Visit Leuven - 5 Things You Will Love & Hate about Leuven, Belgium
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- Опубликовано: 7 июл 2024
- www.woltersworld.com
The Best & Worst of Leuven, Belgium. From crazy bike riders and 6pm shop closings to the student vibe and Oude Markt beer experience there is a lot to love and not like about Leuven, Belgium
Filmed in Leuven, Belgium
Copyright Mark Wolters 2014
I lived in Leuven for 2 months. Everything he says he hates about it is why I love this town! They take things slowly, understand compact/urbanism, pedestrian-friendly (not so reliant on cars like Americans). We could do well to learn a thing or two from them!
I have been living in Leuven my entire life. What I like about it, is that it's so easy going and openminded. You hear all languages, see all different kind of skin colors and cultural clothing, and they're all welcome. There are of course the occasional xenophobic people, but generally speaking the population of Leuven love to meet Chinese, Congolese, Ukrainian, Phillipean, etc...people. They take their time to listen, and some of them make enormous efforts to help you out. The natural way in which they accept others is so heart warming. I've been in other cities in the world and found citydwellers sometimes arrogant, hasty, and not interested. That's defenitely not the case in Leuven. I really hope to be able to buy an appartment or little house in Leuven in the future instead of renting all the time, but since Leuven is the most expensive city of Belgium (next to Brussels), I won't count on that. I think the city is better to live in than to visit as a tourist, though, because, as you said, Leuven does not have that much to do from a touristic point of view. Thanks for the review you posted, I love to hear what others think of my dear city!
Belgians being rude? Try going to Paris
I've never experienced any discrimination as an Asian born and raised in Belgium (even less in Leuven, a city full of Asians and foreign students). It is more mixed and cosmopolitan and yes racism exists everywhere but I can assure you we're more foreigner-friendly than a lot of cities and regions in Europe.
i'm happy you have this experience ! i study in leuven & love it
I live in Leuven and I gotta be honest... I don't really know what all this bad service stuff is about. Sure, I've eaten at restaurants with shit employees... but the thing is: you'll probably find that everywhere, and probably even more in tourist areas. What you need to do is some research. Go on TripAdvisor, spend a little money on a good restaurant, and enjoy your experience.
A little tip for everybody: my wife and I often go to Moorinneken, it's on Leuven's Grote Markt (Big Market or Main Square, whatever you'd like to call it...). Right next to the city hall. Just go there, you'll love the service. At least I hope so because they are super friendly, what more do you expect? :-) Drink a nice beer, have some of their nice dishes (their daily soup is usually very good too) and end it off with a coffee. Their coffees are very nice. Enjoy!
Another tip I can give everybody is Mykene on the Muntstraat. The Muntstraat is the narrow little cosy street with all the restaurants in Leuven. Mykene is one of them and they have deliciousss mussles. Believe me, my mother makes mussles like nobody else, but Mykene is damn near perfect.
Lastly, I have a tip for a little Sicilian restaurant that will blow you away. It's called Ristorante Etna and it's located on the corner of the Maria Theresiastraat and the Tiensestraat. You won't find this restaurant anywhere in the guides, but guys and girls... you'll have an amazing time there. It's not Belgian food, it's Italian food, and it is very very good. Order a glass of red wine while your there... Just let them decide on which one... they have excellent taste!
If you wanna try our beers, by the way, don't just stick to Stella Artois, Leffe or Hoegaarden. Sure, those beers are great, but they are also mass production beers. What you need to try, absolutely need to try when you are here, is beer from smaller breweries where the love is still put into the beer. You want to try these in Leuven? Go to The Capital on the Grote Markt or even better: go to De Fiere Margriet which is just behind the church on De Grote Markt. There's a street there that goes a little bit downhill and it's very close to The Quick (the fastfood joint). Look for it :) And when you're there... try something like St Bernardus 12, Delirium Tremens, Rochefort 8 or 10, Gouden Carolus, Brugse Zot, etc... They are so damn good, but be aware: drink 2 or 3 of them and they will fuck you up :) If you like something special: ask for Gueuze Boon. It's a bit of a sour tasting beer which is often called the Champagne of all beers. Not everybody will like it but it's really a treat.
Lastly, if you want to eat good fries... go to 't Fritwinkeltje on the Jan-Pieter Minckelersstraat. That's my favorite fries-shop... Enjoy!
