51.13° N · 4.57° E
A small Flemish city between Antwerp and Mechelen: the World Heritage beguinage, the clocks of the Zimmer tower, boats on the Nete and the wedding of Joanna and Philip.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Museum · 1 h · €8 · €3 for ages 6 to 15 · closed Mondays
Walk · 45 min · free · open every day until 22:00
Church · 40 min · free · under works until 2029, partly open
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
It can be visited all year, because almost everything is on foot in the centre. From April to October the Nete boats run at weekends, and in July and August on weekdays too. On the first Sunday after 10 October the St Gummarus procession takes place.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
For Lier you fly to Brussels: direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities arrive at Zaventem (BRU), and at Charleroi (CRL), mainly low-cost airlines. From Zaventem, the train takes you to Mechelen in about 11 minutes, and there you connect to Lier; from Charleroi, first the bus to Bruxelles-Midi. Lier is seen on foot, without a car.
Lier is a small city to do without a car: the train arrives from Brussels or Antwerp, and from the beguinage to the Grote Markt, the Zimmer tower and the museum is no more than ten minutes' walk. That is why it is called the "Bruges of the Campine", quieter and with fewer visitors.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
Lier works well with children because it is small, flat and quiet. The Nete boats are cheap and short, the Zimmer tower has clocks with automata that move and the city museum runs workshops at weekends.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Three-star hotel in a historic building opposite the Zimmer tower, a step from the beguinage and the Grote Markt, with a garden and a bar.
Why we like it: Historic hotel in Lier's old quarter, with rooms under old beams, views of the Nete and the St Gummarus carillon in the background.
Why we like it: Three-star hotel right in the centre of Lier, on the street of the city museum, with breakfast of regional products.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: a Flemish stoverij with chips, or a Lier vlaaike with coffee in the afternoon
What to order: the menu of the day; it changes every Sunday and includes soup, a seasonal meat dish and dessert
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
Tips
That is when the boats leave on the Nete, from 14:00 to 17:30.
The Zimmer tower is closed, and the museum is closed on Monday and Tuesday.
With a quarter of an hour by train, you can see Lier in the morning and Antwerp in the afternoon.
Lier lies between Antwerp and Mechelen, at the confluence of the Grote Nete and the Kleine Nete, and for a Spanish traveller it has a fact few people know: here, in the collegiate church of St Gummarus, Joanna of Castile and Philip the Handsome, the parents of Charles V, were married on 20 October 1496. It is a small city, with about 37,000 inhabitants, with a World Heritage beguinage, a tower full of astronomical clocks and a river you can travel on fishermen's boats. It can be seen in an unhurried day, and almost everything fits into a ten-minute walk.
By train, about 45 minutes depending on the connection, often changing at Mechelen or Antwerp. From Antwerp it takes a quarter of an hour, so Lier combines well with a day in Antwerp. From the station to the Grote Markt it is a 10 to 15 minute walk.
By car, about 40 minutes on the E19 towards Antwerp, exit 8 at Rumst, and the N14. The Grote Markt is closed to cars from 11:00 to 18:00: leave the car in the free De Mol car park or in the paid underground car park at the Grote Markt.
Start at the Grote Markt, with the town hall and the belfry from 1369, a World Heritage Site, and go up to the tourist office, where they speak Spanish. Five minutes away is the Zimmer tower: arrive before 12:00 to see the carousel of the Jubilee clock and then go in to see the Wonder clock, with 93 dials and a hand that turns once every 25,800 years. It costs €8 and is closed on Mondays.
Next to it, the beguinage: eleven cobbled lanes and little houses with saints above the doors, open every day and free. Opposite its gate leave the eel boats on the Nete, 45 minutes for €5, at weekends from April to October.
In the afternoon, the collegiate church of St Gummarus, under works until 2029 but partly open, and the Spanish walk, 920 metres past six places connected with the 1496 wedding, with plaques you can read in Spanish. If it rains, the Stadsmuseum tells the story of the city interactively and is free for under-18s; it is open Wednesday to Sunday.
Lier is flat and quiet. The boats, the tower's carousel and the museum's mammoth work for any age; the museum runs workshops at weekends. With a pushchair, avoid the cobbles of the beguinage and the tower, which has no lift.
Het Moment, on the Grote Markt, is open every day and serves without a break until 21:00: stoverij, vol-au-vent and waffles. On Sunday at lunchtime, Hof van Aragon has served a three-course menu for €34 with a drink and coffee for more than 50 years; book. Order a Lierse vlaaike, the city's spiced pastry, in any café, and try the local beers, such as Caves.
Lier is quieter and cheaper than Bruges or Ghent, and a quarter of an hour from Antwerp. The Zimmerhof is opposite the Zimmer tower, at the former prison gate; Hof van Aragon, the oldest hotel in the city, has rooms under beams overlooking the Nete; and the Hotel Florent is two minutes from the Grote Markt.
All three are small Flemish cities less than an hour from Brussels. Mechelen has St Rumbold's tower and Kazerne Dossin; Leuven, the university and the bar scene. Lier is the smallest and the one with the strongest link to the history of Spain; if you are interested in Joanna of Castile, it is your day.
Questions
About 45 minutes by train, depending on the connection, and about 40 by car.
The Grote Markt and the belfry, the Zimmer tower, the beguinage, the boat on the Nete, the collegiate church of St Gummarus and the Spanish walk.
In the collegiate church of St Gummarus in Lier, on 20 October 1496.
€8 for adults, €3 for ages 6 to 15 and free up to age 5.
Free at De Mol, on the Aarschotsesteenweg, 10 to 15 minutes' walk away, or paid beneath the Grote Markt.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/lier
