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Travel guide
Brussels
4 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: April to September
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Welcome
Brussels, in a few days
A capital that refuses to take itself seriously: a gilded Grand-Place, master chocolatiers around the Sablon, comic-strip murals on street corners and old cafés pouring gueuze. Between the Marolles flea market and Victor Horta's Art Nouveau houses, it is a city for eating, drinking and wandering, 1 hour 30 by train from Paris.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 2 things
- D3 Day 3 2 things
- D4 Day 4 2 things
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Grand-Place free · about 1 hA Gothic town hall and gilded baroque guildhouses, rebuilt in one burst after the 1695 bombardment, each named after its guild's emblem.
- Afternoon · A Belgian beer crawl · an eveningGueuze, lambic and Trappist ales in century-old cafés, from the 1928 tiles of À la Mort Subite to Poechenellekelder beside the Manneken Pis.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hotel Le Dixseptième€150 a night
D2
Day 2
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Mont des Arts free · about 2 hTerraced gardens between the lower and upper town, facing the town hall spire, beside the Magritte Museum and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts.
- Afternoon · The Sablon and its chocolatiers free · about 1 hAround the Gothic church of Notre-Dame du Sablon: Marcolini, Wittamer, Mary and Neuhaus, the house that invented the praline, among antique dealers.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hotel Agenda Louise€110 a night
D3
Day 3
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Marolles flea market free · about 1 h 30Held on Place du Jeu de Balle every day of the year since 1873, from dawn: records, brass, lace, fifties furniture and plain junk.
- Afternoon · Horta Museum · about 1 hVictor Horta's own house and studio in Saint-Gilles, Art Nouveau down to the door handles, with a wrought-iron staircase that grows like a plant.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Novotel Brussels off Grand Place€130 a night
D4
Day 4
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Belgian Comic Strip Center · about 1 h 30Original artwork from Tintin, the Smurfs, Gaston and newer names, housed in a former Art Nouveau fabric store designed by Horta.
- Afternoon · Atomium · about 1 h 30The giant iron crystal of Expo 58: nine steel spheres, 102 metres high, linked by escalators, with a view over the city from the top.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Motel One Brussels€130 a night
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
Some links are partner links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Moules-frites: a pot of mussels steamed with celery, onion or white wine, with chips on the side.
- Frites: chips fried twice, traditionally in beef fat, bought from a friterie in a paper cone with mayonnaise.
- Carbonnade flamande: beef stewed slowly in dark beer, with onion and a slice of spiced bread to thicken the sauce.
- Waffles: the Brussels kind light and rectangular, the Liège kind dense and studded with caramelised pearl sugar.
- Pralines: filled chocolates, first made in Brussels by Neuhaus in 1912.
- Beer: a brewing culture listed by UNESCO, from Trappist ales made in abbeys to sour Brussels lambics, each poured in its own glass.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Walk past the restaurants touting for trade on the Rue des Bouchers in Brussels. Photo menus and staff on the pavement are the giveaway.
- Belgian beers are strong, often 8 to 10%. Two can do the work of four elsewhere.
- In Flanders (Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp) people speak Dutch. Start in English rather than French.
- Driving? Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent are low emission zones, and foreign cars must be registered online before entering.
Getting by
Words that help
English ↔ Dutch
| English | Dutch |
|---|---|
| Hello | Hallo |
| Thank you | Dank je |
| Please | Alstublieft |
| Yes | Ja |
| No | Nee |
| Excuse me | Pardon |
| Goodbye | Tot ziens |
| Do you speak English? | Spreekt u Engels? |
| I don't understand | Ik begrijp het niet |
| How much is it? | Hoeveel kost het? |
| Where are the toilets? | Waar zijn de toiletten? |
| The bill, please | De rekening, alstublieft |
| Help! | Help! |
| Cheers! | Proost! |
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyEuro (EUR, €)
BudgetAbout €130 a day, mid-range
Best seasonApril to September
PlugC/E · 230V
Tap waterSafe to drink
TippingIncluded in the bill, round up
Emergency112
EntrySchengen area: an ID card or passport for EU citizens, 90 days visa-free for UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports.
HealthNo specific vaccination needed. Check that tetanus, diphtheria, polio and MMR are up to date.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/brussels
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.