A beautiful detour in Oudenaarde

With this walking route you will discover the most beautiful places in and around Oudenaarde. You walk past some historical sights in the ancient city center, along the banks of the Scheldt and through the rolling Flemish Ardennes.

Monumental city center
Oudenaarde is also called the Pearl of the Flemish Ardennes. You will find more than 100 monumental buildings. At the Markt you can see the most impressive historic building of Oudenaarde: the town hall. This late Gothic building was built between 1526 and 1537 and is on the World Heritage List. There is a museum in the town hall. Here you can admire, among other things, some of the beautiful tapestries that were made in Oudenaarde between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

Tranquil Maarkebeek valley
Other notable monumental sights are the medieval Begijnhof, the Abbey of Maagdendale with its thirteenth-century church and the birthplace of Margaretha van Parma. Outside the city you will see typical chapels and farms. In the Maarkebeek valley you walk through a bocage landscape with poplar groves, hedges and wooded edges. Back in Oudenaarde you have plenty of time to enjoy this pleasant city. And of course there are plenty of nice restaurants and cafes where you can drink one of the famous local brown beers, for example.

Oudenaarde churches
A historic city is of course also home to some centuries-old churches. In Oudenaarde you can see, among other things, the Gothic Sint-Walburga church from the twelfth century. The church was rebuilt around 1150 after a fire; the choir of the original church from 1126 still remains. In the church you can admire many sculptures, paintings and Oudenaarde tapestries. Pamele's Church of Our Lady dates from the thirteenth century and is considered a typical example of Scheldt Gothic. Would you like to see more of the culturally rich Oudenaarde and its green surroundings? Then also cycle route 334187.