Two zoos in Belgium: Planckendael Zoo and Pairi Daiza

Considering a trip to a zoo in Belgium? Keep reading!

Fans of zoos are not alone in Belgium. The tiny country—which is so densely populated it might as well just be considered a large city—is packed full of zoos and menageries alike (I mentioned one of the former already, Mont Mosan, in this blog about Huy). There are two (three, maybe) that are really stand out attractions though, that might be worth a visit even if you come from a city with a zoo already, or if you live in Belgium and are trying to decide where to spend your money wisely, as visiting them is not cheap, and requires careful consideration.

Each of the zoos features a different approach to zoology and children's entertainment, as different as the territories they're in (Flanders vs. Wallonia). It's important to research and compare the options before making a decision. Ultimately, the best choice will depend on your interests and preferences. So in this blog, I'll break down all the advantages and disadvantages of the two main Belgian zoos, Planckendael Zoo and Pairi Daiza.

Conservation Efforts

Of course, the modern zoo should have a primary focus on conservation, and both certainly do. Planckendael Zoo focuses on local wildlife and endangered species, while Pairi Daiza supports global conservation efforts and participates in international breeding programs.

The Planckendael Zoo actually has its roots in Antwerp. The Royal Zoological Society ran out of space in Antwerp and wanted an area that would be much larger and more comfortable for the animals. So in 1956 they bought up a huge tract of land near Mechelen and voila. And on top of just maintaining a zoo, they also help with all kinds of research efforts, from elephant herpes to saving zebras in a drought. You can follow their Twitter for more.

Discover the European Union Quarters (EU Quarters) on my latest tour.

Pairi Daiza in the meantime also has huge and comfortable enclosures for all their animals and regularly teams up with the Royal Zoological Society. But their main focus is on saving the giant panda population, which has had trouble breeding in the wild and the population in China has been taking a huge hit, since the population itself is already small and they're quite spread out across the country in regions isolated from each other. It's this interest that ensures two huge and beautiful panda enclosures at the zoo, too.

Size and Layout

Both Planckendael and Pairi Daiza are large zoos, but Pairi Daiza is simply massive. And you feel how massive it is. I think it took us about three visits to discover everything at Pairi Daiza, and since they even have constant construction works, each time something new opened up (in addition to the stuff we previously missed). Getting the abonnement (membership) was well worth it, as every visit was guaranteed to be unique from the previous one.

Pairi Daiza surrounds a lake

With Planckendael… it's possible to visit the entire place in one long visit without missing anything. It took us about 7 relaxed hours. It's a large zoo, but it's by no means an impossibly large zoo, like Pairi Daiza. But Pairi Daiza benefits from its location (later) in this regard, since it has the room to really expand outward.

Small, nice water features, but not a lake

Animal Variety

Because of the size, Pairi Daiza is able to maintain more interesting enclosures and host more animals. While Plaeckendael is home to around 1,200 animals, while Pairi Daiza boasts an impressive 7,000-strong animal population.

Plaeckendael animals

They both have different collections though. Pairi Daiza has an extensive panda family (hence their breeding program) and a beautiful family of white tigers, while Plaeckendael has an impressive and huge Bonobo exhibit.

Pairi Daiza animals

Additionally at Pairi Daiza, there's a full aquarium (with shark tunnel), polar bears, walruses, sea lions, and other animals which take up large tanks that Plaeckendael doesn't have the room to do appropriately.

Architecture/Zoo design

While both are themed by continent, Pairi Daiza here takes the cake. Planckendael is flat and mostly forested, with only a few park features to differentiate the continental location of the animals. Maybe a themed restaurant or sitting area, but that's about it.

Pairi Daiza though is a work of art. I mean, there are nice looking zoos, and then there is Pairi Daiza. There is no comparison. Even if you have no interest in zoos, you can visit Pairi Daiza and still have a mind-blowing experience. The gardens, the landscaping, the architecture, all of it is just phenomenal.

Pairi Daiza scenery

Built on the grounds of a medieval monastery, Cambron Abbey, the old belfry still stands (as well as the continued beer-brewing tradition), with a crypt that features a walk-through bat exhibition.

They go out of the way using extraordinary artistic detail to highlight the cultures of each continent. With high-level handiwork and craftsmanship, there are woodworked miniature sculptures, large sculptures, and monuments throughout the park. The white tiger, for instance, is in a replica Hindu temple, the red panda is on an island in the middle of an East Asian tea garden, deer range free with children though a totem pole lined walk through North America, and the polar bears are right near the huge Orthodox church-styled buffet restaurant with a skating rink on a dock behind it. Oh, a cargo ship for the reptile exhibit, a stilt village for the pigmy hippos, and an African safari village for a burger bar near the rhinos and lions. And steaming volcanos that house the gorillas. I mean, the place is nuts, with one absolutely beautiful creation after another.

