Mechelen

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Mechelen is a historically important city located on the river Dyle in the center of Flanders, one of the three regions in Belgium. It lies about halfway between Antwerp and Brussels and has approximately 75,000 inhabitants.

	mechelen Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Get in 3 Get around 4 See 5 Do 6 Drink 7 Sleep 7.1 Budget 8 Contact 9 Safety 10 External links

Understand

Mechelen is developing into the center of non-profit or non-gouvernamental organisations for flanders. Some famous examples are Natuurpunt, AFS, the Red Cross, ... This is mainly because it's very easily reachable (by train or by highway) but not as expensive as Brussels.

Inhabitants are called "Maneblussers" (moon-firemen). The story goes that one day long time ago the moonlight was shining on the unfinished Romboutstoren and that some people thought it was burning. The whole city was mobilised to extinguish the fire but there was no fire to extinguish.

Get in

Mechelen is easily reached by train. From Brussels and Antwerp it takes about 25 minutes.

You can also reach by taking a bus from Antwerp.

Mechelen lies at the E19-highway.

Just outside the main train station you'll find a bus station with connections to many places in the vicinity.

Get around

The city center is about 15 minutes walk from the train station. Mechelen is a very compact city, so you can reach most places on foot. There are a few bus routes through and radiating from the city center in case you need them.

See

• St. Rumbold's Cathedral (Sint-Romboutskathedraal)
• The Museum of Toys (Speelgoedmuseum)
• The Market Square (Grote Markt) and the surrounding shopping streets Bruul and IJzerenleen.
• Planckendael Animal Park (Dierenpark Planckendael) http://www.planckendael.be
• Vrijbroek Park (Vrijbroekpark)

Do

• Maanrock, on the Grote Markt and in the IJzerenleen. End of August. A 2-day free festival. http://www.maanrock.be/

Drink

• Brewery Het Anker. Features locally brewed Mechelse Bruynen and Gouden Carolus. http://www.hetanker.be/
• Guido Gezellelaan 49 (on the ringway around the city center).

Sleep

Budget

• Zandpoort Youth Hostel, Zandpoortvest, 27 85 39 (fax: 27.85.40). 20 min. from the main train station, 15 min. from the city center. 15-20?. http://users.skynet.be/de.zandpoort/

Contact

The city code for Mechelen is 15.

Safety

Mechelen has some problems with some youthgroups. There is no immediate threath if you stay on touristic routes, but certain neighbourhoods are to be avoided. The city has one of the highest criminality rates of Flanders.

External links

• City of Mechelen (Flemish site) (http://www.mechelen.be)

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