Built in 1906 as an outlying defence post for Antwerp, Breendonk became a Nazi concentration camp in WWII. Visits take you through torture rooms, cells and dark, dank corridors accompanied by a two-hour audioguide relating harrowing personal accounts. Dress appropriately, as much of the visit is outside; even in high summer this place chills to the bone.
The fort is 12km west of Mechelen, just off the A12 Antwerp–Brussels highway at junction 7 in Willebroek.
Westbound bus 460 heads to Brussels’ Gare du Nord (50 minutes) at 38 minutes past the hour on weekdays. Eastbound bus 260 from nearby Schalkstraat shuttles hourly to Willebroek train station (1.5km northeast), which is on the Leuven–Mechelen–St-Niklaas line.
