Flanders · Old Town
Leuven
A self-guided walking tour of the Leuven Old Town, every street in one day.
Every street on the menu.
Every street in the Old Town of Leuven is a line of dots you collect by walking it. I have been lying in one of them for six hundred years and I am still not finished.
At a glance
Plan your walk.
- Distance
- 22.9 km
- Time
- about 6.5 hours
- Streets
- 97
- Steps
- 6 streets with steps
- Start point
- Stadhuis van Leuven
- Phone needed while walking
- no
- Works offline
- yes
- Expires
- never
The Old Town
Every street, drawn.
Every lane inside that line is a course. The circles are fruit.
Landmarks
What I would eat first.
Landmarks are fruit. The bigger the sight, the bigger the bonus.
Stadhuis van Leuven 1,500 points
Count the figures in the niches, if you have the afternoon. I do. They only moved in between 1852 and 1907, which makes every one of them younger than the wall holding it up.
M-Museum 500 points
It has a roof terrace. Go up, and the roofs you have walked under all afternoon line up in one row. I rarely get to look down on a street.
Martelarenplein 500 points
The eastern edge of the level, and the way most people arrive. They come off the trains in a hurry and go back in a hurry, which I find fascinating. Look up at the houses here. Not one of them has stood as long as it looks.
Sint-Pieterskerk 500 points
The town drew its first wall in a rough circle with this church at the centre, so here you are standing in the middle of the Old Town. Walk round to the west end and look up at where the stone gives out. Why it gives out there is waiting for you in the church, and I am saving it for you. Dessert comes last.
Universiteitsbibliotheek 500 points
The tower is open to visitors and there is no lift. Good. From the balcony the whole flat country lies out around you, and every step up was yours.
Eerste stadsomwalling van Leuven 250 points
Most of it is gone, and you will walk its line all day without knowing. The shape of this whole level is the shape it left behind. Bits surface between the buildings if you look sideways.
Hemeltoren De Eerste Verstoring 250 points
A tower of dirt, rammed solid, set in a courtyard where everything else was quarried. Small, brown and entirely serious. Best texture on this level, and I have views about texture.
Pater Damiaanplein 250 points
Named for a man who left this town for an island on the far side of the world. He is back now, and he is not going anywhere. Neither am I.
Sint-Geertruiabdij 250 points
The far north tip of the ring, where the lanes empty out and the water comes back. There is a garden behind it that most visitors miss. I did not.
Sint-Jan de Doperkerk 250 points
The far south end, and the reason this level reaches down there at all. UNESCO listed the entire neighbourhood: brick, footbridges, no traffic, and a church in the middle of it. Nobody here is in a hurry.
Eating
Actual food.
Leuven sits on one corner of a triangle drawn by a vegetable. After the First World War the chicory fields spread out from Brussels until they ran from Brussels to Mechelen to Leuven. Grapes grow under glass towards Brussels, peaches on the ridges of the Hageland to the east, and here in town a mustard maker has worked since 1924. A town surrounded by its own lunch.
Meat and fish
Two, on purpose. The stew and the shrimp croquettes on half the menus in town belong to the whole of Flanders. These two belong to Brabant.
Zwarte en witte pensen
Brabant's two sausages, and they come from the butcher rather than the restaurant. The black one is pork and blood with clove and allspice. The white one is lean pork with nutmeg and mace. Both are bound with crumb from giant loaves baked for nothing else, and Brabant likes them dry and firm. I respect a sausage with structure.
Sources: Streekproduct.be (VLAM)
Witloof met hesp en kaassaus
Chicory rolled in ham, buried in cheese sauce and baked. Belgium is the only country that grows it the old way, forced in the dark under a cover of soil, and the fields start a short ride out of town. The oven turns the bitter leaf soft. The cheese does the rest of the arguing.
