What to do in Genval around Chez Clément?

Genval is a small ornamental village in the commune of Rixensart, Walloon Brabant, with a dual identity: a quiet residential community of about 5,000 inhabitants on one side, a regional tourist anchor around its lake on the other. The lakeside walking loop, 3.5 km long, is the village's signature attraction, flat, family-friendly, and pleasant in every season. From Brasserie Chez Clément at Rue de la Bruyère 230, the lake is barely five minutes by car or twenty minutes on foot.

Beyond the lake, Genval offers a series of softer cultural and leisure stops. The village centre includes the Saint-Sixte church, a couple of local cafes, antique-style shops and a weekly market. The Genval Cycling Festival (when scheduled) brings an annual surge of cycle traffic through the village. The local lanes, quiet, leafy, gently undulating, are favoured by Brussels cyclists looking for a half-day loop. Chez Clément, with its large free car park ten metres from the entrance, is a regular pause for cycling groups.

The brasserie's role in village life is structural rather than incidental. Founded in 1858 by Henri and Sidonie Clément, the house has been part of Genval's identity for five generations. Today, under Marie and Gilles Verleyen, it serves more than 1,400 covers a week and remains one of the largest dining capacities in the immediate area (230 seated, up to 250 for events). The Thursday disco night evening, established in the mid-1990s by France Clément, is a fixture of the local social calendar; the September Pétanque tournament gathers around fifty teams; the October-November Raclette season hosts Swiss cheesemakers in-house.

For an international visitor, the recommended Genval half-day is: morning lake loop (45 minutes to 1 hour), coffee in the village, an optional cycle loop or a short visit to the Château de Rixensart (10 minutes away), then lunch at Chez Clément.