The easiest way for me to identify Belgium is via its license plates. These have red lettering on them which shows up on Street View as a faint, yet distinctly recognisable red blur. Belgium plates also have the blue vertical stripe that is common on European plates however on some occasions, this is found on the right side of Belgium plates. No other countries have this widespread combination of a red blur on European plates making it a good way to identify Belgium. Belgium cities typically have their name on every street sign. This is normally in smaller writing than the street name. Belgium has its northern section as Flemish (Dutch speakers) whilst its southern section speak French. Very tiny parts of its eastern flank speak German. Belgium houses have an older, sturdy look to them. They are often made out of bricks that are all visible on the exterior. In rural areas, the Belgium landscape consists of grass fields. There are so many different types of bollards used in Belgium, it’s probably not worth memorising them all. Belgium roads are well-maintained and sometimes have cycling paths running alongside them. The easiest way to identify Belgium is via its license plates. Belgium has the standard European plates with a unique red lettering. This appears as a faint red blur on Street View. Sometimes the blue vertical line of the European plates appears on the right of Belgium license plate instead of the regular left. In Belgium cities, it is common to have the city’s name on street signs. In the above example, the city name ‘Liege’ is written on the street sign. A map showing which language is spoken where in Belgium. Gold= Flemish (Dutch), Red= French and Blue=German. (Source: Vascer, Knorck, Wikipedia). Many houses in Belgium have an older look to them. Houses with a visible brick exterior are a common sight in Belgium. Most of these houses have slanted roofs. This is the most common type of Belgian utility pole. It is square shaped and contains small holes running up it- much like the Thai utility poles. This is the second most common type of Belgian utility pole. It contains oval shaped hole section. This pole is also occasionally found in France. The rear of certain types of signs in Belgium (some circular and some rectangular) are coloured this distinctive orange colour. Belgium has well-maintained roads and sometimes the roads will have bike paths running alongside them. The rural parts of Belgium often consist of fields. 

Licence plates in Belgium use red text. You can recognise this distinct colour even through the blur.

Belgium uses white bollards with a yellow rectangular reflector on the front and white on the back. A second type of bollard is dark brown with two red stripes at the top. Occasionally, other bollards can be seen.

Denmark uses similar white bollards, but they have a red stripe at the top and the reflector is not rectangular. The dark brown bollard with two red stripes can also be seen in the Netherlands.

Belgium uses A-type guardrails with yellow reflectors.

In Europe, only Spain, Andorra, and Belgium use these reflectors. For a good overview of European guardrails, see this infographic.

Most poles in Belgium are concrete, square shaped, and have tiny holes running up them. They often have small metal wrappings around them. The second most common type of pole has oval-shaped holes. You can find many different types of concrete poles in Belgium.

The small metal wrappings can be found in France as well.

Directional signs in Belgium are most often blue or white.

Road signs often have an additional small blue sign. In other European countries, these small signs are usually just white.

Belgium uses pedestrian crossing signs without any stripes, but with two horizontal dotted lines. The man on the sign has a square head.

France and the Netherlands use a pedestrian sign with a regular zebra crossing with five vertical stripes.

Kilometre markers in Belgium are often green, but can have red text as well.

Belgium uses white chevrons, with a red arrow.

The Netherlands also use this chevron. You will not see these in France.

A lot of rural roads in Belgium are made out of concrete slabs, almost like you would see in the Philippines or Thailand.

The Netherlands almost never uses concrete slabs for roads.

Belgium uses all white road lines. These can be continuous or broken. Roads are often accompanied by bike lanes on both sides.

Bikes and cycling lanes are most common in the Netherlands, but they can be often seen in Belgium as well.

A lot of houses in Belgium are made of distinctive red bricks.

This is more common in the North and West of the country.

Houses in the South of the country use a lot of stone, have gray tones and generally look more French.

Signposts in Belgium are often orange. The backs of signs are also sometimes orange. This is unique to Belgium.

Street name signs in Belgium are very diverse, and often unique to a city. Most common colours are white and dark blue. They often have the town or city name written on them.

These signs often have variable designs, but most of them are fairly short and tall. In comparison, Dutch street signs are almost always much longer than they are tall.

Town entry signs in Belgium are white with a black border. They also mention the name of the city or municipality in bold, black text.

Priority signs in Belgium have an orange diamond and are much smaller than in other countries.

Bus stops are always marked by yellow signposts. Bus shelters often have yellow roofs.

Traffic lights are most often supported by black and yellow striped poles.

Belgium uses these red water hydrants signs with the letter H on top.

You can also find these in Germany.

Almost all roads (big or small) in Belgium use gutters on both sides. This is much less common in neighbouring countries.

Belgian bicycle paths have short dashed outer lines.

After Germany, Belgium is the next country in which you can find the most blurred houses.

Coverage with a red car and a long antenna can rarely be seen in Belgium.

This is much more common in Ukraine.

Belgium is generally flat in the northwest of the country, especially near the coast. The further south east you go, the hillier.

Bollard:

Belgium has a variety of bollards to pay attention to.
There’s completely white bollards, white bollards with yellow, white and red reflectors, as well as blue and white bollards.
Sometimes you can see a bollard made of rock next to one of the white ones with yellow reflectors.
Other times you may see the white bollards with yellow and white reflectors standing next to each other.
There’s also hectometer signs and wooden city bollards that you might want to pay attention to.

Road Lines:

Most roads in Belgium either have a single white striped line, or no road lines at all.
Sometimes they go together with cycling paths.
You can also come across so called multi-dot lines.

The Multidot Line is not only designed as a marking, but also has the function of draining rainwater in a quick way.
This form of road marking consists of small but regular dots of thermoplastic with paint-free zones between them.

Road Signs:

Directions to other cities in Belgium are on blue signs.

Once you enter a certain district while driving on the highway, you might see such signs.

Local directions from the highway are visible on white signs like this.

Street signs are different in every city, even within the same city.
Quite often in Belgium these come with the city name printed on them, which is useful for Geoguessr players.
From the big cities Bruges (Brugge) seems to be the exception to this fact.

Wind turbines can be found in Belgium as well.

License plates:

License plates in Belgium are white and come with red letters and digits.
Most of them have the one number-three letters-three numbers format.
However, since 2014 Belgians can request their personalized license plates, which makes any combination possible.

Vegetation/Landscape:

Belgium has three main geographical regions: the coastal plain in the north-west, the central plateau, and the Ardennes uplands in the south-east.