Sources: Streekproduct.be (VLAM), Visit Leuven
Vegetarian
Kaastaart uit de Druivenstreek
A fair-day tart from the grape villages towards Brussels, where they also call it kijs-toet. People made it at home and, having no oven, carried it to the village baker. It is never much higher than four centimetres, golden with a darker rim and usually a crack across the top. The saying is thin in the crust and thick in the filling. The saying is right.
Every baker has a family recipe for the filling, so ask what is in it.
Sources: Streekproduct.be (VLAM)
Hoegaardse suikervlaai
A double tart from Hoegaarden, east of town: a sugar tart and a custard tart that one family of bakers put together in 1896 and never took apart again. Milk, butter, eggs, flour, yeast and sugar, and the sugar is local, because beet once grew all over these fields. It is lighter than it sounds. I checked.
It is baked out in Hoegaarden, so ask a Leuven baker before you count on finding a slice.
Sources: Streekproduct.be (VLAM)
Hagelandse moutspeculaas
Speculaas spices got scarce and expensive, so the bakers of Hoegaarden swapped them for roasted malt, which tastes of caramel and a little spice all on its own. The recipe was learned in Brussels during the First World War and carried home with the machine and the wooden moulds. Crisp figures of a marquis and a marquise. I eat the marquis first. Rank is rank.
Sources: Streekproduct.be (VLAM)
Vegan
Zachte mosterd uit het Leuvense
Mustard seed, vinegar, water and salt, and nothing else, ground between real millstones. The house behind it has made mustard under the name De Ster since 1924. Every Flemish region once had mustard to its own taste, and Leuven chose the mild one. I find that polite.
Vlaams-Brabantse tafeldruif
Table grapes from small glasshouses in the grape villages towards Brussels, grown by hand from start to finish. Every bunch is thinned out berry by berry, about a quarter of an hour each, until seventy or eighty are left. Europe has protected the name since 2008. That is a great deal of care for something I would eat in one go.
Sources: Streekproduct.be (VLAM), Gemeente Hoeilaart
Perzik uit het Hageland
A white peach from the ridges of the Hageland, east of town, in local varieties that go back to the 1800s. Flemish peach growing had its best years in the 1960s, before imports took the trade. One of the old varieties is called Lieveling, which means darling. Nobody names a peach that by accident.
The season runs from late June to mid August. Outside it, this card is only a story.
Sources: Streekproduct.be (VLAM)
Late breakfast
Bar Leuv come for the one thing: the savoury brunch waffle
Parijsstraat 6
Brunch on a waffle instead of bread, topped savoury: egg and bacon to begin with, pulled pork if you mean it. A kitchen fire shut it for four months and people bought vouchers to wait it out. A town that waits that long for a waffle has its priorities in order.
- Mon10:00–16:00
- Tue10:00–16:00
- Wed10:00–16:00
- Thu10:00–16:00
- Fri10:00–16:00
- Sat10:00–17:00
- Sun10:00–17:00
Walk in. Groups of five or more can book, but only before 11:00 or after 14:00.
Sources: Made in Vlaams-Brabant, Het is de Merckx, Horeca Guru
Nosh where locals go
Naamsestraat 14
More than twenty ways to fill a bagel, and pancakes stacked the American way. Nobody takes a booking. You walk in, you wait a little, you eat. A queue for bread is a queue I understand.
- Mon09:00–16:00
- Tue09:00–16:00
- Wed09:00–16:00
- Thu09:00–16:00
- Fri09:00–16:00
- Sat09:00–16:00
- Sun09:00–16:00
No reservations, so expect a short wait at busy times.
Sources: june. a travel magazine, Het is de Merckx, Horeca Guru
Afternoon coffee
Onan Parijsstraat the old one
Parijsstraat 28
In 2004 this was the only specialty coffee bar in Leuven. There are thirty eight now, and this counter on Parijsstraat is where the count started. Take a slice of the banana cake with it.
- Mon08:00–17:30
- Tue08:00–17:30
- Wed08:00–17:30
- Thu08:00–17:30
- Fri08:00–17:30
- Sat08:00–17:30
- Sun08:00–17:30
Onan now has two bars facing each other. This one is at Parijsstraat 28.
