A day in Namur - Self guided tour with some beer

Not many options pop up when you are looking what to do in Namur. I decided to create my own walking tour to make the best out of it. Check it out!

Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia. This city is less frequented by tourists than the bigger Belgian cities but has a rich history nonetheless!

You can easily reach Namur from Brussels by car or by train. I chose the latter. I arrived to Namur at 11am and I spent about half a day walking around the city, the walking took about 2.5 hours, and I spent some time enjoying my lunch and my beer.

Here is how it looked like:

The tour starts and ends an the Namur train station, and these are the stops I made:

Parc Louise-Marie (2)

A nice park to walk through with a lake, some playgrounds, some statues, and an old arc. A cool place to just sit and relax if the weather allows it

Namur Cathedral (3)

St. Aubin's Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral, and the country's only cathedral in academic Late Baroque style. The cathedral is quite impressive from the outside, but I did not manage to go in

Citadel of Namur (4)

Probably the main attraction of the city. The citadel was originally built in 937, but the current version of it stands since the 17th century, when it was under Dutch control.

The Citadel has a few trails inside, and it takes about an hour to walk all of them and see all the landmarks. The citadel also offers a view on the city as it is the highest point, and there are plenty of benches at every viewpoint to just sit and enjoy the views.

There is also a museum in the middle of the cathedral, but I opted not to visit it as it was too full.

Place d'Armes (5)

The main square. On it's own it is not very impressive, but it is the central point of the city, and has everything surrounding it from restaurants to Namur's old Chamber of Commerce.

Bonus (5)

In case you are a beer lover, there is a beer shop on the corner of the square, named Craft Beer Market de Namur. The shop offers a wide variety of both local and foreign craft beers, and the staff is extremely helpful (and even speaks English!).

Belfry of Namur (5)

Behind Namur's old Chamber of Commerce, stands the Belfry of Namur. The tower was built in 1388 as part of the city wall, became a belfry in 1746. From my understanding the tower today is also a museum, but it was closed during my visit so I cannot share how it looks like inside.

Royal Theater (6)

The theater was built in 1863, and it is one of the main attraction in the city. It hosts plays and events. Check their website to see what is going to be there when you visit!

Lunch

There are a lot of food options around the city center. Choose your favorite style and enjoy your meal. I did not find any of it extraordinary enough to mention by name.

Beer (7)

Unlike the case with the food, for beer I did find a place worth mentioning. A bar called Barnabeer that offers a mix between the traditional Belgian beer, the modern Belgian beer, and even a good variety of foreign beers. The place offers about 50 beers on tap and many more in bottles. They even have their own special beer!

Back to the train station

After half a day of walking, eating and drinking beer I made my way back to the train station to pick my bag up from the locker and continue my journey.

Final thoughts

I imagine this day does not look too impressive, but I did enjoy walking on the beautiful old streets of the city, seeing the citadel and the rest of the historic pieces the city has to offer. I could have done a lot more by entering each and every one of them, but that is not my style - maybe it is yours!

The best part for me was finishing the day with some Belgian beers in a place that looks quite unusual for the Belgian beer culture at the moment.

Did this "walking tour" help you plan? Share it with your friends. Did it inspire you? Make one of your own!