# Day trip to Villers-la-Ville Abbey and Waterloo from Brussels

A morning in the Cistercian ruins of Villers, lunch in its vaulted bistro with the abbey beer and an afternoon on the Waterloo battlefield.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/villers-la-ville-abbey/itineraries/ruins-and-waterloo-from-brussels · Revisado: 2026-11-12

## El día
- 09:15 · Salida: 45 min by car (along the N5 or the E411 and Ottignies)
- 10:00 · Visit to the ruins of Villers Abbey (Abbaye de Villers · €10 · free visit app) · Abbaye de Villers-la-Ville, From €10 per person
  - 5 min on foot
- 11:30 · The abbey gardens: medicinal plants and old roses (medicinal garden and the abbot's garden)
  - 3 min on foot
- 12:15 · Bistro de l'Abbaye (home cooking and the abbey's V beer · every day) · Bistro de l'Abbaye, €€
  - 5 min on foot
- 13:45 · Meditative path to the Chapel of St Bernard (the best view of the ruins · lots of stairs)
  - 30 min by car, 20 km
- 15:00 · The Lion's Mound (Butte du Lion), en Waterloo (226 steps over the field of 1815; with the Memorial ticket)
  - 5 min by car, 2 km
- 16:15 · Hougoumont farm, en Waterloo (the farm the British defended)
- 17:30 · Vuelta (in Brussels around 18:15)

Two visits that hardly anyone combines and which are 20 minutes apart: in the morning, the ruins of the Cistercian abbey of Villers, with its roofless church and its gardens; in the afternoon, the battlefield of Waterloo, where Napoleon fell in 1815. It is a day by car, unhurried, 40 minutes from Brussels.

## The day, hour by hour

9:15 · Drive to Villers-la-Ville. About 40 minutes; free parking next to the abbey.

10:00 · The abbey. €10, an hour and a half with the free app: the church, the cloister, the warming room and the dungeons that inspired Victor Hugo.

11:30 · The gardens. The medieval medicinal garden, the old rose bushes and the abbot's garden.

12:15 · Lunch at the Bistro de l'Abbaye. In a vaulted cellar above the river, with the abbey's beers. Open every day.

13:45 · Meditative path. Climb to the Chapel of St Bernard: the best view of the ruins.

15:00 · Waterloo, the Lion's Mound. About 25 minutes by car. Climb the steps of the monument above the battlefield; access comes with the Memorial 1815 ticket, which you should check on its website.

16:15 · Hougoumont. The fortified farm that held out all day.

17:30 · Back to Brussels.

## Cómo llegar

### By car
Brussels–Villers about 40 minutes; Villers–Waterloo about 25; Waterloo–Brussels about 30.

### Without a car
The abbey only: train changing at Ottignies to Villers-la-Ville and 2 km on foot.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### How much does this day cost?
Between €45 and €70 per person with the abbey, lunch and the Waterloo ticket.

### Can you go with children?
Yes: at Villers under-6s do not pay and there are visit games; at Waterloo, they like the Lion's Mound.