I woon ook in Leuven, ben Française, getrouw met Belgische man. Ik hou v Leuven. Al de plaatsjes ken ik en hou ik van … Morinneke heeft echt goede koffie en advocaat slagroom😊. Leuven ah wil nooit meer weg uit deze stad maar ik blijf ook houden van mijn Lille❤
I moved to Leuven 5 days ago. You say in this that after the shops close its a 3 hour wait before you can go to the bar. The bars open 24/7 (or so I've been told) so there is the option to go straight there. Or, for tourists, there is the option to wander the city for a couple of hours just to see how beautiful it is. I did this last night and was overwhelmed by the beauty of Leuven.
as someone who studies here -- i
understand, it's beautiful!
"the good nightlife is why leuven is popular with university students" it's the other way around,, because there are so many students, the nightlife is so good. really
My Japanese American son attending Aoyama Un in Tokyo has this university on his list for a 1 year study abroad…your comments are extremely helpful for him his Japanese mom and myself…also a professor. Mucho Arigatou
"Nice and flat", yes, true, please watch out for the Naamsestraat, it's very tricky.
thank god I don't study in Gasthuisberg !! also: the little hills like Ramberg, Karmelietenberg are horrible haha
De naamse straat is echt kut
Actually, most supermarkets (where you will find that bottle of water) are open until 20:00. As for the "non-food" shops, many of them are open until 20:00 on Thursday.
Also, I went through a few of your "Europe" and "Belgium" videos and personally, I've never experienced that "horrible service" you keep on badgering about.
You come in, get seated, receive your menu, make your choice, get served on time, get the time to enjoy your meal and pay ... We only need them to pay attention to us three times in that whole operation (4 if we want a refill) and they're busy enough because they have a lot of clients to serve.
Based on what you have to say about "terrible" service here in Belgium, I can't wait to go to the US and experience what must be absolutely amazing service.
(And yes, I've had a student's job as a bartender and a waiter ... why do you ask?)
Service depends on culture.
Five things you will NOT like about restaurants in the USA.
In Europe we want to choose the table we like, in the USA the waiter will tell you where to sit down and shut up. They put tourists at the worst tables because they know we will never ever come back.
The waiter kills every conversation, constantly asking if you want to order another drink, everything is still okay, what he can do for you. (Yeah, get away from me and my food, and let me talk to my company instead of stupid waiters).
Waiter is a very good word, they wait and stare at you, when you get a little bit comfortable they are ready for the next attack.
Europeans will NOT like that kind of service at all.
When you finally are allowed to leave, that is when they cannot sell you anything anymore, you'll get the bill. Not the prices that were on the menu but with TAXES, 10% local tax, 10% tax for whatever, 25% service already included on the bill etc etc.
All with a big smile! They are so friendly... Sorry, but no thanks.
Other guests will be shouting instead of talking. Loud, loud loud...
Europeans will NOT like that at all.
Others guests will ask you where you come from and will not know the difference between Bulgaria and Danmark, you will end up with somewhere in Europe. They will ask you "Do you like the States?" and will not take no for an answer. Totally useless conversation, but we Europeans are polite..., we do not say "Fuck off!" but try to answer although we know they will not understand anything.
BTW if you can 'do Europe' in five days, a half day in Leuven can be enough.
@@egrseec I have visited the US six times, for three to six weeks each time. East coast, west coast, national parks, big cities and small towns.
And yes, I copied his blunt and stereotypical generalization, but from a European perspective.
Your comment is a perfect example of US egocentric thinking, you can bash everyone for no reason, but cannot stand any critics about you.... Sad.
I COMPLETLY DISAGREE WITH THIS VIDEO
I was in Leuven yesterday for the first time, and THIS VIDEO IS NOT CORRECT
THE 7 REASONS WHY!!
I went to by some books and the guy in the store gave me a paper with stuff to do there.
I got food for half of the price in a restaurant because the guy was just that nice.
i got a discount on waffles asked for allot of toppings and only paid the waffle
.When i ask for information in a HEMA store the girl didn't know so she asked all of the clients and one person knew and came with me to street pointing the right direction.
And the end of the evening i went to the bar in the odd market it was so many people there i asked for a special Brazilian drink and the guy toke the time to search for the recipe and do it just for me.
so the service is actually pretty ok and people are really nice it just depends the way u treat them !
hoo and im black so nooo they are not racist!!!
@@thedina1995 maybe, you're not an American ;)
I'm about to begin studying at Leuven and I'm very excited!
