Rouge Cloître

Belgium

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The Rouge Cloître, an education-focused arts centre occupying a 14th-century abbey in the Forêt de Soignes (about a 40-minute drive from Brussels), offers a playground suitable for kids up to about 12.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Belgium, Antwerp, garden in Peter Paul Ruben's house

    Rubenshuis

    27.99 MILES

    This delightfully indulgent 1611 mansion was built as a home and studio for celebrated painter Pieter Paul Rubens. It was rescued from ruins in 1937 and…

  • Interiors of Notre dame d'Anvers cathedral, Anvers, Belgium

    Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal

    28.23 MILES

    Belgium’s finest Gothic cathedral was 169 years in the making (1352–1521). Wherever you wander in Antwerp, its gracious, 123m-high spire has a habit of…

  • BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - August 09, 2014: General view of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, one of the most visited museums in Belgium with its large art collection.; Shutterstock ID 586734455; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts POI

    Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts

    4.18 MILES

    This prestigious museum incorporates the Musée d’Art Ancien (ancient art); the Musée d’Art Moderne (modern art), with works by surrealist Paul Delvaux and…

  • Museum Plantin-Moretus

    Museum Plantin-Moretus

    28.09 MILES

    The medieval building and 1622 courtyard garden alone would be worth a visit, but it's the world's oldest printing press, priceless manuscripts and…

  • The museum of musical instruments "Old England", Brussels, Belgium

    Old England Building

    4.18 MILES

    This 1899 former department store is an art nouveau showpiece with a black facade aswirl with wrought iron and arched windows. The building contains the…

  • Triumphal Arch at Parc du Cinquantenaire in the EU Quarter.

    Parc du Cinquantenaire

    2.81 MILES

    Parc du Cinquantenaire was built during Léopold II's reign. It's best known for its cluster of museums – art, history, military and motor vehicles – which…

  • TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY Laurent Thomet.A picture taken on July 28, 2011 shows stuffed rhinoceros at the Brussels Royal Institute for Natural Sciences Museum. It was a daring daytime robbery at the natural science museum. The two thieves snuck into the rhino gallery and ripped a stuffed head off the wall. They carried it to a restroom, opened a window, and dropped the 30-kilo trophy two-stories down to an accomplice waiting in a van. The museum had never been robbed until the July heist, when it became the latest of a rising number of science museums in Europe targetted by thieves for rhino horns, which can fetch tens of thousands of euros on the black market. AFP PHOTO / GEORGES GOBET (Photo credit should read GEORGES GOBET/AFP/Getty Images)

    Institut des Sciences Naturelles

    3.31 MILES

    Thought-provoking and highly interactive, this museum has far more than the usual selection of stuffed animals. But the undoubted highlight is a unique …

  • Lace making in Bruges, 2014. The intricate lace patterns in Belgium are unmatched in any other country. The lace trade rose during the early Renaissance. Emperor Charles V decreed that lace-making should be a compulsory skill for girls in convents and beguines throughout Flanders. Lace became fashionable on collars and cuffs for both sexes. Trade reached a peak in the 18th century. Lace makers are traditionally women. Hundreds of craftswomen still work in Bruges and Brussels, centres of bobbin lace, creating intricate work by hand, often using over 100 threads per bobbin. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

    Musée Mode & Dentelle

    4.56 MILES

    Lace making has been one of Flanders’ finest crafts since the 16th century. While kloskant (bobbin lace) originated in Bruges, naaldkant (needlepoint lace…

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Nearby Belgium attractions

1. Jean Massart Experimental Garden

0.13 MILES

This 5-hectare garden in the Forêt de Soignes (about a 40-minute drive from Brussels) features a wonderful collection of 300 medicinal plants, with a…

2. Forêt de Soignes

1.09 MILES

This vast suburban forest about a 40-minute drive from Brussels is a botanical cathedral of glorious towering beech trees. Many were planted by proto…

3. Tram Museum

1.36 MILES

Volunteer-run museum with some lovely old trams, which you can clamber onto. Pay a little extra for a ride on a historic vehicle.

4. Palais Stoclet

1.89 MILES

The radically geometric exterior of the 1911 Palais Stoclet is an early premonition of art deco: the architect was instructed to produce a Gesamtkunstwerk…

5. Boghossian Foundation

2.55 MILES

Architecture fans should take the trip to this striking, symmetrical, 1930s villa, which combines austere design with gorgeously opulent materials: marble…

6. Maison Cauchie

2.72 MILES

Built in 1905, this stunning house was the home of architect and painter Paul Cauchie (1875–1952), and its sgraffito facade, adorned with graceful female…

7. Parc du Cinquantenaire

2.81 MILES

Parc du Cinquantenaire was built during Léopold II's reign. It's best known for its cluster of museums – art, history, military and motor vehicles – which…

8. Autoworld

2.82 MILES

Autoworld displays one of Europe’s biggest ensembles of vintage and 20th-century cars. Among all the four-wheelers, notice the Harley Davidson the present…