Liege is the third largest city of Belgium and if you are looking to go on a day trip during one of your weekends to let loose, you should consider going to Liege! I will be introducing to you 6 places to visit here at Liege, and in sequential order so it will be more convenient to plan you itinerary from here!
- Liege – Guillemins Railway Station
If you are taking the train to Liege, you will be greeted with this beautifully designed railway station once you arrive. It is unlike an ordinary train station that I’ve seen around Europe so far and it has a futuristic feel towards it! It’s a pity that we went on a gloomy day, and there wasn’t any sunlight that shone through the structure that might (I hope) create beautiful streaks onto the platform.
- Une Gaufrette Saperlipopette
Address: Rue des Mineurs 7, 4000 Liege, Belgium
Once you arrive at Liege, and if you are hungry, your first stop should be the bakery, Une Gaufrette Saperlipopette. Belgium is famous for their Belgian waffles, and this is definitely the place you should try out the famed waffles. I ordered the vanilla waffles and it’s so tasty, the texture is stretchy and melts in your mouth easily!! They are also very generous with their samples, giving out large size of bites for us to try before deciding on what we want!
- Montagne de Bueren
This 375 steps of stairs is a must-go attraction when in Liege. You can take a photo from the bottom up, and also have a nice picture of the overall view of Liege at the top. The stairs itself is grand, and you will be shocked by the view of the whole city once you reach the top. It wasn’t that tiring climbing up the stairs, considering that it was rainy and cold (and I’m unfit). But do be careful when walking down the stairs as it is quite steep (hold onto the railings!)!
- Church of Saint Barthelemy
For the fourth stop, it will be this uniquely painted Church with red and cream white painting on its building. Would’ve been better if we headed there when its sunny, as it will definitely bring out the colours of the buildings! The insides of the church is pretty grand and entry cost about 1 euros per person.
However, for this attraction, if you are running short of time (since the sun sets early), taking a picture and admiring its architecture from the outside will suffice.
- Museum of Modern Art
I expected this museum to be bigger from what I’ve seen in pictures, however, it was smaller than what I was expecting! The museum is not a must to go, however, if you have time to spare, it will be good to visit it! There is a free entry for certain exhibition for students and you will get to see some religious artworks, a few of Rene Magritte and Monet works.
The special (non-permanent) exhibition were too pricey. It is not recommended to spend that money if you are not that into art!
- Primark
Located near the Museum of Modern Art is Primark, located at Mediacite. Primark is a heaven for a shopaholic!!! It has everything from apparels for both genders, sleepwear, household decorations and products. The most important thing is that, they are cheap! My friend even got a faux leather boots at 10 euros!!
It is nice to end your day off at Primark so you need not lug everything with you everywhere you go (if you were to start off your day with visiting Primark first). After Primark, you can make your way back to the train station, which is about 20 mins walk away.
So that’s all for the 6 places to go if you were to visit the town, Liege! I guess a day trip will be sufficient as shops usually close extremely early here in Europe (~6pm), unless you are going to larger cities. As such, it will be much cheaper to buy the train tickets back to your apartment/hostel instead of staying at that city itself. Unless you have more places to cover, feel free to stay for more than a day! However, for small cities such as Liege, personally I feel that a day trip would suffice.
Also, before heading for any trips, here are some tips that I got for you after my first attempt at travelling out!
Tips:
- Bring your passport with you every time you intend to cross border into another country. Even though checks by police may be rare, it is always good to not land yourself into trouble especially when it really happens.
- Bring a water bottle with you (it saves you lots of money!)
- Check the weather forecast before going. If it is highly likely that it will be raining, do reschedule your trip! Trust me, a rainy weather is the best mood dampener and you get extremely cold and got to carry an umbrella everywhere you go.
- Walking will save you lots of money. Buses here cost Euros 2.40 per ride and it will add up to quite a big amount if you are completely reliant on buses.
- Take good care of your own belongings, always put your bags at the front!
- Download offline google maps in case there isn’t any wifi/3g
- Travel with a group of friends so you guys can look out for one another, especially if this if your first few times travelling around.
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