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Among the fields and farmhouses near Waterloo, 15 km (9 miles) south of Brussels, Napoleon was finally defeated. The battlefield has been a tourist site virtually since the battle itself. The modern Visitor Centre, next to the Butte de Lion mound, is a useful place to start.

Belgium’s biggest and best-known theme park – a good day out for the kids (see Walibi Belgium).

The magnificent ancient beech forests of Soignes provide a splendid landscape for walking or cycling – particularly in autumn, when the beech trees turn golden. There are two arboretums, at Groenendaal and Tervuren, and an information centre on the site of the 14th-century Abbaye de Rouge-Cloître.

An attractive town on the confluence of the Rivers Meuse and Sambre, Namur is famous above all for its mighty Citadelle (open Jun–Sep), perched dramatically on a steep-sided hill.

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.

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.

Ostend (spelt Oostende locally) is famous as a resort and for its excellent seafood. It also has surprisingly good collections of art, in the Provinciaal Museum voor Moderne Kunst and the Museum voor Schone Kunsten.

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.

A pretty cluster of late-medieval buildings is all that remains of the once-prosperous town at the head of the canal to Bruges. A pleasant excursion by bus or bicycle.

Ieper (French: Ypres) was one of the great medieval trading cities of Flanders. Its historic past was all but erased when it became the focal point of bitter trench warfare in World War I. Today it is the centre for visits to the trenches and the many cemeteries, and site of the Menin Gate, the memorial arch marking the road along which so many soldiers marched, never to return. But the real draw is “In Flanders Fields”, a superb museum depicting the background and course of the war, its experiences, textures and horrors – a richly informative and deeply moving experience.