The Meuse in Liège

Liège

City trip in Liège

Liège is a great destination for a weekend city break or a longer holiday. It’s full of pleasant surprises in both its historic centre and its suburbs, not forgetting the majestic River Meuse flowing through it all. There are many different routes along which to explore the city. For example, there are the picture-postcard views and sights: the Palace of the Prince-Bishops, the Market Square with its Perron centrepiece and the legendary Montagne de Bueren: a flight of 374 stone steps, 194 metres long, rising at a gradient of 28% from the Féronstrée district to the Citadel.

Marina of Liège (c) Céline Lecomte, GEIE Destination Ardenne

Discover the different faces of Liège

 

Then there is the more down-to-earth and lively Outremeuse district across the river that was home to the crime writer Georges Simenon, who set many of his Inspector Maigret stories there. The city is also home to more recent developments, including the largest pedestrianised zone in Europe, the MediaCité shopping centre and the soaring architecture of the new Liège-Guillemins railway station.

The city of Liège (c) Céline Lecomte, GEIE Destination Ardenne
The montagne de Bueren (c) Céline Lecomte, GEIE Destination Ardenne
The Palace of the Prince-Bishops (c) Céline Lecomte, GEIE Destination Ardenne
The Royal Opera of Wallonia (c) Céline Lecomte, GEIE Destination Ardenne

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Alternative ways of getting around the city

The main sights of the city centre are well covered by most guidebooks and maps and it’s easy for visitors of all mobility levels to get around thanks to the flat-paved pedestrianised streets. The River Meuse, historically used to transport commercial and industrial goods and to provide steam and water power, now serves tourists with water-buses that glide along it, stopping frequently on either side, offering mini-cruises for a flat fare of one euro! Step aboard for some down time after a busy spell of sight-seeing or shopping and recharge your batteries. If you’ve travelled to Liège by car, leave it in a car park and hire a bike for the day: as you cycle around the city, you’ll join the many students who cycle here every day. Liège is a city that’s always delving into its past to come up with new ideas and innovations.

The train station of Liège Guillemins (c) Céline Lecomte, GEIE Destination Ardenne

Liège is also the city of Georges Simenon

 

A railway station that’s become an architectural icon

 If you’ve travelled to Liège by train then you will have already walked under the soaring, audacious, curved steel-and-glass roof of Liège-Guillemins station, rebuilt in 2009 to accommodate high-speed Thalys and ICE trains, to a design by international superstar architect Santiago Calatrava, which includes an exhibition space. The city’s nickname La cité ardente (“the glowing city”) may have had its origins in the great fire of 1468 when it was sacked by the Duke of Burgundy’s army, but more recently it has been interpreted in the sense of “the fervent city” that is buzzing with commercial, industrial and intellectual activity. The museums and historic buildings coexist with the famously exuberant, freedom-loving character of its inhabitants, its inordinate pride in the success of its Standard de Liège football team and its position at the hub of professional cycle racing in the Ardennes region, as the first city to have hosted stages of the three great European cycle races (Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España) and as the start and finish point of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège spring classic.

La montagne de Bueren (c) Céline Lecomte, GEIE Destination Ardenne Le centre historique de Liège (c) Céline Lecomte, GEIE Destination Ardenne Liège, ville moderne (c) Céline Lecomte, GEIE Destination Ardenne

Liège is also a centre of gastronomy, where natives and visitors alike enjoy tucking into waffles, boulettes (meatballs), sirop de Liège (a jam-like apple and pear syrup spread on bread), dame blanche (vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce) and pékèt (the local gin). The city pioneered facilities for its inhabitants and visitors with reduced mobility, including wheelchair access to the La Boverie and Hall aux Viandes museums and two wheelchair-friendly tourist trails in the Hors-Château and Cathedral districts. In short, Liège prides itself on listening to its visitors and ensuring they receive the warmest of welcomes.

The speciality of Liège, the meatballs (c) Céline Lecomte, GEIE Destination Ardenne

The proverb that sums up Liège

“Faites comme à Liège, laissez pleuvoir” (“Do like they do in Liège, let it rain”) is a pretty good summary of the city’s attitude: never mind the negative side of things, forget your troubles and stresses and get on with life!

 

In the footsteps of Simenon

“Wherever I am, I always feel Liégeois” said the famous crime novelist Georges Simenon (1903-1989), who was born and grew up in Liège and wrote almost 500 novels, 75 of which feature his best-known character, Inspector Maigret. Today you can follow a Simenon walking trail around places in Liège linked to him.

Useful information

 

Tourism Federation of the Province of Liège, Place de la République française 1, B-4000 Liège
Tel.: +32 (0) 4 237 95 26
www.liegetourisme.be