Spring In Belgium – 23 Beautiful Places You Have To See

This post is also available in:

Do you want to see as many beautiful places as possible during Spring in Belgium? I’ve got you covered!

For me Spring is the most magical season of all with nature slowly coming back to life and the cold Winter that is finally over. Vibrant nature colours start to return and our country actually has some of the most beautiful Spring locations actually!

Belgium is a beautiful country to discover and one that is so much more than simply eating chocolates and waffles in Bruges and drinking Beer in Brussels. There are so many hidden gems in Belgium and in this post I will share my favourite Spring locations with you. It’s a combination of fun things to do during Spring but also has some stunning photography locations!

If you like taking beautiful photos you’ll also be interested in the most beautiful castles in Belgium.

Spring In Belgium – 23 Beautiful Places You Have To See

1. Borrekens Castle

Let’s start with one of the most beautiful castles in the province of Antwerp: Borrekens Castle! The castle itself is private domain and can’t be visited but the park surrounding the castle is absolutely beautiful!

It’s the perfect place to go for a nice stroll on a sunny Spring day. But what makes this place extra special is that this moated castle is surrounded by tall bushes of Rhododendrons!

Ideal blooming period: May – June

2. Boniverlei – Edegem

This isn’t an actual place that you can visit but it is the perfect location to take beautiful photos during Spring in Belgium! The entire lane is lined with cherry blossom trees and they usually first start to bloom at the start of April with full bloom being around the 12th of April.

Important to know is that the Boniverlei is one of the busiest streets in this area so if you choose to go in the middle of the day a lot of people will drive by and you’re bound to have have a lot of cars in your photos!

It’s best to come here very early in the morning or during a school holiday when traffic is less busy!

Ideal blooming period: Halfway through April

3. The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken

Every year the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken open their doors to the public. It’s one of the most beautiful and unique places to visit in Belgium during Spring. During this time most flowers are in full bloom and you get to witness what hundreds of gardeners work tirelessly on during an entire year!

This event only lasts for 3 weeks so make sure to arrive very, very early!. When I visited 2 years ago I made sure to be there at 8.30am, even that it only opens at 9.30am. And, it’s safe to say that I was very happy that I did cause not long after people started cueing up and a ton of tour busses started to arrive. There was a small rope on the other side of the street in front of the entrance which was pointed out as the designated waiting point. As soon as it opens make sure to go to one of the ticket booths (2,5€, free under 18) and head inside.

📖 READ MY FULL GUIDE ON THE GREENHOUSES OF LAEKEN, INCLUDING A LOT MORE DETAILS & PHOTOS – THE ROYAL GREENHOUSES OF LAEKEN, PLAN THE PERFECT VISIT

4. Hallerbos Forest

The beautiful Hallerbos Forest is known for its carpet of bluebells that bloom every year around mid April.

Hallerbos Forest is located in Halle, South West from Brussels and can be easily reached by both car and bus. It’s free to visit and there are hikes especially dedicated to see as many bluebells as possible!

📖 READ MY FULL GUIDE ON THE BLUEBELLS OF HALLERBOS, INCLUDING A LOT MORE DETAILS & PHOTOS – HALLERBOS FOREST, A TRAVEL GUIDE TO THE BLUEBELL FOREST IN BELGIUM

Ideal blooming period: Halfway through April

5. Tulip Fields in Belgium

Yes, you’ve read that right! You don’t actually have to drive all the way up to Lisse in The Netherlands to see these Tulip Fields. For years Dutch farmers have used fields in Belgium to grow their tulips.

They’ve bought a ton of land in the Rode Moerdijk and this is where you’ll be able to see them!

I drove there myself last year when the lockdown was easing up but I wasn’t lucky. By then it was near the end of April and right in front of my eyes they cut down the last set of tulips.

That won’t stop me of course from visiting these tulip fields again this year!

A few things to keep in mind when visiting tulip fields:

• Only walk on the ground in between the rows of tulips
• Don’t take any of the tulips with you. This is someone’s property and a way to earn a living, always be respectful.

