Aalst, Belgium

Capital City

Living costs run about 30% lower than Brussels, but don't expect small-town charm in this industrial Flemish city of 88,854 people. Located 19 miles northwest of the capital, Aalst straddles the Dender River and maintains a gritty manufacturing identity focused on textiles and machinery.

The medieval roots show through in the 15th-century Gothic belfry (a UNESCO site) and Belgium's oldest town hall, but modern Aalst generates more headlines for its controversial carnival celebrations than its history. The annual pre-Lent festival, known for the "throwing of the onions" tradition, lost its UNESCO cultural heritage status in 2019 amid accusations of anti-Semitic imagery. The city's working-class spirit lives on through its textile mills, hop fields, and cut flower business - practical industries that have sustained Aalst since its days as a strategic trading post between Bruges and Cologne.