After a number of other trips this year we finally decided to visit Belgium for two weeks. The weather in Turin has been abnormally hot and humid since early June and like our trip to Poland, we were looking for some respite. Unfortunately, not only did we find the weather a bit abnormal, but a few other things as well.

Dinant

The town of Dinant is a small town located about an hour and a half to two hours away from Brussels to the south east. It borders the Ardennes Forest and has been historically important in the last two world wars.

Getting There

From Turin we flew RyanAir directly to Charleroi Airport near Brussels, Belgium, a flight that took a little less than an hour and a half.

RyanAir Flight to Charleroi, Belgium – Turin, Italy

Points Of Interest

The town of Dinant is a bit strange to say the least. Though we arrived on a Tuesday, the town appeared to be the center of activity. Then a little after four o’clock in the afternoon, almost everyone was gone. Of course we put this down to day-trippers who happen to drive or bus in on one particular day, stay for a few hours and leave. This wasn’t the only reason.

Charles de Gaulle Statue – Dinant, Belgium

The town suffers from macro-economic forces it has no control over. It is underpopulated and young people are going to the larger cities to find employment. This has caused a housing issue and we found a lot of houses for sale here, which has had its own affect on the local economy. Not only was it difficult to find some places open, if was very difficult to find a place to eat on some occasions. So one has to remain flexible when visiting this tiny town that is stretched thin along the banks of the Meuse River and in other ways as well.

Winston Churchill Avenue – Dinant, Belgium

Charles de Gaulle Bridge – Dinant, Belgium

We can reinforce our opinion in the fact that we stayed in Dinant for three days, where frankly only one is necessary, or perhaps even a few hours. Though this gave us a better feel for the conditions there, it also gave us a rather poor opinion of the town. Sincerely, there are a few things, the fortress, the Bayard rock and the Church, but that is just about it.

Triumph of Light monument – Dinant, Belgium

Saxes on Charles de Gaulle Bridge – Dinant, Belgium

Meuse River – Charles de Gaulle Bridge – Dinant, Belgium

Sax Fountain and War Memorial – Dinant, Belgium

Ibis Hotel

Our hotel was the Ibis Centre along the Winston Churchill Avenue. We found it dated, the rooms on the smaller than small side and the ammenities lacking, we only got a bath towel each, no hand towels nor wash clothes (which are like finding a unicorn in Europe.) The cleaning service was excellent and was perhaps the only good thing about the hotel. Though labeled a three star hotel it is more like two and a half stars, or a motel that you would find in a dusty old town in the States.

Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant

The Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant actually has some impressive stained glass. It has the form of a cathedral, but without the grandiosity required for such a structure.

Fortress and Collegiate Church – Dinant, Belgium

Entrance – Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Outside – Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Outside by rock wall – Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Only one apse has a window, the other is covered up and opaque. The rest of the interior is rather simple and unobtrusive.

Right Apse Window – Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Altar and Transept Windows – Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Altar – Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Coats of Arms of Important Belgium Houses – Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Nave – Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Aisle and Nave – Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Beautiful Apse Window – Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Fortress Citadel of Dinant

Purposefully commanding a view of the entire town and Meuse Valley is the Fortress Citadel of Dinant. It is perched on one side of the plateau where an outcropping of rock supports its impressive mass.

Entrance – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Patti Climbing 408 Stairs – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Entrance and Stairs – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

408 Stairs – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Going Up 408 Stairs – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Still more stairs – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

View from top – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

View of upper Dinant – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Last few steps – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Fortress Wall – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

After purchasing a ticket there are 408 steps to climb. The first flight is a bit more challenging than the upper tier, since they are more uneven and spaced a bit differently, worn with age and cracked from the stress of movement underneath.

Main Entrance – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Cannon – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Diorama of Vauban Citadel – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Diorama of the Sack of Dinant – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Diorama of the Copper Beaters Craft – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Old Iron Boxes – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Typical Office – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Prison Cell – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Another Cell – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Prison Block – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Once the top is reached, there is a main entrance to pass through that opens up into the central courtyard. Off of this courtyard are a cafe, public toilets, open-air museum display and the entrance to the museum proper.

Mortar – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Garden – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Patti in Garden – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Fortress Hall – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Charles de Gaulle Bridge – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Typical Shooting Hole – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

German Side – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Belgium Side – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Ramp to Outside Exhibits – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Citadel Museum

The museum of the citadel has a collection of artifacts and other exhibits related to the history of the structure. Some of them are interactive and intended for young audiences. Other parts one can walk through to reach the outside portion of the museum and other entrance to the museum that sits atop the outcropping. There is a great example of a large anti-aircraft gun and old jet airplane, as well as to beautiful view of the town below.

