Guide to Belgium
Must See Belgium
Places in Belgium
In association with:
At a glance
If Belgium's spotlight on the European stage is a little dim, it's only because its people are rarely boastful. This slow-burning country has more history, art, food and architecture packed into its tiny self than many of its bigger, louder neighbours.
A rich and bubbling vat of beer, chocolate, oil paint and bureaucrats, Belgium gives off the heady pong of the bourgeoisie. But stir the pot a little and you'll find an 'artificial state' roughly made up of two parts Germanic Flemings to one part Celtic-Latin Walloons.
Fast Facts
- Full name:
- Kingdom of Belgium
- Capital city:
- Brussels
- Area:
- 30,510 sq km / 11,780 sq miles
- Population:
- 10,400,000
- Time Zone:
- GMT/UTC +1 (Greenwich Mean Time)
- Language:
- Dutch (official)
Belgium's tangled tongues date back to when Christ was a toddler and Franks were forcing Celts and Gauls into the land's southern regions, making an early form of Dutch the norm in the north. And so it remains, with French the accepted language in the south. Brussels, stuck in the middle, is one of the world's few officially bilingual capitals.
French (official)
French speakers live in Wallonia in the south.
German (official)
- Religion:
- 75% Roman Catholic
- Currency:
- Euro
- Electricity:
- 230V 50Hz
- Electric plug details:
- European plug with two circular metal pins
