EN
Nederlands
Français
Belgium is a country of 11.9 million people that runs on three official languages, 16 UNESCO sites and an unreasonable amount of chocolate, and the 45 facts below are the ones that hold up when you check them. Several of the claims that circulate about the country do not: its most famous “smallest city” is not the smallest, its coastal tram is not the longest tram line in the world, and the horse everyone cites died in Wisconsin in 2021.
Each fact below is numbered, states its claim in the heading and gives the figure or date underneath. Where the popular version turned out to be wrong, this page carries the corrected one instead.
Facts about the country itself
Eight facts describe what Belgium is, how it is put together and how it governs itself, and they explain most of what confuses visitors about it.
1. Belgium is younger than the United States
Belgium declared independence in 1830 and is one of Europe’s newer countries. It sits in western Europe and is made up of three federal regions: Flanders in the north, Wallonia in the south and the Brussels-Capital Region in the middle, which is an enclave inside Flanders rather than a border between the two.
Before 1830 the territory was known as the Southern Netherlands and had been ruled in turn by Burgundy, Spain, Austria, France and the Netherlands. That sequence is why Belgian towns look Spanish, French and Dutch in the same street.
2. Belgium has three official languages, and Flemish is not one of them
Dutch, French and German are Belgium’s official languages. Roughly 60% of Belgians speak Dutch, about 40% speak French and around 1% speak German, in a small community on the eastern border. Flemish is not a separate language but a cluster of dialects, which is how Dutch is spoken in Flanders.
The Brussels-Capital Region is the exception to the split: it is officially bilingual in French and Dutch, and German has no status there. Our page of facts about Brussels covers how that works day to day.
3. The name Belgium is Roman
Belgium takes its name from the Belgae, a group of Celtic and Germanic tribes the Romans found in the north of Gaul. Rome organised the territory as the province of Gallia Belgica after conquering the region around 100 BC, and the name sat unused for centuries while the area was called the Low Countries.
When the Southern Netherlands broke away from the north in 1830, the new state revived the Roman name. The country is therefore named after people who had stopped existing as a political unit around eighteen centuries earlier.
4. The highest point in Belgium needed a staircase to reach 700 m
The Signal de Botrange in the High Fens is the highest point in Belgium at 694 m (2,277 ft), which is 6 m short of a round number. In 1923 the Baltia tower, a stone staircase exactly 6 m (20 ft) high, was built on the summit so that visitors could stand at 700 m (2,297 ft).
A larger stone tower went up beside it in 1933 and still stands. The lowest point of the country is sea level on the North Sea coast, so the whole vertical range of Belgium is smaller than a single Alpine cable car.
5. Belgium holds the world record for going without a government
Belgium spent 541 days without a federal government between 2010 and 2011, which remains the world record for a peacetime coalition formation. The country kept functioning throughout on a caretaker administration.
It came close to breaking its own record afterwards without managing it. The formation that followed the May 2019 election ran 494 days before the De Croo government took office on 1 October 2020, so the 541-day mark still stands.
6. Voting is compulsory
Belgium is one of a small group of countries where voting is a legal obligation rather than a right, a rule in force since 1893. Turnout consequently sits far above the European average, usually above 85%.
Elections are held on Sundays, and federal, regional and European elections are often stacked on the same day, which is part of why forming a government afterwards takes so long.
7. Belgium has 16 UNESCO World Heritage Sites
UNESCO lists 16 inscribed properties in Belgium, and six of them are transnational, shared with France, the Netherlands and other countries. The individual sites include the Grand-Place in Brussels, the historic centre of Bruges, the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp and the mining sites of Wallonia.
Three of the listings are collections rather than single places: 13 Flemish beguinages, 33 Belgian belfries within a 56-belfry listing shared with France, and 43 Belgian sites within the First World War funerary and memorial listing. Belgium keeps a further 16 properties on its tentative list.
8. The smallest city in Belgium is not the one that claims to be
Mesen in West Flanders has been Belgium’s officially smallest city since 2006, with a population of about a thousand. Durbuy in the Ardennes calls itself the smallest city in the world and prints it on the signs, which is a marketing decision rather than a statistic.
Durbuy is still worth the drive. It received city rights in the Middle Ages and never lost them, and its cobbled centre sits on a bend of the Ourthe in the Ardennes.
Facts about the monarchy and politics
Five facts cover the Belgian crown and the country’s place in international politics, including the strangest 36 hours in the monarchy’s history.
9. The king was removed for 36 hours so a law could be signed
King Baudouin was temporarily relieved of his powers in April 1990 because he refused, on religious grounds, to sign a law liberalising abortion. The government declared him unable to reign, signed the law itself, and reinstated him about 36 hours later.
The manoeuvre was constitutional, and both the king and parliament preferred it to a crisis. It remains the clearest example of the Belgian talent for solving a deadlock with paperwork.
10. Belgium has two living kings
Belgium has two men entitled to be called king, because Albert II kept the title after abdicating in favour of his son Philippe in July 2013. Philippe is the reigning King of the Belgians and Albert II is styled king for life.
The Belgian monarch’s title is worth noticing: he is King of the Belgians, not King of Belgium, so the crown is tied to the people rather than the territory. Spain and Denmark are now in a similar position after their own abdications, so the arrangement is less unusual than it was.
11. Belgium had one of the world’s first openly gay heads of government
Elio Di Rupo became prime minister in December 2011 as Belgium’s first openly gay head of government, and one of the first anywhere. He led the government formed after the 541-day deadlock, which makes his premiership doubly notable in Belgian political history.
