Flanders · Self-guided walk
Leuven in one walk 8 sights, 60 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Leuven Old Town: 8 sights on one 4.1 km loop, about 60 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 4.1 km, a loop
- Time
- about 60 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Stadhuis van Leuven
- Steps
- on Grote Markt, Martelarenplein, Monseigneur Ladeuzeplein
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Leuven walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Leuven, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Stadhuis van Leuven
the start
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.
Next: Sint-Pieterskerk, 190 m, about 3 min, along Grote Markt.
2. Sint-Pieterskerk
about 3 minutes of walking from the start
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.
Next: Eerste stadsomwalling van Leuven, 130 m, about 2 min, along Parijsstraat.
3. Eerste stadsomwalling van Leuven
about 5 minutes of walking from the start
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.
Next: Hemeltoren De Eerste Verstoring, 520 m, about 8 min, along Brusselsestraat, Handbooghof.
4. Hemeltoren De Eerste Verstoring
about 13 minutes of walking from the start
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.
Next: Sint-Geertruiabdij, 500 m, about 8 min, along Handbooghof, Mechelsestraat.
5. Sint-Geertruiabdij
about 20 minutes of walking from the start
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.
Next: Martelarenplein, 1,390 m, about 21 min, along Sint-Geertruiabdij, Vital Decosterstraat, Bondgenotenlaan.
6. Martelarenplein
about 41 minutes of walking from the start
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.
Next: Universiteitsbibliotheek, 720 m, about 11 min, along Bondgenotenlaan, Koning Leopold I-straat.
7. Universiteitsbibliotheek
about 52 minutes of walking from the start
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.
Next: M-Museum, 400 m, about 6 min.
8. M-Museum
about 58 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Tue 11:00–18:00, Thu 11:00–22:00, Fri–Sun 11:00–18:00, Wed closed
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.
Back to the start: Stadhuis van Leuven, 220 m, about 3 min, along Eikstraat.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Leuven.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 97 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Leuven Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.