Top 5 things to do in Louvain-La-Neuve (Wallonia - Belgium)

Louvain-le-Neuve is an easy day-trip and a weekend getaway from Brussels by train. Located just a short ride to the south of Brussels, Louvain-la-Neuve is a university town!

Like everything in Belgium, which is split by or has versions of, Flemish (Dutch) and French, the Catholic University of Leuven also has 2 campuses - Flemish one, KU Leuven, at Leuven in Flemish Brabant and the French one, UC Louvain, at Louvain-la-Neuve in Walloon Brabant. The French term, Louvian-la-Neuve literally means New Leuven! In fact, the entire town was built by UCLovain in the 1970s following the language unrest, and then the rest of the town slowly grew around the university. 

As I walked from the railway station through the town, I realized that UCLouvain (the University of Leuven at Louvain-la-Neuve) is one of those amazing places to be a student. I studied in a university where everything is in one building with 2-3 wings. The idea of the university spread across a town and having to cycle from one building to another to get from one class to another or to the lab or to the library is really fascinating for me! Compared to Leuven itself, this is more relaxed and has more of the student-vibe than Leuven, which felt more like a city. 

As I mentioned above, the raison d'etre of this town is the university which came up in 1970s! So there are not much historic places to visit in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Since Belgium itself is one of the countries with high density of castles, there's ofcourse the Ottignies Castle (Château d'Ottignies), but it is a private property and cannot be properly seen from outside also. Louvain-la-Neuve tourisme primarily is around the museums, art & nature of this region. 

Fondly called Hergé, his original name Georges Remi. He's the founder of Tintin, the beloved comic character from Belgium. Musee Hergé is dedicated to the life and works of Georges Remi aka Hergé. 

Even before you enter, in the grounds is the sculpture of Hergé. This was designed by Tom Frantzen. Hergé is depicted sitting on a tall pile of books and sketching a cartoon on his note pad while his cat, Tintin & Snowy are looking over. Tom Frantzen is the same guy who designed Zinneke Pis and Pieter Bruegel (near Chapel) in Brussels. 

The first thing you'd notice about the Hergé museum is its unique architecture. This was designed by architect Christian de Portzamparc. A bit away from the town centre, almost at the edge of Bois de Lauzelle, Hergé Museum is surrounded by greenery. The quirky architecture in the midst of greenery is just so stunning! To begin with, the building's walls aren't perpendicular to the ground, every wall is slanted! The plan isn't rectangular but an elongated hexagon! Solid walls have been juxtaposed with glass walls in unusual angles while providing plenty of sunlight. Each angle, each wall has a different colour & pattern but they blend so well with each other. There are passages in the building with a view of the Bois du Lauzelle through the glass portions of the wall! 

There are 8 rooms across 2 floors. The tour begins in the 2nd floor. The first two rooms are dedicated to his early life and various skills incl. photography. There are quite a few originals of his sketches displayed on easels. The 3rd room is about the various characters of the comic Tintin. There are dedicated display areas for important characters like Tintin, Snowy. Capt.Haddock, the detectives Thompson & Thompson, Dr.Calculus etc. All the minor characters have been shown together in what looks like a very unique, very contemporary, very modern chandelier! The next room was about Cinema which also talks about the effect of World War II on Cinema. Right here, is also a small photo-op area with green-screen! There is also a small movie theatre.

Walking down to the first floor, the first 2 rooms are about the subjects & ideas behind the comic strips from his scientific concepts and travels. There's even a sculpture of Lord Nataraja here which Georges Remi has depicted in the story Cigars of the Pharaoh! There are many other pieces of art & items from across the world that inspired Hergé and have been depicted in his comics. The next 2 rooms are about how Hergé's comics live on thanks to the work of Studios Hergé. 

Where is Hergé museum (on Google Maps)? Hergé museum

How to reach Hergé museum? 450m (5 mins walk) from Louvain-la-Neuve railway station

Hergé museum tickets: €12; Included in Museumpassmusees. Reservation of time slot has to be done through the official website of Hergé museum

Hergé museum opening hours: Tue to Fri - 10:30AM to 5:20PM; Weekends - 10:30AM to 6:00PM

In simple words, Musee L is a tiny version of the Brussels Art & History Museum (Cinquantenaire Museum). The museum has 6 floors, but it is smaller in size. You'd need a couple of hours to see the entirety of this museum. 

The museum begins with the absolute beginning of mankind with the Palaeontology and Archaeology section on the 2nd floor. The floor also has various inventions of instruments from the microscope to the radio! The 3rd & 4th floors are dedicated to art - both contemporary and historic incl. Greek vases, Roman marbles, Christian art of Europe. 

The 4th floor also has a section for civilization with a copy of the Rosetta Stone (the original of which I saw in the British Museum, London). The 5th floor is dedicated to folk art - both African and European. 

The 5th floor also has a few more world art history where I even spotted a sculpture of Varahi, one of the Saptha Madha (7 women) of Hinduism in India. There's also a small hands-on area to understand colour-mixing, colour theories etc. The 1st floor is majorly dedicated to temporary exhibitions, but there's a small cabinet dedicated to Natural History which was actually the most fun spot for Atyudarini. 

The ground floor has a small picnic area which is where we had our lunch. They also have lockers to leave the bags.

Bois de Rêves & Bois de Lauzelle are the 2 large wooded areas in Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve. While Bois de Lauzelle is very close to city centre, Bois de Rêves is a bit away, closer to Ottignies railway station.

I still haven't visit Bois de Rêves! I wanted to stop by here on my way back from Villers Abbey, but Atyudarini was pretty tired after visiting Villers Abbey, so we skipped it. The most interesting place to visit inside Bois des Rêves is the Museum of Water & Fountains (Musée de l'Eau et de la Fontaine). Apart from this museum, this extensive 66 ha domaine has a waterbody for fishing, a swimming pool, waymarked trails and more.

Bois de Lauzelle is located very close to the centre of Louvain-la-Neuve and begins almost just behind Musee Hergé. This is a small 20 ha forest and there are 3 waymarked trails here - 1km (blue trail), 3km (red trail) and 3.3km (green trail). There are 2 small waterbodies here - Fond de Warlongroux and Mares du bois de Lauzelle. My idea was to go on both the red and blue trails. However, when we visited, it was the time for Frog Migration - for the frogs to come out of hibernation & mate and lay eggs! So the route to reach the water-bodies was blocked to protect the ecology and facilitate frog reproduction. We then walked about aimlessly in the forest before heading back to the railway station to get the train!

Where is Bois de Lauzelle (on Google Maps)? Bois de Lauzelle, Parking of Bois de Lauzelle

Herge Museum, Musee L, Street Art, Bois de Lauzelle

Louvain-la-Neuve is served by an SNCB railway station and is connected by trains from Brussels. The direct train from Brussels to Louvain-la-Neuve runs only on weekdays and once every hour. But it is very easy to head to Ottignies and take another train or bus to Louvain-la-Neuve, a route that has frequent service. 

In the heart of the town are Martin's Louvain-la-Neuve and Martin's All Suites. Very close to Bois de Lauzelle is Ibis Styles. Being a university town, there are actually not too many hotels in Louvain-la-Neuve but there are quite a few Airbnb accommodations & hostels.