Belgium had already legalised same-sex marriage in 2003, the second country in the world to do so after the Netherlands.
12. Brussels runs the European Union and hosts NATO
Brussels holds the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the second seat of the European Parliament, alongside NATO headquarters on the Boulevard Leopold III. No other city carries both.
The claim that Brussels has more diplomats and journalists than Washington DC gets repeated constantly and is not supported by the counts. A Council of the European Union study recorded 811 journalists accredited to the EU institutions in 2020 and 842 in 2025, down from a peak in 2013.
13. Belgium banned cluster bombs before anyone else
Belgium became the first country in the world to ban cluster munitions, passing its law in 2006, two years before the Convention on Cluster Munitions was opened for signature in Oslo.
It moved early on documents too. Belgium was the first country to issue electronic passports meeting the International Civil Aviation Organization’s recommendations, and one of the first, alongside Italy, to issue electronic identity cards from March 2003.
Facts about Belgian history and firsts
Nine facts cover what happened in Belgium before Belgium existed, listed roughly in the order the events occurred.
14. Neanderthals were identified in Belgium before the Neander Valley
The first Neanderthal remains ever found came out of a cave at Engis, near Liège, in 1829, dug up by the Dutch physician Philippe-Charles Schmerling. Nobody recognised what they were at the time.
The species took its name from a later find in Germany’s Neander Valley in 1856, which is why a Belgian discovery ended up with a German name. Schmerling’s Engis 2 skull, a child’s, is still held in Liège.
15. The first city charter in the region went to Huy in 1066
Huy, on the Meuse between Liège and Namur, received a charter of city rights in 1066, and it is generally described as the oldest free city on the continent. The charter granted its citizens rights against their feudal lord.
The town sits under a citadel on a rock above the river and is an easy stop between Liège and Namur, which is more than can be said for most places with an eleventh-century constitutional claim.
16. Oil painting was perfected in Flanders
Jan van Eyck and his contemporaries in 15th-century Flanders are credited with developing oil painting into the technique European art then used for five centuries. Van Eyck did not invent oil paint outright, but the Flemish Primitives worked out how to layer transparent glazes to get depth and light that tempera could not.
The Ghent Altarpiece, finished in 1432, is the work most often used to prove the point. It still hangs in Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, in a purpose-built viewing room.
17. The word “bourse” comes from a Bruges family
The stock exchange takes its name from Bruges. Merchants met in the 13th and 14th centuries at a square in front of the house of the Van der Beurze family, and “beurs”, “bourse” and “borsa” all descend from that family name.
Bruges was then one of the great trading cities of northern Europe, connected to the sea by the Zwin inlet, and the silting of that channel is what ended its commercial run and preserved its medieval centre.
18. Charles V was born in Ghent and spoke French first
Charles V of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, was born in Ghent in 1500 and raised in the Low Countries with French as his first language. He ruled an empire spanning Spain, the Americas, Naples, Sicily and the Burgundian territories.
His relationship with his birthplace curdled. When Ghent revolted against his taxes in 1539 he returned and forced its notables to walk through the city with nooses around their necks, which is why people from Ghent are still nicknamed “stroppendragers”, noose-wearers.
19. Napoleon’s career ended 15 km from Brussels
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on 18 June 1815 just south of Brussels, and it ended Napoleon’s rule for good. The Lion’s Mound, an artificial hill raised over the battlefield in the 1820s, gives the view over the ground.
The site is about 15 km (9.3 mi) from central Brussels and reachable by train and bus, so the battle that redrew Europe happened inside what is now commuter range of the Belgian capital.
20. The first railway on the European mainland ran in Belgium
Belgium opened the first passenger railway on continental Europe on 5 May 1835, running from Brussels to Mechelen. Britain had got there first, but no other country on the mainland had a public line before this one.
The new state built the network deliberately and fast, as an act of independence from Dutch control of the waterways. The result is that Belgium still has one of the densest rail networks in the world, which is why almost every town in this guide can be reached by train.
21. Liège was the first city bombed from the air
A German Zeppelin bombed Liège on the night of 6 August 1914, in the first days of the First World War, in what is generally recorded as the first aerial bombardment of a city. Civilians were killed.
The Belgian forts around Liège held up the German advance for nearly two weeks and cost the Schlieffen Plan its timetable, which is the reason the invasion of Belgium mattered so much to how the war then went.
22. Belgian uranium from the Congo went into the first atomic bombs
The uranium used in the Manhattan Project came largely from the Shinkolobwe mine in the Belgian Congo, sold to the United States by Edgar Sengier of Union Minière, who had shipped ore to New York before America entered the war.
The ore from Shinkolobwe was far richer than anything mined elsewhere at the time. It is one of the least comfortable facts on this page and one of the most consequential.
Facts about food and drink
Eight facts cover what Belgium makes and eats, and two of them correct a story the country tells about itself.
23. Belgium makes more than 800,000 tonnes of chocolate a year
Belgium produces over 800,000 tonnes of chocolate annually and exports around 600,000 tonnes of it, which makes it the world’s second-largest chocolate exporter. Chocolate is a genuine industrial export rather than a souvenir trade.
The figure of 220,000 tonnes still repeated online is decades out of date. Production value alone rose 90% between 2016 and 2024.
24. The praline was invented in a Brussels pharmacy
Jean Neuhaus Jr. created the filled chocolate praline in Brussels in 1912, in a shop his grandfather had opened as a pharmacy on the Galerie de la Reine in 1857. The original business coated medicine in chocolate to make it palatable, and the descendant took the coating seriously.
His wife Louise Agostini then invented the ballotin, the stiff pleated gift box, in 1915, because paper cones crushed the chocolates. Both the shop and the box are still in use.
