Belgium 5 Day Itinerary
Brussels Airport’s Diabolo rail link drops you at Central Station in about 17 minutes for roughly 5 to 6 euros, which makes the taxi touts lined up outside arrivals a bad deal by comparison. Skip them and buy your ticket from a machine or the SNCB counter, never from anyone who approaches you offering to help.
Day 1: Brussels Grand Place still earns the hype, but go at 8am before the tour groups arrive if you want photos without fifty strangers in them. The guildhalls ring the square like a gilded box, and the Town Hall’s spire is worth the neck strain. From there the Atomium is a twenty-minute metro ride out to Heysel; the top sphere’s panoramic restaurant is overpriced but the view justifies one coffee. Mini-Europe next door is aimed squarely at kids and completists, so unless you’re travelling with either, put that hour toward the Marolles flea market instead. In the evening, skip Saint-Gilles if you’re short on time; it’s a fine neighborhood but not essential on a five-day trip, and you’re better served eating moules-frites near Sainte-Catherine where the fish market stalls keep the seafood honest. Brussels runs on French and Dutch, with English fine everywhere tourists go, but the real hazard isn’t language, it’s the three main train stations. Brussels-Zuid (Midi), the Eurostar terminal, draws pickpockets who work in pairs, one distracting with a spilled drink or a knock on a window while the other lifts a bag. Keep valuables zipped and don’t let anyone claiming to be plainclothes police inspect your wallet, a scam reported around here too.
Day 2: Bruges, by train Trains from Brussels-Central to Bruges run roughly every half hour and take about an hour. Book Belfry tickets online in advance, they cap visitor numbers per time slot and summer weekends sell out; expect to pay around 15 euros for the 366-step climb with zero elevator and zero regrets once you’re up top looking over the stepped gables. The canal boats are touristy but genuinely the best way to see facades you can’t get to on foot, and a 30-minute ride runs about 12 to 14 euros from any of the five canal-side docks. In Bruges specifically, watch for people posing as undercover police asking to check your wallet for a supposed drug investigation, it’s a scam, not a real request. Skip the Hans Memling Museum if your day’s tight; the Groeningemuseum is the stronger Flemish Primitives collection and gets you more for one entry fee.
Day 3: Ghent, by train Ghent trades Bruges’ polish for something grittier and, in my opinion, more interesting. Gravensteen castle’s audio guide is included in admission and worth every minute, letting you walk the battlements while narration covers the counts who built it. Saint Bavo’s Cathedral holds the Ghent Altarpiece, though be aware the panels are mid-restoration through spring 2027, so what you see may be a partial display; the augmented reality tour runs about 16 euros and it’s genuinely one of the better museum-tech experiences in Europe, not a gimmick. The nave itself is free to enter. End the day walking Graslei and Korenlei at golden hour, when the guild house facades along the Leie catch the light and the cafe terraces fill up with locals rather than tour groups.
Day 4: Antwerp, by train Antwerp is Belgium’s second city and its fashion and diamond capital, home to a diamond district that still cuts a huge share of the world’s stones near Centraal Station. Rubens House gives you the painter’s actual studio and garden, more intimate than a standard gallery visit. Skip the Diamond Museum itself unless jewelry history genuinely interests you; better to spend that time at the MAS museum on the old docks, whose rooftop terrace is free and gives you the best skyline view in the city. Antwerp’s nightlife around Het Zuid is worth staying out for if Brussels felt too buttoned-up the first night.
Day 5: Brussels, return by train European Parliament visits need booking well ahead through the official visitor site, so don’t count on walking in. The Comic Strip Center is a better bet on short notice and genuinely worth it, Belgium treats Tintin and the Smurfs as serious cultural export, not kitsch. The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken only open to the public for about three weeks each spring, so most visitors will find them closed; check the royal palace’s official dates before planning around them. Close the trip with waterzooi, a creamy chicken or fish stew that’s actually Ghent’s dish more than Brussels’, paired with a Trappist beer from one of the six authentic Trappist breweries, Westvleteren, Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, or Achel. Buy chocolate from a working chocolatier like Neuhaus rather than the airport gift shops, the markup there is brutal and the stock sits longer.