And now, recollecting my visits there, it makes me slightly sad we didn't go there instead of Plaeckendael…

Children's Entertainment

All that said, if you have a child 4-10 that wouldn't give a damn about flowers, art, or architecture, Plaeckendael does earn some heavyweight zoo points. At Plaeckendael, the zoo ensures to keep your kids entertained throughout the visit. There are hidden slides, climbing rigs, two large playgrounds, and a really cool ropes course (for adults too) just after a huge indoor butterfly and orangutan exhibit (where you get to do like me and tell your kid he's swinging around just like those loveable orange giants), and this raft where you pull on a rope to get across (don't fall in). They have a lot of little interactive info plaques where the kids can compare their hands with organgutan and bonobo cast hands and things like that.

If it's hot out, Plaeckendael also includes a water playground where the kids can run around and get wet.

Plaenckendael fun

Meanwhile, Pairi Daiza hasn't forgotten about your kids, but doesn't go to quite the same effort. They've got a huge outdoor playground in the center with massive slides and great rope climbing, an indoor playground in the Oasis and also a train that goes around the park and offers and exclusive view of the elephants. They used to have a rope bridge route that went over the East Asian tea garden (accessible via the Middle Kingdom aviary), but that's been closed for the past two years.

playground at Pairi Daiza

Overall Experience

Overall, Plaeckendael is a zoo. It's a great zoo, but it's very much a zoo and nothing above that. If you've been to a zoo anywhere, you're probably not missing anything by not visiting Plaeckendael. If you're in Belgium for an extended period of time and have kids, then for sure go, it's time well spent.

Pairi Daiza is not just a zoo; it offers a truly unique and immersive experience. It's repeatedly rated Europe's Best Zoo year after year for a reason. If you enjoy zoos, visiting Pairi Daiza is a must during your time in Belgium, France, Netherlands, or Germany. It's truly worth a trip from any of these countries to experience this remarkable place. Even if zoos aren't your usual preference, consider checking out Pairi Daiza for a unique and memorable experience. Really, it's ruined zoos for me, because now I hold all zoos by the Pairi Daiza standard, so I no longer like zoos, because they're not Pairi Daiza. So, actually, maybe don't go.

Location, location, location

If you're limited on transit options and time, Planckendael Zoo may be the more suitable choice for you. Planckendael Zoo is located in Mechelen, about 30 minutes from Brussels and accessible by a direct train route. As it's right near Mechelen, you're also near a beautiful city to visit during your stay. Do the zoo, have dinner in Mechelen.

You can get to the zoo by train from Central or Schuman for 5.50 one way. Just take the train towards Antwerp and get off at Muizen station. It's a little udner a 15 minute walk from there. About 1 hour total transit time.

To get to Pairi Daiza… well, the zoo is really in the middle of nowhere. Expect to spend two hours in one direction. From Central, get on a train to Ath (also a beautiful town), and from Ath to Cambron. It's then a one km walk on a dedicated pedestrian trail. So yeah, maybe rent a car if you don't have access to one.

The Brussels Ommegang festival

Parades, knight fights, jousting, beer, and people in funny historical costumes that don't look remotely near Game of Thrones. That's the Ommegang, which takes place in Brussels every year from either the last Wednesday of June or first Wednesday of July (check your calendars) to the following Saturday. Not last Sunday, but the previous one, by this year's calendar.

I’ve heard the Ommegang is a pretty exciting festival in Brussels. The reason I wouldn’t know if it’s all that exciting is that something always comes up. The first year here, we didn’t know at all about the event. The second year, we were traveling somewhere. This year, I had every intention of hitting at least the parade but then bam, migraine. Story of my life.

This time though, I did at least get to catch the Renaissance Festival on the Saturday.

Ready for jousting

The story of the Ommegang

What really peaked my interest on the Ommegang, despite loving all the fabulous European historical costumes that aren’t remotely grimdark, was the history behind it. While I was making the tour for the Upper Town for Voicemap (find that here), I discovered all that weird and very Belgian tale.

A lady and a statue

Once upon a time, there was a little old religious lady named Beatrice Soetkens. She was an impoverished peasant, living in this swelling metropolis of Brussels. Lacking any kind of meaning in her life, she decided to find religion and make her own meaning out of it. So she had a vision of Mary, as one does.