📖 READ MY FULL GUIDE INCLUDING A LOT MORE DETAILS, PHOTOS AND THE EXACT LOCATION – WHERE TO FIND TULIP FIELDS IN BELGIUM

Ideal blooming period: Start until Mid April

7. Go for a bicycle ride between the blossoms in Haspengouw

The region of Haspengouw is known for its beautiful variety in blossoms. Here you’ll find apple blossoms, cherry blossoms and pear blossoms!

April is traditionally the blossom month but of course the weather is different every single year and not every fruit blossoms at the exact same time! What you can do is follow this blossom meter to see the best time to visit this beautiful region.

The blossoms can be found from Alden Biesen until Sint Truiden and also the area of Borgloon turns into a magical blossom land this time of year. If you’re visiting this last one make sure to stop by the see through church ‘Reading between the lines’.

Ideal blooming period: Mid April until the end of April

8. Floraliën Ghent

Last year Floralia got postponed unfortunately but this year it will be held from May 1-10 in the city of Ghent! You can see the most beautiful creations at the ICC, Het Kuipke, the Floraliahall or the Plantgarden. The theme of this years edition is ‘My paradise, my wordly garden’.

You can already buy your tickets online and you can even combine it with a visit to the Gardens of Beervelde. These last ones are held in the park of Beervelde, a beautiful hidden gem in Belgium!

And did you know that you can even spend the night at this park in Beervelde? Here you’ll find some of the most unique places to stay in Belgium: Cabins in the Park is a unique concept in Beervelde near Ghent! This camp consists of several glamping cabins where you can fully relax and enjoy the beautiful environment.

9. Floralia Brussels at the Castle of Groot Bijgaarden

The Spring flower exhibition in the park and the greenhouses of the castle of Groot-Bijgaarden offers an unforgettable flower experience! The park of 14 hectares incorporates nearly all spring bulb varieties and for the new flowering time, the gardeners of the castle have planted more than one million bulbs by hand. Special attention goes to the tulips, with almost 400 varieties, hyacinths and daffodils are also well represented.

I highly recommend visiting Floralia and it completely blew me away! There were soooo many stunning flowers and it was so easy to take beautiful flowers.

Wearing a mask is obligatory for now but a lot of times you’ll find yourself at a distance of more than 5 meters of other people so it’s safe to take a photo without a mask on. I do recommend keeping it on when you’re just walking around!

Dates: From 5th of April until the 2nd of May

Opening hours: from 10 am to 06 pm. The ticket desk closes at 05:30 pm.

Ticket price: €14

10. Wild Flowers at Frijthout

This is one of my favourite places in Belgium to take photos since it’s pretty much at my backdoor.

During the last months of Spring this beautiful park gets covered by wild flowers. Two years ago it was a big colourful variety, last year the entire meadow was filled with daisies.

Ideal blooming period: Most flowers are in full bloom around June

11. The Japanese Garden in Hasselt – Japanese Spring in Belgium

You might not expect this but the largest Japanese Garden in Europe is actually located in Belgium! There are over 250 cherry blossom trees spread out in the park so you can only imagine how beautiful this garden will look once it’s Spring!

The garden is currently closed for its Winter maintenance and opens back up on April 1st. After that the garden is open every day from 10am until 5pm, except on Mondays when it’s closed.

Tickets are €6 but they do offer a lot of discounts which you can check here.

12. Buttercups and Wood Anemones at Zevenbergenbos – Ranst

The Zevenbergenbos in Ranst is a beautiful forest located on the outskirts of Antwerp. It’s the perfect place to go for a sunset stroll and for an afternoon walk. Upon entering the forest you’ll pass by a moated castle and a little further on your left you’ll find these beautiful flower fields.

There’s probably a million yellow buttercups spread out over the fields but also plenty of poison ivy so watch where you walk or sit down. I didn’t and ended up with my butt in the middle of a bush of poison ivy :p.

Ideal blooming period: Halfway through May

Now when it comes to the wood anemones you’ll have to go a little earlier! These cute white flowers start to bloom in March and when I visited at the start of April they were already covering big parts of the forest floor. They create a whimsical atmosphere and you’ll feel like you’ve stepped into a real life fairytale. It’s very clearly marked which parts of the forest you can’t enter! Please respect that upon visiting!

