5 Best Sights in Oudenaarde, Vlaamse Ardennen

Cycling is everything in this part of Flanders. It's here that the famous Tour of Flanders (known as "De Ronde") culminates, and the city even has its own museum dedicated to the race. Regardless of whether you get shivers at the sight Eddie Mercx's racing glove or care little about the sport, it draws you in nicely. Audio guides explain what you're seeing; there's even a virtual cycling machine to give you a taste of the Tour. It's not just about the race, either, and gives an interesting overview of the Flemish Ardennes, whose hills, history, and isolation made it the perfect playground for the Tour organizers. At the ticket desk, you can also organize bike hire and cycling tours of the area.

Lying just north of town, this brewery has an enviable heritage. Liefmans has been going since 1679, and its dark beers are a staple of local bars. Outside of Oudenaarde, it's perhaps best known for its commercial fruit beers. Visits must be booked online, but make sure you get a peek at the magnificent Baudelot hall no matter what. Several beers are made here, including the dark Oud Bruin, the Goudenband, and the very sweet Kriek (cherry) and Frambozen (raspberry) beers.

Oudenaarde's town hall is a dazzling expression of just how wealthy the city was by the 16th century. Even today it takes the breath away, and once prompted the novelist Victor Hugo to declare: "There is not a single detail [of it] that is not worth looking at." The main building is adjoined by the city's UNESCO-listed Brabantine-Gothic belfry, etched in elaborate hunting scenes and flocks of angels. Within, you'll find tourist information and the city museum (MOU), the centerpiece of which is a collection of tapestries hanging in the adjoining 14th-century cloth hall. These were Oudenaarde's golden ticket. By the 1500s, the fame of its artisans had spread across Europe and their work fetched high prices. Audio tours circumvent the Dutch info plaques, elaborating the secrets stitched within the hangings and what made them so prized. Less successful is the rather disparate silver collection, though some fine examples of curiosity cabinets and the strange objects coveted by the wealthy make it worth your perusal.  

Built on the banks of the river from blue Tournai stone, the 13th-century Church of Our Lady of Pamele is a fine example of the Scheldt Gothic style. It lies across the river from the center in what was a separate town until the 1950s. To the rear of the church, you can see the tombs of the Lords of Oudenaarde, though these have been badly damaged. Entrance is only on weekends, but even if you can't venture inside, it's worth visiting as part of a stroll along the historic riverfront. To the north lies the stately Huis de Lailing, a 15th-century mansion that used to hold the town's tapestry collection until it was moved to the MOU. Further south is the rose-colored Maagdendale Abbey, founded in 1233 and now a school for the arts. 

Based in the adjoining village of Ename (a 10-minute bus ride from the center), this interactive museum narrates the last 1,000 years of history in the region. Its sites sprawl a village that once stood on the border between medieval France and Germany. Visits include the open-air museum of the archaeological park, where you'll find the first stone inklings of a Benedictine abbey and the foundations of the old city that once stood here.