Curious to know where to find the most beautiful gardens and parks in Belgium? You have come to the right place! Because here they are!
Visiting gardens and parks became more popular since the pandemic, so I explored quite a lot of them. Especially during spring they turn into these magical colorful places! I visited a lot of gardens and parks during spring in Belgium to chase flowers and blossoms, but during the summertime you’ll also find a lot of flowers and autumn is the perfect season to encounter some nice warm colors as well!
My home country Belgium actually has quite a lot of beautiful gardens and parks to offer. The country mostly famous for its chocolate, beer and fries, even has one of the biggest botanical gardens in the world and the largest greenhouse! Since Belgium also has over 3000 castles spread over the country, it does not come as a surprise there are a lot of beautiful castle domains to explore as well! Ready to discover these beautiful places in Belgium?
If you are curious to find out more about Belgium you might also like to discover its hidden gems and fairytale castles!
This post shall be updated regularly since I will continue to explore my home country Belgium.
10 most beautiful gardens and parks in Belgium
1. Rivierenhof in Deurne, one of the most diverse and active parks in Belgium
The Rivierenhof in Deurne is one of my favorite parks in Antwerp. It has a surface of 132 ha of park to explore with two castles: Sterckshof and Rivierenhof. The park contains several ponds filled with fish and water birds, a fairytale house, a rose garden, a maze to get lost in and even a petting zoo! You can play mini golf here and even go to a concert at the OLT venue!
During spring you can do a magnolia tour, but there are many more flowers and blossoms to find in this beautiful park! What I love the most about this park is that it has a wide variety of landscapes. There are lawns to picnic or play, forest areas, landscaped gardens and the gorgeous ponds. If you are ever in Antwerp, make sure to plan some time in this fantastic park!
Location: Turnhoutsebaan 246, 2100 Antwerp
Opening hours: 6:30am–10:30pm
Entrance: free
2. The castle garden of Groot-Bijgaarden
Once a year, in April, you can enter the grounds of the castle of Groot-Bijgaarden. During that time it turns into the most beautiful garden in Belgium, thanks to the spring flower exposition called Floralia. This event turns the domain into a mini Keukenhof, where you will find all existing bulb flowers! You can admire tulips, with almost 400 varieties, and hyacinths and daffodils. Over one million flowers are planted in the park for this colorful event!
Location: Isidoor van Beverenstraat 5, 1702 Dilbeek
Opening hours: 10am–6pm / April
Entrance: 14€
3. Hof ter Linden in Edegem, a wild local park
This is the park in Belgium you’ll find me the most, since it is situated near my home town and my parental house. Also in this park you’ll find a small castle (Belgium after all has the greatest number of castles per square kilometer in the world!). What I love the most about this park is that it isn’t completely landscaped. It is not that big, but at some parts it really seems as if you are somewhere deep in the woods and there are many different paths to discover.
Also here you’ll find a lot of blossom trees and wild flowers. This park looks different every two weeks, so I love returning here often!
Location: Drie Eikenstraat 5, 2650 Edegem
Opening hours: 24/24
Entrance: free
4. Japanese garden in Hasselt
With its 2.5 hectares, it is the biggest Japanese garden of Europe! You can visit the teahouse and the ceremony house called Korokan, where they organise the tea ceremonies. During spring you’ll find 225 Japanese cherry blossoms trees (sakura), but there are also apricot trees, bamboo, pine trees and Japanese maple trees that change into a beautiful red during autumn. Beside these trees, there are also many flowers to admire and there is also a beautiful waterfall, which symbolizes the flow of life. This is definitely a garden in Belgium you need to visit during spring or autumn!
Location: Gouverneur Verwilghensingel 15, 3500 Hasselt
Opening hours: 10am–5pm, closed on Monday
Entrance: 6€
5. Alden Biesen in Bilzen, the most beautiful castle garden in Belgium
In the small town of Rijkhoven, situated in the Bilzen municipality you’ll encounter the magnificent Grand Commandery Alden Biesen. This castle is surrounded by the most romantic garden! I especially loved the French garden with its many tulips and the wooden boardwalk that leads through the fruit trees. There is also a big English landscaped garden which was constructed in 1786-87 by order of the last Grand Commander of the castle.
Location: Kasteelstraat 6, 3740 Bilzen
Opening hours: 9.30am – 5.30pm
Entrance: free
6. Vrijbroekpark in Mechelen, a big city park in Belgium
This park is situated at the border of the city center of Mechelen. It has a surface of 65 ha so there is plenty to explore in this fantastic park in Belgium! When I visited the Vrijbroekpark a while ago to go see the cherry blossom tree tunnels, I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of this big city park! It has a beautiful pond, but also a large rose garden, an ecotope garden and a summer garden. A lot of people come here to fish or jog.
Location: Ridder Dessainlaan 65, 2800 Mechelen
Opening hours: from sunrise to sunset
Entrance: free
7. Botanic garden in Meise
One of the biggest botanical gardens in Belgium ànd in the world can be visited in Meise! The garden itself consists of the Bouchout castle surrounded by ponds and huge lawns. There is an orangery where you can enjoy a drink or a snack, a maze, an oak and rose garden, a medicinal garden and a herboretum. But the most impresive to me was the Plant Palace, which is the biggest greenhouse in the world! It is extremely humid and warm inside, otherwise the tropical plants you can find here can’t grow. There is a wide variety of flowers and plants to be admired inside and I loved that I was able to walk through the palm trees once I walked up the stairs.
Location: Nieuwelaan 38, 1860 Meise
Opening hours: 9.30am – 6.30pm
Entrance: 9€
8. The oldest botanical garden in Belgium; Kruidtuin in Leuven
In Leuven I found the most beautiful botanical garden! From the moment I entered, I stumbled upon a purple wisteria lane surrounded by one of the most magical gardens in Belgium I had ever seen! The university of Leuven created this garden in 1738 for its students of medicine. The garden is over 2 hectares big and showcases a wide variety of plants, herbs, trees and flowers such as tulips, azaleas, rhododendrons,… It is a nice quiet place where people come to read a book in the sun or take a stroll with the kids who seemed to love the turtles in the greenhouse a lot!
Location: Kapucijnenvoer 30, 3000 Leuven
Opening hours: 8am – 8pm (Sunday: 9am – 8pm)
Entrance: free
9. Botanical garden in Antwerp
Even though this botanical garden is quite small with a size of barely 1 ha, it is worth mentioning. It is a nice place to relax from the bustling Antwerp city center. It was created in 1825 and it used to be the medicinal garden of the Saint Elisabeth hospital next door. You can find the world in this garden with remarkable trees, cacti and plants. There is a small waterfall with a pond where you’ll also find koi fish.
Location: Leopoldstraat 24, 2000 Antwerp
Opening hours: 8am – 8pm (Summer) / 8am – 5.30pm (Winter)
Entrance: free
Domaine Solvay in La Hulpe
This extensive park in Belgium surrounds Château de la Hulpe which is situated on a hill. The castle overlooks the massive park of over 220 hectares. The park was renovated in 1893 by Ernest Solvay and it consists of woods, lawns and ponds where you can even encounter turtles. Over 450 species of wild plants can be found here and it is the perfect picnic spot on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I absolutely loved this place!
Location: Chaussée de Bruxelles 111, 1310 La Hulpe
Opening hours: 8am – 9pm
Entrance: free
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