Belgian Roots Day: a private day in your ancestors' village
Belgium's Wanderlust researches one line of your Belgian family history in the archives, writes it up as a family story, and then takes you to the ancestral village, the church and the street the records name, on a private day in Belgium. The Belgian Roots Day costs € 3,450 for up to 4 guests, all-in. Your guide is Joris Desplenter or a hand-picked partner guide.
1
Family line, researched
Full day
Private and all-inclusive
1 to 8
Guests in your party
€ 3,450
For up to 4 guests, all-in
This day is not a citizenship, passport or DNA service. It covers the story of one family line and the place it came from.
One promise. If the day was not the best day of your Belgium trip, tell your guide at drop-off and the price of the day (€ 1,950) is refunded. The family research is yours either way.
What's included
Also included: one attempt to reach a possible relative or local historian, when the research points to one.
Family research
Research on one family line in Belgian and American records, and your family history as a written brief, sent before you travel.
Printed family booklet
A printed family booklet, handed over at the end of the day.
Pickup, car and guide
Pickup and drop-off at your hotel or cruise port, the car and the guide.
Entrances, lunch and drinks
Every entrance, lunch, and drinks throughout the day.
How a Belgian Roots Day works
1. You tell me what you know
A name, a rough year, and one thing to start from: a naturalization paper, a memorial card, an obituary, or a village your grandmother always mentioned. If your great-grandparents emigrated to America or Canada, that is usually enough to begin. The form below takes five minutes.
2. I find the village
Genealogy in Belgium starts in the civil and parish records. I search them, and the American records, for one family line. The Belgian records are in Dutch, French and sometimes Latin, and I read all three. A place counts as confirmed when two independent records agree. You receive the full family story as a written brief four to six weeks before your day.
3. You go there with your guide
A private full day from your hotel or cruise port, with Joris or a hand-picked partner guide. The region first, then the ancestral village itself: the street or farm where the records place your family, the parish church where they were baptized and married, and the churchyard. Lunch is a regional dish in a local restaurant.
4. You take the story home
At the end of the day you receive a printed booklet of your family's story, and you stand for the photo at the village sign. The family research is yours to keep and to share with the rest of the family.
Good to know
What a Belgian Roots Day costs
€ 3,450 for up to 4 guests: the family research and brief (€ 1,500) and the private day (€ 1,950). Each extra guest is € 450, up to 8. The research is paid at booking. The day takes a 30 percent deposit and the balance is paid on the day.
In June 2026, Cynda came off a cruise ship in Zeebrugge with her great-grandfather's 1947 passport in her bag. Joseph Van Keirsbilck left Meulebeke in West Flanders in 1901, alone, at 22. He farmed in Kansas, raised eleven children, and came back to Belgium once, in 1947, at 68, to see his brother. Her grandmother's family, the Braets, came from Aarsele, a few kilometres away. The two families never met in Belgium. They met in Kansas. We stood in the church of Sint-Amandus in Meulebeke and found graves with the family's names in the churchyard next to it. The story of that day is on the Journal.
A family that left Meulebeke
What if the records stop short?
Some family lines end before the village. If the research cannot confirm the village inside the research time, your day is built around the region your family came from and the emigration wave they were part of. Many Walloon families in Door County, Wisconsin, for example, came from a small group of villages in Brabant and Namur in the 1850s, so the region itself tells their story. Most Belgians who left for the United States before 1930 were Flemings, and the day can follow that story too. You know this before you book, and the day is planned around what the records do show.
Questions families ask
What is a Belgian Roots Day?
It is an ancestry trip built as one private day: the family history first, then the ancestral village. Some families call it a heritage trip.
No. You need a name, a rough year (within ten years), and one thing to start from. A family story about a village counts. Documents make the research faster.
Do I need documents to start?
Can the whole family come?
Yes. The day is for one private party of 1 to 8 guests. Cousins often come together.
More questions
At least eight weeks before your day, so there is time for the research and for you to read the brief before you travel.
How far ahead should I book?
What if my family has more than one Belgian line?
Each Belgian Roots Day covers one family line. A second line is a second research brief.
Can a Belgian town hall help me on the day?
Town halls in Belgium rarely help a visitor who walks in without an appointment, and old records are kept in the State Archives, not in the village. That is why the research happens before the day.
You'll hear from me personally
I'm Joris, founder of Belgium's Wanderlust. I read every family story myself, not a call center. Within two working days you get a first view of what the records can show, and the next step.
