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The old university town of Leuven (French: Louvain) has a deep charm, derived from its compact human scale and many historic buildings – chief among them the Stadhuis, the most beautiful Gothic town hall of them all.

This pretty little town to the south-east of Antwerp has a handsome collection of historic buildings clustered around the Grote Markt, but its most famous possession is the Zimmertoren, a 14th-century watch-tower with the fascinating Centenary Clock on its façade.

You may be lucky to find the Mannekin-Pis (see Manneken-Pis) on one of his dressed-up days. In any case, it’s always fun to see his extraordinary wardrobe in the Maison du Roi (see Maison du Roi), where about 100 of his 650 outfits are on display.

The central marketplace of Bruges still retains much of its original outline flanked by old step-gabled guildhouses, but the Provinciaal Hof, the provincial government building on the eastern side, is actually a late-19th-century creation. The Markt remains the focal point of Bruges, and is the site of a large market on Wednesday mornings, and a small Christmas market (with ice rink) in December.

Mechelen (French: Malines) was a proud trading city in the Burgundian era, and centre of power under Margaret of Austria (1507–30). Dominating the city is the vast bell-tower of the fine Gothic Sint-Romboutskathedraal – originally intended to be twice as high.

Hans Memling (1435–94) was one of the leading artists of Burgundian Flanders, and the St John’s Hospital ranked among his most important patrons. Now superbly renovated, with an excellent audioguide available with the entry ticket, the old medieval hospital wards display a fascinating miscellany of treasures, paintings and historic medical equipment; there is also a 15th-century pharmacy. The exhibition culminates in the chapel, which contains the hospital’s priceless collection of Memling paintings (see Two Museums of Bruges).

Music in the headphones changes as you go around – a winning formula (see Musée des Instruments de Musique).

This is one of the most extraordinary museums in Brussels. Antoine Wiertz (1806–65) was an artist whose self-esteem far outstripped his talent. As a young man, he was egged on by patrons, and success went to his head. This grand studio was built so he could paint works on a scale to rival Michelangelo. The grandiose canvases are interesting in themselves, but so too are the smaller works, many so macabre and moralistic they inspire wonderment and mirth.

Brussels is a city of grand old 19th-century mansions, or maisons de maître . This museum provides a rare opportunity to look inside one. The original owner, Henri van Curtsem, commissioned Victor Horta (see Victor Horta) to redesign the interior. In the hands of van Curtsem’s adoptive heir, sculptor Guillaume Charlier, the mansion became a centre for Brussels’ avant-garde. On his death in 1925, Charlier left the house to the city, and it retains much of the decor of his era. There are works by leading artists of the time, such as James Ensor, Léon Frédéric, Fernand Khnopff and Rik Wouters, plus an impressive collection of antique furniture.