Belgium

Understand

Lying on the North Sea coast, Belgium's immediate neighbours are France to the south-west, Luxembourg to the south-east, Germany to the east and the Netherlands to the north.

Belgium is a densely populated country trying to balance the conflicting demands of urbanization, transportation, industry, and commercial and intensive agriculture. It imports large quantities of raw materials and exports a large volume of manufactured goods, mostly to the EU.

Visit Belgium provides tourist information for the country.

Get around

Being such a small country (300 km as its maximum distance), you can get anywhere in a couple of hours. Public transport, when fully functioning, is fast and comfortable, and not too expensive. Between larger cities, there are frequent train connections, with buses covering smaller distances. A useful site is Smart Mobility Planner, which has a door-to-door routeplanner for the whole country, covering all forms of public transport (including train, bus, subway and tram).

A look on the map shows that Brussels is a good starting point to explore Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Namur and Leuven on day trips. Antwerp is popular among those who want to be in a cosmopolitan place, and Ghent is tops with those who like a good mix of open-minded provincialism. Liège is beautiful, but too close to Germany to be a good base for day trips. Mechelen is considered boring by tourists, but has a very good youth hostel next to a train station with trains to everywhere else every 30 min.

To do some local sightseeing, especially in Flanders, a lot of infrastructure is available for cycling. Bikes can be rented virtually everywhere. In the country side of Wallonia, mountainbikes are available, and rafting is popular along the border with Luxembourg.

See

thumb|Grand Place in Brussels during the Christmas season Mostly known for its key role in European Union administration, the small nation of Belgium might leave you surprised by its heritage. It boasts a number of historic cities packed with medieval and Art Nouveau architecture and famous for their long traditions in art and the Belgian monarchy. If you've seen the best of them, the Belgian countryside offers anything from sandy beaches to the ridges of the Ardennes.

Brussels, the country's vibrant capital, is a modern world city with a highly international character. It combines massive post-modern buildings in its European Quarter with impressive historic monuments, such as the World Heritage listed Grand Place, surrounded by guildhouses and the Gothic town hall. There's Laken Castle and the large St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, dedicated to the cities patron saints. The Royal Palace is a more recent but no less grand structure. One of the city's most famous landmarks is the Atomium, a remarkable steel structure and remnant of the 1958 World's Fair. And yet, with all those magnificent sights at hand, many travellers' favourite is a tiny bronze fountain in the shape of a peeing boy: the curious Manneken Pis. The Walloon Brabant province, a few kilometres south of Brussels, is certainly worth a visit. There you can visit the Lion's Mound in Waterloo or the beautiful Villers Abbey in Villers-la-Ville.

thumb|Book flea market along a canal in Ghent thumb|Thermae Palace…

Do

Mons International Love Film Festival: yearly festival of cinema (February) Ritual Ducasse of Mons: Doudou is the popular name for a week of collective jubilation that takes place in Mons on the weekend of the Trinity each year. There are four key moments: The Descent of the Shrine, The Procession, The Ascent of the Car d’Or and The Battle called Lumeçon (Trinity Sunday). Ethias Tennis Trophy: one of the better matches in the world. (October / Mons) Ommegang: a parade in Brussels that celebrates the beginning of the reign of Charles V of Habsburg. It takes place on the stunning cityscape of the Grand Place and involves thousands of stunts in period costume. Zinnekeparade: the yearly celebration of the Brusseler's spirit - the theme changes each year and involves costumes & chariots made by volunteers and locals. thumb|right|In Flames performs at Graspop 2008 thumb|right|Atomium

Atomium built for the 1958 Brussels World Fair (Expo ’58), it is a 102 metre tall representation of an atomic unit cell. More precisely, it is symbolic of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Nine steel spheres 16m in diameter connect via tubes with escalators 32 m long. 24 hours cycling, Louvain-La-Neuve Louvain-La-Neuve is in the Wallonia not far from Brussel, it's a small pedestrian city created in the 1960s for French-speaking students. Every year, in October, they organised a bicycle competition. Actually, the course is a pretext to enjoy the event... And to drink beers. Th…

Eat

thumb|240px|Restaurants at Rue des Bouchers/Beenhouwersstraat, [[Brussels]]

Belgians like to eat. Belgium is famous for its good cuisine and people like to go to restaurants frequently. The best description for Belgian food would be "French food in German quantities".

