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Province of Belgium
Photo: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Hainaut is the westernmost province of Wallonia, the francophone region of Belgium. It is densely populated and has an intensely industrial heritage related to coal mining and heavy industry attracted by its once-rich coal deposits. Once a target of economic immigration from entire Europe, it has been suffering economic decline once its core industries floundered, and is now a relatively impoverished area, while the industrial heritage render it less attractive to many compared to regions more rich in earlier, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture or unspoiled nature. That said, Hainaut is not without its fair share of attractions.
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Ath is a French-speaking town of about 30,000 inhabitants (2024) in the centre of western Hainaut, mid-way between Brussels and Lille in France. Famous for the annual Ducasse festival, this typically Belgian small town with architecture from different eras can make a nice daytrip from Brussels or Lille.
Binche is a small town in the Belgian province of Hainaut about 34 miles south of Brussels. The Carnival de Binche [1] Belgium's most famous carnival, attracts thousands of visitors annually.
Charleroi, on the river Sambre, is the third largest municipality and fifth-largest city of Belgium. It is in Hainaut province of Wallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium.
Chimay is in Belgium, near the French border. Chimay is located in the southern tip of the province Hainaut.
La Louvière is an industrial city of 80,000 inhabitants in Wallonia, Belgium. It is centrally located between Charleroi and Mons.
Mons (Dutch: Bergen, not to be confused with the namesake city in Norway) is the capital of the Belgian province of Hainaut, in the region of Wallonia. The town is a worthy place to base yourself for a multi-day exploration of the Hainaut region.
Thuin is a small, partly hilltop town south-west of Charleroi in the Belgian province of Hainaut on the river Sambre. For rail fans, there is the ASVi museum featuring historic trams from the Vicinal era.
Tournai (Dutch: Doornik) is a city in Wallonia. It is famed for its impressive Romanesque Cathedral.
Its most notable attraction is animal park Pairi Daiza
Pottes is a small Belgian village in the Celles Region which is in the North of the Province of Hainaut, not so far from Flanders.
Spiennes is a small village with about a thousand inhabitants in Wallonia, close to Mons. The town itself is mostly an attraction for what it once was, that being the foremost Neolithic production centre of pre-historic Europe.
Articles and travel topics about Hainaut and Belgium.
Culture & historyThe Belfries of Belgium and France are a world heritage site. The site comprises 56 belfries from Flanders and Wallonia in Belgium, and from far northern France.
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Culture & historyWhether they're unusually short, unusually long, sound like a naughty English word, or are just plain silly, places with unusual names can be fun destinations.
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Travel tipsBelgium has one of the densest rail networks anywhere in the world. You can expect to travel Belgium by rail to be reasonably timely, fast and frequent, making rail travel in Belgium a convenient way to travel around…
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ItinerariesStretching from Knokke to Adinkerke, the Kusttram (Dutch for "Coast Tram") makes it possible to travel almost the entire length of the Belgian coast by tram.
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