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Gaasbeek Castle is a neo-Gothic castle in 50 hectares (124 acres) of park at Kasteelstraat 40, Lennik, about 10 km (6.2 miles) south-west of Brussels, and it opens for a season rather than all year. In 2026 it runs from 1 April to 15 November, closed on Mondays, with the castle open 10am to 6pm and the last entry at 5pm. Adults pay €12 (about $14, £10) for the castle, €7 for the Museum Garden and €15 for both. The park itself is free and open daily from sunrise to sunset.
Two things people get wrong here. The first is that the castle shuts for the whole winter, from mid-November to the end of March, so a December day trip gets you the park and nothing else. The second is that a three-year restoration finished and the interiors were refurnished, so guides describing empty rooms full of contemporary art are describing the building site years, not the castle you will walk into now.
What is Gaasbeek Castle?
Gaasbeek Castle is a museum castle owned by the Flemish Community, in the village of Gaasbeek in the municipality of Lennik, Flemish Brabant. Gaasbeek looks medieval and is not: the fortress on this site goes back roughly 800 years, but what stands today is a late 19th-century neo-Gothic reconstruction, built for one woman with a very particular idea of what a castle should be.
That woman was Marie Peyrat, the Marquise Arconati Visconti, and the castle is essentially her creation. She turned a ruin into a romantic château filled with tapestries, furniture, silver and paintings, and on her death she left it to the Belgian State. It opened as a national museum in 1924 and has been public ever since.
Around the castle sit the Museum Garden, a walled kitchen and ornamental garden that opens on its own shorter season, and the park: 50 hectares of woodland, ponds, avenues and benches that anyone can walk into for nothing.
Our verdict on Gaasbeek Castle
Gaasbeek is worth the trip for the park as much as for the castle, and that is not a criticism of the castle. I went on a Wednesday in November, walked the trails through old woodland and past the ponds, and had a picnic on one of the benches scattered through the grounds. It is a genuinely quiet landscape 20 minutes from Brussels, and it costs nothing to be in.
The interior has changed since that visit, and for the better. When I went, many rooms had been emptied of their original furniture and were hung with contemporary art that sat oddly against the neo-Gothic panelling. The restoration of the 19th-century interior was the final stage of a master plan that took just under three years, and the marquise’s rooms are furnished again. The contemporary art has not gone away, but it now works alongside the collection rather than in place of it: the 2026 programme runs to 15 November and includes Clara Spilliaert’s first solo museum exhibition.
The €15 combination ticket for the castle and the Museum Garden was fair when I paid it and still is. Two brasseries sit by the entrance if you would rather not carry lunch.
Where is Gaasbeek Castle, and how do you get there?
Gaasbeek Castle is at Kasteelstraat 40, 1750 Gaasbeek, in Lennik, about 10 km (6.2 miles) south-west of the centre of Brussels. It sits in open countryside, which is the point of it, and that shapes how you arrive.
By bus is the simplest car-free route: De Lijn bus 142 runs from Brussels-South station and from Erasmus metro station towards Gaasbeek and Leerbeek, and stops by the castle entrance. Erasmus is the western end of metro line 5, so from central Brussels it is metro then bus.
By car, come off the Brussels ring at exit 15a towards Vlezenbeek and follow the signs. There is a car park at the park entrance, next to the Entrance Building where tickets are sold. If you are pairing Gaasbeek with other castles or with the Pajottenland villages around it, comparing rental car rates for a Brussels pick-up is worth five minutes; for Gaasbeek alone the bus is easier.
By bike, there is bicycle parking at the entrance and signage for people arriving on foot or two wheels.
Plan 15 minutes for the last stretch, whichever way you come. It is a 600 m walk from the Entrance Building, the bus stop or the car park to the castle door, along a driveway of small pebbles. There is no ticket desk inside the castle, so buy before you walk.
Gaasbeek Castle opening hours in 2026
Gaasbeek Castle opens from 1 April to 15 November 2026 and closes on Mondays. The full pattern is set out below.
| Part of the site | Season | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| The castle | 1 April to 15 November | Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm; 10am to 5pm from October |
| Entrance Building and museum shop | 1 April to 15 November | Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30am to 5pm |
| Museum Garden | 1 May to 31 October | Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm; 10am to 5pm from October |
| The park | All year | Daily, sunrise to sunset |
| Gloriette and Saint Gertrude’s Chapel | April to October | First Sunday of the month only, 1pm to 5pm |
Four cut-off times matter more than the closing time. Last entry to the castle is 5pm, or 4pm from October. Last ticket sales in the Entrance Building are 4.45pm, or 3.45pm from October. Combination tickets stop at 4.30pm, or 3.30pm from October. And you still have that 600 m walk in front of you after buying.
