Best Things to Do in Dinant, Belgium (+Tips for Your Visit)

Are you thinking of visiting Dinant in the French-speaking part of Belgium and wondering if it’s worth it or what there is to see and do in Dinant? This article should answer all your questions about visiting Dinant.

Dinant is one of the most beautiful little towns in Belgium. It’s charming, beautifully located, and full of history. It’s also very compact and you can easily see pretty much everything that the town has to offer in 3-4 hours.

This makes a perfect day trip from Luxembourg or from Brussels. In fact, there are tours from Brussels that visit Dinant and Luxembourg in a day (see here).

If you are wondering if Dinant is worth visiting, my answer is yes, absolutely! It’s a local’s favorite and a great place for those looking to explore Belgium deeper and beyond the most popular tourist cities in Flanders.

Below, you can find our suggestions for the best things to do in Dinant. Take a look!

 

Here are the best places to see and things to do in Dinant:

Citadel of Dinant

The Citadel is the main attraction in Dinant. We recommend starting your visit here.

Sitting in a strategic position on top of a steep cliff, the fortress dates from the Middle Ages. Over the centuries, it has witnessed many battles, served as a prison, and nowadays as a museum.

From the top, you can also enjoy amazing views over the city and the Meuse River Valley.

 

You can only visit a small part of the Citadel privately, so we recommend joining a guided tour. You can decide on this once you are there, based on tour availability. We had to wait a bit for the next tour to start, but we used that time to look around and enjoy the views.

Our tour guide was exceptionally good. Not only did he speak perfect French, Dutch, and English, but he also managed to keep everyone interested and did a great job getting the kids involved as well. We really enjoyed the guided tour of the Citadel of Dinant – it was worth waiting for.

We learned some history of the place, saw the rooms soldiers used to sleep in, the kitchen where they had to cook food for 400 people… The kids loved seeing all those old-fashioned guns and the canons and we were all impressed with the canon ‘bullets’ – the smallest one weighs 8kg!

Just try to imagine bullets like that flying around the valley at a huge speed…

 

Some expositions inside the Citadel are somewhat unsuitable for young children, but ours didn’t seem to care much about it (or they didn’t understand what they were seeing).

We just tried not to linger by the guillotine longer than necessary…

 

There were two rooms in the Citadel that left the biggest impression on us.

The first one was the room with a replica of WWI trenches. We were walking through the trenches in the dark and could hear loud explosions and the sound of shooting bullets all around us. Very impressive!

 

The second was a  sloping room, a reconstruction of a bunker that has been hit by a bomb and it’s an amazing sensation to walk through it!

A bit of sloping floor you’d think, so what? Lots of paths and floors slope, but I’ve never experienced something like this! Gripping the walls we shuffled sideways, afraid of losing our balance, stumbling or falling in the water.

I watched the kids laugh when they tried to get out of the room at the same time trying to figure out what was going on with my body. My head was spinning as I finally reached the end of the room and could finally get a gasp of fresh air and feel a stable straight surface under my feet. The whole experience took no longer than 10 – 20 seconds, but I don’t think we’ll ever forget it!

 

TIP: When you arrive in Dinant, head straight to the parking of the Citadel. It’s located on the hill, outside the city center, is easily accessible, and there is plenty of free parking space available. You can leave your car here while you are exploring the town.

There is a military cemetery close to the parking, which was the first thing our kids wanted to see. Here you’ll also find a playground and an old military plane.

If you are arriving by train, you can get to Citadel via the gondola or a steep staircase – more info further below.

Practical information: In the high season between April and September, Dinant Citadel is open every day from 10 am to 6 pm, and the cable car is open daily. In the lower season, opening hours are a bit shorter and the cable car only runs on weekends and school holidays. You can find more practical information on the official website of the Citadel.

TIP: We recommend getting an all-in ticket which includes the Citadel visit, a round-trip ticket for a cable car to the city center and back, and a 45-minute boat cruise on the river. These tickets can be bought on the spot and are only available in the season when everything is open and boats are running.

 

Dinant Cable Car (or the 408-step Staircase)

After the visit to the Citadel, take a cable car to the town center which is located by the river below.

You can also take the stairs if you are in need of a challenge. We gladly skipped them – all 408 stairs – and used the cable car both ways. It takes less than a minute!

Good to know: If you get an all-in ticket mentioned earlier, the round-trip on the gondola is included. However, if you are visiting Dinant in the low season and the gondola isn’t open that day, you will either have to do the stairs or take the car between the Citadel and the center. Keep in mind that parking is much easier (and free) at the top of the hill.

 

The Cathedral of Dinant

The 13th-century Gothic Collegiate Church of Our Lady is definitely worth a short visit when sightseeing in Dinant.