As a Belgian guy from Leuven I am biased I know. This said... You are right about the bicycles. The politicians pampered them so much that they think they are the rulers of Leuven and think they can get away with everything. Too quite? I think that's a plus not a negative, but that's just me. I've been to very crowded places and sometimes you can't watch the famous architecture due to the crowd. Belgians rude in restaurants??? Seldom had that experience but that's probably my Belgian nature. We Belgians hate fake friendliness for some extra bucks like the waiters do in American restaurants. They also don't try to get some more of your money wit some 'sad' story about their boss who doesn't pay them to much and stuff like they do in Paris and Rome. Belgian waiters know this and they leave you alone till you call them. But that is not being rude. That's respecting your privacy. And we Belgians like our privacy.
No one has told you that the big(ger) supermarkets are open until 8 pm? When you're in Leuven, the next time, try the Delhaize at Naamsepoort. It's less than 10 minutes by bicycle, a little bit more going back, or Colruyt or Carrefour or Match. But you're right, we're used to shops closing at six (in smaller towns, it might even be 5...), so we plan accordingly. For a foreigner, that might be uncommon.
Stayed a couple of days in september of 2012. I was a bit under the weather, but still enjoyed it. I couldn't find too much to do during the day besides shop eat and drink lots of beer. But i was drawn to the music and cheering around the Ode markt around 9pm.
they had lots of outdoor chairs and tables filled with people watching football and surprisingly a pretty heavy metal bar with a loud band. Turned out to be a pretty good night.
Then i stumbled back through the maze of oddly angled streets to the hotel and grabbed some amazing frites on the way. Burn't the crap out of my mouth on the first couple LOL. I ordered a large and it was bigger than my head.
In Leuven right now. Love your videos!
A few comments:
- there are non night shops open till 20 to 21 at evening although you need to know where (Carrefour at the station and the Delhaize on the Naamse Vest fx)
- Leuven flat?? euh don't think so (Naamse straat or Keizersvest fx)
- 18 to 22 most people are at dinner normally so you won't miss out much ;)
Otherwise yes on the bicycles and delivery cars.
Service is mostly done by students in a lot of places
PS I grew up and had my secundary education in Leuven and surrounding area
I studied my Msc there in Kuleuven from 2013-2015. I really had a great time, and i miss the odda market
While I haven't been to Leuven yet, I've been to Belgium many times and never encountered really bad, or even rude, service. Of course some bars, restaurants etc. are better or worse than others in this respect, but on average Belgian service is absolutely fine. Generally the Belgians are quite nice people, so why would waiters/waitresses be not? I also never witnessed open racism. OK, racists are everywhere, but Belgium is rather multicultural and liberal-minded. Let's say at least that it's surely no stronghold of racism.
Knowing Belgium and its charms I cannot imagine one day, or even half a day as suggested here, to be enough to explore Leuven -- or any Belgian city of a certain size. At most cities, someone with the slightest interest in architecture and history/historical sites will need two or three days to cover these alone, and often there are also places like botanical gardens to visit. Then there are the shopping facilities, and of course the comfy beer pubs to spent the odd relaxing hour in. Half a day? Never!
..."to spenD the odd relaxing hour in" of course!
Wolters, you re telling it is. I have been in leuven for 5years and every thing is as you said it.
Great and very useful video, thanks Mark. Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you may be. :)
thank you Thomas! a great Thanksgiving Day to you Too!
As a Belgian I love my country, but I have to agree with Wolter about service in restaurants. Of course there are nice waiters and waitresses, but too many of them don't seem to be interested in the customer at all. I'm a friendly person also in my job, so I expect them to be friendly too. Sometimes/often service is slow or half or the menu card is not available or they simply ignore or you.
There are worse countries in the world, but Belgians can do better!
I don't agree Wolter about Belgium seems to be a bit boring. There are more concert halls, music festivals and bars per square km than any other country in the world. Some of the best and biggest festivals in the world are held in Belgium, be it jazz, techno, metal, rock, world, folk, pop, reggae... every city or village has got at least one of them, mostly several.
5:29 Well, someone never had to bike up the Naamsestraat 😂. I studied there for 2 years and Leuven isn’t exactly flat.
I live in Belgium. i love from leuven!!! Don't travel all the way to Belgium to drink Stella. your video is not useful ! When you're in Leuven, the next time, check more information from Leuven or calle me ;)
Love your videos !! I was wondering what would you recommend me with your travelling experience ? To learn German or Portuguese ?im going to France to study , but I would like to know another language but not sure which one is more useful.
Fergie mart Well, if you are just going to travel Europe then German as Portuguese people speak a lot of English and German is spoken by older people in Eastern Europe. But if you know French already Portuguese is SUPER easy to pick up as the grammar is very similar
A half day? We have been in Leuven for two and a half day and still did not see everything. And we are no students anymore.
