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Western Europe

Belgium

Belgium is one of the 193 UN member states, in Western Europe. UN Tourism counted 9.3 million international arrivals there in 2019, more visited than 77% of the 199 places with figures, so its stamp in Globestamp is printed in Foil.

Belgium’s stamp in Globestamp
Foil · 6 to 15 million visitors a year
International arrivals
9.3 millionin 2019, UN Tourism
Rank by visitors
46th of 199most visited first
Stamp finish
Foilrarer than 23%
Area
30,562 km² (11,800 sq mi)
Population
11.5 millionNatural Earth estimate
Provinces
11in Globestamp’s regions layer
Airports
5with scheduled flights
World Heritage Sites
12on Globestamp’s list

Does Belgium count as a country?

Yes. Belgium is one of the 193 UN member states, so every common list counts it: the UN’s 193, Globestamp’s 250 and the Travelers’ Century Club’s 330.

ListCounts Belgium?
UN member states (193)Yes, a member
Globestamp’s countries and territories (250)Yes
Travelers’ Century Club (330)Yes, as Belgium
European UnionYes, a member state
Schengen areaYes, since 26 March 1995

The Belgium stamp

Every country in Globestamp has its own stamp, drawn after a real entry stamp. Its finish shows how few travelers get there. Belgium’s is Foil: a hot-stamped foil block in the ink’s own colour, the finish for places with 6 to 15 million visitors a year. With 9.3 million international arrivals in 2019, Belgium is more visited than 77% of the 199 places with figures. See every stamp on the stamp wall, or the rarest on the least-visited countries.

What counts as a visit to Belgium

The common rule among travelers is that you set foot there: an airport layover usually doesn’t count, and a port where you went ashore does. Globestamp counts Belgium when one of your photos was taken on its ground, or just off its coast; a photo taken from a plane never counts. Photos only at an airport make a transit stamp in lighter ink, counted only if you count layovers. Read more in how to count the countries you’ve visited.

Places in Belgium you can collect

Under the country itself, Globestamp keeps layers of places on your globe, and a photo taken at one ticks it. These are the ones it knows in Belgium, from 12 World Heritage Sites.

World Heritage Sites 12

Grand-Place (1998) · Tournai Cathedral (2000) · Stoclet Palace (2009) · The Great Spa Towns of Europe (2021) · Museum Plantin-Moretus (2005) · lifts on the old Canal du Centre (1998) · Major Mining Sites of Wallonia (2012) · Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (2000) · Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes (2000) · Béguinages in Flanders (1998) and 2 more. On the bucket list →

Famous landmarks 1

Grand-Place. On the bucket list →

Ski resorts 1

Mont des Brumes. On the bucket list →

Wine regions 1

Entre-Deux-Monts. On the bucket list →

Theme parks 13

Plopsaland Belgium · Walibi Belgium · Bobbejaanland · Boudewijn Seapark · Bellewaerde · Plopsaland Ardennes and 7 more. On the bucket list →

Zoos and aquariums 18

Antwerp Zoo · Pairi Daiza · Boudewijn Seapark · Bellewaerde and 14 more. On the bucket list →

Botanical gardens 16

Pairi Daiza · Meise Botanic Garden · Botanical Garden of Brussels · Arboretum Kalmthout and 12 more. On the bucket list →

Science museums and planetariums 7

Euro Space Center · Brussels Planetarium · Earth Explorer · Ghent University Museum and 3 more. On the bucket list →

Events in Belgium

Globestamp’s calendar knows Tomorrowland (De Schorre, Boom, Belgium): a photo there on the days it runs ticks “Be in a city for its big festival”.

Largest cities

CityPeople (urban area)
Brussels1,743,000
Antwerpen920,000
Liège749,110
Gent444,336
Charleroi345,367
Brugge146,469
Namur106,284
Mons91,277

Airports

Belgium has 5 airports with scheduled flights, 3 of them large. Each is a dot on Globestamp’s airports layer, and every flight you log adds to how far you’ve flown (try the flight distance calculator).

11 provinces to fill in

Globestamp goes deeper than countries: its regions layer splits Belgium into 11 provinces (Natural Earth’s first-level divisions), and each one fills in when a photo was taken there.

All 11

Antwerp · Brussels Capital · East Flanders · Flemish Brabant · Hainaut · Liège · Limburg · Luxembourg · Namur · Walloon Brabant · West Flanders

Questions people ask

Is Belgium a country?

Yes. Belgium is one of the 193 UN member states, so every common list counts it: the UN’s 193, Globestamp’s 250 and the Travelers’ Century Club’s 330.

How many tourists visit Belgium a year?

UN Tourism (via the World Bank) counted 9,343,000 international arrivals in Belgium in 2019, the 46th most of the 199 places with figures. Countries count arrivals in different ways (some include day-trippers and cruise passengers), so treat it as a rough rank rather than an exact number of tourists.

How rare is a Belgium stamp in Globestamp?

It is printed in Foil, the finish for places with 6 to 15 million visitors a year, rarer than 23% of the places with figures. The fewer travelers a place receives, the rarer its finish, from plain Ink to Mythic.

Does Belgium count for the Travelers’ Century Club?

Yes. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “Belgium”, one of its 330 destinations.

Places as rare as Belgium

Near Belgium

Sources