval France…
Bruges
In the 1990s, when excavating for the foundations of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, workers literally hit a wall. This wall, it turned out, belonged to the 10th…
Bruges
The museum takes its name from the flower-and-herb mixture (gruut) that used to flavour beer before the cultivation of hops. The romantic heraldic…
Ostend
One might expect this museum, occupying a house that hosted Napoleon in 1798 and Belgian royals from 1834–1850, to be a little more grandiose and exciting…
Ghent
This mishmash of a natural history museum is aimed primarily at school kids. Meet Pterygotus (a man-sized prehistoric lobster), walk through a human body…
Ghent
Originally the residence of the Count of Flanders and the birthplace of Charles V in 1500, the Prinsenhof was a walled castle with 300 rooms, a zoo and a…
Northwest Belgium
Combining the local tourist office and the former Manneken-Pismuseum, this compact museum has a variety of multimedia introductions to the trades and…
Ypres
This unexpectedly fascinating museum celebrates the ribbon-making industry, Comines’ economic mainstay since 1719. On weekends, passionate, knowledgeable…
Ghent
This 7700-sq-metre garden and hot-garden with more than 1500 plants (plus live bird spiders) has a broader age appeal than its sister museum, the House…
Northwest Belgium
Brussels isn't the only city in which a little boy statue relieves himself. Indeed, many locals insist that Geraardsbergen's Manneken Pis is the original…
Northwest Belgium
This simple, sweetly old-fashioned museum has no one distinct theme but features rooms with small collections of artefacts as diverse as matchboxes,…
Ghent
Ghent has three widely separated begijnhoven; Oude Begijnhof is Ghent's most central. Unlike other surviving areas, there's no remnant enclosing wall so…
Northwest Belgium
At the southwestern corner of Markt, this imposing church was cobbled together from a 13th-century chancel and a 15th-century Brabantine Gothic tower…
Ostend
Evolving since 2001, architect Takashi Sawano has faithfully reproduced a Japanese garden just blocks from Ostend's seashore. Come to wander through its…
Ghent
This 13th-century Gothic castle has had many incarnations; it's been used as a monastery, a school, a seminary, a prison and an asylum. It also housed a…
Bruges
Follows the history of the potato from ancient Inca grave sites to the Belgian fryer. The entry fee includes a discount token for the basement frituur …
Ostend
Mu.Zee, Ostend’s foremost gallery, features predominantly local artists. There’s a significant collection by symbolist painter Léon Spilliaert (1881–1946)…
Ghent
Ghent's attachment to graffiti as an art form began in this central alley, known locally as Graffitistraatje. The website has a live map showing the…
Bruges
It's believed that the world's first stock exchange began in and around this 13th-century house. It's not open to the public, but the space is used for…
Bruges
The statue of Hans Memling was erected in 1874. The Flemish Primitive artist is buried in St Gilliskerk, a few blocks further north.
Ghent
This statue of the creators of Ghent's world-renowned Adoration of the Mystic Lamb was unveiled here for the 1913 World Expo.
Ypres
This decent little gallery is set in a three-storey 1555 almshouse complex. Exhibitions change regularly but usually feature 19th-century paintings.
Godshuis St-Jozef & De Meulenaere
Bruges
The Godshuis St-Jozef and De Meulenaere almshouses offer one of the city's most spacious oases of calm; enter via the green door.
Ypres
A single small chapel room featuring some unexpectedly high-quality medieval art, mostly religious.
Ostend
Soul superstar Marvin Gaye wrote his last hit, 'Sexual Healing', in 1981 while living in Ostend. His residency is marked by a wildly tacky statue of the…
Ostend
Ostend's modern pier isn't as long or grand as many of its counterparts along the coast, but it does make for a nice stroll on a warm day. When the wind…
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