“Dear Beatrice,” Mary said. “There’s a statue of meself over in Anvers, and I daresay they’ve been treatin it quite awful.” I imagine here Mary to speak somewhat like a cockney. Though she wasn’t at all English, she was a lowborn Aramaic-speaking Jew of the Roman Empire. And as everyone knows, poor people in the English-speaking world speak like cockneys because Monty Python.

Go on your own Ommegang on my audio tour

So naturally, she and her husband (whose name has been lost in time), got in a boat and cruised down the River Senne (at this time, there was a River Senne), and some canals and some other rivers, and finally to the collegiate church in Antwerp where the mistreated statue was not being venerated. They grabbed the statue, put it on their boat and set sail.

Only the wind was dead.

The people of Antwerp weren’t fond of the idea that some Brusselaar couple coming down to whisk away their statue. They lined up on the canal with their pitchforks ready for a good old fashioned lynching. But then the wind picked up and off they went.

They would later recount how it was a miracle from God that allowed them to steal a statue from a church and bring it to Brussels.

The crossbowmen’s guild

At that time, just outside a much nicer castle than what exists now, there was a bit of a swampy area with really fine sand. The local chapter of the Hospitaliers had run out of their own land for cemetery space so they started burying bodies there. But sometime in the 13th century, they decided that was no longer necessary, so the duke handed over the land to the Crossbowmen’s Guild for premium practice range land.

Starting the Ommegang at the Royal Palace

The crossbowmen decided they needed a church. So, they built the first Church of the Sablon—Sablon being French for fine sand. Naturally, they needed a centerpiece for their new church, so when Beatrice came floating up the Senne, they volunteered their space to host such a fine award.

As an exchange, the crossbowmen promised they’d parade the statue around town each year in celebration, thus keeping Beatrice’s name and faith alive forever. This parade, first held in 1348, was called The Walkabout, or “Ommegang” in Flemish.

The Church of the Sablon

The Ommegang traditionally starts in front of the palace, goes by the Church of the Sablon, and finishes in the Grand Place.

The Church of the Sablon

The Church of the Sablon was upgraded a century after the first Ommegang. But their possession of the statue was a bit short lived. When the Calvinists came in, they burnt down a bunch of the Catholic Churches and smashed up all their statues (including the one Beatrice stole). Pair this with the traditional American story of “Us Calvinists were fleeing religious persecution… after we smashed up some people’s shit and they drove us out of town.” Puritans were basically the first American victim-monkeys.

The order of events

The Ommegang is composed of three parts. The parade, the show, and the Renaissance Faire. As I mentioned, I only made one of those, but I’ll do my best to describe the others.

The Renaissance Faire / Le Marche Renaissance

Not as big as the May Medieval Market in Cinquantenaire, the Marche Renaissance is still a pretty fun exhibition of the chad days of Europe. It starts on the Wednesday on to the Saturday, it features twenty or so crafts tents, a beer stand, and jousting lists and features both some HEMA combat, jousting and horseback bravado, and crossbow shooting.

The small HEMA contest is done by the same folks as at the Cinquantenaire (or at least shared many of the same folks), but again, it’s much smaller. However, unlike at the Cinquantenaire, it featured jousting.

HEMA

My favorite bits were naturally the HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) action. HEMA is something I wish I knew about growing up in Tulsa, where us "medieval enthusiasts" were just using our minds doing that in D&D and eventually resorted to whacking each other with foam and PVC pipes. There was an SCA group (Society for Creative Anachronism), and as it wasn't just sport, but almost a whole culture, it always seemed like something way too hard core that I didn't have time or money to invest in.

I'm not sure if HEMA was always a thing in Europe, but in the last few generations it's really picked up steam in the US as well and I feel I really missed out on a thing. We can largely thank social media for the revival, I think. In Europe, it's a bit different, because it can be dress-up and sport, because it's all local and part of the historic culture, while in the US you kind of have to take an extra step of creativity and invention. I never even knew people who did fencing, for example, until I met some Estonians in Georgia. Fencing wasn't a way of life for them, it was just a sport they competed in on an amateur level. Even in Georgia, traditional martial arts kind of fell out of practice in favor of more international fair like judo, but now, khridoli, is making something of a comeback outside the typical dance marathon it's inspired.

