50.46° N · 4.87° E
The capital of Wallonia, an hour from Brussels: the citadel and its tunnels, the cable car, the boat on the Meuse and a pedestrian old town.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Fortress · 1 h · €6 with audioguide in Spanish · €5 children and over-65s · free parking
Guided tour · 1 h 30 · 450 m of galleries · €14 · €12 reduced · from age 6 · in French, Dutch or English
Cable car · 5 min · €8 return · €5.50 one way · free up to age 3 · accepts wheelchairs and pushchairs
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. From April to early November the boats run and the Annevoie gardens are open, and the citadel extends its hours. From November to March, Terra Nova and the cable car are closed on Mondays and the days are short.
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.
Namur is closer to Charleroi (CRL) than to Brussels: if you fly with a low-cost airline from Spain to Charleroi, you are about 40 minutes away by car. From Brussels-Zaventem (BRU), with direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona and other cities, you get there by train via Brussels in about an hour and a half in total.
Namur works very well without a car: the train arrives from Brussels in an hour, the centre is pedestrianised, the cable car goes up to the citadel and the boats leave from the Confluence. A TEC bus or the train to Godinne gets you to Annevoie.
By car, Namur is about an hour from Brussels along the E411 and combines well with the Meuse valley: the Annevoie gardens, 20 km away, and Dinant, half an hour away. In the city, park up at the citadel, where it is free, or at the Confluence.
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.
Namur is one of the Belgian cities that works best with children: a big fortress you can reach by cable car, underground galleries with lights and sound, a little train and boats on the river.
With teenagers, the citadel is the thing to do: tunnels with special effects, ramparts to get lost on and the cable car. Down below, the pedestrian old town has the feel of a university city.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: A four-star hotel in fifteen 17th-century houses beside the Confluence, with 37 different rooms, from the small to the suite with a sauna.
Why we like it: A hotel beside the Meuse on the avenue de la Plante, with a pool, spa and its own restaurant; Deluxe River Side rooms from €135 a night.
Why we like it: A four-star hotel and restaurant at the top of the citadel, among the woods, with free parking and cooking from the hospitality school.
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: seafood from the oyster bar or the autumn game from the brasserie menu
What to order: the grilled beef with chips from the Tante Jeanne menu, at €38
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.
50.26° N · 4.91° E
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Tips
In the morning there are fewer people at the cable car and you have the afternoon for the river.
Tunnels, train and Terra Nova for €22: worth it if you are going to do two of the three.
Places are limited per tour; book online up to the day before.
From November to March, Terra Nova and the cable car are closed on Mondays.
Namur is the capital of Wallonia and the gateway to the Meuse valley. The city rests on a spur of rock where the Sambre joins the Meuse, and on that spur stands its citadel, one of the great fortresses of Europe for centuries. Below, a pedestrian old town of brick and blue stone, with Baroque churches, terraces and chocolate shops. It is the easiest day trip from Brussels towards the French-speaking south, and with one night it can be combined with Dinant or the Annevoie gardens.
By train, about an hour, with frequent trains on the line towards Luxembourg. The station is ten minutes' walk from the old town and TEC bus 3 goes up from there to the citadel.
By car, about an hour on the E411, some 65 km. If you are mainly going to the citadel, go up via the Route Merveilleuse: the Terra Nova car park is free. For the centre and the boats, the Interparking Confluence.
If you fly into Charleroi, Namur is about 40 minutes away by car: closer than Brussels.
Start at the top. Go up on the cable car from the Place Maurice Servais and enter Terra Nova, the citadel's visitor centre, with an audio guide in Spanish. Then, the guided tour of the tunnels: 450 metres of galleries with light and sound in an hour and a half; in winter, the English one leaves at 13:00. With small children, the little train tours the ramparts without tiring them. The Citadelle Pass combines the three for €22.
Walk down the paths to the Confluence and have lunch in the centre. In the afternoon, from April to November, the 50-minute cruise on the Meuse and the Sambre shows you the city from the water. Finish in the old town and the church of Saint-Loup or, if you are interested in art, at the Félicien Rops Museum, dedicated to the Symbolist engraver born in Namur.
In season, the Annevoie gardens, 20 km along the bank of the Meuse, have fountains and waterfalls that have worked without machinery for 260 years. Following the river, Dinant is half an hour away, with its citadel, the Sax house and kayaking on the Lesse, and further south the Ardennes begin: the Caves of Han and Bastogne. To the east, along the same valley, Liège is 40 minutes by train.
For Sunday, the Grill des Tanneurs serves wood-grilled meat every day, and in the same building L'Espièglerie, with a Bib Gourmand, has a three-course menu at €48. The Brasserie du Quai, on the banks of the Meuse, has a seafood counter and a terrace by the water. In the old town there are waffles and chocolate shops for an afternoon snack.
Les Tanneurs is fifteen seventeenth-century houses joined into a four-star hotel, right in the centre. Le Château de Namur is at the top of the citadel, with free parking, and The Royal Snail, beside the Meuse, has a pool and spa.
Questions
About an hour by train or by car.
The citadel with Terra Nova and the tunnels, the cable car, the old town and, from April to November, the boat on the Meuse.
€8 return and €5.50 one way.
The park and the ramparts are free; Terra Nova, the tunnels and the train are paid.
Namur is more of a city and has the bigger citadel; Dinant has more river and nature. They are half an hour apart and combine well.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/namur