Sources: Koffietje.nl, VRT NWS, Made in Vlaams-Brabant, BE Vegan
MOK Diestsestraat come for the one thing: the avocado toast on sourdough
Diestsestraat 165
Where MOK started, on the shopping street, before the roasting moved to Brussels. Order a pour over and the avocado toast on Korst sourdough. The toast is the part I can vouch for.
- Mon09:00–18:00
- Tue09:00–18:00
- Wed09:00–18:00
- Thu09:00–18:00
- Fri09:00–18:00
- Sat10:00–18:00
- Sunclosed
Sources: Le Fooding, Visit Leuven, Koffietje.nl
Noir Coffeebar where locals go
Naamsestraat 49
A small bar on Naamsestraat that roasts its own coffee under another name, Tāne. It bakes too, and there is vegan cake on the counter. I cannot drink coffee, but I have views on what comes with it.
- Mon08:30–17:30
- Tue08:30–17:30
- Wed08:30–17:30
- Thu08:30–17:30
- Fri08:30–17:30
- Sat09:30–17:30
- Sun11:00–17:00
Sources: Visit Leuven, Koffietje.nl, BE Vegan, The New Journey
Dinner
Guzzi come for the one thing: the sourdough pizza
Frederik Lintsstraat 5
A town house with a garden behind it, where the pizzas are sourdough and come out of a clay oven. The rest of the menu is Italian and simple on purpose. Come for the crust. I know a thing or two about being crisp on the outside.
The house's own website has no opening hours yet, so check before you walk over.
Sources: MICHELIN Guide, Visit Leuven
Ah! Quy Alfons Smetsplein where locals go
Alfons Smetsplein 4
Counter seats, wobbly tables and a banh mi on a proper baguette, filled with lemongrass chicken, pork, beef or tofu. There is pho too, for the cold months. A sandwich this serious makes me rethink bread.
- Mon11:45–15:00, 17:00–20:30
- Tue11:45–15:00, 17:00–20:30
- Wed11:45–15:00, 17:00–20:30
- Thu11:45–15:00, 17:00–20:30
- Fri11:45–15:00, 17:00–20:30
- Sat11:45–15:00, 17:00–20:30
- Sun11:45–15:00, 17:00–20:30
For the plant version, ask for tofu and ask what goes into the sauce.
Sources: Le Fooding, Visit Leuven
Checked 13 September 2026.
Name origin
Why it is called Leuven.
The old form of the name is Loven. In Loven, lo means a wood and ven means a marsh, so the whole name is a marsh in a wood. That is the least promising address I have ever been handed, and somebody built a city on it anyway.
Sources: inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be
Why here
Somebody stood here and decided.
A road came down from Tienen towards Elewijt and crossed the Dijle right here, and a crossing is a place where everybody has to slow down. The low part of town sits on the flat river ground, the rest climbs the terraces on either side, which is why so many street names here end in -berg. In 1014 Count Lambert moved his stronghold onto the island in the river, and the town grew around him.
Sources: inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be
Why then
When the first stone went down.
Nobody founded Leuven. The name simply turns up: Luanium, written into the Annales Vedastini in 884 by people living somewhere else entirely. The town as a town starts later, when a count decided this crossing was worth sitting on. I was here for all of it and nobody wrote me down once.
Sources: inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be
Who ruled
Everyone who thought they owned this.
I outlasted all of them. It is the one thing I am good at.
- 1014–1188
The counts. In 1014 Count Lambert moved his stronghold out of the older settlement and onto the island in the river, which is the moment this becomes a town with somebody in charge of it. The family kept growing, and by 1188 the county of Leuven had turned into the duchy of Brabant.
Sources: inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be
- 1188–1430
The dukes of Brabant, though not from here for long. In the second half of the 13th century Leuven lost its position as the ducal residence to Brussels and never got it back. What Leuven did about that was ask for a university and build itself a new town hall, both of them aimed squarely at the neighbours.
