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  • Europe
    • Introduction
    • Belgium
    • Croatia
    • England
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
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    • Italy
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  • Belgium
    Overview
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    • Getting around
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    Explore
    • Brussels
    • Flanders
    • Bruges
    • Antwerp and the northeast
    • Hainaut and Wallonian Brabant
    • The Ardennes
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  • Things not to miss
With over seven hundred different brews to choose from, picking your way through the beer menus of Belgium’s many cosy cafés is one of the country’s real pleasures. Like many of the resorts along Belgium’s coast, Ostend boasts a glorious stretch of beach. The Ardennes’ stunning hills and valleys are perfect for a range of outdoor activities, and you don’t have to be a well-equipped expert to have a go. Ghent’s centre is a joy to discover, and its cathedral is home to Jan van Eyck’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb – one of the medieval world’s most astonishing paintings. You’d have to go an awfully long way to beat Belgium’s best art museum, with superb collections ranging from Jan van Eyck, Bosch and Bruegel to Ensor and beyond. There are beautiful, delicately carved guildhouses in many Belgian towns, but none quite reaches the heights of those in the capital’s main square. Everyone knows Tintin, and this is an appropriately thoughtful homage to his creator, housed in a magnificent purpose-built structure. Perhaps the most beautiful Gothic structure in Belgium, with an interior graced by four fine paintings by Rubens. Nowhere else in Europe celebrates carnival with the vim and gusto of Belgium. For originality, the pick of the carnival crop is at Binche, Malmedy – and Stavelot, where hooded Blancs Moussis take over the streets. With its canals, museums and gorgeous medieval architecture, Bruges is without question one of Europe’s most beguiling cities. Belgian cuisine is second to none, but has none of the pretentiousness of French food – and the national dish, mussels and fries, proves the point. The capital’s middle class took to this style of architecture like ducks to water; Victor Horta and Paul Hankar are the names to conjure with. World War I was decided on the plain of Flanders, a point hammered home by the interminable names on the hulking mass of the Menin Gate in Ieper – perhaps the world’s saddest war monument. One of Brussels’ unmissable sights, the Musée Magritte displays the definitive collection of works by Belgium’s most famous modern artist.