Liege Travel Guide

Liège is a french speaking city, one of the most important ones from Belgium. There is a small chance you'll find someone that will speak english or dutch, but don't count on that. My advise would be to bring your french dictionary when visiting. Some people think Liège is horrible, some people think it's OK. I would say it's OK, depends on what you are looking for. Compared to other european villages, it might look not "as clean", but still is not a big deal. If you get to wrong streets you might get to see some drug addicts, but that's the worse you can see here. On the other hand you have nice stuff to see, you can walk next to the river, you can have an amazing view of the city from "La Citadelle", just by taking some long stairs (or a bus if you want). Downtown, also known as "Le carré" (which means the square)  has all major stores if you are the shopping kind of person, and in the night becomes the point of gathering for party! About the food, well, there are two kinds of waffles (Gauffres in french) in the world, Brussel's ones and Liege's ones. The one's from Liège are thicker, the ones from Brussels have more air insde, it's a matter of taste. So, if you come to Liège, you can't leave without eating the famous "Gauffres de Liège". There are also lots of cafés, so you can sit and relax in anyone of them you can find for instance in "Place du marché" in downtown. You can also find some cafés near the Cathedral, also in downtown. Both sites with a cool ambience. If you are looking for restaurants, you can try downtown, "la cuisine" is variated or you can cross the pont that divides the city, get to the other side called "outremeuse" and there you can also find some nice places to eat. Talking about "outremeuse", the other side of the river, the main event there would be "le 15 août". The 15th august they celebrate the Virgin Mary. It's a big event, lot's of people come to this, there is of course a mess and a procession, but later there is music, parades, dancing, food and drinking, A LOT of drinking. It's really fun, the only downside (if it can be considered as such) is that this event is really famous, there is lot of people coming and the space can be small sometimes. Sure thing is that if you are around sometime near this date, this is something you can't miss. Another event that's important in Liège, is "le marché de La Batte". It's a big, HUGE, street market, that's made every sunday of the year the long of the river, near downtown. It's amazing, you can find almost anything you might need (even don't need) there. People selling there everything, and people from all countries, personally I've seen Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Turkish, Mexican, (and of course Belgian), people among others,  selling specialities from their own country. Also something not to miss if you come to visit. About public transportation, it's OK, there are buses that can get you almost everywhere, one ride is 1.30€, and a ticket for 8 rides costs 6.30€. Buses 1 and 4 do a urban loop, so with these buses if you get lost at least you're sure you won't end up somewhere else. About trains, there are three main stations, Liège Guillemins (the main station), then one train stop called "Liège Jonfosse" and then the last station "Liège Palais". The station Liège Guillemins is the one that has TGV (high speed) trains and is the biggest one of the city, is located 30 mins walking from downtown. The station Liège Jonfosse is located 10 mins walking from downtown (Le Carré). And Liège Palais is located 5 mins walking from the main place in the city (also the main bus station), the "Place St. Lambert". And my last input about this village, if you wonder how people is?... well, people in Liège complaint all the time about everything, but when you talk to them they are reaaaaally nice people, and if you need help, or directions or whatever, don't be afraid to ask as they will make an effort to understand you and help you, for sure.

Liege is a very calm, romantic, and undisturbed by tourists kind of a city where, if you cannot speak french, you'll be completely confused because everyone around you will be confused that you cannot understand their French! In the center of Liege is a river that divides the city; the Central Station is often covered in Fog and train exhaust, especially in the winter and it places you so far away from your own reality.  I felt as if I were in a black and white movie when my Thaly's train left Koln, Germany and found it's way into Belgium. At night, there's a really super cool cyber cafe/bar called Cyber-pot-au-Lait.  The beer's excellent as is the music.  I love cold weather.  Well occasionally.  In December, it's absolutely beautiful at night if you see the opera house and the colorful lights drowned by the fog.  The closest comparison that I can recommend is if you've seen the movie "Crazy Love", the third act when the main character is grown up in a bar.  Dominique Derrudere films this colorfully lit bar in the fog at the beginning of that scene.  That's as close of a visual as it comes to describing Liege in December.  There is also an Muslim Quarters where you'll find some excellent Algerian food.

Just don't go here.
It's the most depressing city that I've been to in Europe.
Don't go especially if you can't speak French,
nobody in the city speaks a work of English to help you.
It's grey and rainy, the buildings look like they are still in the WWII era, and there is nothing amazingly fun to do or see.