Mechelen
Mechelen is actually one of the best places to visit in Belgium.
The city’s location makes it an ideal alternative to Brussels and Antwerp as a main hub to explore the rest of the country.
Mechelen
Places of interest
Town Hall
on the Market Square consists of two parts: the cloth hall with unfinished belfry and the Palace of the Great Council.
The cloth trade went into decline in the 14th century and there wasn't the money to complete the building.
For two hundred years the belfry was no more than a shell, until it was eventually provided with a temporary roof in the 16th century.
The belfry is now a UNESCO world heritage site.
St. Rumbold's Cathedral
St. Rumbold's Cathedral is the Belgian metropolitan archiepiscopal cathedral in Mechelen, dedicated to Saint Rumbold.
He was a Christian missionary and martyr who had founded an abbey nearby. His remains are rumoured to be buried inside the cathedral.
Palace of Margaret of Austria
Margaret of Austria was regent of the Habsburg Netherlands between 1507 and 1530.
Her residential palace was the Hof van Savoye (Court of Savoy) in Mechelen, the first renaissance building in the Low Countries.
Note the magnificent renaissance frontage and the charming garden.
Large Béguinage
Beguines are women who could not or did not want to enter a convent, but lived together as a community to support themselves.
Around 1560 the beguinage outside the city walls of Mechelen was destroyed.
The beguines re-established themselves inside the city walls, where the Large Beguinage grew up.
Museums
Technopolis
A scientific museum which mixes fun and learning with a wide variety of temporary and permanent exhibitions.
Museum of toys
Children can entertain themselves with 7,000 square metres worth of toys, games and dolls whereas adults can familiarise themselves with the history of toys and even find some nostalgic items from their past.
Museum Hof van Busleyden
In this magnificent Burgundian citypalace, you will learn about the city, about power and about mastership and craftsmanship.
Kazerne Dossin
Waitingroom for death for more than 25,000 Jews and gypsies from Belgium and Northern France during the Second World War.
A brand-new museum has been built to record the historical significance of this place for present and future generations and to illustrate themes like racism, exclusion and human rights.
Royal Manufacturers de Wit
Housed in the Tongerlo Refuge, the Royal Manufacturers de Wit are a world-renowned tapestry restoration and weaving workshop.
Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver
The Winter Garden of the Ursuline Nuns allows visitors to enjoy the sights and smells of Spring throughout the year.
The stained-glass roof will capture your attention as it spreads the light over the garden in a variety of impressive patterns.
Sint-Katelijne-Waver
Visit the largest cooperative auction in Europe. It is a hive of activity, handling up to 3,000 tons of vegetables on an auction day.
You will learn how the auction system works, track vegetables as they make their way from market gardener to local supermarket and you will experience for yourself the flurry of activity around the auction clocks.
Lier
The Béguinage - UNESCO World heritage site - is a typical 13th century street beguinage comprising 11 alleys and 162 houses. At the centre stands St Margaret's Church (17-18th century).
The two biggest cities in Belgium.
Home to the oldest Catholic university in the world, at just 25 km.