25. Brussels Airport sells more chocolate than any shop in the world
Brussels Airport is the largest chocolate selling point on earth, moving about 1.5 kg a minute, roughly 2 tonnes a day and more than 800 tonnes a year. Most of it is bought in the last twenty minutes before boarding.
That single airport therefore shifts about a tenth of one percent of national production through a departure hall, which says as much about Belgian travellers’ guilt as about the chocolate.
26. Belgian beer culture is on the UNESCO list
UNESCO added Belgian beer culture to its list of intangible cultural heritage in 2016, covering the brewing, the serving rituals and the glassware. Belgium has hundreds of breweries and well over a thousand distinct beers, from Trappist ales to spontaneous-fermentation lambics brewed only in the Zenne valley.
Delirium Café in Brussels holds the Guinness World Record for the most varieties of beer commercially available, at 2,004 counted on 9 January 2004.
27. The world’s largest brewer is headquartered in Leuven
AB InBev, the largest brewing company in the world, has its global headquarters in Leuven, in the buildings of the Artois brewery that has been on the site since 1366. It owns Stella Artois, Budweiser, Corona and several hundred other brands.
The company is often called Anheuser-Busch, which is the American half of the 2008 merger and not the corporate name. The Belgian half is what runs it.
28. The Belgian claim to the fry is shakier than Belgians admit
The story that Belgians invented the fry rests on one document nobody has seen. The journalist Jo Gérard said a 1781 family manuscript described potatoes fried in the Meuse valley before 1680, but he never produced it, and the potato did not reach the region until around 1735. The Belgian food historian Pierre Leclercq has argued the fry is French in origin.
None of which means Belgium does not fry better. Fries are double-fried, sold from a frietkot rather than a restaurant, and eaten with a spoonful of sauce on top. Our guide to Belgian food covers what else to order.
29. Brussels sprouts really are named after Brussels
Brussels sprouts take their name from the market gardens around the Belgian capital, where they were cultivated from at least the 16th century and possibly the 13th. The crop spread through northern Europe from there, and the English name records where it became commercially significant.
Whether the vegetable was bred in Belgium or only popularised there is still argued. The name is not in dispute.
30. Haspengouw is one of Europe’s biggest fruit regions
Haspengouw, the rolling country south of Hasselt in Limburg, is one of the largest fruit-growing regions in Europe, planted mainly with apples, pears and cherries. The blossom in late April turns the whole area white and pink and brings out cyclists in numbers.
The region also holds Alden Biesen, Tongeren, Belgium’s oldest town, and a network of numbered cycle nodes that makes it one of the easiest places in the country to ride without a map.
Facts about sport, culture and the arts
Eight facts cover what Belgium has put into world culture, from a football match in a Brussels suburb to the only artwork on the Moon.
31. The first international football match outside Britain was played in Brussels
Belgium and France drew 3-3 on 1 May 1904 at the Stade du Vivier d’Oie in Uccle, south Brussels, in the first official international between two teams from outside the British Isles. FIFA was founded three weeks later.
The match is often miscast as the first international ever played, which was Scotland against England in Glasgow in 1872. The Belgian one is the first without a British team in it.
32. Spa-Francorchamps is the longest circuit in Formula 1
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in the Ardennes is the longest track on the Formula 1 calendar and one of the oldest still in use, laid out on public roads in the early 1920s. Its Eau Rouge and Raidillon complex, taken uphill and blind, is the corner drivers name first when asked which they would keep.
The circuit sits in the hills above Malmedy and holds its own microclimate, so it can be dry at one end of the lap and wet at the other.
33. Belgium exports comics the way other countries export cars
Tintin, the Smurfs, Lucky Luke and Spirou are all Belgian, and so are the Snorks, created by the Belgian cartoonist Nic Broca. Belgium produces more comic artists per square kilometre than any other country, Japan included, and Brussels carries more than fifty comic-strip murals on its walls.
Hergé and Georges Simenon are the two most translated French-language authors in the world, and both are Belgian. Simenon’s Maigret novels are frequently described as the most translated books after the Bible, which overstates it, but the underlying point about his reach stands. Our list of famous Belgians covers who else came out of the country.
34. Tomorrowland is the largest electronic music festival in the world
Tomorrowland, held at De Schorre in Boom between Antwerp and Brussels, is the biggest electronic dance music festival on earth, running over two weekends each July and selling out worldwide in minutes. It started in 2005.
It is the loudest end of a serious festival culture, and the summer calendar of festivals in Belgium also carries Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Dour and Graspop.
35. Ghent throws a ten-day free festival every July
The Gentse Feesten takes over the centre of Ghent for ten days each July, with free stages on almost every square, and it is one of the largest cultural festivals in Europe by attendance. It has run in some form for more than 150 years.
The whole historic core is closed to traffic for the duration. If you dislike crowds, this is the fortnight to visit somewhere else in Belgium.
36. The only artwork on the Moon is Belgian
Fallen Astronaut, a small aluminium figure by the Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck, was placed on the lunar surface by the crew of Apollo 15 in 1971, beside a plaque naming the astronauts and cosmonauts who had died. It is the only piece of art on the Moon.
Van Hoeydonck’s own account of the commission and NASA’s differ on almost every detail, which has kept the story alive for fifty years.
37. The word “spa” is a Belgian town
The town of Spa in the province of Liège gave its name to every spa in the world. Its mineral springs drew European aristocracy from the 16th century onwards, and the town’s name became the generic word for a resort built on therapeutic water.
