Boterstraat 46
1000 Bruxelles
The Grand Place is one of Brussels most famous landmarks making it a must see site for any trip to Belgium’s capital.
The Place is home to some of the city’s most beautiful and iconic buildings, including the City Town Hall which stands tall over the south side of the square at an impressive 96 meters (310 ft) in height. The hall is capped by a 3 meter (12 ft) statue of Saint Michael slaying a demon which is well worth a look at on its own.
The City Town Hall may be the focal point but in truth all the buildings around the Place, many of which used to be merchant guilds, are worth looking at featuring beautifully detailed engravings and designs.
Every two years in August, an enormous “flower carpet” is set up in the Grand Place for a few days. If you’re lucky enough to be visiting Brussels when the carpet is on you’ll be fortunate enough to see a huge display that features a million colorful begonias set up in patterns, and covers a massive 24 by 77 meters in total.
The Place is the hub of activity during the day but is also well worth a look at night when all the buildings are lit up.
Go on a brewery tour at Cantillon Brewery:
Gheudestraat 56
1070 Anderlecht
The Cantillon Brewery is the only brewery in Brussels that offers tours. Situated in one of the more run down areas of the city, some way out from the city center, the Brewery doesn’t appear much from the outside but don’t be put off by its shabby exterior.
Inside you’ll find a fully working brewery and a merry band of happy Belgians willing to take you on a tour of the factory that shows you the entire brewing process from vat of steaming barley to bottle of beer.
The brewery experience costs just €6 which includes a complimentary glass of beer in the front of the factory which doubles up as a hall and greeting area while you wait for the tour to start. The purists amongst you will enjoy the lambic though the framboise (raspberry) or kriek (cherry) are a safer bet if you’re not much of a beer person.
Once you’ve finished your drink you’re ushered in to the bottling area and the tour begins. Over the course of the next hour and a half, your guide will talk you through all the tricks of the trade and will answer any questions you have.
After the tour you can try some of the finished products at the brewery’s in-house bar or buy bottles and glasses for friends and loved ones.
If you’re lucky enough to be in town when the brewery is hosting a public brewing session you’ll be able to see them brewing the beers.
Have a Belgian Beer in a Brussels bar
Belgian’s love for beer is as strong as an Englishman’s love of tea; it forms a massive part of their culture and if you really want to immerse yourself in the local culture then you’ll have to try a local beer.
There are literally hundreds of different beers to choose from but the fruit beers are very popular and come in every flavor you can imagine from raspberry to peach to pomegranate!
Places to drink are also far from being in short supply. The Saint Gery area is a great place to go for beer as it has a much better atmosphere than the pubs and bars around the Grand Place and is where many locals in the know go for drinks.
One place well worth visiting is the Delerium Café. Situated just off the Grand Place, Delerium has 2000 different varieties of beer for you to try and it’ll take you half an hour just to read the entire drinks list!
Just in case the beer list wasn’t enough to get you in the mood, the ceilings are covered in beer mats, the walls are lined with different types of pint glasses and the tables are made out of old beer kegs.
The bar is a tourist hot-spot and can get pretty noisy. If you’re after a quieter pub and a more ‘Belgian’ pub experience try the nearby bar Toone which serves ‘quack’ beer in funny glasses and has marionette puppets and dolls hanging from the ceilings.
Take a look at Manneken Pis
Stoofstraat
1000 Bruxelles
This statue of a small boy taking a piss on the corner of Rue de l’Étuve/Stoofstraat and Rue du Chêne/Eikstraat, is one of Brussels top attractions and adorns many a post card.
The truth behind its background is unclear but one of the many stories out there is that the statue was built to commemorate a battle where the then infant Duke Godfrey III of Leuven urinated on the troops of the Berthouts, prompting them to lose the battle.
It is a popular tradition to dress the young lad up in some kind of costume. The Manneken Pis has had many different egos over the years from judo artist to member of the Belgian guard.
The cheeky chappy is not the only urinating fountain in the city- there is a statue of a girl relieving herself- Jeannenken Pis- tucked away behind some bars outside the Delerium Cafe. There’s even a statue of a dog called Zinneken peeing against a bollard to be found somewhere in the city. Zinneken has a bit of a cult following and a parade in his honor every couple of years, making him almost more popular than young Manneken.
Visit the Notre Dame du Sablon
Regentschapsstraat
1000 Bruxelles
This beautiful late-Gothic church is famous for its four-fold gallery with brightly colored stained-glass windows and two beautiful baroque chapels decorated with funeral symbols in white marble, though you would never have guessed the extent of the church’s inner beauty based on the huge gray-white arches and walls that make up its exterior.
