Where to Stay in Aalst, Flanders

What is Aalst known for?

East Flanders holds the city, and the municipality reaches well past it to take in the villages of Baardegem, Erembodegem, Gijzegem, Herdersem, Hofstade, Meldert, Moorsel and Nieuwerkerken. A feud with Dendermonde runs alongside. The quarrel is folkloric rather than serious and dates from the Middle Ages, when the two towns already faced each other along the same river.

Brussels lies 31 kilometres off.

What are the main landmarks in Aalst?

Churches dominate the Aalst list. Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Hemelvaartkerk, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, Sint-Jozefkerk, Sint-Jozefskerk, Heilig Hartkerk and Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Bijstandkerk all appear on it, together with St Martin's Church of Aalst. Civic buildings fill the rest.

The Schepenhuis, 't Gasthuys, the Oud Hospitaal, the Kapucijnenklooster and the Oude Kapucijnenklooster carry the older civic and monastic record, and the Fire Fighting Museum Belgium adds a newer one.

What is the history of Aalst?

Aalst grew on the Dender. The river links it northward to Dendermonde, and the two towns have kept a folkloric feud running since the Middle Ages, an argument that outlived whatever first caused it. East Flanders is the province.

Aalst belongs to the Flemish Region of Belgium and sits about 31 kilometres northwest of Brussels, with Ghent on the other side of it. The municipality was assembled from more than the city. Baardegem, Erembodegem, Gijzegem, Herdersem, Hofstade, Meldert, Moorsel and Nieuwerkerken were brought under the same administration, which is why nearly seventy-eight square kilometres answer to one name.

Stone marks each stage. The Schepenhuis carries the old civic name, St Martin's Church of Aalst and Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Hemelvaartkerk the religious one, and the Oude Kapucijnenklooster and Kapucijnenklooster the monastic houses that followed. Care of the sick left its own buildings.

The Oud Hospitaal and 't Gasthuys survive from that work, and the architect's house of Antoon Blanckaert and the Fire Fighting Museum Belgium record later chapters in the same town. Molenbeek-Ter Erpenbeek crosses Aalst and Hofstade. The stream gives the two places something in common besides the municipal boundary.

Where is Aalst?

Aalst lies on the Dender River. Its municipality spreads over roughly seventy-eight square kilometres of East Flanders, taking in Baardegem, Erembodegem, Gijzegem, Herdersem, Hofstade, Meldert, Moorsel and Nieuwerkerken alongside the city itself. A second watercourse cuts across.

The Molenbeek-Ter Erpenbeek crosses both Aalst and Hofstade, while the Dender carries on north toward Dendermonde and Brussels lies about 31 kilometres off.

What is the climate of Aalst?

Temperate air sits over the Dender. Aalst shares the mild and wet pattern of East Flanders, where rain is spread through the year rather than saved for a season, and hard frost is the exception rather than the rule. Summers stay short of hot.

Grey weeks outnumber bright ones through the darker half of the year, which is when the river towns along the Dender see the least of the sun.

How do you get to Aalst?

Brussels is the usual starting point. Aalst sits about 31 kilometres northwest of it, with Ghent on the far side, so the town falls on the run between the two and is reached from either without difficulty. The Dender points the other axis.

Dendermonde lies north along the same river, and Hofstade and the other seven villages of the municipality are scattered around the city rather than strung along one approach. Aalst itself is quickly crossed on foot.