scubish.com: Travel information for Namur

Namur is the capital of Wallonia, the French-speaking southern part of Belgium.

Namur is located 60 km south-east of Belgium's capital city, Brussels.
It is easily accessible by road (E411 highway from Brussels), train or boat (The Meuse coming from France and The Samber flow through Namur where they actually meet)

Get around

Namur is a substantial city and might be too large to discover on foot. The layout of the city is complex and navigation is not easy. Cycling does not appear to be very popular with the locals, perhaps due to the number of cobbled streets. On the other hand, many one-way streets are "except bicycles", so cyclists enjoy special privileges.

See

The biggest tourist attraction is the citadel. It is situated on a hill next to the river Meuse (Dutch: Maas) and open for visiting. On a rainy day, the Museum of Old Namurois Art is also worth a visit. It has recorded guiding in English and a collection of Medieval and Renaissance Christian art. The Archaeological Museum, mostly displaying artifacts from Roman Namur, is less organised and interesting. Much of the old city is beautiful, in a rather French style.

Hire a bicycle and cycle up and through the Citadel. This is better than doing it on foot as the access road is mostly wide and uninteresting. There is also a network of mountain bike itineraries beginning and ending in Namur, but the signage, which is very good at the beginning, with large coloured arrows painted on the road, suddenly vanishes without explanation.

A tour company in nearby Dinant (Les Kayaks Bleus, www.lessekayaks.be) organises river kayaking trips. It would probably be possible to paddle downstream all the way to Holland and the North Sea.

Sadly, the Salzinnes swimming pool building was deemed to be structurally unsafe and therefore closed down until further notice, and the local swimming pool is now in adjacent Jambes.

Buy

Namur lacks a proper shopping mall. The inner city supermarkets are one Match and one (smaller) Spar.

Eat

Pâtisserie Café Dumont is cosy and tastefully decorated. Its waffles with whipped cream and melted chocolate are downright decadent. Opening hours 07:30 to 18:30 Monday to Saturday (so one could have breakfast there), 14:30 to 18:30 on Sundays. Le Panorama restaurant, on the Citadel (Route Merveilleuse, 82, Tel. 081/222804) has a terrace with a great view over the city and the river and a free Wi-Fi hotspot. Plat du jour costs under €10.

Drink

Galler is a chocolate shop-cum-café. The café is exquisitely old-fashioned and offers a wide range of hot chocolates. Les Thés de Sophie also sells and serves speciality teas.

Sleep

The Youth Hostel is right by the river and it has free unlimited Wi-Fi, a nice view, a good self-catering kitchen and a bar. They close all common areas by 23:00, however. Guests are required to wash their own dishes after breakfast.

Get out

Namur might also be your gateway to the Ardennes. There is an international train going to Basel, Switzerland.