# Lier

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.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/lier · Revisado: 2026-11-12

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.

## How do you get there from Brussels?

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.

## What to see in a day?

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.

## What about with children?

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.

## Where to eat?

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.

## Where to stay?

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.

## Lier, Mechelen or Leuven?

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.

## Dónde está
- Cerca: Mechelen (a 13.0 km), Antwerp (a 15.3 km), Leuven (a 29.5 km), Brussels (a 35.1 km)

## Qué hacer
- **Zimmer tower and its time museum** (1 h · All ages; the tower is not wheelchair accessible, the pavilion is · €8 from age 16 · €3 for ages 6 to 15 · free up to 5): The Cornelius tower, from the thirteenth century and part of the old city wall, became the Zimmer tower in 1930. Louis Zimmer, a watchmaker and astronomy enthusiast, gave the city the Jubilee clock on the facade, with 13 dials, for the centenary of Belgium. At 12:00 on the dot a carousel emerges to the right of the tower and four automata represent the ages of life.
Inside
In the 1960 pavilion is the Wonder clock, made for the 1935 Brussels World's Fair: almost 5 metres, 2 tonnes, 93 dials and 14 automata, with the slowest mechanical hand in the world, which makes one turn every 25,800 years. In the tower you see the mechanism working and the astronomical study.
Price and hours
€8 from age 16, €3 for ages 6 to 15 and free up to 5. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 17:00; closed on Mondays.
- **Lier beguinage, a World Heritage Site** (45 min · All ages; cobbles awkward with a pushchair · Free): The Lier beguinage has been a World Heritage Site since 1998. It is a beguinage of streets from the thirteenth century: eleven narrow lanes and 95 small houses, almost all from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with the name of a saint or a biblical scene above the door. Beguines lived here, women who took a vow of chastity and obedience, but not of poverty, and lived from lace and embroidery. The last one, Sister Agnes, died in 1994.
In the centre is the church of St Margaret. You enter free by the gate on the Begijnhofstraat, by the Schapekoppenstraat or from the rampart, any day until 22:00. They are inhabited houses: walk quietly. The complex is being restored in phases.
- **St Gummarus collegiate church, where Joanna and Philip were married** (40 min · Free): The Sint-Gummaruskerk, Lier's Great Church, is a Brabantine Gothic collegiate church begun in 1378 that took about 200 years to finish. Here, on 20 October 1496, Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile were married, daughter of the Catholic Monarchs and mother of the future Charles V. Inside is one of the most valuable fifteenth-century stained-glass windows in the country, the silver reliquary of St Gummarus, the Colibrant triptych and a copy of the Shroud of Turin.
The church is being restored in phases until 2029 and remains partly open. The 83-metre tower, the "pepper pot", has the heaviest eighteenth-century carillon in western Europe, but can only be climbed with a group guide. Check with Visit Lier which areas are open on the day you go.
- **The Spanish walk: in the footsteps of Joanna of Castile** (45 min · 920 m · Free): Lier offers a 920-metre route past six places that recall the 1496 wedding and the two centuries of union between the southern Netherlands and Spain: the chapel of St James or Spanish chapel, church of the Spanish troops in the seventeenth century and a stop on the Camino de Santiago; the Hof van Santhoven; the Aragon bridge; the Hof van Aragon; the collegiate church of St Gummarus and the Bril or Spanish gate. At each there is a plaque with a QR code, and Visit Lier has the text in Spanish.
Visit Lier explains why this small, loyal city was chosen over Antwerp, Mechelen or Brussels in years of instability, and tells the story of Joanna from her arrival in Antwerp to Philip's death in 1506. The map can be downloaded from its website.
- **Eel-boat trip on the Binnennete** (45 min · All ages; under-12s with an adult · €5 adults · €2 under 12 · private boat €50 for 2 to 10 people): The Moedige Bootvissers boats are copies of the old eel-fishing boats of the Nete, flat-bottomed and with an electric motor. They leave from the Jan Hendrickx landing stage, opposite the beguinage, and in 45 minutes take you from the Zimmer tower to the Spuihuis along the inner arm of the river, with a skipper from Lier who tells you about the city.
Price and hours
€5 for adults and €2 for under-12s, who go with an adult. A boat all to yourself, for 2 to 10 people, costs €50. From 1 April to 31 October they leave on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 14:00 to 17:30, several times an hour; in July and August, also every day at 14:00. At those times you can buy your ticket right there.
- **Stadsmuseum, the city museum** (1 h 30 · €7 · €5 students and over-60s · free up to age 18): The city museum tells the story of Lier and its people interactively: its artists, such as the writer Felix Timmermans, its traditions and folklore, and a full-size replica of a mammoth skeleton found in 1860. You can try the Lier lace stitch and play "Struifvogel". At weekends and during school holidays there are workshops for children.
Price and hours
€7; €5 for students and over-60s; free up to age 18. Open Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00 and closed Monday and Tuesday and some public holidays. It is at Florent Van Cauwenberghstraat 14, opposite the underground car park at the Grote Markt.
- **Grote Markt, town hall and belfry** (30 min · Free): The Lier Grote Markt is triangular, perhaps of Frankish origin, and almost all its houses were destroyed in 1914; the town hall and the belfry of 1369 came through almost intact. The belfry has been a World Heritage Site since 1999 and its little carillon plays a tune every quarter of an hour. Beside it you will see a brass band in the ground: the meridian line of Adolphe Quetelet, who used a corner of the town hall as a gnomon. Among the cobbles there is also a witches' stone, a reminder of the women burned here.
In the town hall, with its spiral staircase, the tourist office is on the first floor. The square is closed to cars from 11:00 to 18:00.

