Yes, Hasselt is absolutely worth visiting, especially if you’re tired of fighting crowds in Bruges or Brussels. This small Belgian city won’t blow your mind with grand squares or world-class art museums, but it will surprise you with Europe’s largest Japanese garden, some seriously good jenever (Belgian gin), and walls covered in street art that rival anything in bigger cities.
I spent a day here while exploring Belgium by train. Here’s what makes Hasselt special and whether it deserves a spot on your Belgium itinerary.
Reasons to Spend a Day in Hasselt
The Japanese Garden: Hasselt’s Star Attraction
This was my main reason for coming, and it didn’t disappoint.
The Japanese Garden of Hasselt spans six acres and was designed by Japanese architect Takayuki Inoue as a traditional 17th-century garden. It exists thanks to a friendship agreement between Hasselt and Itami, a city near Osaka, and feels genuinely Japanese rather than like a European interpretation.
Koi carp glide through ponds, water trickles over falls, and elegant footbridges arch over streams. You’ll find a ceremonial house, a traditional tea house, a Shinto shrine, and a peace bell you’re encouraged to ring.
Come in late spring, and you’ll walk beneath clouds of pink blossoms from 225 cherry trees. Even outside blossom season, this garden is a peaceful escape from sightseeing fatigue.
- Getting there: Gouverneur Verwilghensingel 15, 3500 Hasselt. It’s a 20-minute walk from the city centre, or take buses 11, 20a, 36, or 45.
- Opening hours: March to October, Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm (last entry 4 pm). Closed Mondays.
- Admission: €7 (2026 price)
Street Art That Competes With the Big Cities
Hasselt’s street art collection punches way above the city’s size. With around 150 works covering walls across the city centre, this isn’t just a few tourist-friendly murals.
You’ll find work by top Belgian and international artists creating everything from hyper-realistic portraits to abstract pieces that make you stop and stare.
Download the free Street Art Cities app before you go. This GPS-enabled app shows you where to find the art and tells you about each piece and its creator. You can follow one of four routes, which cover between 2.3 and 34.6 km.
The app makes finding everything easy, but I also enjoyed just wandering and stumbling across pieces unexpectedly.
A Museum Dedicated to Belgium’s National Drink
The Jenever Museum is housed in a working 19th-century distillery and tells the story of Belgium’s favourite spirit through bottles, jugs, pitchers, glasses, posters, and labels collected over decades.
Jenever (also called genever) is made from grain, juniper berries, and aromatics. It’s the ancestor of gin and tastes quite different from what you might expect if you’ve only tried London dry gin.
The self-guided tour takes you through the distilling process and history. At the end, you get a free tasting at the museum bar. The cheerful staff recommended the original grain jenever, which was smooth and surprisingly easy to drink. Worth trying even if spirits aren’t usually your thing.
Cheers!
- Address: Witte Nonnenstraat 19, 3500 Hasselt
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am-5 pm (last entry 4.15 pm). Closed Mondays and 24, 25, 31 December and 1 January.
- Admission: €10 (2026 price, may vary during special exhibitions)
St Quentin’s Cathedral
A church has stood on this site since the 8th century. The current Gothic cathedral dates from work done between the 13th and 15th centuries, though the tower contains remnants of an 11th-century Romanesque church.
Step inside to see frescoes by Hasselt painter Godfried Guffens (1823-1901), Renaissance choir stalls, and 19th-century stained glass windows. It’s free to visit and worth 20 minutes if you’re passing.
- Address: Vismarkt, 3500 Hasselt
- Opening hours: Daily from 9.30 am until 5.30 pm
The UNESCO Beguinage
Hasselt’s beguinage is one of 13 in Belgium that were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1998.
Beguinages were walled complexes built to house beguines, lay sisterhoods of the Roman Catholic Church founded in the 13th century. Think of them as small towns within cities where religious women could live and work while remaining connected to the world outside.
Beguines lived in Hasselt’s beguinage until 1886. Today, it houses the House for Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture (Z33), which is worth visiting if you’re interested in contemporary art.
Herkenrode Abbey
About 15 minutes from central Hasselt, this former Cistercian women’s abbey was founded around 1180. It thrived and declined several times before the religious community was expelled around 1800.
The Experience Centre tells the abbey’s turbulent history. If you visit in summer, explore the two-hectare garden with over 500 plant varieties. The abbey also brews three beers using 800-year-old recipes created by the nuns. Trying these beers completes the visit nicely.
2026 UPDATE: The Abbey of Herkenrode has been undergoing a large-scale restoration and is due to reopen in the summer of 2026.
- Getting there: Herkenrodeabdij 4, 3511 Hasselt. Take bus 51 Heusden from the train station (get off at Herkenrode Brug) or cycle there (between junctions 94 and 237 on the Limburg cycle route network).
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am-5 pm. Closed Mondays except July and August, and closed 24, 25, 31 December and 1 January.
- Admission: Separate fees for the abbey and garden; combination ticket available.
Fashion Museum
If fashion interests you, the Fashion Museum (Modemuseum Hasselt) traces Western fashion from 1750 to today through roughly 18,000 items, including clothing, shoes, handbags, accessories, and underwear. The 17th-century building is lovely too.
- Address: Gasthuisstraat 11, 3500 Hasselt
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am-5 pm. Closed Mondays and 24, 25, 31 December and 1 January.
- Admission: €10 (2026 price)
What Hasselt Isn’t
Let me be honest about what you won’t find here.
There’s no show-stopping main square, no must-see art collection, and none of the almost tangible history you feel walking around Bruges or Leuven. The historic centre is small and mostly modern. You won’t find rows of gabled buildings lining meandering canals.
But that’s exactly why Hasselt works as a day trip. The compact, largely car-free centre is pleasant to wander. You’ll find a handful of attractive older buildings, including the half-timbered Het Sweert on Grote Markt (1659), the 17th-century town hall, and the Renaissance refuge house for Herkenrode Abbey.
More importantly, you’ll have room to breathe. After a morning dodging tourist groups in Brussels’ Grand Place, Hasselt’s quieter streets feel like a gift.
Getting to Hasselt
Hasselt makes an easy day trip from Belgium’s major cities.
From Brussels or Antwerp, trains run every 30 minutes and take 70-80 minutes. From Leuven, the journey is 40 minutes with frequent services. You’ll be there before you finish your book.
Is Hasselt Worth Visiting?
For a quick day trip from Brussels, Antwerp, or Leuven? Absolutely. The Japanese garden alone justifies the journey if you visit during cherry blossom season. Add in the street art, jenever museum, and the simple pleasure of exploring a Belgian city without constantly dodging tour groups, and you’ve got a satisfying day out.
Would I recommend spending several days here? Probably not, unless you’re using it as a base to explore the wider Limburg region.
Hasselt isn’t going to replace Bruges or Ghent on your Belgium itinerary. But if you have an extra day and fancy something different, you’ll leave glad you came.
Planning more Belgium travel? Consider day trips to Ghent, Mechelen, or Leuven. My Belgium 1-week itinerary covers the highlights, and this Belgium solo travel guide has all you need to know if you’re travelling alone.
About Bridget
Bridget Coleman has been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.
Articles on this site reflect her first-hand experiences.
To get in touch, email her at hello@theflashpacker.net or follow her on social media.