Jesse’s guide to Belgium 🇧🇪

Many of my friends regularly come to Belgium and ask me what they can see and eat here. Instead of always copy-pasting the same answer, I decided to write a small blogpost about it! I will highlight some famous Belgian dishes that you must try while you’re here, as well as highlighting some things you can do in Belgium’s largest and pretties cities.

Belgium?!

Belgium is a tiny country in the middle of Western Europe. Our capital is Brussels, and lies right in the middle of the country. We have an extensive train network, so from Brussels you can reach almost any major destination in at most 1.5h. Paris, London and Amsterdam are also all only 1.5h away by high-speed train.

Belgium is a federated country, so like for example the United States, it consists of multiple autonomous parts called the regions (actually, it’s a lot more complicated, as we have seven parliaments and then also a provincial and municipal level, but I’ll keep it short here). The north part of Belgium is called Flanders, which takes up around 60% of the population and the language here is Dutch. Then there is the Brussels-Capital region, which takes up around 10% of the population, and Brussels is officially bilingual (French-Dutch). Finally, there is the south part of the country called Walloonia. Here the main language is French, even though there is also a small part in the East that speaks German.

Belgian gastronomy

Us Belgians take great pride in only very few things. Mostly, these are our beers and our food. As you will notice, Belgians are a bit alcoholics. Below you can find ten dishes and some accompanying typical drinks that I think you should really try while you’re here!

Essential dishes in Belgium

1. Belgian beef stew (also called stoofvlees or carbonade flamande): this is considered our national dish and is usually made with brown beer
2. Videe (also called koninginnenhapje or vol-au-vent): sort of chicken meat with a nice sauce and always served with a pastry
3. Kip met appelmoes (chicken with apple mousse or poulet a la compote with fries)
4. Boulettes liègoises (sort of meatballs, but you will probably only find it in Walloonia or Brussels, not in Flanders)
5. Club martino: sandwich with something called martino, which is raw minced meat with some spices. Very typical!
6. Waffles: as a desert! There are two main kinds of waffles that are popular in Belgium: the version from Brussels or the Version from Liège. Liègois waffles are a bit heavier and have small clumps of sugar in them. They are usually served either without toppings or with chocolate on them. The Brussels version is much lighter and is often served with powdered sugar, ice cream or

Drinks

If there is one thing Belgium is really famous for, it’s beers. And rightly so! A small warning though, our beers are very heavy on the alcohol (think around 8%). Here is a small list of some of my favourite beers:

1. Gouden carolus tripel
2. Cornet
3. Duvel
4. Chimay bleue (a brown beer)
5. Jupiler (pils)

While this may surprise you, we also have some other typical drinks! One of them is called jenever, it’s a liquour of about 20% alcohol with a fruity taste. It comes in many different varieties (lemon, vanilla, cactus, apple, cuberdon, chocolate, …) and it is typically drunk around the holidays. It’s very good though!

Belgian cities

Brussels

Brussels (BXL) is by far my favourite city in Belgium. It is the capital and over one million people call it home. It is a geographically fairly large city and it is officially bilingual (Dutch and French). Brussels is home to many things, such as NATO and the European Union. Brussels has a very extensive train network, as well as a metro system, trams, and a lot of buses. So, no need to Uber around! I have a handy Google maps list with my favourite places to make it easy: https://maps.app.goo.gl/nrEZeBcKP3UiETSG7.

Apart from the lists here below, Brussels is famous for it’s many Art Nouveau buildings. Those are certainly also worth a visit. A good introduction to Art Nouveau can be found in the Horta Museum. Finally, if you would like to go clubbing, I recommend checking out Fuse.

Major attractions

1. Grand place
2. Palais royal
3. Palais de justice
4. Mont des arts
5. Atomium
6. Basiliek van Koekelberg
7. European Quarter (EU Commission and European council)

Museums

Brussels has many nice museums. Some of my favourite are:

1. Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België (Royal Musea for Beaux-Arts): includes the Magritte museum
2. Train world
3. Royal Musea for Art & History
4. Royal Institute for the Natural Sciences
5. Royal Museum for Middle-Africa (a bit further away, but the tramline that takes you there is very scenic, so certainly worth it!)

Ghent

Ghent is a very medieval and pretty town, and home to the second best university in Belgium. Some recommendations for Ghent:

1. Visit the Gravensteen
2. Try some typical local dishes, such as Waterzooi
3. Take a boat ride over the canals
4. Visit the Sint-Baafskathedraal, and take a look at the “Lam Gods”, a master piece by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck
5. Visit the ruins of the old Sint-Baafs abbey

Antwerp

Antwerp is Belgium’s second largest city, and an important economical hub. Antwerp is home to Europe’s second largest port. My recommendations for Antwerp:

1. Admire the Central Station, in my opinion the most beautiful train station in the world. Close to the Central Station, you can find Antwerp’s Chinatown and the Diamond quarter.
2. Walk along the Meir towards the old town, where you can visit the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal and the city hall.
3. Pay a visit to the Hendrik Conscience Library
4. Visit the MAS (Museum aan de Stroom)
5. Walk South along the Scheldt and visit “Het Steen”
6. A bit further down, you find the Museum Plantin-Moretus, which is well worth a visit.
7. Finally, you will get to KMSKA: the Royal Museum of Beaux-Arts

If you want to go clubbing in Antwerp, I recommend Ampere.

Mons

Bruges