Spa also claims the oldest casino in the world. La Redoute opened there in 1763 as a place for visitors to gamble, dance and drink between water cures, and the Casino de Spa still occupies the tradition.
38. Leuven’s main square calls itself the longest bar in Europe
The Oude Markt in Leuven is lined on all four sides with cafés and nothing else, and the city’s own tourist office calls it the longest bar in Europe on the grounds that no other square packs in as many. In term time the whole square functions as one continuous terrace.
Leuven has the oldest university in the Low Countries, founded in 1425, which is what supplies the demand.
Facts about Belgian engineering and industry
Seven facts cover what Belgium builds, moves and trades, including two records that changed hands more recently than most lists admit.
39. The coastal tram is the world’s longest metre-gauge tram line
The Kusttram runs 67 km (42 mi) along the whole Belgian coast, from De Panne at the French border to Knokke-Heist at the Dutch one, calling at 67 stops. It opened in 1885 as part of the vicinal light-railway network and has outlived all of it.
It is often called the longest tram line in the world, which is not quite right: it is the longest metre-gauge tram line and the second-longest light rail service anywhere, after the A Line of the Los Angeles Metro. Trams run every 10 minutes in summer and every 20 in winter.
40. Belgium built the tallest boat lift in the world, and lost the title in 2016
The Strépy-Thieu boat lift on the Canal du Centre raises vessels 73.15 m (240 ft) in seven minutes, and it was the tallest boat lift on earth from its completion in 2002 until the Three Gorges Dam ship lift opened in China in January 2016. It replaced two locks and four smaller lifts dating from 1888 to 1919.
The structure weighs around 200,000 tonnes and carries barges of up to 1,350 tonnes between the Meuse and the Scheldt. Hainaut promotes it as a visitor attraction, and a one-way ride costs €12 (about $14, £10).
41. Brussels has the largest courthouse ever built
The Law Courts of Brussels cover 26,006 m² (279,930 sq ft) at ground level, more than St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and they were the largest building in the world when inaugurated on 15 October 1883. Joseph Poelaert designed it and did not live to see it finished.
Scaffolding went up for a renovation in 1984 and much of it is still there, so most Belgians have never seen the building without it. The current target for removing the last of it is 2035.
42. Belgium’s tallest building is a 1960s office block
The South Tower next to Brussels-Midi station is the tallest building in Belgium at 150 m (492 ft) across 38 storeys, built between 1962 and 1967. It houses federal pension offices, which is a modest use for a national record.
Antwerp got there first with height. The Boerentoren, built between 1929 and 1932, was one of the first high-rise buildings in Europe and is still one of the tallest structures in the city after the Cathedral of Our Lady.
43. Most of the world’s rough diamonds pass through one Antwerp neighbourhood
About 84% of the world’s rough diamonds are traded through Antwerp’s diamond district, a handful of streets beside the central station. The city has been in the diamond trade since 1447.
Four exchanges, hundreds of workshops and a heavily policed square kilometre handle the flow. The trade has shifted polishing to India over the past forty years, but the buying and selling still routes through Antwerp.
44. The cassette tape was developed in Hasselt
Philips developed the compact cassette at its plant in Hasselt, Belgium, and launched it at the Berlin radio show in 1963. The team was led by the Dutch engineer Lou Ottens, who sized the cassette around a wooden block cut to fit his jacket pocket.
Philips then licensed the format free of charge, which is why it became the world standard instead of one of several competing tapes. Ottens went on to help develop the compact disc.
45. A retired Belgian teacher named the euro
Germain Pirlot, a retired teacher and Esperantist from Ostend, wrote to European Commission President Jacques Santer on 4 August 1995 proposing that the new single currency be called the euro. The name was adopted at the Madrid summit that December.
Pirlot received no fee and no formal credit at the time. Belgium had proposed several other names for the currency through official channels, and the one that stuck came from a private letter.
Planning a trip around these facts
Belgium is small enough that most of the places named above sit within two hours of each other, which is the practical reason to visit it by rail rather than by car. The country has one of the densest rail networks in the world and a single national operator, so Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven, Liège and Namur are all reachable from Brussels in under an hour and a half.
Getting into the country is the part worth booking early. Comparing train tickets to Belgium across operators beats buying at the counter for the high-speed services in from London, Paris, Amsterdam and Cologne. Within the country, buying at the station on the day is fine, since domestic fares are distance-based rather than dynamic.
Guided tours are the fastest way to turn the facts on this page into places, particularly the ones that need a guide to make sense: the Ghent Altarpiece, the Waterloo battlefield and the beer culture in the Zenne valley.
Where you base yourself decides how much of the country you see. Ghent and Antwerp both work as a single base for Flanders, Namur or Liège for Wallonia and the Ardennes, and Brussels for everything if you do not mind a longer daily ride. Compare hotels across Belgium once your dates are set, since prices in Bruges and Ghent climb steeply at weekends and during the festival weeks.
Belgium FAQ
What language do they speak in Belgium?
Belgium speaks Dutch in the north, French in the south and German in a small eastern community, and all three are official. Around 60% of the population speaks Dutch in Flanders, about 40% speaks French in Wallonia and roughly 1% speaks German near the German border. Brussels is officially bilingual in French and Dutch, with French dominant in practice. Flemish is not a fourth language but the way Dutch is spoken in Flanders.
What is the symbol of Belgium?
The Belgian lion is the national symbol, shown in black on a gold field and facing the hoist on the state coat of arms. The lion came from the arms of the counts of Flanders and the dukes of Brabant and was carried into the new kingdom in 1830. It appears on the coat of arms, on coins and on public buildings, and it gives the national motto its setting: “Unity makes strength”, in all three official languages.
