The souterrains: how the underground visit works
The underground galleries are a guided visit with a ticket, and you buy that ticket at the citadel’s own desk on the hill. It is not sold online, so plan to buy it when you arrive; the rest of this page is the detail around the visit.
Where the tunnels sit in the two passes
This is the part people get wrong at the desk. The three-visit pass is an either/or: the underground passages or The Citadel in the Middle Ages, plus the miniature train and the audio-guided visitor centre, and the operator puts the whole thing at around three hours. The four-visit pass removes the choice and gives you the tunnels and the medieval visit alongside the same train and centre, at about four and a half hours. If the tunnels are the only thing you want, the single ticket is the cheaper afternoon. Both passes and every figure are in the table on the tickets page.
Three things I am not going to make up
How long the visit lasts, how cold it is down there and which languages the guides work in are the three questions I am asked most about the souterrains, and I have not found the operator publishing any of them. So there is no number here. Ask at the desk when you buy, or ring the citadel on the number in the footer of this page. A guessed temperature is exactly the kind of detail somebody dresses a child for.
What I can tell you is that it is a guided visit rather than a corridor you wander at your own pace, so the ticket ties you to a departure and you should treat the desk hours as real. Those are on opening hours, and the winter calendar closes an hour earlier and takes Mondays off.
Buy the tunnel ticket before you spend an hour on the ramparts, not after. The walls are open until whenever you like; the desk is not, and it is a long way back up the hill for a ticket you could have had at the start.
Which guided days climb the hill
Two of the twelve tours this site tracks reach the Citadelle: a photo shoot that climbs by cable car or on foot, and a private day from Brussels whose inclusions read “Visit of Namur city and citadel”. The galleries ticket is picked up at the desk on the day. Read them, and the other ten, on every tour we list.
Before or after the tunnels, the hill above them is always open — the grounds are described on what the grounds include. Who the visit suits best is set out on is it worth it.
Frequently asked questions
How do you visit the underground tunnels at the Citadelle de Namur?
You buy a ticket at the citadel’s own desk on the hill and join a guided visit. An adult ticket is about fourteen euros, with a reduced rate for children of six to eighteen, students and over-sixty-fives, and under-sixes go free. Exact figures are on the tickets page, and getting up to the desk is covered on how to get there.
Is the souterrains visit included in any tour on this site?
The galleries ticket is the citadel’s own, sold at the desk on the hill on the day, as are Terra Nova, The Citadel in the Middle Ages and the Citadelle Passes. Two of the twelve listings reach the fortress itself with a guide; both are described on every tour we list.
Are the tunnels covered by a Citadelle Pass?
By both, on different terms. The three-visit pass admits you to the underground passages or to The Citadel in the Middle Ages, not both, and adds the train and the audio-guided visitor centre. The four-visit pass gives you the tunnels and the medieval visit together. Neither covers the cable car, and the comparison is on the tickets page.