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Louvain-la-Neuve is a pedestrian town built around its university: the lecture halls, the kots, the shops and the nights out fit within a few kilometres. Each neighbourhood has its character all the same. A quick tour.

Before choosing

A town designed for students. The centre of Louvain-la-Neuve is entirely pedestrian, built on a slab under which cars and car parks pass. Everything is done on foot: crossing the town takes about twenty minutes. The university itself manages a large share of the buildings and of the student housing.

The university's housing. UCLouvain rents out rooms in shared flats, mainly to bachelor students, and studios, mainly for master's and PhD students. It also hosts the kots-à-projet, those flatshares run by students around a project (culture, solidarity, sport...). Ask its housing service alongside your search on Kot à Louvain, and early: places go fast.

Your classes. The faculties of humanities, law and management are in the urban centre, around the Grand-Place and the Montesquieu and Cardinal Mercier squares. Sciences, the École polytechnique and the bioengineers are to the east, at the Biéreau, around place des Sciences and Croix du Sud. Motor sciences are at the Hocaille, near the Blocry sports centre, as are IAD and HELHa. The colleges of Louvain-la-Neuve have their own sites.

The neighbourhoods

In Louvain-la-Neuve

The urban centre

From the Aula Magna and the lake to the Esplanade shopping centre: the squares, the cafés, the shops, the lecture halls of humanities, law and management, and the station, under the slab. The most practical and liveliest neighbourhood, where you also cross residents and weekend visitors.

The town centre in detail: the pedestrian deck, the station, the humanities faculties.

The Biéreau

"The top of the town", around place des Sciences and Croix du Sud: faculty of sciences, École polytechnique and bioengineers. A lively student neighbourhood, with its cafés and its sloping streets, some ten minutes on foot from the centre.

Le Biéreau in detail: the sciences, the Ferme, the kots.

The Hocaille and Blocry

To the west, between the lake and the Blocry sports centre, near the faculty of motor sciences (place Pierre de Coubertin), IAD and HELHa. Quieter than the centre, with many kots-à-projet that liven up the neighbourhood, and the tracks, pool and gyms a stone's throw away.

Hocaille and Blocry in detail: the sports centre, the kots-à-projet, three schools.

Les Bruyères

South of the lake, a neighbourhood built to meet student demand, with many collective buildings, kots and shared flats, surrounded by houses and newer blocks. Quiet, and partly family-oriented: mind the neighbours.

Les Bruyères in detail: the lake, EPHEC, a mixed neighbourhood.

Lauzelle

Just behind the Esplanade, around the Place Verte. Residential, reachable by car, with flats rented to students as well as to young couples, and the Hergé museum right nearby.

La Baraque

The "old neighbourhood", built on the site of the hamlet that existed before the town, with its original, self-built housing. A neighbourhood apart, alternative and endearing, with little housing available.

Around Louvain-la-Neuve

The neighbouring municipalities offer more space and often lower rents. The train links Louvain-la-Neuve to Ottignies in a few minutes, and from there to the rest of the country. Check the bus or train connection to your campus before visiting.

Ottignies

The neighbouring town, with the big Ottignies station, a railway hub towards Brussels, Namur and Louvain-la-Neuve. More urban and often cheaper, a few minutes by train or bus from the lecture halls.

The municipalities of Walloon Brabant

Mont-Saint-Guibert, Court-Saint-Étienne, Wavre, Rixensart and the others: more spacious, quieter housing, but a dependence on the train, the bus or the car. Gembloux, further south, also hosts its own university campus.

By school

In every listing, you can see the trip to your school on foot, by bike, by public transport or by car: add your school to your profile to see it.