## Dónde comer
- **Brasserie Het Moment** (Restaurant, Lier · Grote Markt, €€). Qué pedir: a Flemish stoverij with chips, or a Lier vlaaike with coffee in the afternoon
- **Hof van Aragon, Sunday restaurant** (Restaurant, Lier · Aragonstraat, €€). Qué pedir: the menu of the day; it changes every Sunday and includes soup, a seasonal meat dish and dessert

## By plane: Flight to Brussels and train to Lier
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.
### Dónde dormir if you're flying
- **Zimmerhof Hotel** (Hotel): The Zimmerhof occupies the former Van Acker-Peeters almshouse and the Gevangenenpoort, the prison gate, in Lier's historic centre. Across the street is the Zimmer tower; the beguinage and the Grote Markt are a few minutes' walk away. The rooms overlook an inner garden with a terrace.
The rooms
It has 28 rooms of contemporary design, with a large bathroom, air conditioning, free wifi, television, safe and minibar. Breakfast is a buffet. Reception is open from 7:00 to 15:00; after that you enter with a personal code. Its website in November 2026 listed the double with breakfast at €90 per person.
Getting there and parking
About 15 minutes' walk from the station. The hotel has no parking of its own: the underground car park at the Grote Markt, open 24 hours, is next door.
- **Hotel Hof van Aragon** (Hotel): Hof van Aragon boasts of being the oldest and most authentic hotel in Lier, in the old quarter beside the Kleine Nete. Its name and its building are a stop on the Spanish walk, which recalls the wedding of Joanna of Castile in 1496.
The rooms
There are four types. The Extra Large rooms are suites under the wooden roof frame, where you hear the St Gummarus carillon. The Large rooms, of about 15 m², have a seating area, a desk and a bathroom with a bath. The standard rooms, of 15 to 20 m², are under old beams, and the Small rooms, of 10 m², look onto the Kleine Nete and suit one person or a young couple. The buffet breakfast is served from 7:00 to 10:00, and on Sunday from 8:00 to 10:30; they can also prepare a picnic for you for €12.
Getting there and parking
Check-in from 15:00 and check-out until 11:00. The hotel recommends the KTA car park, round the corner, entering from the Predikherenlaan; you can stop for a moment at the door to unload.
- **Hotel Florent** (Hotel): The Hotel Florent is a three-star in the heart of Lier, on the same street as the Stadsmuseum and two minutes from the Grote Markt. It is a comfortable base for seeing the city on foot and travelling by train to Antwerp or Mechelen.
The rooms
They are modern, with fast wifi, flat-screen television, spacious bathrooms and a telephone. Breakfast is served in its own room, with regional products, and there is a lounge to relax in. The staff advise you on places to eat and what to see.
Getting there
About ten minutes' walk from the station. By car, the paid underground car park at the Grote Markt is on the same street; the free De Mol one is a quarter of an hour's walk away.
### Servicios
- **Lier station and the train from Brussels and Antwerp**: SNCB train from Brussels in about 45 minutes, often with a change at Mechelen; 10–15 minutes' walk to the Grote Markt