HEMA covers a wide variety of "games"—fencing, joustig, boxing, wrestling, sports fencing, and so on that are usually glossed over in favor of Eastern Martial Arts and Brazilian. At its most brutal, it's weaponized MMA without jujitsu, where people tend to use the traditional forms of their country and bash each other until they fall down. At its most refined, you've got fencing and other variations, which differ depending on weapons and cultural style with various systems of pointing (often depending on where a strike made contact). Sometimes it's just a bunch of playfighting and jest, which is often the case at festivals:

And shows of horsemanship:

But all and all, whether it's support or showmanship, it's usually a fairly entertaining show. Especially when it's not a fake castle background that I'm used to seeing in Colorado, but a real effing castle or palace. And here I'll do some white American complaining—we are alienated by our ethnic culture, and by our geographic culture, so it does't surprise me that we produce a lot of lost, alienated wackadoos who either go deep in religion and move to Russia to have 12 babies under a dictator play-preaching family values, shoot up schools, or attempt to assassinate a president or two. When a person isn't a part of something, especially when they feel like they're not allowed to be part of anything, the results make Jack a dull boy.

The Parade / Le Cortege

The parade happens twice, both on the Wednesday and again on the Friday. I know, shame on me for missing it both times! It kicks off pretty late, at 8:15, so it can be a bit difficult for those with youngins like myself. Charles V’s carriage (ridden by the ghost of the King) rides down to Sablon, where the main parade participants join in.

All the different traditional clubs of Belgium march through, from the Crossbowmen’s Guild to fencers to arquebusiers. They end up at Grand Place, which leads to the third phase of the celebrations.

The Spectacle

Once the parade arrives at the Grand Place, the real fun begins. That’s when all the troupes do their performances, from fire breathers to acrobatics to flag wavers to people profoundly bowing. It’s a real medieval style celebration.

Tickets start at around 40 euros, if I remember correctly.

So, if you’re planning a trip to Brussels, keep the Ommegang in mind for something really unforgettable for you and your family! Check the Ommegang website for more information.

Huy & Mont Mosan: Brussels day tripping

Belgium has no shortage of interesting places. And though we’ve already begun on “second tier” sites, I still haven’t been able to sit down and talk about the first tier. But I’ll get to that.

I probably would have never heard about the village of Huy if it weren’t for Groupon advertising Mont Mosan amusement park. Huy is famous for some things though: notably it was settled by the Romans after their taking of Gaul, it’s got a huge fortress, and there’s a big nuclear power plant just around the bend on the Meuse River.

Huy is also the beginning of the famed Peter the Hermit’s preaching tour, where he heard the news about the Crusade and decided to gather up poor people throughout Europe. They proceeded to go about beating up and killing Jews and looting their shops, and then, having arrived in Asia Minor months later, most of his followers were themselves slaughtered by Turks. He himself did manage to make it to Jerusalem, so well done there.

From what I saw, it's easy to say that Huy should be on your list of things to do in Wallonia, no doubt about it.

For our brief stint to Huy, we had four destinations: Mont Mosan, the church, the fort, and the old town. So, I’ll run through those in order.

Mont Mosan

The advertisements make Mont Mosan appear like a zoo, but you might be forgiven for considering it an amusement park. Really, it’s some kind of bizarre hybrid that’s quite perfect for kids ages 2 to 9. They’ve got a ton of kiddie rides, playgrounds, and a smattering of animals which mostly consist of rodents.

The place opens with a big Dinos-Alive exhibit, complete with moving robotic dinos that share habitats with some ostriches and turtles. Then immediately to the rides. You can either pay for the rides individually (2 euros a ride) or pay for a ride pass for 12 euros. Most rides the kid can bring a parent on with them, so even if they’re on the smaller end they can typically participate.

Then there’s a walk around with the larger circle of alternating exhibits of playground, rodents, and rides.

The shows

They’ve also got a few fun shows.

When we were there, we got to see the otter/sea lion show and the parrot show.

The otter and sea lion swim around in their little arena, flipping balls, dancing and whatever. That turned out to be my son’s favorite show. Part of the “big stunt” was to get three kids from the audience (chosen beforehand, as they were ready with life jackets on) to get into a boat that would be pulled around by the sea lion.

The parrots do stuff like ride mini-bikes and scooters and drive little remote control cars. As the handler was trying to get a parrot to count numbers called by the audience and ring the bell that many times, another parrot kept sneaking down to do it for him.

Price

12 euros per person (both kids and adults); 12 more euros for the unlimited ride pass. You can also get combo tickets with the cable car (see Getting Around Huy below).

Collegial Church of Our Lady and Saint Domitianus

This massive church sits right underneath the Fort—which made me think of Dinant, as it’s laid out in a similar fashion—and itself looks like a castle. The main tower, for instance, looks like a huge keep where you might lock up some unfaithful queen, as they often did in castle towers like that.

