Belgium's most-visited attraction: a 75-hectare animal park built around a former Cistercian abbey in Hainaut, with full-scale Chinese, Indonesian and Middle Kingdom gardens housing giant pandas, gorillas and elephants.
25 km · about 30 min drive
landmark
Vieux Lille
Lively old quarter of Flemish brick gables and grand squares, the cultural capital of the French north.
35 km · about 40 min drive
landmark
Ghent
Vibrant medieval Flemish city with stunning canal-side architecture, the Gravensteen castle, and the famous Ghent Altarpiece.
43 km · about 50 min drive
castle
Gravensteen
A grim moated stone castle of the Counts of Flanders rising straight from the canals in the centre of Ghent.
43 km · about 50 min drive
cathedral
Saint Bavo's Cathedral Ghent
This Gothic cathedral guards the Van Eyck brothers' luminous Ghent Altarpiece, a landmark of European painting.
43 km · about 50 min drive
landmark
Strépy-Thieu Boat Lift
A colossal 73 m boat elevator on the Canal du Centre, among the tallest in the world, hoisting entire barges in a concrete cathedral visible for miles across Hainaut.
45 km · about 50 min drive
landmark
Canal du Centre Hydraulic Boat Lifts
Four UNESCO-listed 19th-century hydraulic boat lifts near La Louvière, still standing on the old Canal du Centre.
47 km · about 55 min drive
natural wonder
Hallerbos
The 'Blue Forest' near Halle carpets itself with millions of wild bluebells under beech trees each spring.
50 km · about 60 min drive
Driving roads near Anvaing
75 kmKoninklijke Baan Coast RoadThe N34 'Royal Road' hugs nearly the whole Belgian coast, sharing its corridor with the world's longest tram line and passing Belle Epoque De Haan, dunes and beach resorts.
78 kmWestern Scheldt TunnelAt 6.6 km the longest road tunnel in the Netherlands, diving under the busy Western Scheldt shipping lane to link Zeeland with Zeelandic Flanders since 2003.
78 kmWesterscheldetunnelTolled 6.6-kilometre road tunnel under the Western Scheldt linking Zeelandic Flanders to Zuid-Beveland, replacing two ferries.