Two dates are unusual in 2026. The castle closes for a week, from 18 to 25 June, while an exhibition is installed, and on 26 and 27 September it can only be visited in connection with an external event. Public holidays are normal opening days.
Gaasbeek Castle tickets and prices
Adults pay €12 (about $14, £10) for the castle, €7 (about $8, £6) for the Museum Garden and €15 (about $17, £13) for the combination ticket. The full 2026 rates are below.
| Ticket | Standard | Reduced | Free |
|---|---|---|---|
| Castle | €12 | €10 for over-65s and members of Davidsfonds, Gezinsbond and FED+; €8 for students under 27 and teachers with a teacher’s card | Under-18s, Museumpass, ICOM, visitors with a disability plus one companion, Riebedebie card, press card, researchers with a study assignment on the castle |
| Museum Garden | €7 | €6 for over-65s, students under 27, teachers with a teacher’s card and members of TuinHier | Under-18s, visitors with a disability plus one companion, Natuur en Bos staff |
| Castle plus Museum Garden | €15 | Under-18s and Museumpass holders | |
| The park | Free | Everyone |
Three details are worth knowing before you go. Museum Garden prices rise by €2.50 between 16 and 31 May 2026 for the Sculptiva exhibition, though free admission stays free. Anyone entitled to free entry still needs to collect a ticket, online or at the Entrance Building. And visitors on Flemish subsidised rates can get a museum ticket for €4 through Iedereen Verdient Vakantie.
Guided tours are booked separately and need four weeks’ notice. A castle tour costs €8 per person plus €85 per guide, with a maximum of 15 people per guide; a Museum Garden tour is €6 per person plus €60 per guide, on the same group limit.
How long does a visit take?
A castle visit averages an hour and a half, and the Museum Garden about an hour. Add the 600 m walk each way and the time you will spend in the park, and a combination ticket comfortably fills half a day. Most visitors give the whole site 2 to 3 hours, and a picnic or a stop at one of the two cafés turns that into a full day out.
Go early if the castle itself is the reason you are coming. The rooms are not large, and Tuesdays and Wednesdays are quieter than weekends.
Accessibility at Gaasbeek Castle
The castle is partly accessible, and the site publishes exactly which parts are not, which is more useful than a general reassurance. The 6 things to know are listed below.
- The approach is 600 m of small pebbles from the Entrance Building, bus stop or car park to the castle. The driveway is described as easily passable.
- A golf buggy runs on weekdays for visitors alone who have difficulty walking, taking you from the Entrance Building to the castle entrance. Request it by phone or email in advance and wait for the confirmation email.
- The ground floor and first floor are wheelchair-accessible, with a lift between them operated by a member of staff.
- Six rooms are not accessible: the Egmond Room, the Egmond Staircase, the Blue Room, the Treasure Attic, Carletto’s Room and the Emperor Charles Hall. The narrowest passage in the castle is 80 cm.
- Two wheelchairs are available, one in the castle and one in the Entrance Building; ask at reception.
- Prams cannot go inside the castle. They can be left safely at castle reception, so bring a baby carrier if you are visiting with an infant.
In the park, the Gloriette sits immediately to the left of the castle with a final 4 m of cobbles, and Saint Gertrude’s Chapel is in the middle of the park up a steep, uneven slope that is difficult or impossible by wheelchair.
The history of Gaasbeek Castle
Gaasbeek Castle began as a fortress built around 1240 to defend the Duchy of Brabant against the County of Flanders, and almost nothing of that building survives above ground. It was destroyed in the 14th century and rebuilt in the early 16th century by the Horne family.
Its most famous owner arrived in 1565. The Count of Egmont bought Gaasbeek three years before he was beheaded on the Grand Place in Brussels on the orders of the Duke of Alba, which turned him into a martyr of the revolt against Spanish rule and gave the castle a room that still carries his name. Ownership passed through a series of noble families afterwards, and warfare damaged the building repeatedly.
