Mons, Belgium, Capital of Culture 2015

The first thing you should do is climb a hill. In the town centre, an ancient hidden alley called ruelle Csar winds up behind old houses to emerge on a summit where you can look down on the old rooftops of Mons. This picturesque southern Belgian town has a population of just 93,000, but numbers are boosted in term time by students attending Mons university and the music conservatory.

Its easy to forget that Mons was once a mining town, because its now more like Silicon Hill. Internet search giant Google has built a huge data centre outside the town, creating a digital community among the abandoned pits. The locals have responded in their own way by creating mock Google street views of Mons, including one with two people paddling canoes down a Mons street pursued by police officers (launches 24 January at mons2015.eu/en/mons-street-review).

Mons locals are renowned for fighting a green dragon called Doudou. This strange ceremony, known as the Ducasse de Mons, has medieval origins and is held every year on the first Sunday after Pentecost (thats 31 May this year) on the main square. It involves men dressed in green leaves, a swinging dragons tail and a man representing Saint George, who kills Doudou with a single pistol shot.

The most stylish of recent European leaders comes from Mons. Local mayor Elio di Rupo became prime minister of Belgium on 6 December 2011 after the countrys record-breaking 541 days without a government. He transformed grey Belgian politics with his Italian charm, smart red bow tie and fondness for posing in swimming trunks. Now he is back running Mons.

The most impressive new work of modern art is a sprawling wooden structure in rue de Nimy, installed on 6 December by Arne Quinze. Called The Passenger, it hovers above a busy shopping street with blood-red struts brushing against the law courts. The street had to be closed off when the installation partly collapsed on 24 December, but the damaged parts have now been repaired.

Its hard to pick the strangest Mons event of 2015. Theres an opening ceremony on 24 January involving dancing robots, eight Finnish hot tubs, a re-enactment of the Woodstock festival and 18,000 people dressed in shiny aluminium ponchos (free, more details at mons2015.eu). But the organisers hope to hit another high in February when they reconstruct a traditional London working mens club inside an old school building named La Maison Folie. The aim of the four-day event (19-22 February) is to spice up Mons with a mix of British eccentricity and cutting-edge culture.

The organisers of Mons 2015 want you to get lost and discover unexpected places, so it is worth exploring the towns steep cobbled lanes, hidden gardens and secret courtyards. Along the way, you will come across art installations, pop-up bars, street art and a poetry installation on buildings stretching for 10 kilometres called The Phrase.

The biggest event in Mons year as cultural capital is the Van Gogh exhibition. It will take place in the newly renovated BAM museum (25 January-17 May, timed ticket 15), but dont come expecting starry nights or yellow sunflowers. The focus is on the period Van Gogh spent as a preacher among the poor mining communities of the Borinage, just south of Mons, with many of van Goghs early drawings, copies of paintings by other artists, and letters written to his brother, Theo.

The weirdest museum in Mons is the Mundaneum. It contains the remains of a vast collection of newspapers, posters, catalogues and curiosities gathered in the early 20th century by the Belgian philanthropist Paul Otlet. For years it lay forgotten in a Brussels underground car park until it was snapped up by Mons, housed in an empty department store and rebranded as the worlds first internet.

The most inspiring art gallery is located in a restored 18th-century building that once belonged to a carriage maker. Yvonne Legrands LArt Recration gallery at 72 rue de Nimy (no website) displays contemporary glassware on battered tables, ancient cabinets and salvaged wooden posts.

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Mons, Belgium, Capital of Culture 2015