What are the best things to do in Belgium?
The five things to do in Belgium that follow directly from the facts on this page are listed below.
- Eat a waffle where the type is named: order a Brussels waffle in Brussels or a Liège waffle in Liège, because the two are different recipes and both cities sell the wrong one to tourists.
- Visit a castle: Belgium holds one of the highest densities of castles in the world, and our guide to castles in Belgium sets out which ones let visitors inside.
- Drink where the beer is brewed: Belgian beer culture is UNESCO-listed, and brewery visits at De Halve Maan in Bruges or in the Zenne valley explain the styles better than a bar list does.
- Walk a beguinage: the 13 Flemish beguinages on the UNESCO list are walled communities built for lay religious women, and the ones in Bruges, Ghent and Leuven are still lived in.
- Stand on a First World War battlefield: 43 Belgian sites are inscribed as memorials of the Western Front, concentrated around Ypres and the Yser.
Our full guide to things to do in Belgium covers the rest of the country.
What are the best Christmas markets in Belgium?
The four largest Christmas markets in Belgium are listed below, in order of size.
- Brussels Winter Wonders: the market spreads from the Grand-Place across the Marché aux Poissons with more than 200 chalets, a big wheel, an ice rink and a nightly light show on the Town Hall.
- Bruges: the market fills the Markt beside the Belfry and the Simon Stevinplein, with an ice rink and the Winter Glow illuminations along the canals.
- Ghent: the market runs across several linked squares with a big wheel and a skating rink, and it is the one locals rate for food.
- Antwerp: the market crosses the Grote Markt, the Groenplaats and the Steenplein, with a rink and a stage programme.
Dates shift by a week or two each year, so check before booking. Our guide to Christmas markets in Belgium carries the current ones.
Why should you visit Belgium?
Visit Belgium for the density: five medieval cities, 16 UNESCO sites, the world’s most serious beer culture and two battlefields that changed Europe, all inside an area smaller than Maryland. Nothing is more than about two hours from anything else by train, so a short trip covers ground that would take a fortnight elsewhere.
The trade-off is that the country rarely announces itself. It has no single monument standing for it the way the Eiffel Tower stands for France, which is why it is repeatedly passed over and why the cities in our guide to the best cities in Belgium stay walkable in July. Our Belgium hub collects every city, region and route guide on the site.
WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips
The 5 tips below come from checking each fact on this page against its source, and each one changes what a visitor does rather than what they know.
- Climb the staircase at Signal de Botrange, because the summit is 6 m short. Belgium’s highest ground reaches 694 m (2,277 ft), and the Baltia staircase built in 1923 exists purely to let you stand at 700 m (2,297 ft). It is a two-minute walk from the car park on the N676, and the High Fens boardwalks around it are the real reason to come.
- Ride the Strépy-Thieu boat lift rather than photographing it. A one-way passage costs €12 (about $14, £10) and takes seven minutes to travel 73.15 m (240 ft) vertically. It is in Le Roeulx in Hainaut, close enough to Mons to pair with a morning there.
- Take the coast tram end to end on one ticket. The Kusttram covers 67 km (42 mi) and 67 stops between De Panne and Knokke-Heist, running every 10 minutes in summer and every 20 in winter, so it works as a day’s sightseeing rather than just transport. Sit on the sea side between Ostend and Middelkerke.
- Do not plan a quiet July weekend in Ghent. The Gentse Feesten closes the historic centre to traffic for ten days each July and fills every square with free stages. Go for it deliberately or pick a different fortnight, because there is no way to visit Ghent around it.
- Order the waffle by city, not by name. A Brussels waffle is rectangular, light and yeast-risen, and a Liège waffle is dense with pearl sugar caramelised into it. Almost everything sold as a “Belgian waffle” abroad is a simplified Brussels waffle, renamed at the 1964 New York World’s Fair by a Brussels vendor who found Americans could not place the city.
About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, who is Belgian, grew up in Leuven, lived in Antwerp for a year and worked at the Belga Press Agency in Brussels, so this is her own country rather than a destination she passed through. The team covers Belgium for independent travellers, including the cities, castles, food, festivals and rail routes worth planning around, and re-checks the figures on this page against their sources when they change.
Beste Sofie,
Ik heb net ” Belgium facts that’ll blow your mind” gelezen. een prachtige verzameling van feiten. Maar wat is nr 1 ?
In punt 46 ben jij waarschijnlijk even vergeten dat jij in het Engels aan het schrijven was :
46. The world’s first beer academy opened in Herk-de-Stad, in de province of Limburg, in 1999. (In de province…
Maar verder niets dan lof,
Mvg,
Roger Kumps
Hey Roger,
Ik zat met wat websiteproblemen vandaag en blijkbaar is hier iets misgelopen: de hoofding en het eerste feit waren verdwenen, waardoor alles er blauw ging uitzien. Opgelost nu!
Met die provincie was ik inderdaad even de kluts kwijt. Dat bloggen in twee talen, het is soms toch wat :-)
Bedankt om het op te merken! Zonder je comment had ik het waarschijnlijk niet zo gauw gezien.
Ik heb je telefoonnummer uit je comment gehaald. Dat zet je best niet publiek op het internet.
Ik las onlangs dat alle europeanen afkomstig zijn van belgen. Dat blijkt uit dna analyse. Dat lijkt mij toch een belangerijk feit die niet in de lijst staat, evenals de uitvinding van bakeliet, e.a.
Hey Karel!
