# Villers-la-Ville Abbey The ruins of a great Cistercian abbey 30 km from Brussels: a roofless church and cloister, medicinal gardens, a micro-brewery and a bistro in the cellar. Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/villers-la-ville-abbey · Revisado: 2026-11-12 Thirty kilometres south of Brussels, in the Thyle valley, stand the ruins of Villers Abbey, one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Europe, inhabited by monks for 650 years from the twelfth century. The roofless Gothic church, the cloister, the refectory and the guesthouse form an enormous complex that mixes Romanesque, Gothic and classical styles, with the river running beneath it and the train crossing on a viaduct from 1855. It is the easiest half-day trip from the capital, and one of those least known to the Spanish traveller. ## How do you get there from Brussels? By car, about 40 minutes. There is free parking next to the abbey, with access for vehicles under 3.5 m. By train, a little over an hour: train from Brussels to Ottignies and line 140 towards Charleroi to Villers-la-Ville. The station is 2 km from the abbey, about 25 minutes on foot. ## What to see at the abbey? The self-guided visit costs €10 in 2026, takes about an hour and a half and uses a free app with maps, reconstructions and videos. On Sundays at 14:30 there is a guided tour. Do not miss the cloister and abbey church, the warming room, the monks' only heated room, and the dungeons that inspired Victor Hugo for Les Misérables. From May to September, the gardens recover the medieval medicinal garden, the old rose bushes and the abbot's garden. The meditative path climbs among fragrant plants to the Chapel of St Bernard, with the best view of the ruins. ## What about the beer? Since 2016 the abbey has had its own micro-brewery. La V recreates the eighteenth-century monks' beer from their account books. On the second Saturday of each month, from March to November, there is a guided tour with a tasting of four beers for €23, abbey entry included. If the dates do not suit you, you can try them at the Bistro de l'Abbaye, in a vaulted cellar inside the grounds, open every day. ## What about with children? Under-6s enter free and ages 6 to 12 pay €4. With L'Ardoise, a game tablet, or with the booklet "Moi, Radulphe", children solve a mystery as they walk around the ruins. There is a baby-changing facility and paths suitable for scooters. ## Where to stay? Villers can be seen in half a day from Brussels, but if you want to see the ruins with few people first thing in the morning, there are two guesthouses: Les Autres Sens, with a heated pool and sauna, and Chambres Léonard, a family house a few steps from the abbey. ## What to combine it with? By car, Waterloo is about 20 minutes away and fills the other half of the day with the 1815 battlefield. To the south, Namur is half an hour away. ## Dónde está - Zonas: Beers of Belgium - Cerca: Waterloo (a 13.2 km), Namur (a 27.7 km), Brussels (a 31.2 km), Leuven (a 34.3 km) ## Qué hacer - **Visit to the ruins of Villers Abbey** (1 h 30 · All ages; only partly accessible for reduced mobility · €10 · €8 over-65s and students · €4 for ages 6 to 12 · free under 6): Villers Abbey was for 650 years one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Europe. Today it is a complex of enormous ruins, Romanesque, Gothic and classical, in the Thyle valley: the roofless abbey church, the cloister, the monks' refectory, the warming room, which was the only heated room, the guesthouse and the brewery. The river runs beneath the buildings, and since 1855 the train has crossed the ruins on a viaduct. Victor Hugo drew on its dungeons for part of Les Misérables. Price and hours €10 for adults, €8 for over-65s and students, €4 for ages 6 to 12 and free for under-6s. Open every day: from November to March from 10:00 to 17:00 and from April to October until 18:00; on weekends in July and August, until 20:00. Last entry, one hour earlier. In strong wind it may close. Guide A free app with a map, reconstructions, podcast and videos accompanies the visit. On Sundays at 14:30 there is a guided tour about the monks' life. - **The cloister and abbey church** (30 min · Included in the ticket): The cloister and the abbey church are the heart of the visit. Of