Ideal blooming period: March and April

13. Magnolia’s at the park

The magnolia tree and its beautiful spring blossoms are one of my favorite trees in the entire world. I still remember last year when we weren’t allowed to go outside and all I could see where these stunning pink blossoms on the way to the grocery store.

Needless to say I wanted to make it my mission this year to find a couple of real stunners! My first attempt was the famous Rivierenhof, close to Antwerp. But that sunrise mission quickly turned into a bust. They had announced a new “magnolia walk” in the park where they planted over 140 magnolia trees but all of them were still very young and not full at all.

Off I went to park number 2 “Te Boelaer Park” where right in the middle of it there’s a stunning heart shaped magnolia tree.

I found another tree but in the end it turned out to be someone’s huge front garden 😳. At the time I had no idea cause it was so huge and actually looked like a park! For this reason I removed the exact location.

If you still want to take photos with these magnolia trees I strongly advise you to go this weekend! There were already some petals on the ground but with the bad weather coming up next week they will probably loose all of their pink glory.

Ideal blooming period: Middle of March until the start of April

14. Botanical Garden of Meise

The Botanical Garden of Meise is definitely worth a visit and in April it’s pretty easy to combine it with a visit to Floralia Brussels!

There are two main highlights at the park. On one hand there’s the castle of Bouchout and on the other you have an enormous greenhouse which is filled with all sorts of tropical plants and flowers.

I thought the castle was absolutely stunning but they’ve put a tent and a pop up shop in front of it which of course takes away some of its magic.

The greenhouse however is a pretty magical place. With over a thousand different trees and plants you’re bound to feel like you’ve steppend inside of a rain forest or a desert landscape.

It can get pretty toasty inside the greenhouse so if you want to spend some time here make sure to wear layers!

Opening hours: 9.30am until 6.30pm

Ticket Price: €9

15. Rapeseed Fields

Last year I searched far and wide for these beautiful bright yellow fields. But unfortunately by the time we were allowed outside again all of them were already gone!

So when I was driving back home from Brussels and I saw this yellow stunner right next to the highway I knew I had to return the next morning!

In April you can find a ton of these fields in Belgium but there exact location is always a little mystery which makes the search for them extra fun! 😉

Ideal blooming period: Middle of April

16. Cherry Blossoms at Parc Josaphat

There’s a beautiful park near Laeken in Brussels and once a year its entrance becomes a beautiful arch of pink flowers. The cherry blossom trees are beautifully lined up in a way that you’ll get the feeling that you’re walking through a pink tunnel.

Parc Josaphat is a rather unknown park compared to the others in Brussels but definitely worth a stop if you’re in the area!

Ideal blooming period: Normally these trees are in bloom halfway through April, this year they were a little later due to the colder weather.

17. Pear & Cherry Blossoms in Broechem

Belgium is known for its many orchards and while the majority of them can be found in Haspengouw, you can also find a beautiful blossom route in Broechem, near Antwerp.

In 2017 they launched the event “Cycling between flowers and fruit” in Ranst. The entire route is 41,5km but you can also choose a shorter circuit of 30km.

There are two places where you can start your cycling adventure and both come with plenty of parking space!

• Gemeenschapscentrum Den Boomgaard, Antwerpsesteenweg 43, 2520 Ranst
• NMBS-station, Leopoldplein 32, 2500 Lier

If you need to rent a bicycle you can do so here.

Ideal blooming period: Mid until the end of April

18. Alden Biesen

In the heart of Limburg lies a beautiful 16th century moated castle, called Alden Biesen and in my opinion it’s one of the most beautiful places to visit in Belgium during spring. Inside of the castle walls you’ll find the inner courtyard which is a meticulously kept garden filled with spring flowers.

And if that isn’t enough already there’s another hidden gem located in the park right behind the castle. A wooden boardwalk curls through the white cherry blossom trees and forms the perfect place for an afternoon pic nic.

Good to know is that these days this place is incredibly busy during the weekend! Especially if you visit during the afternoon! The castle grounds already open early in the morning and during the week it’s really quiet in the evening.

