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· Tongerlo · Westerlo · Antwerp Province · Belgium

2026

A conference calendar centred on a Saturday-evening table at Maison Colette, 2 ★, Tongerlo — with everything reachable inside a 47 km bubble plotted month by month.
Maison Colette spring exterior
★ The anchor
Maison Colette
De Trannoyplein 17, 2260 Westerlo (Tongerlo)[1]
Two MICHELIN stars[18] · Trip Saturdays: May 23 / May 30
Inside the 30 km ring — Leuven, Mechelen Antwerp 35–47 km — ≤50 min by car Recurring meetup M.C Trip anchor 19 sources · ~4 min read · survey
Month One · Trip Window
May — the trip month. Two big-name conferences ladder up to the Saturday dinner. Techorama on May 11–13 is the tack-on candidate for .NET / Azure folks; the Leuven academic conferences fall inside the 30 km bubble.
Maison Colette, Tongerlo
May '26
5 events · 2 inside 30 km · 2 Antwerp · 1 past
Trip Saturdays · May 23 · May 30
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Connect IT / Shopt IT May 7 · Antwerp Expo · past
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Techorama 2026 — .NET · Azure · Data · "Medieval" theme Mon 11 → Wed 13 · Kinepolis Antwerp · ~38 km / 45 min · 150+ sessions, ~103 speakers [4]
18
19
20
21
22
23 M.C Dinner — 2 ★
24
Leuven IP & AI Conference Mon 18 → Tue 19 · KU Leuven Law · ~28 km / 30 min
Data Science Leuven Wed evening · STUK Leuven
25
26
27
28
29
30 M.C Dinner — 2 ★
31
Reading. Neither Saturday May 23 nor May 30 collides with a conference — the Belgian rhythm is Tue–Fri. The closest tack-on is Techorama the week before, or the Wednesday-evening Data Science Leuven meetup if arriving early. Aggregate cross-checked against the dev.events Antwerp calendar[17].
June '26
4 events · 1 inside 30 km · 3 Antwerp
Heaviest week of 2026 · Jun 8–12
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
DDD Europe 2026 — Domain-Driven Design · workshops + conf Mon 8 → Fri 12 · Queen Elisabeth Hall · ~37 km / 45 min (train recommended)
Data Mesh Live — co-located with DDD Wed 10 → Fri 12 · Queen Elisabeth Hall · ~37 km
BC TechDays — MS Dynamics Business Central Thu 11 → Fri 12 · Kinepolis Antwerp · ~38 km / 45 min
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Large-Scale AI Risks Tue 23 → Wed 24 · KU Leuven · ~28 km / 30 min · cross-disciplinary
29
30
If the trip stretches. The Jun 8–12 week stacks DDD Europe, Data Mesh Live and BC TechDays inside the same 45-minute drive — three world-class conferences in one Antwerp week.
Autumn Stretch · Conference Season
October — Devoxx fortnight. Two back-to-back Antwerp weeks: Devoxx Belgium takes the first, SmashingConf takes the second. Both sell out — book early.
SmashingConf Antwerp 2026 promotional image
October '26
2 events · both Antwerp
Two consecutive weeks · Oct 5–9 & Oct 12–15
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Devoxx Belgium 2026 — "From Developer to Builder" · Agentic Engineering · JVM Mon 5 → Fri 9 · Kinepolis Antwerp · ~38 km / 45 min · ⚠ sells out fast
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
SmashingConf Antwerp — UX · web design · 2 workshop + 2 conf days Mon 12 → Thu 15 · The Bourla, Antwerp centre · ~37 km
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Travel tip. Both Kinepolis (Devoxx) and The Bourla (SmashingConf) ask different commute choices: Kinepolis-North is a car venue on the ring road; The Bourla sits in central Antwerp — train to Antwerpen-Centraal is the better call [19].
November '26
1 event · Antwerp
Year's closing event · Nov 4–5
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
AutomationSTAR — test automation · AI-powered testing Wed 4 → Thu 5 · A Room with a ZOO, Antwerp Central · ~37 km · ~500+ attendees
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Last call. AutomationSTAR is the only Antwerp tech event after October — after Nov 5 the Belgian conference circuit is effectively done until the following spring.

Recurring meetups — every month, no plotting needed

— · Inside the 30 km ring · evening events · low commitment ·
Monthly · ~3 speakers

Data Science Leuven

Arenberginstituut STUK · Naamsestraat 96, Leuven · Volunteer-run, no sponsors [14]
⏱ ~28 km / 30 min
Quarterly-ish

Data Mesh Belgium

AE office, Leuven · rotates within Belgium · meetup #7 was Apr 21, 2026 [15]
⏱ ~28 km / 30 min
Monthly · free

Ixor Tech Talks Mechelen

Ixor · Schuttersvest 75, 2800 Mechelen · software-development topics [16]
⏱ ~30 km / 35 min
The closer towns inside the strict 30 km radius — Geel (~10 km), Herentals (~15 km), Aarschot (~15 km), Lier (~25 km), Turnhout (~27 km) — don't host recurring developer meetups of note as of May 2026. Kempen tech professionals travel to Mechelen, Leuven or Antwerp.

Westerlo → Antwerp · the commute

— · For everything beyond the 30 km ring · ·
Straight-line
38 km

Westerlo to Antwerp as the crow flies [2].

By car
~45 min

~47 km via E313 / R1 — fastest for Kinepolis Antwerp-North (Techorama, Devoxx, BC TechDays) [2].

By bus + train
~1h15

Bus to Heist-op-den-Berg, then train — best for Antwerp-Central venues (DDD Europe, SmashingConf, AutomationSTAR) [19].

To Leuven
~30 min

~28 km · still inside the 30 km bubble. KU Leuven conferences and the Leuven meetups feel local.

· From the same expedition · A Maison Colette weekend in Tongerlo ·

Survey

Walking-distance lodging

The restaurant's own 5-room guesthouse is the obvious answer; otherwise three B&Bs and one 4-star hotel sit 14–26 min on foot from De Trannoyplein 17.

Survey

Special-character lodging within taxi range

A 17th-century watermill, a former Carmelite convent, a forester's house in the woods — within a 20-minute taxi.

Expedition

Day-trips & activities within 30 km

From the Tongerlo Last Supper to UNESCO beguinages, Averbode heath, Bobbejaanland and the Café Trappisten.

Sources

[1]Maison Colette · De Trannoyplein 17 address
[2]Travelmath · Westerlo–Antwerp distance
[3]Techorama 2026 · May 11–13 at Kinepolis
[4]Techorama Sessionize · 150+ sessions
[5]Devoxx Belgium 2026 · Oct 5–9
[6]BC TechDays 2026 · Jun 11–12
[7]Connect IT 2026 · May 7, Antwerp Expo
[8]DDD Europe 2026 · Jun 8–12
[9]Data Mesh Live 2026 · Jun 11–12
[10]SmashingConf Antwerp · Oct 12–15
[11]AutomationSTAR · Nov 4–5
[12]Leuven IP & AI · May 18–19
[13]Large-Scale AI Risks · Jun 23–24
[14]Data Science Leuven · monthly meetup
[15]Data Mesh Belgium · meetup #7 Apr 21
[16]Ixor Tech Talks · Mechelen monthly
[17]dev.events Antwerp · aggregate IT calendar
[18]MICHELIN Guide · Maison Colette 2★
[19]Rome2Rio · Westerlo–Antwerp routes