Belgium Geography & Climate

Belgium covers about 30,500 square kilometres — one of the smaller countries in Europe — and holds nearly twelve million people, which makes it among the most densely populated. It borders France, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands, with sixty-seven kilometres of North Sea coast.

Three bands

The country divides into three roughly parallel zones running north-west to south-east. Lower Belgium, below a hundred metres, covers the coastal plain, the polders reclaimed from the sea behind the dunes, and the sandy Flanders lowland. Central Belgium is a fertile loam plateau between one and two hundred metres, holding Brussels and most of the farmland. Upper Belgium, in the south-east, is the Ardennes.

The Ardennes

A forested upland of old, hard rock, cut by deep river valleys and riddled with caves, rising to the Signal de Botrange at 694 metres — the highest point in the country, on the boggy High Fens plateau. It is thinly populated, and it is where Belgians go for the outdoors.

Rivers

The Scheldt runs through Ghent and Antwerp to the sea and made both cities; the Meuse cuts through the Ardennes past Dinant and Liège. Antwerp, sixty kilometres inland on the Scheldt estuary, is one of Europe’s largest ports.

Land taken from the sea

Behind the dunes, the polders are reclaimed land protected by dikes and drained by a network of canals and pumping stations, much of it at or below sea level. Reclamation here began in the medieval period, and the flat, ditch-lined fields of the Westhoek are the result — which is also why the First World War trenches in this part of Flanders filled with water as fast as they were dug.

The coast

A single continuous belt of sand and dune, entirely built up, with a coastal tram running its full length — sixty-eight kilometres from De Panne to Knokke, and among the longest tram lines in the world.

Belgium has a temperate maritime climate governed by the North Sea and the Atlantic westerlies, which keeps the range narrow and the weather unsettled.

Mild and narrow

Winter averages around 3 to 7°C, summer 17 to 23°C. Hard frost is occasional and snow is unusual on the coast and in the centre, though the Ardennes are colder and get proper snow most winters, with a small cross-country skiing scene on the High Fens.

Rain

Around 800 millimetres a year, spread fairly evenly across every month rather than concentrated in a season — which is the practical point. It rains on roughly two hundred days a year, usually as light rain or showers rather than downpours, and Belgians simply carry on.

Changeability

Atlantic fronts cross every few days, so conditions change within hours. A forecast beyond about two days is a rough guide, and layers with something waterproof are the sensible approach in any season.

The coast

Noticeably breezier and a degree or two cooler than inland in summer, which is exactly why Belgians go there in August. Sea temperatures peak around 18°C, which is bracing rather than warm.

The Ardennes

Higher, wetter and colder — up to 1,400 millimetres a year on the High Fens, with fog, frost and a genuinely different feel from the rest of the country. Summer there is pleasant when the lowlands are humid.

Heat and change

Summer heatwaves above 35°C, once very rare, have become more frequent; Belgium recorded its highest ever temperature in 2019. Air conditioning is uncommon in older buildings.