Leuven
About the City
It will not take you long to figure out what Leuven was built on, as its university and breweries are very much still the heart and soul of the city. The University is a striking mix of classic architecture and state-of-the-art research and facilities.
As tourists, it will be the classical side of the university that interests you. As with many university towns, the sheer number of students gives the place a real buzz. The city is home to over 25,000 students, and this can be clearly witnessed on any night or evening out in the city.
The city is located only 25km away from Brussels and very much lives in the bigger city’s shadow in terms of tourism. But if you have visited Brussels or anywhere else in Belgium and liked what you saw, then you will certainly enjoy what Leuven has to offer.
Despite the picturesque center of the city is small enough to see it all in a day or two, the charms and culture of this lively city will easily keep you here for a week or two.
Special Notes
I really wish I had the time to visit Leuven on my trip. Belgium has some incredible cities, and it sounds like Leuven is one of them. Over half of the 100,000 residents are students, which means that it has the accommodations of a student town and active student life.
The city is filled with Medieval architecture, has a low cost of living, and is very safe and compact. The city is also known as a technology hotspot and is part of Health Axis Europe which is “a strategic alliance initiated by the biomedical clusters Cambridge (UK), Leuven (Belgium), Heidelberg (Germany), Maastricht (Netherlands), and Copenhagen (Denmark) in order to cross-leverage innovation resources and thus jointly increase international competitiveness.” Sounds like some great internship and job opportunities there! Brussels is an easy 20-minute train ride away, which means students in Brussels can also enjoy living in Leuven.
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