Sources: inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be
- 1430–1795
Burgundy, then the Habsburgs. Brabant passed to Duke Philip the Good in 1430 because a cousin died without children, and in 1482 the whole set of provinces went to the Habsburgs the same way. Nobody here was consulted either time. The title outlived the men who held it and ended in 1795, when France annexed the lot.
Sources: nl.wikipedia.org
- 1795–1830
France, then the Netherlands. The French closed the university in 1797: being famously Catholic did it no good under that government. Twenty years later, in 1817, King William I of the Netherlands opened it again as a state university that was meant to be impartial. Nobody in Leuven was asked about either decision.
Sources: www.kuleuven.be
- 1830–
Belgium. A provisional government declared independence on 4 October 1830, and in 1834 the Belgian bishops made the university Catholic again. That was the first time in eight hundred years the question of who runs this town was settled anywhere near it.
Sources: www.belgium.be; www.kuleuven.be
The emblem
What the shield means.
This one is not a shield. Leuven's arms are a red field with a single silver band across it: a fine thing on a flag and a useless thing to recognise from across a screen. So the icon is the town hall instead. Steep roof, four octagonal stair turrets with open stonework crowns, and three tiers of niches down the front.
Sources: nl.wikipedia.org; inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be
Emblem: Original artwork for Cobble Gobble — no third-party source
Three facts
Three things I know about this place.
Look at Leuven on a map and the centre sits inside a hard ring of boulevards. That ring is a wall. From 1805 the outer town wall and its gates came down, the dismantling ran on from 1812 to 1828, and the empty strip was laid out as boulevards. Everything inside it is the Old Town. The circle you walk in this level is the smaller, older ring inside that one.
Sources: inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be
Leuven asked for its university itself. The city put in the request, the duke of Brabant and the local clergy backed it, and on 9 December 1425 Pope Martin V granted it in a bull called Sapientie immarcessibilis. It is the oldest university in the Low Countries, and students have been wearing down these streets for six hundred years. That is a slow way to eat a street, but it counts.
Sources: www.kuleuven.be
The dukes kept a castle on the hill just north of the Old Town. By 1783 it was falling apart, and the emperor in Vienna decided to have it pulled down and the building stone sold off. That is the most efficient thing anybody in this story ever did. I still think about the stone.
Sources: inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be
Street words
What the names on the signs mean.
- straat
- The plain word for a street. Kortestraat is the short one, Rechtestraat the straight one, Bovenstraat and Benedenstraat the upper and the lower. Dutch does not spend much on street names.
- -sestraat
- A street named after where it takes you. Brusselsestraat leaves for Brussels, Mechelsestraat for Mechelen, Diestsestraat for Diest, Tiensestraat for Tienen, Naamsestraat for Namur, Parijsstraat for Paris. Six roads out of one town.
- berg
- A hill. Ramberg, Karmelietenberg, Collegeberg, Drie-Engelenberg, Sint-Antoniusberg. Flat country, and the Old Town still manages a climb every second lane.
- gang
- A passage between houses, barely wide enough to be a street and counted as one anyway. Busleidengang, Hallengang, Puttegang. My favourite width.
- pad
- A path. Mercatorpad, Ruteriuspad, Wolvenpoortpad, De Angelispad. No car has ever been on one, and they still have dots.
- markt
- A market square. The Grote Markt has the big buildings facing each other across it, the Oude Markt is one street away, and Vismarkt sold fish. I approve of a square named after what it sold.
The size of it
Walk it in a day: Leuven in numbers.
Counted from the streets in the level itself, not from a guidebook.
- 97streets
- 1,189dots
- 18.7km of street
- 22.9km on foot
- 6.6hours at a stroll
Nearby
Old Towns close to this one.
The game
Your first city is free.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone. Claim any city as your free one. Every other city is a one-time purchase you keep for good, Family Sharing included, and a city you own plays fully offline.