## Car-free: Lier by train and on foot
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.
Presupuesto orientativo: 80–150 € por persona y día.
### Dónde dormir without a car
- **Zimmerhof Hotel** (Hotel): The Zimmerhof occupies the former Van Acker-Peeters almshouse and the Gevangenenpoort, the prison gate, in Lier's historic centre. Across the street is the Zimmer tower; the beguinage and the Grote Markt are a few minutes' walk away. The rooms overlook an inner garden with a terrace.
The rooms
It has 28 rooms of contemporary design, with a large bathroom, air conditioning, free wifi, television, safe and minibar. Breakfast is a buffet. Reception is open from 7:00 to 15:00; after that you enter with a personal code. Its website in November 2026 listed the double with breakfast at €90 per person.
Getting there and parking
About 15 minutes' walk from the station. The hotel has no parking of its own: the underground car park at the Grote Markt, open 24 hours, is next door.
- **Hotel Hof van Aragon** (Hotel): Hof van Aragon boasts of being the oldest and most authentic hotel in Lier, in the old quarter beside the Kleine Nete. Its name and its building are a stop on the Spanish walk, which recalls the wedding of Joanna of Castile in 1496.
The rooms
There are four types. The Extra Large rooms are suites under the wooden roof frame, where you hear the St Gummarus carillon. The Large rooms, of about 15 m², have a seating area, a desk and a bathroom with a bath. The standard rooms, of 15 to 20 m², are under old beams, and the Small rooms, of 10 m², look onto the Kleine Nete and suit one person or a young couple. The buffet breakfast is served from 7:00 to 10:00, and on Sunday from 8:00 to 10:30; they can also prepare a picnic for you for €12.
Getting there and parking
Check-in from 15:00 and check-out until 11:00. The hotel recommends the KTA car park, round the corner, entering from the Predikherenlaan; you can stop for a moment at the door to unload.
- **Hotel Florent** (Hotel): The Hotel Florent is a three-star in the heart of Lier, on the same street as the Stadsmuseum and two minutes from the Grote Markt. It is a comfortable base for seeing the city on foot and travelling by train to Antwerp or Mechelen.
The rooms
They are modern, with fast wifi, flat-screen television, spacious bathrooms and a telephone. Breakfast is served in its own room, with regional products, and there is a lounge to relax in. The staff advise you on places to eat and what to see.
Getting there
About ten minutes' walk from the station. By car, the paid underground car park at the Grote Markt is on the same street; the free De Mol one is a quarter of an hour's walk away.
### Servicios
- **Lier station and the train from Brussels and Antwerp**: SNCB train from Brussels in about 45 minutes, often with a change at Mechelen; 10–15 minutes' walk to the Grote Markt

## As a family: Lier with children

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.

### What works best
The boat on the Binnennete, 45 minutes, €2 for under-12s

The carousel of the Jubilee clock at 12:00 and the Wonder clock, with 93 dials

The Stadsmuseum, free up to age 18, with its full-size mammoth

The beguinage, for running along lanes without cars

### Where to sleep
Hof van Aragon, with extra beds for children in the large rooms

### Where to eat
Het Moment, with waffles and crêpes in the afternoon

The Hof van Aragon Sunday menu, €17 for under-12s

### Bear in mind
The beguinage cobbles are bad with a pushchair

The Zimmer tower is not accessible to wheelchairs or pushchairs; the pavilion is

The boats do not sail from November to March

### Qué hacer as a family
- Zimmer tower and its time museum
- Lier beguinage, a World Heritage Site
- Eel-boat trip on the Binnennete
- Stadsmuseum, the city museum
- Grote Markt, town hall and belfry

## Consejos

### Go on a weekend from April to October
That is when the boats leave on the Nete, from 14:00 to 17:30.

### Avoid Monday
The Zimmer tower is closed, and the museum is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

### Combine it with Antwerp
With a quarter of an hour by train, you can see Lier in the morning and Antwerp in the afternoon.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### How long does it take from Brussels to Lier?
About 45 minutes by train, depending on the connection, and about 40 by car.

### What is there to see in Lier in a day?
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.

### Where did Joanna the Mad and Philip the Handsome marry?
In the collegiate church of St Gummarus in Lier, on 20 October 1496.

### How much does the Zimmer tower cost?
€8 for adults, €3 for ages 6 to 15 and free up to age 5.

### Where to park in Lier?
Free at De Mol, on the Aarschotsesteenweg, 10 to 15 minutes' walk away, or paid beneath the Grote Markt.