The castle you see was made in the late 19th century. The Italian Arconati Visconti family took on a dilapidated site, and the Marquise Arconati Visconti rebuilt it as a romantic neo-Gothic château filled with art. She gave it to the Belgian State in 1921, died in 1923, and the museum opened in 1924.
The most recent chapter is the restoration. The castle closed for around three years of work and reopened on 1 July 2023, with the restoration of the 19th-century interior as the final stage of the master plan; the park buildings had already been done. That is why older reviews, including our own first visit, describe rooms stripped of their furniture.
Rules and practicalities
Food and drink belong outside the castle. Picnicking is allowed and encouraged in the park, which has benches through the grounds, and there are two places to eat by the entrance: Caffè Carletto, which does drinks with a view of the castle, and graaf., a brasserie at the park entrance.
Inside, keep to the marked routes, supervise children around furnished rooms, and wear something sensible on your feet, because the floors are old and uneven and the staircases are historic. Photography rules and the rest of the conditions of entry are set out in the castle’s own visitor regulations, which are worth two minutes before you go.
Other castles near Brussels
Gaasbeek is one of several castles within an hour of Brussels, and the 3 easiest to pair with it are listed below.
- Groot-Bijgaarden Castle: a moated castle just outside Brussels, best known for its spring flower display in the grounds.
- Gravensteen, Ghent: the counts’ castle in the middle of Ghent, with a walkable rampart and a museum of arms.
- Alden Biesen, Limburg: a 16th-century moated castle now run as a cultural centre, with grounds you can walk for free.
Our guide to the best castles in Belgium covers the rest, and the Belgium hub has what else fits into the same trip.
Tours and day trips from Brussels
Gaasbeek is a do-it-yourself day out, but the Pajottenland around it, the Brussels castles and the lambic breweries of the Zenne valley all run guided options. The widget below shows what is currently bookable.
If you are travelling in from further afield, comparing trains and buses to Brussels before fixing your dates is usually worth it.
WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips
The 5 tips below come from a visit to the castle and from re-checking its 2026 season, prices and access arrangements, and each one changes how the day goes.
- Do not come between mid-November and the end of March. The castle and the Entrance Building open only from 1 April to 15 November, and the Museum Garden only from 1 May to 31 October. The park stays open all year, sunrise to sunset, and is free, so a winter visit is a walk rather than a museum trip.
- Watch the ticket cut-offs, not the closing time. The castle shuts at 6pm but last entry is 5pm, the Entrance Building stops selling at 4.45pm and combination tickets stop at 4.30pm, with each of those an hour earlier from October. There is no ticket desk inside the castle.
- Allow 15 minutes for the walk in. It is 600 m of pebbled driveway from the car park, the bus stop or the Entrance Building to the castle door, and if you have difficulty walking a staff member can drive you in a golf buggy on weekdays, arranged in advance by phone or email.
- Check the two odd dates in the 2026 calendar. The castle closes entirely from 18 to 25 June while an exhibition is installed, and on 26 and 27 September it can only be visited as part of an external event.
- The interiors are furnished again. The three-year restoration finished and the 19th-century rooms were the last part of it, so accounts of empty rooms hung with modern art, including our own from November 2023, describe a stage that has passed.
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, and the first-person notes in this post come from her own visit to Gaasbeek Castle with her family. The team covers the day trips from Brussels for independent travellers, including the castles, gardens and parks worth planning a day around, and re-checks the season, opening hours, ticket prices and access arrangements on this page before each update.
I love visiting castles and old sights and this would tick all my boxes. It looks fabulous and the restorations appear to be well done.
Your typical weekend Sofie sounds like how I feel everyday, always something which needs catching up upon! Thankfully I try to work hard on things during the week, then when I’m at home I have a lot of the weekend off to spend with my wife. It means I’ll always have things to catch up on but I do feel a bit refreshed at the end.
The restorations – at least from what I could see on the outside – were really well done. The castle looked brand new.
Oh my weekdays feel like this as well The Guy. There’s just no option to really head out on those as I still have to do my day job as well:)
We LOVED Gaasbeek Castle! To be specific, our 4-year old loved it. It’s a wonderful place. We remember our trip there quite fondly.
There used to be a playground/beer garden just across the street from the entrance to the castle. Is it still there?
Hey Kate and Mike!
I can imagine it’s a bit of a hassle by public transportation. We went by car.
The beer garden and playground our still there and there’s also a bistro by the entrance of the castle grounds.