Are there hilly areas of Leuven, Belgium?

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There are small hills near the built-up area of Leuven, including inside the municipal area, and the built-up area is not entirely flat either. You can find slopes steep enough for a sledge (in case it ever becomes winter again) or to need brakes going down or gears going up by bike. By standards of the Dutch speaking part of the Low Countries¹, it doesn't get much hillier than this outside the Ardennes or the coastal dunes. The Leuven town centre is at an elevation of less than 30 metre, and there are hills less than 10 km away which reach over 100 metre elevation, with several more between 80 and 100 metre.

Some examples of hills located in or near Leuven:

Kesselberg area, 4 km from central Leuven. View from Kesselberg:

Near Kesselberg
Source: bvlg blog, all rights reserved.

Stairs going up/down Kesselberg:

Kesselberg stairs
Source: mon plaisir, Wikiloc

  • The Tomberg is a 103 metre high hill in the Meerdaalwoud just south of Leuven, 9 km from the town centre and quite close to the edge of town. Leuven itself is below 50 metre elevation, so this is clearly a significant¹ hill.
  • Zwanenberg, 82 metre, 6 km west from train station
  • Steenhoven, around 80 metre, 6 km east from train station
  • Lastberg, around 100 metre, around 8 km east from train station

You can find more by browsing Opentopomap, or by searching overpass-turbo for natural=peak. Here are hills as mapped on Openstreetmap marked against an Openstreetmap rendering (interestingly, Kesselberg is missing here):

Openstreetmap screenshot with hills near Leuven marked

Or seen on Google Streetview, you'd certainly need some brakes cycling down and gears cycling up this particular road near Leuven, or even moreso this 15% street nearby (thanks to phoog for linking).

¹As defined by being able to tell the difference in which direction you're cycling, even in the absence of wind.

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There are none. The highest point of the province Vlaams-Brabant, of which Leuven is the capital, is a mere 142 meters high. And even that one is not exactly close to Leuven. You simply don't have the elevation to squeeze in any significant slopes or mountains.

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