The places that make Mechelen: St Rumbold's Tower, Grote Markt and town hall, Haverwerf and more, with what is on there next.
The tower of St Rumbold's Cathedral rises 97 metres and holds two carillons. You climb 538 steps to the Skywalk at the top, with floors on the way to catch your breath and a quest for children. It is on UNESCO's list of belfries.
The main square, about a hectare in size. The town hall fills its east side: a 14th-century cloth hall, the belfry (a World Heritage Site) and the Palace of the Great Council, begun in 1526 and only finished in 1911. Maanrock's main stage stands here in August, and the city sees in the New Year here.
The quay on the Dijle where oats were once unloaded, across the water from the Vismarkt. Its three old houses by the bridge, from the 16th and 17th centuries, are what everyone stops for. The electric tour boats leave from here, and in December the Christmas market runs along it.
A walkway along and on the Dijle, with a floating stretch between the Haverwerf and the Kruidtuin park. You see the backs of the old houses and plenty of water birds. Get on at the Haverwerf, by the Fonteinbrug or at the Raghenoplein.
The Renaissance town palace of Hieronymus van Busleyden, now the museum of Mechelen's Burgundian age, when the city was the capital of the Burgundian Netherlands. Until 11 April 2027 the exhibition Bourgondisch Tafelen is about eating and drinking in the 15th and 16th centuries. The two gardens are free, from 10:00 to 17:00.
Museum, memorial and documentation centre on the Holocaust and human rights. Between 1942 and 1944 the Nazis deported more than 25,000 Jews, Roma and Sinti from this barracks. The museum building by bOb Van Reeth opened in 2012; children from 9 can follow a family trail.
Toys played with in Belgium from the Middle Ages to today, and a hall full of games to try. Until 3 January 2027 a hands-on exhibition follows Stinkhond, the dog from the children's books, with a marble run and a maze.
The large beguinage, a World Heritage Site: quiet lanes of small houses, all protected monuments, that the beguines built inside the city walls after 1560. People live here, so keep your voice down.