It has a remarkable pear-shaped bell tower which is quite unique. But also the Gothic interior of the church is impressive, with high pillars and vaulted ceilings.

The Cathedral is located very close to the cable car entrance and the staircase to the Citadel, so you can’t miss it. However, it’s not very clear what the opening hours are, so simply check if it’s open when you get there.

 

The House of Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone

In Dinant, you can also visit the house of Adolphe Sax (1814–1894). Born in Dinant, Sax was a builder of musical instruments and is best known as an inventor of saxophone.

The house is easy to find on the main street, to the right after you exit the church.

Practical information: The museum is open daily and the entrance is free of charge. There is only a very small exposition inside. A visit here won’t take you longer than 5 minutes. For more info, see the official website.

 

Dinant Bridge of Saxophones

The Bridge of Saxophones with many colorful saxophones is another must-see in Dinant.

It’s actually called Pont Charles de Gaulle, in case you try to find it on the map. But don’t worry – you can’t really miss it since it’s located right in the middle of the town center, just steps from the Cathedral.

Our kids loved this bridge with colorful saxophones and flags from different countries. They were running from one saxophone to another reading the country names and looking at their colorful designs. It definitely adds a lot of color to the little town center.

 

Dinant Boat Cruise on the Meuse River

There are several options when considering a boat trip in Dinant. First and the most popular one is the 45-minute river cruise to Ansereme that is included in the all-in ticket with a visit of the Citadel.

There is also another company running river cruises. They have the same tours to Ansereme as well, but they also offer a longer tours. They have a 2-hour tour that goes all the way to the castle of Freÿr, another tour of 3 hours, and possibilities for private tours as well.

If you like to explore the area from the water individually, you can also rent a small electric boat.

Please keep in mind that some of these options are only available in the summer season.

 

As already said, we opted for the all-in ticket and thus took a 45-min scenic cruise. It’s a rather big boat with all amenities and you can easily take a stroller on board.

We sat outside on the roof deck, but the stank of the engines was really bad when going in one direction. I guess it has to do with the wind and there is really no way to avoid it, but it ruined the whole experience for me.

It was nice to see the area around Dinant from the water and the kids liked being on the boat too. Was it not for the smell, it would have been much more enjoyable.

 

More things to see and do in Dinant

If you are looking for more things to do in Dinant beyond the musts mentioned above, you could consider visiting the nearby caves of Dinant – Grotte la Merveilleuse.

These stalactites and stalagmites caves are located very close to the town center and can easily be visited on the same day as the rest of Dinant. Ask for some information and a discount voucher at the ticket office of the Citadel of Dinant! You can find practical information and opening times on this website.

We ended our day in Dinant at the playground of the Citadel and headed to Durbuy instead. Durbuy claims the title of the smallest city in the world and is also worth a short visit. On the map, it looks like it’s close by, but it’s almost 1 hour drive time from Dinant. It’s a nice place to go to for dinner too or to stay for a couple of nights when exploring the Belgian Ardennes.

TIP: If you are in this area, you may also want to visit the beautiful town of Bastogne, mostly known for the Bastogne War Museum.

 

How to get to Dinant

The easiest way to get to Dinant is by car (100km, 1h20) or with an organized tour from Brussels. There is also a direct train from Brussels-Luxembourg train station to Dinant; it runs every hour and takes 1h25.

Where to eat in Dinant

There are many restaurants in the town center of Dinant and two on top of the hill, one at the playground of the Citadel, and one at the parking. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant by the river and it was ok (not great), but really touristic. They all are. If you are looking for good food, you may need to look a bit further away, further from the main tourist route.

Dinant Cake

A visit to Dinant wouldn’t be complete without tasting the Couque de Dinant – Cake of Dinant. It’s an extremely hard, sweet biscuit that comes in all shapes and forms and can be bought at any bakery in town. Our kids chose a car-shaped cookie each and a week later we were still eating it. It’s so hard that it lasts a very long time. Let’s just say you get some value for your money.

 

More travel tips for Belgium:

• Belgium Itinerary
• Fun & Interesting Belgium Facts
• Best Christmas Markets in Belgium
• Brussels:
  • Best Things to Do in Brussels
  • Where to Stay in Brussels
  • Brussels Flower Carpet
  • The Story of Manneken Pis
• Antwerp:
  • Best Things To Do in Antwerp
  • Antwerp’s Hidden Gems
  • Best Things to Do in Antwerp with Kids
  • Exploring Antwerp by Bike
  • Where to Stay in Antwerp
  • Why Antwerp is Worth Visiting
• Bruges & nearby:
  • Best Things To Do in Bruges
  • Bruges Belfry Tower
  • WWI Battlefields & Ypres

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