Notre Dame holds regular services which you are welcome to attend and on Sundays there’s a great market selling antiques and all sorts of jewelry which is well worth a look when you’ve finished looking round the church.
Read comics at the Belgian Comic Strip Center
Rue des Sables 33
1000 Bruxelles
Brussels is the spiritual home of the home of the comic strip and the Belgian Comic Strip Center houses everything you could possibly want to know about the ninth art from the history of comics to original story boards and comic strips. The history of Tin Tin, Belgium’s most famous comic export, and its creator Georges Rémi (more commonly known as Hergé)
The building itself- a beautiful Art Nouveau building designed by Victor Horta- is worth the entrance money alone. Don’t forget to visit the museum shop on the way out for all your Tin Tin merchandise including postcards and limited edition annuals. You can even read comics in the basement!
Check out the Royal Palace
Place des Palais
1000 Bruxelles
The official seat of the Belgian Royal Palace is one of Brussels’ must see landmarks but barely gets a mention in most guide books.
Backing on to Brussels Park, the Palace is an impressive spectacle and is enormous, too, spanning the entire length of one road. The big gardens in front of it and the two guards that protect the main gate (similar to the Royal Guards that stand outside Buckingham Palace) add to its grandeur.
The facade we see today was only built after 1900, however, the grounds on which the palace stands were once part of a very old palatial complex that dated back to the Middle Ages and inside you won’t know where to look as the palace is full to bursting with elaborate chambers, luxury chambers and wall-to-wall fine art.
The majestic proportions of the throne room and party hall with their high vaulted ceilings and enormous bronze and crystal chandeliers highlight Belgium’s former status as the fourth largest trading power in the world, while the large state rooms are also particularly interesting with installations by several well-known artists.
The Royal Palace is only open to the public from July through to September after the national holiday; however the Palace should not be missed whatever the time of year it is you go!
Soak up the culture at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts
Koningsplein 1 Place Royale
1000 Bruxelles
Brussels is home to some of the finest art collections in the world, and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts is its crown jewel. The museum contains more than 20,000 drawings, sculptures, and paintings dating back to as early as the 15th Century.
Unsurprisingly, the museum concentrates on Belgian and Flemish artists, housing an extensive array of paintings by some of Belgium’s finest sons including Bruegel, Rogier van der Weyden and Robert Campin.
One of the most popular exhibitions is the Musée Magritte Museum which contains the largest collection of Magritte under one roof.
For those of you unfamiliar with René Magritte, he was a surrealist painter of the early and mid 20th Century and is probably the most famous Belgian artist. His paintings depict everyday objects such as apples, men in bowler hats, umbrellas, stones and pipes in odd arrangements and juxtapositions.
His paintings ranged from the weird to the wonderful, while the museum is laid out chronologically to give you an overview of the artist’s life, allowing the visitor to watch the progression of his work over the years.
Due to the popularity of the exhibition, admission is staggered and the queues for a ticket for the Magritte section are often long; but don’t let this put you off- the museum is well worth the wait.
Explore Sablon
1000 Brussels
Sablon is one of the most prestigious and attractive areas of the city and is where all the super suave and aristocratic types come to buy antiques and check out the mini-art galleries.
The area boasts hundreds of antique shops and comes alive at weekends when the weekly antiques market comes to town. The market is open from 9-6 pm on Saturdays and 9-1pm on Sundays and is a great place to go to get a gift for a loved one.
Sablon is also famous for its chocolate with world renowned names like Pierre Marcolini and Wittamers in residence here. Prices are expensive but not extortionate, and all the chocolatiers are happy for you to simply window shop. They also provide free samples for you to try so you won’t have to spend a penny to get your chocolate fix!
After browsing the market and going gaga over all the chocolates you can sit down in any number of the good restaurants and pleasant cafes that Sablon has on offer. A hot chocolate at the mini coffee shop at the back of the Côte d’Or is supposed to be nothing short of spectacular and is an absolute must.
Go to Horta House
25, rue Américaine
1060 Bruxelles (Saint-Gilles)
Some way out of the center of Brussels in the southern sector of Saint-Gilles, the Horta Museum is tricky to get to but well worth making the effort if you have enough time during your stay.
It is among the finest examples of art nouveau architecture in the world and was actually the Brussels home of Victor Horta, one of the most important figures of the art nouveau movement.
The main attraction is the stairwell which is absolutely stunning and has to be seen to be believed, but the whole house in all its lavish grandeur will impress. You’ll want to take pictures, but sadly it is prohibited to take photos inside and you will be unceremoniously chucked out if you try to do so.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the museum is only open from 2-5.30pm each day so a trip is best combined with another activity in the morning.
Tags : Brussels, Hotels, Museum, Bar