An Audio Walking Tour of Leuven

Discover 600 years of history and heritage with this audio walking tour of Leuven from Discovering Belgium

After years of thinking about it, I’ve finally created one: an audio walking tour. It’s available via VoiceMap. I looked at a number of audio walking tour providers, and decided that VoiceMap is the best match for me. They have a very easy to use app that uses GPS autoplay. This means you can put on your headphones, tap Start, and let VoiceMap guide you. If you do wander off in the wrong direction, VoiceMap will play an audio alert, and you can follow the map on your screen to the next location.

The walk I have created on VoiceMap is a 60-minute introduction to the main sights of Leuven. You’ll discover what Leuven would have been like in the 1500s, when it was one of the most important cities in medieval Europe.

The audio walking tour of Leuven starts in the Grote Markt, where you’ll see some of the most gorgeous and impressive buildings in Belgium. Among them is Saint Peter’s Church, which was very nearly the world’s tallest building, and the historical Leuven Town Hall with its 236 statuettes. While you walk through the city centre, I’ll show you parts of the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium, KU Leuven University Hall, Saint Anthony’s Chapel where Father Damien (one of the ten best-known Belgians of all time) is buried, and the impressive Saint Michael’s Church.

But it’s not only the city’s medieval wonders that I’ll show you! On this tour, you can also look forward to:

• Hearing about the woman who keeps a strict but loving eye on student houses
• Saying hello to Fonske, a young man who pours water into a hole in his head
• Walking down the “longest bar in Europe,” Leuven Oude Markt
• Passing by Domus Brewery, where authentic Belgian beer is traditionally brewed
• Taking in M Leuven, an art museum that houses a collection of Gothic sculptures and 15th and 19th-century paintings by various artists
• Seeing a giant bug impaled by a 25-meter pole
• Learning about the university library that was burnt down and rebuilt twice.

As you can see, Leuven has lots to offer! I’ll also introduce you to plenty of places to pull up a seat on a terrace and enjoy a relaxing drink or lunch.

The audio walking tour of Leuven costs $5.99 or 5.57 EUR to download. You need to install the free VoiceMap app, then download your tour and go to the starting point to begin the walk. More information on the VoiceMap site.