Country guide
Belgium
Medieval Bruges and Ghent, Brussels' art nouveau grandeur and beer culture taken as seriously as anywhere on earth.
Currency
EUR
Language
Dutch
+ French
English
Widely spoken
Payment
Cards everywhere
Power
Type C / E
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+32
Destinations
Antwerp
Rubens's home town, the world's diamond counter and the birthplace of Belgian fashion, all inside one walkable Flemish port.
✓ best Apr-OctArdennes (Bastogne)
Belgium's forested south: kayak rivers and castle villages wrapped around the town the 101st Airborne refused to give up.
✓ best May-Jul, SepBruges
Medieval Europe left standing almost whole, because the city went broke in the 1500s and nobody could afford to rebuild it.
✓ best Apr-OctBrussels
Europe's most ornate square, hidden in a scruffy working capital that also does the continent's best beer, chocolate and fries.
✓ best Apr-OctGhent
A medieval cloth-trade metropolis with van Eyck's altarpiece and a castle in its centre, run today as a student city rather than a showpiece.
✓ best Apr-OctClimate zones, month by month
Belgium has 5 distinct climate zones. The right month depends on where in the country you're going.
Antwerp Flanders →
✓ Best Apr-Oct · ✗ Avoid Dec-Jan
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Ardennes (Bastogne) Wallonia →
✓ Best May-Jul, Sep · ✗ Avoid Nov-Feb
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Bruges Flanders →
✓ Best Apr-Oct · ✗ Avoid Jan
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Brussels →
✓ Best Apr-Oct · ✗ Avoid Dec-Jan
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Ghent Flanders →
✓ Best Apr-Oct · ✗ Avoid Dec-Jan
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions