| Federal districts | |
|---|---|
| Belgium is divided into three federal districts, each with its own parliament. Two of these (Flanders and Wallonia) are divided into five provinces each: | |
 | Brussels Capital Region |
 | Flanders - The Dutch-speaking, northern part of Belgium is home to the coast and most of the country's well-known historic towns and cities. While the middle of Flanders is densely populated, there are extensive forests and heaths in the Kempen region in the east. |
 | Wallonia - The French-speaking, southern part of Belgium can roughly be divided into two parts: the so-called sillon industriel that developed between the 'big' cities along the valleys of the Sambre, Meuse and Vesdre rivers in the 19th century, and the sparsely populated regions noted for their natural scenery to the south of these rivers. |
| Cities & towns in Belgium | |
|---|---|
| Brussels - The capital of Belgium and the European Union Though the municipality of Brussels only has about 180,000 inhabitants, the built up area of Brussels extends well beyond borders of the Brussels Capital Region. |
 | Antwerp - The biggest town in Flanders, site of Europe's second largest port and center for the diamond industry, Antwerp is a historic city as well as the most fashionable town in Belgium. Population: 523,248 Aglomeration: +/- 1,000,000 |
 | Liège - The center of Wallonia's biggest aglomeration, this city on the Meuse river is the region's main center for education, employement and culture. Though it has a rough, industrial edge, it is also a city of many surprises. Those who take their time to explore it will discover over a 1000 years of history in its winding backstreets. They will also discover a lively city with an almost mediterranean atmosphere and active nightlife. Population: 197,355 Aglomeration; +/- 500,000 |
 | Ghent - The capital of east Flanders can easily compete with the most beautiful cities in Europe. In some places, you can stop in front of each houses like you would for paintings in a museum. Not to mention its many medieval towers. It is also a student city, and unlike nearby Bruges,, a living city rather than a museum. Population: 260, 341 |
 | Charleroi - A post-industrial city most known for Brussels South Charleroi Airport, Charleroi has long had a bad name for unemployment and urban decay. Though a paradise for urban explorers, it also offers interesting architecture and surprisingly good restaurants. Population: 201,593, Aglomeration: +- 400,000 |
| Bruges | |
 | Namur - The capital of Wallonia, Namur is a picturesque little town dominated by its citadel at the confluence of the Meuse and Samber rivers. Population: 110,939 |
 | Leuven |
 | Mons |
 | Mechelen |
| Natural regions of Belgium | |
|---|---|
| The area between the cities of Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent, to the north of the middle of Belgium, is the most densely populated part of the country. The north and west of Belgium is mostly made up of flat lowlands, and the landscape generally gets higher and more hilly the further south and east you go. The lowest parts of the country are the polders (areas with controlled water levels) near the North-Sea coast, while the highest parts of the country are in the Ardennes region in the east. Major regions are: |
|
 | Ardennes |
 | Hesbaye - A region of long, rolling hills, the Hesbaye (Dutch: Haspengouw) forms the transition between lower lands to the north and the regions of steeper and higher hills to the south. Though the region is mostly made up of empty farmland, it is also dotted with small woods. The Hesbaye spans both Flanders and Wallonia the the east of the Meuse river, roughly between the cities of Liège, Hasselt, Tienen and Namur. |
 | Campine |
| Major rivers in Belgium | |
|---|---|
| Meuse | |
| Scheldt | |
| Countries and seas neighbouring Belgium | ||||
North Sea | Germany | |||
| Luxembourg | ||||
BELGIUM / NETHERLANDS – The title is slightly incorrect, because we didn’t hit the Vehnbahn for one second on this first day of our bike ride holiday. We took off in one of the most southern villages of The Netherlands, named Mesch, to drive our bikes to Eupen, Belgium. This bike ride goes through a…
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BELGIUM – When many people think of Liège, they imagine something like Charleroi, another Belgian town which is famous for its defunct industry and urban decay. But what they think is Liège is actually Seraing, a municipality made up of three industrial towns in the Meuse valley to the south-west of the city. The most…
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BELGIUM – One Sunday, when it was exeptionally nice weather, I decided to cross one more town from my list of Belgian towns I haven’t visited yet: Borgloon. To do this, I cycled north along the N20 from Liège to Tongeren, where I turned west on to the N79 to Sint-Truiden. I didn’t make many…
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BELGIUM – A day trip to Sint-Truiden (FR: Saint-Trond), a town of approximately 20,000 in Belgian Limburg. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised, and that I liked it most of the towns in the region I have visited so far (Aarschot, Tienen, Hoegaarden, Tongeren, Maaseik and Hasselt, all of which I liked…
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BELGIUM/FRANCE – What to do on new year’s day? Party until 11 in the morning and sleep for the rest of the day? Visit family and friends? Go for a walk? Or why not go for a 1300 kilometer drive, along as few as possible motorways, and include as many as possible pointless detours? My…
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BELGIUM – Having explored the south-western suburbs of Liège in the last post, I will take you on an almost circular tour of the north-western ones in this post, starting about a kilometer from where we left off.
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BELGIUM – Situated in the steep-sided valley of the Meuse river, the city of Liège lies at the meeting points of several distinct regions. To the north and west, the craggy landscape surrounding the valley merges with the plateau of the Hesbaye, an empty agricultural region of more gradual hills. The extensive suburbs of Liège…
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BELGIUM – I have long found the region of eastern Belgium just south of the Dutch border, and just west of the German border, to be particularly interesting. So close to the Netherlands, yet so different, this empty land of hills and old villages seems like time stood still, and feels strangely mysterious to me….
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BELGIUM – When I worked as a freelance language teacher in Liège, I sometimes taught adolescents in the village of Dalhem. As it was a good 17 kilometers uphill from my house, I would often go there by bus, and back using my folding bike (which was mostly down hill of course). I made pictures…
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BELGIUM – The winter of 2014-15 only lasted one day. And on that day, December the 28th, my friend and WPP co-founder and I set out to continue our exploration of provincial Belgium between my home in Liège and his home in Rijkevorsel. Setting out from Rijkevorsel, we drove south through the Kempen, an empty…
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BELGIUM – Situated about 20 kilometers north east of Brussels, Leuven (FR: Louvain, population: +/- 100,000) is one of Belgium’s most important student towns. The Catholic University of Leuven (which was bilingual until the French-speaking faculties relocated to the purpose-built town of Louvain la Neuve in 1968) is the oldest and biggest university in the…
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BELGIUM – There’s always a turning point in autumn, after which it suddenly feels more like winter. And sometimes that turning point is in the middle of the day. It was on the bright and sunny morning of such a day, October the 19th 2014, that a friend and I set for a bike ride…
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BELGIUM – A town of about 85,000 inhabitants most know for its carnival, Aalst is not quite one of the major towns in Belgium. Situated roughly half way between Brussels and Ghent, it is also not a place many people (inside or outside Belgium) consider visiting, drawn as they are to those bigger and much…
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BELGIUM – A walk with my parents in Glons, a village to the north of
Liége in a region called the Hesbaye (NL: Haspengouw), 2014-10-04.
BELGIUM – Twenty five kilometers south-west of Brussels, Enghien is a small town at meeting point of various regions. Situated just on the Walloon (French-speaking) side of the border with (Dutch-speaking) Flanders, Enghien (NL: Edingen) is one of 12 officially bilingual Belgian municipalities outside of Brussels. It is also on the edge of Picardy, which…
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