The Gothic Collegial Church of Our Lady and Saint Domitianus was completed in 1536 and looks more like a castle than many castles do. It boasts a series of really beautiful stained glass windows. The side windows are fine enough, but the rose window is where the true beauty is at: it captures some kind of inexplicable soft glow. I couldn’t really capture it on camera, so sorry for that. You’ll just have to take my word. But I’m not alone in appreciating this beauty, as it even gets its own name, “Li Rondia”, and a place on the “4 Wonders of Huy” tourist list put out by the village tourism office.

In the crypt below, there’s an exhibit of “treasures” for 3 euros. I didn’t see it, as I just gathered it’s mostly just a bunch of gold and fancy cups for mass. Oh, and also a few reliquaries, for St. Mark, St. Domitian, and St. Mengold. But you know what they say about relics.

We heard several songs chiming out from the 49 bells up top during our visit to the village. One Beethoven’s 5th, and some other famous pieces. The bells make for delicate chimes for true song playing, presenting quite a mystical feeling while walking around.

Fort Huy

Fort Huy is a massive complex that sits over the village, looking across the rooftops at the view of the three reactor nuclear site not far away. There’s been a castle in Huy ever since the Romans settled here in the first century AD.

The fort has both served as a protection and a plague for the residents of the city. For much of its term, it served as an important point in controlling traffic and trade up and down the Meuse (mostly textiles for much of history). But in the 1600s, King Louis XIV made his famous foray into the Netherlands, which included using the famous Musketeers, and where the real D’Artagnan made his claim to fame at the walls of Maastricht (there’s a statue of him there, too, because why not make statues of the heroes of your enemy).

Anyway, point is that because there was a fortress here, the village saw themselves coming under siege after siege during the nine years of fighting between France and a long line of belligerents that were too unlucky to live during the era when France didn’t take no shit and certainly didn’t surrender.

So, after the wars were over, they were quite happy to let the Fort fall into ruin. And then the Dutch moved in and built a new fort! Yay. So, the one currently there is from 1818. They mostly used it as a prison, and it was put to maximal use by the Nazis when they housed about 7000 prisoners there during the course of World War II.

The fort museum is dedicated to that last period. They’ve cleaned up a few of the rooms to make them presentable—some prison cells and toilets—polished up a chapel room and a multimedia exhibit, and installed a bar on the rooftop, because why not?

There is also a WWII-themed escape game, which could be cool. Because damn, doing an escape-from-Nazis game in an actual Nazi prison is pretty next level gaming.

Price

4.50€ for adults, free for kids under 6.

Getting there

There is the cable car (see below), or you walk up. There’s a paved path coming up from the river, and a nature trail that begins on Rue Sous-le Chateau at about here. We went up the paved path and down the trail, which is what I’d recommend, as the trail is a bit rugged and feels like you’re going into the deep woods. Which you can, as there is a hiking trail the continues on from there.

Old Town Huy

I was actually impressed with the old town. It consists of four or five streets that have, out of convenience, left up their Christmas decorations for year-round fun. Many of the streets are pedestrian only, and they’re all lined with cafes, restaurants, and shops. I don’t know, the Flemish keep saying how poor the Walloons are, but life still seems quite lively everywhere I go.

The village is a bit smaller than Dinant, the main tourist thing to see in Wallonia, but there is a great deal of similarities. They both have castles (Dinant’s is a WWI museum though), big churches in front of the castles, cable cars, and rivers. Dinant is very much touristified and all the restaurants can easily fit in the tourist trap category. Huy is equally pretty (especially if you like the nuclear chic of the skyline), but as it really isn’t on the tourist map, you can trust the restaurants a little more easily. Have a meal in an old town square featuring a 15th century fountain and church and hear… actual French being spoken.

The main difference with Dinant is the massive nuclear skyline view from the fortress. It's one of two nuclear plants that have by and large protected Belgium from skyrocketing energy prices. As thankful as I am for that, it does kind of kill the medieval skyline look (as does the misplaced apartment towers across the river).

Getting Around

My biggest bit of advice. I wish I had realized this when we went. There is a cable car that goes from across the river, to the fort, and then all the way up to Mont Mosan, with a stop right next to the amusement park. So that’s a really cool way to see the village. Had we known about it, we’d have parked in the old town and taken the cable car up, no doubt about that.

More info about the cable car, or telepherique, can be found here. You can buy tickets at any station at one of their electric kiosks, which has English as an option. So, no need to worry about fumbling around with your sub-par French skills, no thanks Duolingo. Basically it’s 6 euros one way, 10 for two ways.