Yeah, stores close at 6, what do you need to go to a store for after 6, certainly as a tourist? Except that not every store closes at 6, like there are plenty of supermarkets that stay open until 8 or 9. But 6pm is when you eat, also coincidentally when restaurants usually start their service. Go out to eat, like a proper Belgian (so for about 3 hours, at least), then it'll be 9 and you can go to the Oude Markt.
Nice video. I live in the Netherlands. I need to go here soon. I also do travel videos. Nice to see yours. Thanks for the tips.
Dutchified I will check out your channel. thanks for the compliments! Great travels to you my friend!
Leuven only gets quiet in summer though, when the students aren't there ;D
Great videos. I'd love to see you do some videos in Bath, Somerset, england. Also more of Rouen would be cool :D
K Hewett I have been trying to put something together for a Bath trip. Hopefully the end of next year we will get there. All the best and thanks for the kind words!
Bath is fab, love it. Best city in England IMO. It's only 1.5 hours from my home (Southampton) but I've only been there twice, crazy! Have you considered doing any Southampton vids? Btw loooooved your Malta vids, my fave place in the world
I live in Tienen (maybe fifteen minutes out from Leuven) and this is pretty accurate. You don't see as much disdain towards Asians much anymore (most fry shops and things are owned by Chinese now) and Leuven has a HUGE Asian community now. I'm an Asian American married to a Belgian, and I can find most everything I need for Vietnamese cooking in Leuven. I recommend your videos to all my friends heading to Europe, you're fantastic!
toriplays Thank you Tori. I really appreciate you sharing with your friends. Super nice of you!
Someone stole my bike in belgium fivee years ago. im still pissed that happened. Lovely and informative video like always.
akita setton Thank you... and sorry about your bike :(
In my opinion this is a very limited view on Leuven..
Valérie Noten well he only spent half a day there, what do you expect?! Lol (jk)
I love Belgium because I like the people & also you know I like the girls too & i wanna meet those people & get to know the language French & German :)
You know that most Belgians speak dutch? And also less then 1% speak German. Just saying.
I live in Leuven. I have problem with alchohol. plz help
I live in Belgium and the boring part I GET YOU, for tourists I suggesd to do a couple of towns in a day if you're bored of leuven visit Mechelen it's really small city but there are no tourists
Off beat but v very interesting
hey I'm consider leuven as a student what do you think about student jobs?
if you're still considering it or chose it already, try the website of KUleuven, they have a platform for student jobs on their website i think
Thanks hope They will be having English jobs
i'm not completely sure they do since english is not the main language.
However, this link can definitly come in handy if you're going to live here. And if you click on the student employment link you can see detailed information geared towards international students.
There you can also learn how to sign up for the student job database which i think you should definitly do.
www.kuleuven.be/english/studentservices/studentcareercenter/studentemployment i advice you take a good look at all of this second link since its specific about finding a job.
Also if you're from outside the eurozone you need to read the non eeg part aswell since different legalisation applies (you're still allowed to work but not more than 20 hours per academic week and not during the lessons or something)
Anyway good luck, wish you a good time here!
this is the second link, i forgot to put that in my previous post:
www.kuleuven.be/english/living
This one is more overal information about living in leuven and finding your ways here.
Just plan a bit for stores closing at 1800. That was the normal state in the US not that long ago…..before greed took over and employees are expected to treat work as the most important thing in life.
Stella, really? Ubiquitous macro lager. There are so many fantastic Belgian beers. Rodenbach, Westvleteren, Orval, Cantillon, Boon...the list is endless. Can't wait to go to Belgium when this thing that can't be named is over.
have you checked out the herge museum
That's in 'New Leuven', Louvain-la-Neuve', about a half hour away by train from Leuven. For the history freaks, in the sixties, the university was split in a Dutch/Flemish one, and a French one, that moved a couple of km south, where they built not just a university campus, but an entire small city. Quite interesting to visit, with some interesting modern buildings such as the Hergé Museum, and a good uni, but it is a 'new' city, with 'new' architecture. But it's almost completely pedestrianized, and it has some good bars (thanks to the students, of course).
barvdw thank you for your explanation, i had no idea there were two leuvens. herge museum is the subject of a bit of controversy
roucoupse Well, Brussels had wanted the museum as well, and it would have been more 'appropriate', Hergé being a Brussels author and his main hero, Tintin, was too, but bickering on where in Brussels made it move out of Brussels. It's still not too far from Brussels, too, there are 1 to 2 trains an hour going to Louvain la Neuve from Brussels, taking about an hour.