the Gothic church, the high walls of the nave and transept remain, open to the sky; of the cloister, the arcades and a rose window cut out against the trees. Go early or in the late afternoon if you want photos with few people and side light. - **The abbey gardens: medicinal plants and old roses** (45 min · Included in the ticket): The abbey has restored several gardens: the garden of simples, a medieval medicinal garden with the plants used by Hildegard of Bingen; the pharmacy garden, with medicinal plants of today; the monks' garden, of herbs and vegetables, in the former "hen yard"; the abbot's garden, of roses and hydrangeas among balustrades, with the only two authentic eighteenth-century ponds; a timeline of old roses and an orchard of old varieties on the farm hill. - **Meditative path to the Chapel of St Bernard** (30 min · Not accessible for reduced mobility: many steps · Included in the ticket · booklet of texts, €2): From the foot of the church, a path climbs among beds of fragrant plants, the garden of scents, to the Chapel of St Bernard. Eight panels each propose an attitude of mindfulness, from patience to gratitude, with texts from the association Emergences and audio capsules to download. At the top, the view over the ruins is one of the best in the grounds. Above the abbot's palace you can also see the chapel of Notre-Dame de Montaigu. - **Guided tour of the abbey micro-brewery** (1 h · €23 · €21 students and over-65s · €6.50 for ages 6 to 12): Since 2016, the abbey's micro-brewery has brewed beers on the premises, in the former coach houses and stables of the nineteenth-century hotel of the ruins. The V recreates the monks' beer from the brewery accounts of 1720–1721 and 1766–1768, with its proportion of barley, spelt and hops; the IX is a 9-degree organic tripel, and the III, with blackcurrant, is the latest. The tour On the second Saturday of each month, from March to November, at 14:30 and 16:00, a guide explains the project, the history of Villers beer and the brewing stages, shows the facilities and the hop field and ends with a tasting of four beers. It lasts an hour and costs €23 with abbey entry included; €6.50 for ages 6 to 12. You can book or just turn up at reception. - **L'Ardoise and Radulphe: the abbey as a game** (1 h 30 · Tablet €5 (€4 from the second per family) · "Moi, Radulphe" booklet €2.50): For children there are two games. L'Ardoise is a tablet with ten stations in which you help the soul of Odelin the builder solve the mystery of the abbey, for €5, or €4 from the second tablet per family. With the booklet "Moi, Radulphe", for €2.50, it is the child who guides the adult through the medieval part with the monk Radulphe: 15 stages of observation and deduction, about an hour and a half. There is also a model, touch screens and paths partly suitable for scooters and small bikes. ## Dónde comer - **Bistro de l'Abbaye** (Restaurant, Villers-la-Ville · inside the abbey, €€). Qué pedir: a dish of the day from the board with a V or an IX, the abbey's beers ## By car: Villers Abbey by car By car, the abbey is about 30 km south of Brussels, about 40 minutes, with free parking next to it. It is the most convenient way to go, and lets you combine it on the same day with Waterloo, about 20 minutes away. Presupuesto orientativo: 70–140 € por persona y día. ### Dónde dormir if you're driving - **B&B Les Autres Sens** (Country house): Les Autres Sens is a guesthouse in the countryside of Villers-la-Ville, near the abbey, with only two rooms: the Chambre Jardin and the Chambre Cour, which can have private space in the pool house. It is designed for resting for a few days in a well-preserved landscape of hills. The house It has a heated outdoor pool, jacuzzi and sauna, a landscaped garden and sun loungers. The rooms have a private bathroom, television and wifi, and sheets and towels are included. There is free private parking. On its website they publish offers for stays of more than one night. Getting there By car, a few minutes from the abbey; the exact address and access are given by the house when you book. - **Chambres Léonard** (Country house): Chambres Léonard is a family house surrounded by greenery in Villers-la-Ville, a few steps on foot from the abbey. It has three rooms and a quiet atmosphere, and