Country book · Europe

Belgium

Chocolate, comic strips and Europe's diplomatic capital

Belgium is small, trilingual and quietly influential — home to the EU's institutions, some of the world's best beer, and a medieval town square around nearly every corner. Flemish and Walloon identities coexist, sometimes uneasily, inside one country.

Myths

What's true, what isn't

Actually true

Beer culture runs extremely deep
Belgium has hundreds of beer styles, many still brewed by Trappist monks according to centuries-old recipes.
The country is genuinely split by language
Flanders speaks Dutch, Wallonia speaks French, and political tension between the two is a permanent feature of national life.
Chocolate-making is treated as serious craft
Belgian pralines are handmade by chocolatiers held to standards as exacting as fine pastry.
Brussels really does run the EU
Most major European Union institutions are headquartered in Brussels, making it a genuine diplomatic capital.

Commonly believed, wrong

"Belgium has no real identity of its own"
Comic art, surrealism, beer culture and Flemish painting are distinctly, proudly Belgian traditions.
"French fries are French"
Belgians claim to have invented fries, twice-fried in the Belgian style, in the 17th century Meuse valley.
"It's just a smaller version of France or the Netherlands"
Belgian culture, cuisine and humour have their own distinct character shaped by centuries as a crossroads.
"There's nothing to see outside Brussels"
Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp are architecturally stunning medieval and Renaissance cities in their own right.

Highlights

The best of Belgium

Bruges' medieval canals

A perfectly preserved medieval city laced with quiet waterways.

Brussels' Grand Place

A gilded guildhall square that lights up spectacularly at night.

The Ardennes forest

Rolling hills, caves and castles in the country's wooded south.

Ghent's medieval core

Gothic towers and canals with fewer crowds than Bruges.

Culture

Cultural riches

Comic strip art

Tintin and the Smurfs were born here; Brussels has murals of comic panels citywide.

Trappist brewing

Monasteries have brewed some of the world's most prized beers for centuries.

Flemish painting

Van Eyck and Bruegel pioneered oil painting techniques in Flanders.

Carnival and festivals

Binche's carnival and countless local festivals mark the calendar year-round.

Food

What to eat

Belgian fries

Twice-fried in beef fat, served in a paper cone with mayonnaise.

Belgian chocolate

Handmade pralines from renowned chocolatiers across the country.

Moules-frites

A pot of mussels steamed in wine, served with a side of fries.

Waffles

Liège and Brussels styles differ — dense and caramelised versus light and crisp.

Trappist beer

Rich, high-alcohol ales still brewed within monastery walls.

Music

World-famous voices

Stromae

Brussels' genre-defying superstar.

Jacques Brel

Chanson's greatest storyteller.

Angèle

Belgium's biggest modern pop voice.

Soulwax

Electronic rock innovators.

Lost Frequencies

Global dance hits.

History

Important people in history

Leopold I

1790 — 1865

First King of the Belgians after independence from the Netherlands in 1830.

Paul-Henri Spaak

1899 — 1972

Statesman instrumental in founding the institutions that became the European Union.

Baudouin of Belgium

1930 — 1993

Long-reigning king who steered the country through the Congo's decolonisation.

Cities