Mechelen's Great Beguinage is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (alongside the other Flemish beguinages) and unlike many of the others, it is woven directly into the city centre rather than walled off as a separate quartier. The streets — Nonnenstraat, Schrijnstraat, Twaalf Apostelenstraat — are a quiet network of 17th-century brick houses, courtyards, and the Begijnhofkerk, a serious baroque church well worth a look inside.
It functioned as a Beguine community from the late 13th century until the last sisters left in the 20th. Today the houses are private homes, but the streets are open, the church is open during services, and the whole quarter rewards an aimless half hour of wandering — especially because almost nobody else seems to come here.