Leuven is a university town where the medieval centre and student life share the same few streets. This guide covers six places within a short walk of each other: the Grote Markt, often called the centre point of Leuven, the city museum M Leuven, the Ladeuzeplein with the University Library, the Sint-Donatus Park with its 12th-century wall, the university's little-known zoology museum and the Oude Markt. Five of them are stops on our Leuven scavenger hunt.
Grote Markt: the centre point of Leuven
When people in Leuven talk about the middle of town, they mean the Grote Markt, where the Town Hall and St Peter's Church face each other. The Town Hall was built between 1439 and 1469 in the Brabantine Gothic style, with Matheus de Layens finishing the work. It looks like a stone reliquary, with turrets, pinnacles and lace-like tracery, and its façade is covered with 236 statues of saints, scholars, artists and local figures, which were added in the 19th century.
St Peter's Church, opposite, is the other half of the square. Work on the Gothic church began in 1425, but its planned giant tower was never completed, which explains the oddly short west front. Inside hangs one of the city's treasures, The Last Supper by Dieric Bouts, painted for the church in the 1460s. Both the Town Hall and St Peter's are stops on the scavenger hunt, and so is the Grote Markt itself.
- The statues on the Town Hall: try to find one figure you recognise, then look up at the tiny ones on the turrets.
- The truncated west end of St Peter's, where the great tower was meant to rise.
- The Fonske statue a few steps away on Rector De Somerplein, a student pouring water over his head.
M Leuven
M Leuven is the city's museum of old and contemporary art. It opened in 2009 in a building by the Belgian architect Stéphane Beel, who joined new galleries to a 19th-century neoclassical town house and its garden. The result is calm and light, with long views through the building and a roof terrace looking out over the rooftops.
The collection is strong on late-medieval art from Leuven and Brabant: carved altarpieces, sculpture and paintings made for local churches and guilds. Temporary exhibitions bring in contemporary artists and big monographic shows. M Leuven is the first stop of the scavenger hunt.
- The contrast between the old house and Beel's new wings, best seen from the garden.
- The roof terrace, which gives a view towards the towers of the old centre.
Ladeuzeplein and the University Library
A few steps from M Leuven, the wide Ladeuzeplein is dominated by the University Library. Its predecessor burned when German troops set fire to Leuven in August 1914, destroying hundreds of thousands of books. The new library, designed by the American architect Whitney Warren, was built in the 1920s largely with American donations, and its tower holds a carillon. In front stands Totem, Jan Fabre's giant beetle pierced by a needle, installed in 2005. The square is a scavenger hunt stop.
Sint-Donatus Park
Just east of the centre, between Tiensestraat and Vlamingenstraat, Sint-Donatus Park is a green space with a surprise: some of the best-preserved remains of Leuven's first city wall, built between around 1190 and 1235, including several towers. The park was redesigned in an English landscape style in the 1990s, with lawns and winding paths around the old stones. Look for the old towers rising above the lawns and the change in ground level along the wall.
The ground on the park side is higher than the neighbouring gardens, and in 2011 part of the wall collapsed. The city later began rebuilding it with the original stones, which it had kept. It is a quiet place to sit between sights, and it is one of the stops on the scavenger hunt.
Museum voor Dierkunde
KU Leuven's zoology museum is one of the city's least-known collections. It sits in a former university building on Naamsestraat, now used by the zoology department, and its collection goes back to the early 19th century. Glass cases filled with stuffed animals, skeletons and specimens line the rooms in the style of an old natural history cabinet.
The most striking sight is the whale skeleton hanging over the entrance hall. The museum is free, but it is usually open only on weekdays, so check before you go. It is not a stop on the scavenger hunt, but it is a short walk down Naamsestraat from the Grote Markt.
Oude Markt
Back near the Grote Markt, the Oude Markt is a long rectangular square lined entirely with cafés and bars, which is why it is often called the longest bar in Europe. Most of its brick-gabled houses were rebuilt after the destruction of the First World War. By day it is a place for coffee on a terrace; on weekday evenings in term time it fills with students. It is a stop on the scavenger hunt.
How to see them in one walk
Start at M Leuven, then cross the Ladeuzeplein with the university library and head east to Sint-Donatus Park. Walk back towards the centre for the Grote Markt, the Town Hall and St Peter's, then go down Naamsestraat for the zoology museum. Finish at the Oude Markt, the long square of student cafés, which comes alive in the evening.
See Leuven with World City Trail
Our Leuven scavenger hunt turns the old centre into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from M Leuven to the Fonske statue. Five places in this guide are stops: M Leuven, the Ladeuzeplein, Sint-Donatus Park, the Oude Markt and the Grote Markt with the Town Hall and St Peter's Church, along with the Herbert Hooverplein and St Michael's Church.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Leuven.
Play the Leuven scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Leuven →
Play the outdoor escape game in Leuven →
Facts checked in October 2026.