Hotels in Liège

Liège is Wallonia's big, gritty, good-humoured river city, built along the Meuse and shaped by centuries as a prince-bishopric and later as a powerhouse of coal and steel. That industrial past still shows in worn suburbs and a centre that can feel rough around the edges, but the city makes up for it with character. The Prince-Bishops' Palace anchors the old town, the Montagne de Bueren staircase climbs 374 steps to the citadel views, and the Sunday La Batte market along the quays is one of the oldest and longest in Belgium.

This is the home of the dense, caramelised Liège waffle, meatballs in syrupy sauce, and péket gin, best tested in the student-heavy bars of the Carré or the proudly local Outremeuse quarter. Arrivals often pass through Calatrava's dramatic Liège-Guillemins station. Traffic, roadworks and grey weather can dull a visit, and some streets feel neglected. Stay in the historic centre between Place Saint-Lambert and the Carré, so the palace, the market, the river and the evening bars are all within walking distance.