Leuven outdoors: gardens, abbey grounds, castle park and woods

A garden that has been here since 1738 Diego F. Parra

The Kruidtuin sits just outside the ring road, tucked between the city and the Sint-Donatuspark. It was laid out by the university as a medicinal herb garden and still holds over 800 plant species, including a ginkgo tree that was already mature when the French Revolution began. The glasshouses at the back are the quietest part — warm and humid, with ferns pushing up against the panes.

Vaartkom — the old harbour basin Laura Lee Van Herck

The Vaartkom was Leuven's inland port, dug in the 18th century to connect the city to the Meuse and later to Antwerp. For decades it was a working dock, then fell quiet when freight moved onto trucks. In the last fifteen years the warehouses around the basin have been converted into apartments, offices and a few cafés. The water still sits at the centre, flat and dark, with herons standing on the old bollards.

Park Abbey — the green lung of Heverlee Florencia Aguilar-Borri

Park Abbey is a Premonstratensian monastery founded in 1129, set in a wide green estate of ponds, meadows and old woodland at the southern edge of the city. The abbey church still stands, and the surrounding grounds are open to the public as a public park. The ponds reflect the brick facades, and the paths wind through orchards and across small bridges. On a Saturday the place is calm — families picnicking, cyclists passing through, the occasional bell from the church tower.

The ponds and the old orchard Lexi Lauwers

After the yoga session, walk the loop around the three abbey ponds. The largest one mirrors the church facade, and the path along the eastern bank passes through an old orchard where the monks once grew apples and pears. The trees are still there, gnarled and low, and in late summer the ground underneath is thick with fallen fruit. The far end of the loop opens onto a meadow where the only sound is the wind in the poplars.

Arenberg Castle — a Renaissance palace in a green moat Juhanson

Arenberg Castle was built in the 16th century for the noble Arenberg family and later became the core of KU Leuven's engineering campus. The castle sits on a small island in a rectangular moat, with a stone bridge leading to the main gate. The park around it is open to the public — wide lawns, old oaks, and a long avenue of lime trees that runs straight to the front door. In the early evening the light hits the brick facade and the whole building glows.

The edge of the forest Alexander Van Steenberge

The Heverlee Woods are a remnant of the ancient Sonian Forest that once covered much of central Belgium. The section south of Arenberg is mixed woodland — beech, oak and hornbeam — with a network of sandy paths that are popular with runners and dog-walkers. In the evening the woods are cool and dim, with the last light filtering through the canopy in long diagonal shafts. The main path runs straight for about two kilometres before looping back toward the campus.