Bedankt voor je comment. Dat artikel las ik ook, maar deze post dateert van voor het verscheen. Het lijkt me ook nogal straf, dus ik denk dat ik nog even afwacht tot ik dat toevoeg :-)
Ik ben zeker dat er nog een heleboel andere dingen niet in staan. Voor zo’n jong landje hebben we best al wel wat op ons palmares staan. Altijd fijn dus als lezers zoals jij iets kunnen toevoegen. Dankje daarvoor!
Zalig, ook: de pil (dr janssen), saxofoon. Rolschaatsen, de deurbel, doen het altijd goed in het buitenland ;-) Top!
Die komen in mijn lijstje over bekende Belgen dat al half klaar staat ;-)
Hallo Sofie,
Heb je eraan gedacht om Raf Simons bij jou lijstje te zetten van bekende Belgen? In 2012 bekwam hij creative director bij Dior, France. Hij heeft al verschillende heel succesvolle shows gedaan in Parijs en andere landen. Er is ook een documentary gemaakt over hem: Dior and I.
Je kan meer over hem lezen op google.
Beste groetjes,
Alice
Dat is een geweldige toevoeging! Bedankt, Alice :)
Hallo Sofie,
Bedankt voor de snelle aanpassing.
Ik doe dit alleen om je te helpen,
Misschien kon er het Groot Begijnhof van Leuven aan toegevoegd worden.
Toch wel uniek en het best bewaarde begijnhof van België.
Ik heb heel wat informatie over het Groot Begijnhof. Naar welk emailadres kan ik het sturen.
Mvg,
Roger
Hey Roger,
Deze comment heb ik precies gemist. Het Groot Begijnhof is inderdaad uniek, maar het is geen grootste, oudste, … in iets, waardoor het niet echt op deze lijst thuis hoort. Ik ben wel van plan er een aparte post aan te wijden. Ik woon namelijk op een kwartiertje fietsen van dat begijnhof:)
Je kan me altijd mailen via het contactformulier hier op de website, of via sofie [at] wonderfulwanderings [dot] com
Dag Sofie en Roger,
Belgie heeft de begijnhoven uitgevonden, waarvan die van Kortrijk (1242) de eerste is. Dus in dit opzicht zou die van Leuven misschien genoemd kunnen worden denk ik, als de mooist en best bewaarde van Belgie. De meeste begijnhoven, zo niet alle, zijn bovendien elk UNESCO* – “for a reason” dus ;). Ook het concept achter de begijnhoven (evenals die van de godshuizen en die bijv. ook naast de belforten uniek zijn aan Belgie), is zeer mooi en een van de redenen waarom Belgie een diep-humanistische natie is. (Samen met F en in tegenstelling tot Nederland.)
Durbuy is inderdaad niet de kleinste town, maar kleinste city ter wereld, zoals de expat hierbeneden of hierboven (?) zegt (ik weet niet waar mijn post zal komen). Anders heeft het geen enkele betekenis en is het zogezegd maximaal “cute”. Vergeet niet dat Belgie even klein is als Nederland en vergelijkbaar met Zwitserland (Zwitserland zelfs ook met vergelijkbaar aantal inwoners). Belgie is overigens in alle andere opzichten dan geografische, groter dan Nederland. Er ziin ook veel andere landen in EU die kleiner zijn dan Belgie. Dat continu zogezegde faire zelf-kritisch erkennen dat je klein “bent”, wat ik Belgen overal zie doen, is slecht voor de reputatie van Belgie, m.i., en leidt tot tal van misverstanden, overal op het internet, en waarschijnlijk ook ver daarbuiten…
Met vriendelijke salut,
Veerle Isabelle
* Dat de UNESCO organisatie direct alle begijnhoven of alle belforten tot UNESCO heeft benoemd, wil niet zeggen dat Belgie maar 11 UNESCO sites heeft. Dit zijn er veel en veel meer, in al die Belgische steden. Efficientie van UNESCO wil niet zeggen dat Belgie architectonisch minder waard wordt ;) Belgie heeft een zeer, zeer rijk architectonisch patrimonium en historie en cultuur in het algemeen. :)
Hey Veerle,
Bedankt voor je uitgebreide comment! Ik plaatste eerder al een artikel over het begijnhof van Leuven, alsook over de UNESCO-sites van België, waarin meerdere van de punten die je aanhaalt genoemd worden:-)
En je hebt volledig gelijk: we moeten verdorie fier zijn op wat we wel hebben! :-)
Mooie lijst – nuttig voor wanneer ik aan mede-expats wat over Belgie probeer te vertellen :)
Klein detail, voor fact 63 is het misschien niet slecht te vermelden dat het over stadsrechten gaat, anders heeft het niet echt veel betekenis. En fact 13, ik denk niet dat (officieel) Boudewijn tegen de wet was, maar dat hij de wet niet kon tekenen voor morele redenen. Maar ik wil geen polemiek opstarten hierover ;)
Veel succes nog!
Hey Jefl,
Bedankt voor de toevoegingen!
Hij kon inderdaad de wet niet tekenen wegens morele redenen… omdat hij er moreel tegen was ;-)
Dankjewel!
Vergeet zeker volgende zaken niet :
Grootste brouwer ter wereld – Inbev
Kant productie ….. Zie je vandaag nog steeds aan de talloze lingeriewinkels overal in Belgie
Beiaards
Hey Geert, Supertoevoeging over InBev!
Kant en beiaarden op zich zijn geen feiten, maar ik zal er eens opzoekwerk naar verrichten!
Ook golf is van oorsprong uit onze contreien en dus niet Schots zoals algemeen wordt aangenomen.