breakfast is served in the family's dining room or on the terrace when the weather is good. The rooms The Safari, decorated with animal photos, has a double bed and an extra bed, for up to three people. The Romantic looks onto the garden, for two people and a cot. Both share a bathroom with a toilet. The Nature, for two, has its own shower and the toilet outside the room. They have no website of their own: you book by phone or email. ### Servicios - **Free abbey car park**: Free next to the abbey; access only for vehicles under 3.5 m high ## By plane: Flight to Brussels and Villers Abbey in a day Villers Abbey is a half-day trip from Brussels, where direct flights arrive from Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities, at Zaventem (BRU) and at Charleroi (CRL). From Charleroi it is even closer: about 30 minutes by car. By train you get there from Brussels with a change at Ottignies and 2 km on foot. ### Dónde dormir if you're flying - **B&B Les Autres Sens** (Country house): Les Autres Sens is a guesthouse in the countryside of Villers-la-Ville, near the abbey, with only two rooms: the Chambre Jardin and the Chambre Cour, which can have private space in the pool house. It is designed for resting for a few days in a well-preserved landscape of hills. The house It has a heated outdoor pool, jacuzzi and sauna, a landscaped garden and sun loungers. The rooms have a private bathroom, television and wifi, and sheets and towels are included. There is free private parking. On its website they publish offers for stays of more than one night. Getting there By car, a few minutes from the abbey; the exact address and access are given by the house when you book. - **Chambres Léonard** (Country house): Chambres Léonard is a family house surrounded by greenery in Villers-la-Ville, a few steps on foot from the abbey. It has three rooms and a quiet atmosphere, and breakfast is served in the family's dining room or on the terrace when the weather is good. The rooms The Safari, decorated with animal photos, has a double bed and an extra bed, for up to three people. The Romantic looks onto the garden, for two people and a cot. Both share a bathroom with a toilet. The Nature, for two, has its own shower and the toilet outside the room. They have no website of their own: you book by phone or email. ### Servicios - **Villers-la-Ville station**: Line 140 Ottignies–Charleroi; the station is 2 km from the abbey ## As a family: Villers Abbey with children Villers thinks of families: a visitor centre with a model, paths partly marked out for scooters and small bikes, a baby-changing facility in the toilets and two games so that children can do the visit their own way. ### What works best L'Ardoise, the ten-station tablet game, €5 The "Moi, Radulphe" booklet, in which the child guides the adult, €2.50 The ruins and the cloister, to explore The gardens, in spring and summer ### Where to sleep Chambres Léonard, with an extra bed and cot ### Where to eat Bistro de l'Abbaye, inside the grounds, every day ### Bear in mind Under-6s enter free and ages 6 to 12 pay €4 The meditative path has many steps: not suitable for a pushchair During holidays there are shows and workshops for children ### Qué hacer as a family - Visit to the ruins of Villers Abbey - The abbey gardens: medicinal plants and old roses - L'Ardoise and Radulphe: the abbey as a game ## Consejos ### Pay by card The abbey recommends it; it is the quickest way at the ticket office. ### The second Saturday If you like beer, go on the second Saturday of the month, from March to November. ### In strong wind The grounds may close for safety; check the website before setting out if the weather is stormy. ## Preguntas frecuentes ### How much does Villers-la-Ville Abbey cost? €10 for adults, €8 for over-65s and students, €4 for ages 6 to 12 and free for under-6s, in 2026. ### How do I get from Brussels to Villers Abbey? By car, about 40 minutes; by train, changing at Ottignies, and 2 km on foot from the station. ### How much time do you need? About an hour and a half for the visit, and half a day with lunch at the bistro. ### Can you go with a dog? Yes, on a lead. ### What are the opening hours? Every day, from 10:00 to 17:00 from November to March and from 10:00 to 18:00 from April to October.