Drink

For party-minded people, Belgium can be great. Most cities are close to each other and are either large urban areas (Brussels, Antwerp) or student areas (Leuven, Liège, Ghent), etc. In this little region, you will find the most clubs, cafés, restaurants per square mile in the world. A good starting point can be places with a strong student/youth culture: Leuven around its big university, Liège in the famous "carré" district, etc. You can expect a wide variety in music appreciation, going from jazz to the better electronic music to even some solid heavy metal bars. Just ask around for the better clubs and there you will most likely meet some music fanatics who can show you the better underground parties in this tiny country.

The government has a mostly liberal attitude towards bars, clubs and parties. They acknowledge the principle of "live and let live". As long as you don't cause public disturbance, vandalise property and get too drunk, the police will not intervene; this is also one of the main principles of Belgian social life, as drunk and disorderly behaviour is generally considered offensive. Of course, in student communities this is more tolerated, but generally, you are most respected if you party as hard as you like- but with a sense of discretion and self-control.

Officially, drugs are not allowed. But as long as you respect the aforementioned principles, you are not likely to get into serious trouble. Beware though, that driving under the influence of alcohol and…

Stay safe

With the notable exceptions of certain major urban areas like Brussels (mostly the northern and western sections of the region), Antwerp (the southern neighbourhoods), and Walloon cities bordering France (Mons, Mouscron), Belgium is a very safe country. Tourists will feel perfectly fine by taking basic precautions, like not flashing expensive jewelry or avoiding poorly-lit streets. If you ever fall victim to crime, the emergency phone number in Belgium (fire, police, paramedics) is 112.

Stay healthy

In the winter, like most other European countries, only influenza will cause you a considerable inconvenience. No inoculations are needed to enter or leave Belgium.

Tap water is safe to drink throughout Belgium. As one of Europe's most densely populated countries, Belgium suffers from serious air pollution. This applies for both urban and rural areas.

Connect

Belgium has a modern telephone system with nationwide cellular telephone coverage, and multiple internet access points in all cities, free in most libraries. Also in multiple gas stations, NMBS/SNCB train stations and diners on the highways there is Wi-Fi available.

Many cafés offer free Wi-Fi nowadays, but don't write it on the door for whatever reason... if you can't find any you can always fall back on Quick, McDonalds, Lunch Garden, Exki, Carrefour Planet or Starbucks which all offer free Wi-Fi.

Belgium has some of the slowest internet speeds in Western Europe.

Respect

Giving tips in bars or restaurants is virtually unheard of, even in larger cities. Doing so does shows that you were satisfied with the service given, but you are absolutely not obliged to do so. Depending on the total, a tip of to is considered generous.

Belgians in general are very proud of their comic book artists. The "Belgian school of comic books" is hailed as a national point of pride. There are dozens of beautiful yet expensive merchandise items, and the Belgians are fond of them. A plastic figurine of a comic book character or a special artwork of a hailed comic book artist would be a perfect gift for your Belgian friends and in-laws, for example.

Try to show appreciation for some of the things made in Belgium. For instance, fries, beers, comic books, chocolate, and the like. Inquiries about them will be welcomed and appreciated by the vast majority of Belgians.

As a rule of thumb, do not speak French in Flanders or Dutch in Wallonia. Even if you're looking to practice your language skills, try not to speak the "wrong" language in the wrong region, as this can sometimes be considered offensive. Like with many countries, the best option is to ask first if someone speaks English or French in Flanders, or Dutch/English in Wallonia. Although you will generally find many more French speakers in Flanders than Dutch speakers in Wallonia, the former may not, for political reasons, want to speak French to you. The latter are unlikely to know more than a few Dutch phrases …