Opening hours – From 7.30am until 8pm on weekdays during the summer (from April until the end of September) and from 9am until 8pm on the weekend!

There’s a big parking lot right in front of the castle and entrance to the different courtyards is free.

Ideal blooming period: April

19. Vrijbroekpark in Mechelen

This beautiful park in the heart of Mechelen is a magical place that you can easily spend a few hours at. I visited during the week at sunset and I was greeted by a ton of joggers and people that also wanted to enjoy the beautiful nature that you can find here!

In April you’ll find a beautiful row of pink cherry blossom trees near the fishing pond but later on you can also come here to see the wisteria and rose garden in full bloom!

There’s some parking spaces at the entrance of the park but not that many either. There is also plenty of parking space dedicated to handicapped people and from what I could see the entire park is wheelchair and stroller proof.

Vrijbroekpark is free to enter and the perfect place to enjoy a late evening walk in spring!

Ideal blooming period: Halfway through April

20. Wisteria Lane in Mechelen

Okay, to be completely honest, this street isn’t really called Wisteria Lane? But as a true Desperate Housewives lover I could imagine this little corner of flowers at one of the ladies their house! In reality you can find this cute street at the beguinage in Mechelen.

It’s my first time chasing Wisteria locations in Belgium but I have to say that I absolutely love this beautiful flower! There’s something so magical about how it caresses a doorframe and the walls. Wisterias climb by twining their stems around any available support and they can climb as high as 20 m (66 ft) above the ground and spread out 10 m (33 ft) laterally.

The Small Beguinage is a charming oasis of peace and tranquillity in the heart of Mechelen and it was the very first beguinage in the city. For those that aren’t familiar with the term, a beguinage is an architectural complex which was created to house beguines. These days normal families live here but for instance the beguinages in Bruges and Leuven are some of the top places to visit in Belgium!

This particular street in Mechelen is called the Acht- Zalighedenstraat and is right at the edge of the city centre.

Ideal blooming period: First half of May

21. Kruidtuin Leuven

It’s pretty weird to think that I used to live only 2 minutes walking from this beautiful garden for 5 whole years… and I never even bothered to visit. Of course back then I wasn’t into photography and I had a bigger appreciation for beer than for flowers. In case you didn’t realize by now, Leuven is the city where I studied 5 years to become a dentist! And for years I used to live just 1 street away from the Kruidtuin in the heart of the city.

The Kruidtuin, also known as the Hortus Botanicus Lovaniensis, is a botanical garden in Leuven dating back to 1738! The university of Leuven created this garden for its students of medicine and botany enthusiasts can enjoy the diverse plant collections throughout the garden and orangerie.

The botanical garden of Leuven can be found at Kapucijnenvoer 30 and is open every day from 8am until 8pm. It’s a tranquil place and one of the most beautiful places in Leuven to visit and you can even find a restroom on site!

For 2 weeks in May the botanical garden turns into a true wisteria paradise so try to plan your visit around this time!

Ideal blooming period: First half of May

22. Poppies and wildflowers at Ciney

If you’re planning a day trip to Wallonia in June make sure to calculate some time to visit Ciney. Here you’ll find the beautiful, but privately owned, Chateau de Leignon and some beautiful meadows filled with poppies and other wild flowers!

There are two beautiful viewpoints over the castle:

• When you drive out of Ciney and towards Durbuy make sure to look on your left to see a stunning viewpoint.
• If you drive up Rue du Forbot you’ll come across these flower fields that offer a stunning view over the castle!

Ideal blooming time: end of May until halfway June

23. Magnolia’s at the Dinasty Monument in Brussels

This is one of those places that I unfortunately missed this year simply due to the fact of bad planning. I was under the impression that they where cherry blossom trees so by the time I arrived there wasn’t a single tree in bloom anymore. But these are all magnolia trees, which bloom a lot earlier of course :).

You can find this monument at the Park of Laken in Brussels, right across the entrance of the Royal Greenhouses of Laken.

Ideal blooming period: end of March

Charlotte

Hi! We’re Charlotte, Christof & César!

Armed with our cameras & drone we’re always on the lookout for the next adventure!
We’ve been traveling together since 2020 and the best adventures are yet to come!
Read our full story here