“U-G-L-Y you ain’t got no alibi, you ugly…”

Voted the ‘ugliest city in the world’ by a Dutch magazine, Charleroi’s been smacked on the schnoz with the ugly stick.

Industrial to the point of post-apocalyptic, the name ‘Charleroi’ strikes fear into the hearts of Belgians everywhere.

All except for Nicolas Buissart.

This mad man’s making the most of his butt-ugly hometown by leading the world’s bleakest urban safari.

Rocking up in a seatless van, he brings wide-eyed explorers on a tour bursting with suicide stories, nuclear power plants and economic decline 👍

You’ll enter the Matrix (aka Charleroi’s abandoned cooling plant) which has been looted for scrap metal and taken over by radioactive moss.*

*not radioactive.

It was closed down by Greenpeace cos it was responsible for 10% of Belgium’s CO2 emissions (naughty) and is now on the demolition list. See it before she blows.

Then it’s on to the banks of the river where Magritte's mother committed suicide and a walk along ‘the most depressing street in Belgium’.

Next stop: ‘Ghost Metro’ - a metro built in the 80s which was almost never used.

You’ll have to scramble under barbed wire and hop along the tracks to see the the graffiti covered ruins.

Nicolas will tell you to ‘duck’ when a police car passes and encourages selfies while knee deep in roadside scrap metal.

Charleroi Adventure costs €25 including a picnic beside a burnt out car.

Tip: Wear old clothes - there’s coal piles to climb.