Northeast Belgium
Hoogstraten's fabulous belfry is an enormous 105m-tall red-brick edifice picked out with dots of white-stone detail in a style known as speklagen. Dating to 1556, it was dynamited by retreating WWII German troops in 1944, but meticulously rebuilt in the 1950s, as photos inside the church show.
In the apse, don't miss the double grave of Elisabeth de Culemborg and Antoon de Lalaing, under whom Hoogstraaten's status was raised to that of a county in the 16th century.
20.2 MILES
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…
19.87 MILES
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…
20.01 MILES
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…
28.51 MILES
This soaring, Gothic-vaulted cathedral features a 1723 monumental pulpit, a 1630 Van Dyck crucifixion scene in the south transept, and dozens more fine…
19.29 MILES
Is Efteling Europe's greatest theme park? The Dutch certainly think so. Their 'Disneyland' pulls in more than four million visitors annually and offers a…
20.09 MILES
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…
9.51 MILES
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…
28.17 MILES
Picture-postcard little Heusden features antique tile-roofed houses, post-mills, minibridge and lovely inner yacht-harbour all wrapped in a fortified…
0.18 MILES
With two leafy quadrangles of pretty whitewashed houses and a remarkably oversized baroque chapel, this peaceful spot is one of Flanders' least-known…
0.78 MILES
In an idyllic rural location on the northeast edge of town, Laermolen is small but still functioning watermill dating from 1381.
7.84 MILES
Together Baarle Nassau (NL) and Baarle Hertog (B) form an extraordinary geopolitical quirk divided by the world's messiest border jigsaw: 22 miniature…
9.24 MILES
A Trappist monastery since 1836, Westmalle is better known for the beers that are brewed here than for the building itself, which is hidden away behind…
9.34 MILES
In a 1688 convent-house, this excellent little museum introduces the life of a begijn starting with an eight-minute video (English available) and a…
9.51 MILES
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…
9.56 MILES
Turnhout was founded as an 11th-century hunting retreat for the Hertog (Duke) of Brabant. By the 13th century their lodge had developed into the moated…
9.58 MILES
Guarded by a cannon, the spired, 16th-century Matten Thoren mansion hosts this lovable city history museum whose mishmash of art and artefacts range from…