Bois de la Cambre (Ter Kamerenbos)
The night before Waterloo, British soldiers played cricket here — the lawn still has a name for it.
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Designed in 1861 by German architect Édouard Keilig, this 1.23 km² park is where the Sonian Forest fingers into the city. The southern half wraps around a 6-hectare artificial lake; the northern half stays densely wooded with 19th-century buildings. Avenue Louise was built the same year as the park, expressly to connect it to the city — they arrived together.
What to look for
- La Pelouse des Anglais — the lawn where English soldiers played cricket on 17 June 1815. A 1965 British Ambassador-planted oak and bronze plaque mark the spot.
- Robinson Island in the southern lake, home to the Chalet Robinson — the island sits at the centre of the 6-hectare artificial lake.
- The wooded northern section, which holds several 19th-century buildings from the park's original Keilig layout.
Enter from Avenue Louise/Louizalaan — the boulevard was built in 1861 alongside the park and links it directly to central Brussels.
Bois de la Cambre (Ter Kamerenbos) is one of 33 sights worth the detour in Brussels, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Brussels pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Brussels
- Manneken PisA 55.5 cm bronze boy that somehow became the face of an entire country — the joke is entirely intentional.
- Grand-PlaceEvery guildhall surrounding you was rebuilt from rubble — French artillery levelled the square in 1695, and the Town Hall tower survived only because it was the gunners' aiming point.
- AtomiumNine stainless-steel spheres arranged as an iron crystal blown up 165 billion times — built to headline a World's Fair and never taken down.
- Stoclet PalaceA UNESCO World Heritage house you can only see from the pavement — by design, and by the owner's choice.
- King Baudouin StadiumInaugurated for Belgium's 100th birthday in 1930, this 70,000-seat bowl on the Heysel Plateau hosted six European finals — and the night football changed forever.
- Cathedral of St. Michael and St. GudulaBelgium's national church began as a chapel on a trade-route crossroads in the 9th century — eleven centuries of building decisions are now stacked on a hill called "Mount of Sorrow."