Blégny Mine

Top choice in 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 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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