Och? Dat moet ik eens opzoeken! Dankje voor de toevoeging:)
Leuke oplijsting! Wat ik nog zou toevoegen is dat de Saxofoon ook een Belgische uitvinding was door Adolf Sax.
Cheers,
Niels
Dankje, Niels! De saxofoon heb ik gehouden voor mijn lijstje met bekende Belgen, dat volgende week gepubliceerd wordt:-)
The leader of the very first crusade was Godefroy de Bouillon, a Belgian town built around the Semois river in the province of Luxembourg.
True! I hadn’t thought of him. I remember visiting Bouillon as a kid and my dad would always say we were going to the city of “Godfried van Soep met Balletjes” (Godefroy of Soup with Meatballs). I guess the “Bouillon” made him think of soup:)
Adolf Sax from Dinant invented the saxophone. The Dutch Revolt which ended with the independence of the Netherlands started in Ghent in 1577. Belgium was the second country in the world to industrialize after the UK. You may want to add something about the port of Antwerp’s importance over the years. Also, your fact about Bruges and the stock market isn’t correct. There was a hotel Beurs where the traders met in front of, the building wasn’t built for them. Also, I think Antwerp had the first market and then Bruges. You may need to look that up. Also, you forgot about the Ninja Turtles that were invented in Belgium. Oomegang festival in Brussels is one of the largest meidival shows in Euorpe. There are other folk festivals in Belgium that are worth listing. Antwerp was the port of departure for thousounds of emmigrants leaving Europe for America.
Hey Diane,
Thanks for all the additions! I included Sax in my list of famous Belgians, instead of here. Besides that, it’s, unfortunately, impossible to include everything and I focused on things that were the biggest/oldest/whatever-est and not just worth mentioning, because otherwise the list would have become endless:). I knew I’d miss quite a few facts as well, but that’s okay, because I love that now everyone is adding their own facts!
Hi Diane, Just wanted to let you know that I’ve checked and the Ninja Turtles are, unfortunately, not Belgian :-)
Mannequin comes from the French word mannequin, which had acquired the meaning “an artist’s jointed model”, which in turn came from the Flemish word manneken, meaning “little man, figurine”.
België is de bakermat van de
duivensport…https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duivensport
Wapens!… https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabrique_Nationale_de_Herstal
;)
Dankje! Mannequin is a nice addition:)
This is such a wonderful list. I didn’t know half of the things on there!! I’ve had people say to me:”Belgium, what do you guys have besides chocolate and beer”. I always get very patriotic when someone says something like that so this list is going to be useful. Thank you so much. Sax and all the wonderful painters would have been nice on there too but then again your list is much more creative than anything I would have come up with. Nice job
Hey Nadechda,
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it. I actually included the famous Belgians in a separate list, that you can find here :-)
You can allways say Belgium enslaved the Congo territory and made a fortune out of it.
It was actually King Leopold who enslaved the Congo and claimed it has his private property. Only later did the Belgian government made him give it up and did it start exploiting the country and its people.
The worlds best and most famous bicycle racer is Belgian Eddie Mercx!
True!
I’ve made a list of Famous Belgians as well, but I haven’t included Eddy Mercx yet. It’s not that I hadn’t thought about him. It’s just that I’m not a big sports person and if I start adding cyclists and football players, where does it end ;-)
Hello Sofie,
Very nice compilation of belgian facts. I’m looking forward to read your compilation of famous Belgians. Just in case you didn’t list him, I’ d like to mention Leo Baekeland, the inventor of bakelite. Thank you for your initiative. Yvan
Hey Yvan,
Baekeland is on there! Have a look” :-)
I love your work !
Are we Belgians not famous for our weapon industry as well? And copper ?
Thanks Corinne!
We are, although I haven’t immediately found record numbers on those. I didn’t add anything to the list that wasn’t like a first or best, or oldest, as otherwise it would have become endless:)
Can’t wait to come to Belgium myself next year!! :D
Yaaaaaaay! :D
Nr 60 klopt niet, Nemo33 was het diepste zwembad tot 5 juni 2014, toen zijn we die titel kwijtgeraakt aan een zwembadje in Italië.
zie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemo_33
Verdorie seg :-) Ik pas het aan. Bedankt voor de correctie!
Hey Sofie,
frieten werden niet uitgevonden door de Belgen ! het waren Franse vissers die bij hun vangst de kleine onverkoopbare visjes in olie bakten om zelf iets vers en voedzaam te kunnen eten. In bepaalde seizoenen werden zelfs de kleie vissen verkocht. Aardappelen bewaarden vrij lang en werden toen als alternatief meegenomen, in stukken versneden en in olie gebakken. Zo weet je meteen waarom frieten ‘french fries’ heten in het Engels. België is bekend om zijn frieten omdat wij ze lekkerder maken door ze twee maal te bakken in olie.
Hey Bruno, waar heb je dat gevonden? Ik las op meerdere plaatsen hetzelfde over de visjes, maar dan dat de techniek reeds in de 17e eeuw gebruikt werd door vissers in Dinant en Namen. De verschillende teksten die ik las spraken over het “ontstaan” van de friet in de 18e eeuw in Frankrijk, maar reeds in de 17e eeuw in “België.
