# Beers of Belgium Lambic in Brussels, Trappist at Orval and breweries to visit in Bruges, Mechelen, Antwerp and Leuven, almost all linked by train. Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/themes/belgian-beer · Revisado: 2026-11-13 Países: Belgium ## Destinos de esta zona - [Bastogne](https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/bastogne.md): The village in the Belgian Ardennes that the US Army held while surrounded in December 1944. One day for the museum, the memorial and the Bois Jacques; another for the Ourthe at La Roche or Orval Abbey. - [Antwerp](https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/antwerp.md): The central station, the cathedral with its Rubens paintings, the Grote Markt, the free viewing terrace at the MAS and the Bolleke brewery. About 45 minutes by train from Brussels. - [Bruges](https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/bruges.md): The best-preserved medieval city in Flanders: the Markt and its belfry, canal boat trips, the beguinage and the local beer. An hour by train from Brussels. - [Brussels](https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/brussels.md): The Grand-Place, the Atomium, Magritte, comics, gueuze and chocolate, and the best base for day trips by train to Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven and Dinant. - [Leuven](https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/leuven.md): The Gothic town hall, the library tower, the Great Beguinage and the Oude Markt of the university city, 25 minutes by train from Brussels. - [Mechelen](https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/mechelen.md): The city of Margaret of Austria, between Brussels and Antwerp: the 538-step tower, the Kazerne Dossin memorial, the beguinage and the Het Anker brewery. - [Villers-la-Ville Abbey](https://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/villers-la-ville-abbey.md): 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. Belgium doesn't have one beer, it has a whole map of them. In a country the size of Galicia live side by side the spontaneous fermentation of lambic, made only around Brussels, the Trappist beers of abbeys that are still inhabited, the family breweries of every Flemish city and a handful of young houses that fill bars with taps. UNESCO inscribed Belgian beer culture as intangible heritage in 2016, and it is no exaggeration: here every beer has its glass, its temperature and its way of being served. This route brings together the places on Geocalia where beer can be seen being made, not just drunk: Brussels, Bruges, Mechelen, Antwerp, Leuven, the Villers-la-Ville abbey and Orval Abbey, which we visit from Bastogne. ## Lambic, Trappist, city blonde: what you drink where Lambic is the Belgian rarity. The wort is left to cool in the open air, the wild yeasts of the Senne valley ferment it on their own and it rests for years in oak barrels. Blending young and old lambics gives gueuze, dry and sour, with a champagne fizz; macerating cherries gives kriek. It is like nothing you have drunk in a Spanish bar, and it is best tried knowing what it is. Trappist beers are made by Cistercian monks of the strict observance, inside active abbeys, and the money goes to the community and to social works. At Orval, the only Trappist abbey on this route, the monks have made cheese since the late 1920s and beer since 1935. Then there are the city breweries, each with its emblem: the Brugse Zot and Straffe Hendrik of Bruges, the Gouden Carolus of Mechelen, the amber Bolleke of Antwerp, the Stella Artois of Leuven. And the new generation, such as Brussels Beer Project, which mixes modern hops with its own lambic. ## The visits, with times and prices In Brussels, the Cantillon brewery, in Anderlecht, is the last traditional lambic brewery within the city and works as a living museum. On weekdays you go round on your own, no booking, for €9 with three tastings; on Saturdays there is a guided tour of an hour and a half for €13. Closed Wednesdays and Sundays. For the overview there is Belgian Beer World, in the Stock Exchange building: an audioguide tour, a tasting and a beer on the rooftop for €21.50, open every day. In Bruges, De Halve Maan shows the beer pipeline that carries the beer under the city: 45 minutes with a guide in Dutch, French or English, €16 with a beer and 220 steps up to the roof. In Mechelen, Het Anker, inside the Grand Beguinage, runs a tour of a good hour and a half with two Gouden Carolus, booking online. In Antwerp, De Koninck is interactive, self-guided, €19.90 with two beers, Tuesday to Sunday. In Leuven, the Stella Artois tour runs only on fixed dates and with booking at Visit Leuven. The abbeys call for more planning. At Villers-la-Ville, among the Cistercian ruins, the micro-brewery opens on the second Saturday of every month, from March to November: an hour and four beers for €23, abbey entry included. Its V reconstructs the monks' recipe from 18th-century accounts. At Orval you visit the medieval ruins and the museum for €8, but not the brewery or the new abbey; the lighter Orval Vert is served on draught only in the tavern opposite, À l'Ange Gardien. ## Centuries-old cafés and tap bars In Brussels, À la Mort Subite, opposite the Galeries Saint-Hubert, is the café of mirrors where you compare a gueuze with a kriek after Cantillon. The Poechenellekelder, opposite the Manneken Pis, has a long list and a quiet room, and the Brussels Beer Project in Dansaert offers 24 taps and pizzas. In Bruges, Cambrinus is a beer restaurant with a long menu two minutes from the Markt. In Leuven, the Oude Markt is an entire square of student terraces. To eat with the house beer, the Het Anker brasserie cooks Flemish classics with Gouden Carolus and opens every day; if you want to sleep above the brewery, the Hotel Het Anker is on the same site. ## September on the Grand-Place The breweries can be visited all year, but the moment with the most atmosphere is the Belgian Beer Weekend: from 3 to 5 September 2027, large and small breweries serve their beers on the Grand-Place in Brussels, with free entry and paying for what you taste. From April to October the boats in Bruges and Mechelen and the terraces of the Oude Markt also run. In winter, the old cafés are the best refuge, and Villers loses its brewery tour from December to February. ## Everything by train, except Orval Belgium is the perfect country for a beer route without a car. From Brussels, Mechelen is about 20 minutes by train, Leuven 25, Antwerp 40 or 50 and Bruges an hour, with several trains an hour; in each city, the brewery is a walk from the centre or, like De Koninck, next to Berchem station. Villers-la-Ville has its own station on the Ottignies to Charleroi line, 25 minutes' walk from the abbey. Orval is the exception: without a car you have to chain a train to Libramont, a connection to Florenville and a TEC 24 bus, so it is best to sleep in the area, as the Bastogne and Orval getaway proposes. The return is also by train: check the last one to Brussels before you sit down in the last bar, and once in Brussels the centre can be covered on foot between the Stock Exchange, the Grand-Place and the Galleries. To organise it, you have a day of two breweries by train between Mechelen and Antwerp and an evening of lambic and Trappists on foot through Brussels, with a hotel two streets from the last bar. ## Un consejo más ### Ask for the glass In Belgium every beer has its own, with the name of the brewery. Look at it: it tells you which brewery makes it and how it should be drunk. ## Cuándo no ir ### Gueuze as the first beer of the day It is sour and dry. Start with a blonde or an amber and leave the lambic for when you know what you are looking for. ## Preguntas frecuentes ### Which breweries can you visit in Belgium without a car? Cantillon in Brussels, De Halve Maan in Bruges, Het Anker in Mechelen, De Koninck in Antwerp, Stella Artois in Leuven and the Villers-la-Ville micro-brewery, all by train. ### Can you visit the Orval brewery? No. You visit the ruins of the medieval abbey and the museum; the brewery and the new abbey are not open to the public. ### When is the Belgian Beer Weekend? In 2027, from 3 to 5 September, on the Grand-Place in Brussels, with free entry. ### What is a gueuze? A blend of young and old lambics, spontaneously fermented, dry and sour, typical of Brussels and its surroundings.