Tournai

Cathedral at sunset

Tournai (Dutch: Doornik) is a city in Wallonia. It is famed for its impressive Romanesque Cathedral. It was also the only Belgian city to ever be controlled by the English Throne.

Understand

• 1 Tourist Office (Office du Tourisme), Place Paul-Emile Janson 1, ☏ 32 69 22 20 45. The one and only tourist office in the city. (updated Jan 2018)

Get in

By train

The 1 Tournai Railway Station is located on the northern edge of the city centre. It's a 1 km walk to reach the square in front of the cathedral.

Tournai is served by regular trains from all over Belgium by the national railway company SNCB/NMBS.

From Brussels direct trains run every hour during weekends and several times per hour during weekdays. They take around an hour.

Direct trains take 30-60 minutes to run to Lille just across the border in France, which has a Eurostar Station.

Paris is accessible in just under two hours with a change in Lille.

By plane

The nearest Airport is Lille Lesquin (LIL ^IATA) which is served by a few airlines with various European destinations. The Belgian airports of Brussels (BRU ^IATA) and Brussels South in the city of Charleroi (CRL ^IATA) are a bit further away but are a lot bigger and serve a lot more flights than Lille.

Get around

Though it might look like a fairly compact town, Tournai is actually Belgium's largest municipality. However, much of the town center can be easily covered on foot. Local bus services are run by TEC. A line that serves parts of the city center is this one.

See

Bells in the Belfry

• Grand-Place, the main square in town.
• 1 Tournai Cathedral (Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Doornik), Place de l'Evêché 1. 9:00 - 12:00 and 14:00 - 17:00 (18:00 in summer). The cathedral is on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List as one of the best preserved Cathedrals in Northern Europe. It is renowned for having one of the most impressive Romanesque naves in Europe and has a remarkable array of statues. The Gothic choir was a later addition. there is also a Treasury Museum attached. Services 11:00 on weekdays and 10:00 in weekends. Cathedral: free, Treasury Museum: €2.50. (updated Oct 2019)
• 2 Belfry, Grand Place. 9:00 - 12:00 and 14:00 - 17:00 (18:00 in summer). Mo closed. The belfry offers great views across the city, especially over the nearby Cathedral. It is the oldest in Belgium and stands at 72 metres high. It offers very informative multilingual displays on the role of Belfries in the history of the region. The Belfry is included on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France.  

The issue of souls in purgatory by Rubens in the Cathedral Saint-Louis Chapel

• 3 Museum of Fine Arts (Musée des Beaux-Arts), Rue de l'Enclos Saint-Martin 3, ☏ 32 69 33 24 31. Displays paintings by Rubens, Van Gogh, Monet, Seurat and Watteau among others. They are displayed in a fine building designed by renowned architect Victor Horta in the Beaux-Arts style. (updated Dec 2017)
• 4 Pont des Trous. A vestige of medieval, military architecture on the river Scheldt (Escaut), which originally consisted of three equally-sized arches. After being intentionally blown up during a tactical retreat by the British at the beginning of the Second World War, it was reconstructed afterwards with a moderately widened middle arch to aid the passage of river traffic. In the late 2010s this has provided the pretext for a highly controversial second demolition and reconstruction (still ongoing as of 2021) in which the central arch is again being expanded, this time much more drastically. (updated Oct 2021)
• 5 Folklore Museum (Musée de Folklore/Maison Tournaisienne), Réduit des Sions 36, ☏ 32 69 22 40 69. Boasts many exhibits on local folklore including several, full-scale dioramas of urban and rural scenes from the bygone era. (updated Dec 2017)
• The Scheldt (Dutch: Schelde, French: Escaut) is a canal-like river passing through the city with active motorized barge traffic. Rue Royale has a lift bridge over the river. Watching barge traffic may be of interest to visitors.

Do

• 1 Cinema Imagix, Boulevard Delwart 60, ☏ 32 69 23 26 24. (updated Jan 2018)

Eat

The Tournai tourist office has created a gourmet walking tour leading visitors along the best gastronomic places in the city such as breweries and shops with local products. Ask the people in the tourist office about it if you are interested.

• 1 Sakura, Rue du Bourdon Saint-Jacques 12, ☏ 32 69 22 99 17. Japanese restaurant. (updated Jan 2018)

Drink

• 1 Quai des Bananes Tournai, Chaussée de Bruxelles 112, ☏ 32 497 66 77 97. 18:00–23:00. A cocktailbar on the outskirts of the city. (updated Jan 2022)

Sleep

• 1 Youth Hostel (Auberge de Jeunesse), Rue Saint-Martin 64, ☏ 32 69 21 61 36, [email protected]. (updated Dec 2017)
• 2 Hôtel d'Alcantara, Rue des Bouchers Saint-Jacques 2, ☏ 32 69 21 26 48. Some of the 25 hotel rooms can sleep up to 4 people. (updated Dec 2017)
• 3 Hôtel Cathedrale, Place Saint-Pierre 2, ☏ 32 69 25 00 00, [email protected]. (updated Dec 2017)

Stay Safe

While it was historically one of Belgium's safest cities, Tournai has made national headlines since the late 2010s for a myriad of crime-related issues. Though the city has not degenerated to levels of those in other parts of the world, pickpocketing, muggings, and robberies have become common in the area.

Connect

• 2 Post Office, Rue Saint-Martin 23. (updated Jan 2022)

Go next

• Lille is only 30km away and a worthy excursion
• Spiennes is reasonably close and is home to Neolithic Flint Mines inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List
• Kortrijk (French: Courtrai) is 30-35 minutes away by train in Dutch-speaking Flanders.