Quaint, friendly and vivacious… Leuven is yet another marvelous Flemish conurbation, and again it’s just a leap, skip or jump from Brussels. Leuven is the major town of the territory of Vlaams-Brabant. It’s a primeval capital – the home of the Dukes of Brabant since 1200 – and in medieval times a significant cloth trading hub. Today it boasts one of Belgium’s most metaphorical town halls and is Flanders’ oldest academia town. Some 25, 000 students – more than a quarter of the town’s population – whoosh around by pushbike here, giving the city a cheerful, artistic air. Leuven is also Belgium’s beer capital, home to the globally known red-label Stella Artois.