Old towns of Benelux outlines a list of notable old towns in Benelux (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands).

List

Belgium

• 1 Antwerp A medieval city whose port came to prominence in the fifteenth century after the port at Bruge silted up.
• 2 Bruges A medieval city surrounded by a canal. Originally a port town, but in the fifteenth century the port silted up.
• 3 Ghent Originally a port on the River Leie. Now one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe including a castle, cathedral, guild hall and belfry tower.
• 4 Kortrijk Originally a Gallo-Roman town, the city today boasts many notable medieval buildings.
• 5 Leuven Home to the oldest univesity in Belgium. Althugh the city was badly damaged during both worlkd wars, many medieval building including the cathedral, several universoty colleges and the Great Beguinage.
• 6 Mechelen Originally founded during the Gallo-Roman period, the city prospered during the mnedieval wool trade and became one of the centres of the Flemmish art movement. The town centre within the ring road still maintians its medieval character.

Luxembourg

• 7 Echternach A city dating back to 698 AD. Although many of the historic buildings that reflected its history were damaged during the Battle of the Bulge (1944), they have been restored.
• 8 Luxembourg A city that dates back to the 8th century. Among its interesting attractions are its 17th century fortifications whihc include underground tunnels.

Netherlands

• 9 Amsterdam Centrum Capitalof the Nethrlands whose Canal District consists of a series of concentric semicircular canals fronted by gabled buildings dating from the Dutch Golden Age.
• 10 's-Hertogenbosch A city with a medieval town centre and original town walls.
• 11 Delft A medieval city, criss-crossed with canals, with many buildings that have royal connections including a medieval palace and former cathederal, most of which are within 100 metres of the Markt (market square)
• 12 Gouda Has a medieval city centre which is famous for its cheese market.
• 13 The Hague The Binnenhof, a medieval complex is the seat of the Dutch Government.
• 14 Leeuwarden Capital of the province of Friesland, surrounded by its original canal system with a medieval town centre.
• 15 Leiden A ciry with a medieval core that was associated with the Pilgrim Fathers.
• 16 Maastricht A city on the Dutch/belgian border and 20 km from the German morder and dating back to Roman times, the city has more national heritage buildings (rijksmonumenten) than any other Dutch city apart from Amsterdam.
• 17 Nijmegen Acity dating back to Roman times that has a number of Roman, medieval and post-medieval buildings.
• 18 Utrecht A modern city with a medieval core.
• 19 Voorburg One of the oldest settlements in the Netherlands dating back to Roman times in which a number of medieval buildings have been preserved.
• 20 Zutphen A city founded by the Roamns, which has preserved its medieval layout and has over 400 national monuments.

See also

• Old towns of Britain and Ireland
• Old towns of Central Europe
• Old towns of France