40mm Anti-Aircraft Gun – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Gloster Meteor Mark 8 – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Meuse River – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Moveable Gun – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Old Cannons, Balls and Wheels – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Anti-Aircraft Gun – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Blacksmith Shop – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Kitchen – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Bakery – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Bunk Area – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Old Helmets – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Old Mortar – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Old Uniforms – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

There is also a tricky little tilted room at the end of the walk-through that is rather intriguing. Since all of the normal surfaces are tilted at an angle, your visual perception of what is up gets messed up. After a short while it could definitely give someone motion sickness, if they are prone to that sort of thing.

Mockup of Communications Station – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Mockup of Machine Gun Emplacement – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Communications – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Inside a Trench – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Down to the Tilted Room – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Tilted Room – Museum – Citadel of Dinant – Dinant, Belgium

Leffe Abbey Brewery

From our hotel the Leffe Abbey Brewery was located directly across the valley from us. After a twenty minute walk along the river and over the Charles de Gaulle bridge, the brewery is a short walk up the hill on the other side.

Entrance – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

Museum – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

Monk Benches – Museum – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

Benches – Museum – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

The brewery has a small museum explaining the history of the structure and the monks that had started the tradition of brewing beer.

Interactive Hallway – Museum – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

Old Distillery Cauldron – Museum – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

Barrels – Museum – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

Old Brass Fittings – Museum – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

Old Copper Cauldron – Museum – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

Bottle Dispenser – Museum – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

The tour included a beer tasting and some free glasses.

Beer – Museum – Leffe Brewery – Dinant, Belgium

Rocher Bayard Walk

A fifteen minute walk down the river promenade from our hotel was the Bayard Rock. Apparently split in two by the soldiers of Louis XIV, who conquered the town in order to build a road. Of course, there is also a fictious account of how it was split by the hoof of a horse carrying four sons who were fleeing Charlemagne through the Ardennes Forest.

Bayard Rock – Rocher Bayard Walk – Dinant, Belgium

Meuse River and Houses – Rocher Bayard Walk – Dinant, Belgium

Today if you hold your head up far enough you will notice how the rock on the top has been fortified and strengthened through the use of steel bands and rods that have been inserted into the rocks.

Maurice Defoin Memorial – Rocher Bayard Walk – Dinant, Belgium

Military Memorial – Rocher Bayard Walk – Dinant, Belgium

Row Housing – Rocher Bayard Walk – Dinant, Belgium

Patti and Bayard Rock – Rocher Bayard Walk – Dinant, Belgium

Freyer River Cruise

There are two cruises that are offered, a forty-five minute and a two hour. We chose the latter and spent most of our time in the Meuse river lock system, which honestly is perhaps the most interesting part of this trip.

Tickets For Two – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Schedule – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Entering Lock – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Lock Operations – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Meuse River – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Waterfront boats – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Countryside – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Honestly, the length of river that goes to the Freyer Chateau is not very interesting at all, as is the chateau. There are some interesting rock formations in the portion of the river system, but aside from that, it was rather uninteresting.

Freyer Chateau – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Plateau Rock Formations – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Reentering Lock on Return – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Dinant – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Collegiate Church and Fortress – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Fortress and Cafes – Freyer Cruise – Dinant, Belgium

Restaurants

The restaurants in Dinant a frustrating to say the least, not worth the effort to say the most. Frankly, if the option was open to me I would have gone to the grocery store and bought food and prepared my own meals. The best by far was the Chinese restaurant below. More than one restaurant that we tried to go to was either not open on the day, were supposed to be open but weren’t, or were closed for good, even though their online presences said they were still in business.

L’Inattendu

A very small breakfast place that is uncommonly open when you expect a breakfast place to be open (though not necessarily in Belgium), L’Inattendu is there to serve. We found the food very good and there is enough on the menu to satisfy most people. We went here several times just because the options are limited in this town and the crepes are really good.

Le Cerf Vert

The Le Cerf Vert, or green stag, is one of the few places that is open for lunch that is worth a visit. Though the service is terrible, the food is not bad. I can commend the Tarbaise Casserole.

Casserole and Side Salad – Le Cert Vert – Dinant, Belgium

Le Pavillion de Hong Kong

The Le Pavillion de Hong Kong is a Chinese restaurant and became our go-to place in a town where the restaurants simply do now want to open.

Conclusion

Personally I would not commend Dinant as a destination, unless you truly want to waste your time or have nothing else to do. This happens sometimes. Frankly there are far more interesting places to visit than this town. If you are passing through the area, it’s worth a short stop. But aside from that, it is only a strategic military point between some countries in Europe.

Damm and Lock – Meuse River – Dinant, Belgium

One Reply to “Dinant, Belgium – Abbey Normal”

Anne E Haven says:

16 August, 2026 at 12:50

I can see their was not much enthusiasm in the town, but still interesting the short history. It was hard to believe places so torn by economic problems are that bad. It’s around we just don’t know how bad as here in the states and over there