Actually.... Most of this is inaccurate. The service I have gotten everywhere has been great so far. Even though it is currently the 'quiet' time of year, there are still plenty of people around. The library looks amazing, but you didn't even bother to mention the bell tower and the beautiful music from the church bells. There is much more to Leuven than you say here. I still wouldn't say there is a lot for tourists, but more than you make it out to be,
+Aisling Reid Welcome in my home town. I don't really agree with the author of the video, but since I'm born in Leuven, I might be a bit biased haha....but really, there is more to Leuven than 'half-a-day'...:-)
+Raf Lefever yeay is treu same for me
Leuven rules!!!
If service here is bad then its bad everywhere… its average tbh
Do not drink Stella or Leffe, those are basic beers. Drink Westemalle Triper or Tripel Karmeliet for a good belgian beer
Well, bars are open 24/7 so no need to wait.
At 6 you go to a restaurant and start eating.
For a bottle of water you go to a bigger store, open until 8.
You seem to have missed a whole bunch :')
People are nice, but you're probably being very american :')
When are we going to see something in England that isn't London or the South?! You're killing me!
USE4life Try Leeds or Manchester....fuck the south :)
Sorry, but I cannot agree. I don't know who guided you in Leuven, but this person did a poor job giving you the impression that it isn't worth more than a half-day trip. - You have besides architecture and shopping a broad variety of things you can do, but you need to leave the inner city center. This was also six years ago the case: canoe trips, the botanical garden, the abbey parks, Heverlee forest, the museum, STUK...... Two days to check this out and at least two more to relax and enjoy your time in an ancient Belgium city.
WHAT LANGUAGE THEY SPEAK?
Dutch is the official language, but most people speak English and French as well, and some even Spanish.
Thanks so much.
most people speak dutch, n fact 8 million out of 11 million do, then it's French then German with about 90,000. Those are the 3 national languages, then there is English that the whole world knows. Anyways all this to say that barvdw is completely wrong.
pyramyde1 There are more about 6.5 mio Flemish/Dutch speakers, and almost 4.5 mio French. But in Leuven, only Dutch is the official language as it is situated in unilingual Flanders, French is as foreign as English (although pretty well studied).
THANKS A LOT.
😍😍😍😍😍
BEIJING restaurant!
hi Mas, may I hve a contact with you? Im Indonesian and going to study in Leuven and other cities in Europe.
dewi kalifah hi add di FB aja !
You’re teaching a class there!?😳 God, I pray, not English grammar!
Students study!!!
I was student in Leuven for 3 years and I can say most of what you said is true, however I should disagree with you about the good international student environment there. That is just not true.
I was a biology student and god knows how difficult it was for me to even live in that university village!
I even remember once one of my professors told me that all the people coming from the south (I am Iranian) are lawbreakers and another one told me that we brought you here, to encourage our own Flemish students to compete with you. (Indeed we were only 5 foreign students in a class of 40 Flemish students).
Regarding integration, I would say that it was completely impossible to merge with Flemish students, they were just avoiding us!
If you like to have a good study experience abroad, definitely do not choose this city.
+Amir Sh my Asian and African students I took to Leven were all harassed at least once while we were there for 10 days. I complained to the tourism people.
Yea, They were lucky that they stayed only for 10 days!
Yes that's the best part about Leuven. True conservative Flemish student culture and not some socialist international trash like in Brussels. And also we don't like muslims in Flanders! And we have more than enough reasons not to like them
Caligula well, how you are so sure about my religious convictions?!, it's like saying all flemish people are Christians!? , by the way, I thank you for your comment, you just helped me to prove my point.
@caligula Bullshit dude, flemish "culture', like are you for serious? Leuven isn't even flemish, its Brabant, culture from Brabant is different from the flemish culture. Secondly not some socialist international thrash like brussels?
Leuven has been govourned by a socialist mayor for the past 18 years. do you even know what you're saying?
and yes, there are many poor muslim communities in some of the big cities like brussels and antwerp, poor people tend to marginalize easyer and their children often end up with bad jobs since they have more difficulties with school.
But do you honestly believe that international students are anything like those people?
universities WANT international students, Theyre talent from abroad and universities heavily benefit from it.
Most people that take on the journey to study abroad are motivated, they are often intelligent people.
universities want students like that way more than they want some 'flemish' student that comes here to party and experience the 'student drinking culture'. by the way people that come to study here just for the fun of it often drop out.
i'm quite frankly suprised by your stupidity.
Hate #6: Theres vomit all over the streets because of stupid drunk students
Hahahaha correct!!!
If you are crazy enough to go to this "city" don't take your bicycle.
back home yankee
Utter bullshit, this should be taken down