Jump on a train at Brussel-Centraal station, head south and in just 1hr20min you’ll find yourself in the heart of Namur, capital of Wallonia.

A small and beautiful city, Namur sits at the meeting point of two rivers, the Meuse and the Sambre. It’s a fun place to explore with a vibrant culture and plenty of cafes and restaurants around its historic centre. Namur is also the gateway to the Ardennes so a great place to stop if you are planning to explore this mountainous and wooded region by hire car.

If you are keen on speaking the language of the country on your travels, Belgium has three official languages to get to grips with. Dutch is spoken in Flanders in the north, German in the east - and in Wallonia, towards the border with France, you’re in the French-speaking part of the country.

You’ll find our Avis rental station in Namur conveniently located on the southeastern edge of the city. The location is a short bus or taxi ride from the centre and just off the main national N4 highway from Brussels to Luxembourg.

Don’t miss taking Namur’s cable car to the magnificent Citadel right in the heart of the old city. The cable car offers stunning views across the city to the surrounding countryside and as well as being a fun way to travel, it’s now a valued part of the city’s transport network for locals too.

The impressive Namur Citadel has been an important defensive position through the ages and has a vast network of tunnels – Napoleon Bonaparte, the French emperor and military commander, called it Europe’s largest ant hill.

As well as the Citadel, make time to enjoy the open-air theatre, stadium and Reine Fabiola amusement park with something for everyone from rock climbing to mini golf.

Close to Namur is the small but perfectly formed town of Dinant a 40min 29km drive away along the N92 in the Ardennes region. The clue to the town’s magical cliffside setting is in the name which translates from Celtic as ‘divine valley’. Tourism marketing for Dinant compares it to the epic landscapes in Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones.

But Dinant also has musical associations too as the birthplace of the saxophone – invented by Adolphe Sax - and you can follow a trail of 60 giant models of the instrument.

As one of 25 towns and cities across Europe to take part in 2018 China-EU Tourism Year, Dinant is also a popular destination for visitors from China.

While Namur is easy to get around on foot and public transport, it is worth hiring a car to travel further afield. With Avis Car Rental, you’ve got the freedom to explore the Wallonia region of southern Belgium. If you travel to Namur by train from Brussels, hiring a car gives you the opportunity to drive to Dinant nearby or even create your own road trip through the Ardennes.

As with the rest of mainland Europe, in Belgium you’ll be driving on the right-hand side of the road and overtaking on the left. In this multi-lingual country, when it comes to getting around the road signs are in the language of the local region so in Namur and Wallonia that’s French.

Across Belgium, the speed limit on motorways and dual carriageways is 120km/h (75mph) but this decreases on country roads and in Wallonia the limit on single-carriageway highways is 90km/h (56mph). In Namur itself, the speed limit is 50km/h (32mph) reducing to 30km/h (19mph) around schools and 20km/h (12mph) in residential areas.

If you are planning a road trip from Namur across the border to a neighbouring country, don’t forget to check out the documents and equipment you’ll need.

There are plenty of public car parks in Namur as well as on-street parking which is organised in zones. You can buy tickets for roadside parking in local stores for an hourly rate.