Light Festival Ghent, Belgium
Every three years the city of Ghent in Belgium lights up with a series of spectacular and imaginative light installations from international artists, the Light Festival Ghent. The Ghent Festival…
Top 10 Nudist Beaches in Europe
For many of us the current year has been one of lockdown. With our collective travel wings clipped, many of us are looking for new places and new ways to…
A Day and a Night in Kortrijk, Belgium
Mark Bibby Jackson visits the beautiful medieval city of Kortrijk in Flanders to discover a place rich in history, with a wonderful cuisine and excellent spa. One of the great…
6 Exotic Festivals Around the World in 2020
As we enter the new year, Travel Begins at 40 selects six exotic festivals around the world to look forward to, from New Zealand to the US, and Japan to…
Essential Antwerp: of Beer and Rubens
Mark Bibby Jackson makes a long overdue visit to see essential Antwerp, the city of Rubens, to visit his first Belgian beer festival and drink in the culture. My stepfather…
Antwerp Christmas Market 2024, Belgium
The medieval city of Antwerp makes for a stunning background to its famous Christmas market. Expanded now into several of the city’s prime historical locations…
9 Things to Do in Antwerp in Winter
Antwerp, one of Lonely Planet’s top 10 cities in 2018 and unofficial capital of Flanders, belongs on everyone’s bucket list. Home to Belgium’s best nightlife and filled with historical monuments…
Brussels Beer Festival: BXL Beer Fest 2024
At the Brussels beer festival “BXL Beer Fest”, over 60 independent brewers show off their artisanal beers. With strictly no room for industrial products at the two-day festival, this is…
Pukkelpop Festival of Music in Belgium
From roaring rock, pumping house and blazing metal to low-fi singer-songwriters, indie and pure pop, young and old will love the Pukkelpop music festival in Belgium featuring one of the…
Brussels Summer Festival 2021, Belgium
The Brussels Summer Festival in August has grown to one of Europe’s not-to-be-missed music festivals. The five-day event will turn the royal quarter of Brussels…
Gentse Feesten 2024 (Ghent Festivities)
During the 10 days of Gentse Feesten (Ghent Festivities), the entire city of Ghent in Belgium turns into Europe’s largest cultural open air festival with over 3,300 international and local…
Dour Festival 2025, Dour in Belgium
Dour Festival is the biggest music event in the French speaking part of Belgium featuring eight stages and attracting a quarter of a million revellers. Held in July, this is…
Zythos Bierfestival 2024 (Zythos Beer Festival)
The Belgian university town of Leuven turns into a mecca of beer when the country’s largest beer festival, the Zythos Bierfestival (ZBF), returns traditionally in the last…
Bruges Beer Festival 2024 Belgium
Since its first edition in 2007 the Bruges Beer Festival (“Brugs Bierfestival” in Flemish) has earned itself a reputation as one of Belgium’s best beer festivals, and that is saying something for the country…
Binche Carnival 2025, Belgium
Eerie, identical wax masks, colossal ostrich plume hats, confetti in churches and orange throwing: the medieval Carnaval de Binche (or Binche Carnival) is like no other in the world. In…
Jazz Brugge Festival 2023, Belgium
During three days Bruges will become the Mecca of jazz when the biannual Jazz Brugge Festival 2018 sees both established names and emerging talent getting this medieval…
Brussels Christmas Market 2024
The Brussels Christmas Market is no doubt one of the best in Europe for food and atmosphere. Winter Wonders – as the market is dubbed – runs over two kilometres through the Belgian…
Belgian Beer from the Man Who Knows
Patrick Monnissen, Brewery Manager at the Brouwerij Bourgogne des Flandres reveals the secrets behind what makes Belgian beer so good, from how it’s brewed…
From Beer to Mussels: Things to Do in Brussels
On a long weekend in the Belgian capital, Mark Bibby Jackson discovers many things to do in Brussels, although most seem to revolve around the city’s delightful bars…