Het zou me niet verbazen als ze gewoon twee maal “uitgevonden” werden. Tot het onweerlegbaar bewezen is, zijn ze voor mij Belgisch :D
Fijne lijst! Ontbreekt (tenzij mijn geheugen me nu al in de steek laat): het justitiepaleis in Brussel was bij opening het grootste openbare gebouw ter wereld!
chau T
Hey Toon, dankjewel, en dankje voor de bijdrage:)
Dag Sofie, wat een leuke lijst, gefeliciteerd! Kan ik erg waarderen want ik woon al 23 jaar in het buitenland. Ik begrijp je nr. 33 niet goed (ben zelf afgestudeerd aan deze Alma Mater) Leuven bestond echter als stad al en kreeg dan van de paus het recht om een universiteit op te richten in 1425 (de hertog had verkozen om in Brussel te gaan wonen, de Leuvenaars wilden dit compenseren door een universiteit en dat is ook gelukt). Maar dit is ver van de oudste Europese universiteit… Dus hoe wil je dit punt maken?
Hey Renilde, Dankjewel!
Ik ben zelf ook afgestudeerd in Leuven:) En je hebt gelijk! Het is de oudste universiteit van de Lage Landen. Bij deze verbeterd!
TINTIN!! I didn’t know it came from Belgium, but I read the comics all the time as a kid. Good to know!
Yesssss! We’re a comic land:)
Ook Spanje heeft 2 koningen op dit moment aangezien Juan Carlos de titel “koning”heeft behouden na zijn aftreden ten voordele van zijn zoon Felipe VI, analoog met wat er in België gebeurd is bij de troonsafstand van Koning Albert.
Je hebt gelijk! Ik pas het aan:)
1 klein ‘foutje’ in de lijst: Tomorrowland is geen techno festival maar een EDM (Electronic Dance Music) festival. Techno is een subcategorie van EDM en is een genre dat maar op een heel klein deel van het festival gespeeld wordt. Verder boeiend! Veel dingen die ik zelf niet wist over m’n eigen land ;)
Ik pas het aan! Zo’n kenner ben ik niet:)
What a great list! You must have had lots of work with it. I live in Belgium for 15 years now, but still learned some new facts…
It took quite some time to put together, indeed :D I’m glad you like it! Where are you from originally?
I’m from Lithuania, but, as mentioned, Belgium is my home now. Glad I found your blog, looks inspiring!
Thanks!
Dag Sofie,
Super fijne lijst heb je hier seg! Ik heb een jaartje in Oostenrijk gewoond voor mijn studies, en dus vele internationale vrienden gemaakt. En zoals de meesten kenden zij enkel België van het bier, chocolade en de wafels.
Nu kan ik ze eindelijk een lijstje geven (in het Engels) met heel wat interessante feiten!
Groetjes
Dankjewel Rebecca, dat is fijn om te lezen!
Hahaha, deel dat lijstje maar rond… en geef ze een reep chocolade erbij. Kunnen ze die eten terwijl ze het doornemen :D
This is so interesting! It’s *the* perfect article for anyone who is about to visit and wants to know some inside information before going!
Thanks so much Kristen! Glad you like it:)
I read your list and loved it as a young girl I lived in Belgium and loved every minute. I lived in Antwerpen, Ghent and Leuven.. The were people amazing and the food I miss every day. I even spoke Dutch fluently but after 37 years I don’t speak it so well anymore. Thanks for a visit
“Home”.
Oh, how wonderful! I’m so happy you enjoyed it here!
Did you know: I live in Leuven and my mom’s name is Sonia, with an “i”, but still! :D
Hallo Sofie ,
Echt eine schöne, lehrreiche, arbeitsintensive Liste die Sie zusammengestellt haben! Ich heiße auch Sonia und wurde in Diest geboren und in Lummen (Nähe Hasselt) aufgewachsen. Vor 35 j dann mit der Familie nach Deutschland. Welchen Stellenwert hat Brüsseler spitze und die tolle Möbeln welche in näheren europäische Länder so beliebt sind? Außerdem der größte Hafen in Antwerpen? Nur so eine Idee, weiß nicht ob das zu größte, älteste etc.gehört.
Aber tut gut hier soviel noch über mein Land zu sehen und zu lesen! !!! Vielen Dank für Ihre Mühe! ! ! Freue mich auf weitere Beiträge! Ganz liebe grüße aus meckenheim bei Bonn
Thanks for your comment, Sonia! I’m sorry but I only understood half of it and Google translate didn’t really help :D
Wie könnte ich da helfen liebe Sofie? ?leider ist mein flämisch nicht mehr so perfekt. Finde es toll mit wieviel Herzblut Sie das hier machen! Danke schön dafür! Alles Gute und ich gebe mir mühe zu helfen. Ganz liebe grüße aus Deutschland.
Greetings back from Belgium! :)
Dag Sofie! de Philips-fabriek in Hasselt lag in de jaren 80 aan de basis van de ontwikkeling van de CD-speler! Toch ook een weetje om een beetje trots op te zijn!
Absoluut! Bedankt voor je bijdrage :-)
These facts of Belgium are very helpful, thanks! I’m doing a writing and a research report on it. Hope you have a good day!
You’re welcome!
Very interesting! The only thing I noticed is that Durbuy actually claims to be “la plus petite ville du monde” so it’s actually a city not town.
You’re right! Bad translation on my part :-)
cool i wish i could eat waffles and chocolate there!
Hope you will someday! :)
The saxophone was also invented in Belgium by Adolphe Sax
Yes, I listed that in my post about famous Belgians :)
Hi
As an answer to your fact about “french fries”. They are indeed Belgian Fries. French doesn’t refer to the country of France but to a format to cut vegetables in. The term “french” is not used frequently anymore in traditional cuisine, that’s why people think french fries refer to France instead of Belgium. A more modern word for this cutting would be to cut your vegetables “julienne” altough this is thinner then the Regular fry.
Still I really enjoyed your facts!
Kind Regards
Amber
Oooh this is great info! Thanks so much for sharing this, Amber.