Brussels 5 Day Itinerary (Belgium Base)
Five days is enough to pair the two half-day trips, Waterloo and Leuven, into a single fifth day rather than sacrificing a full day to either. The rest of the spine holds from the shorter versions: Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp. Drop back to the 4-day plan or keep extending with the 6-day and 7-day versions.
Book these before you go:
- Your Brussels hotel : near Brussels-Central or Brussels-Midi, five different day trips all leave from those two platforms
- Guided Ghent day tour : day two
- Antwerp day trip with round-trip train ticket : day four
- Waterloo 1815 Memorial tickets : day five morning, the site runs on a fixed visitor schedule
| Day | Focus | Train time from Brussels |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brussels: Grand-Place, Manneken Pis, Sablon chocolate, Delirium Cafe | Home base |
| 2 | Ghent: Graslei waterfront, Gravensteen, St Bavo’s Cathedral | 27 to 36 min direct |
| 3 | Bruges: Markt, Belfry tower, the canal loop | 53 to 65 min direct |
| 4 | Antwerp: Rubens House, Cathedral of Our Lady, fashion district | 45 to 48 min direct |
| 5 | Waterloo battlefield, then Leuven’s Town Hall and Grote Markt | Waterloo 25 to 35 min, Leuven 20 to 25 min |
Day 1: Brussels
Grand-Place first, before the coach groups land, free and UNESCO-listed. Manneken Pis is a five-minute walk away and genuinely small, about 55 to 61 cm; ninety seconds and move on. The Sablon has the city’s real chocolate, Pierre Marcolini for the modern high-end version or Neuhaus in the Galerie de la Reine, the shop that invented the filled praline in 1912. In the afternoon, the Magritte Museum (adult tickets around EUR 13) rewards ninety focused minutes. Dinner belongs in Sainte-Catherine, not Rue des Bouchers, EUR 20 to 30 for moules-frites without the tourist markup, then a lambic or gueuze at Delirium Cafe, whose list runs past 3,000 beers.
Day 2: Ghent
Direct trains take 27 to 36 minutes, fare around EUR 10 to 13. Ghent has the canal-and-guildhouse charm of Bruges without the crowd density, a working university city rather than a preserved core: the Graslei and Korenlei waterfront, the Gravensteen castle, St Bavo’s Cathedral and the Ghent Altarpiece. Gent-Sint-Pieters station sits 20 to 25 minutes from the old center by foot or tram.
Day 3: Bruges
The direct train takes 53 to 65 minutes, fare around EUR 16 to 18. Climb the Belfry’s 366 steps if the queue looks reasonable, timed tickets can sell out in peak season, walk the canal loop, and eat off the Markt rather than on it. Go early: day-trippers off coach tours and cruise shuttles crowd the Markt and Rozenhoedkaai by midday.
Day 4: Antwerp
Trains run every 15 minutes, 45 to 48 minutes each way, fare around EUR 9 to 11. The Rubens House, the Cathedral of Our Lady, the fashion district around Nationalestraat, and the Diamond District by Centraal Station (closed Saturdays and Jewish holidays, and worth skipping the hard-sell “diamond experience” showrooms) fill the day. Antwerp is the one city on this list that genuinely rewards a longer stay if a future trip allows it.
Day 5: Waterloo, then Leuven
Two half-day trips, one day. Take the direct train from Bruxelles-Central to Waterloo (about 30 minutes, hourly) or the faster Braine-l’Alleud connection (14 to 25 minutes, every 30 minutes) plus a short bus or taxi roughly 2.4 km to the Memorial 1815 site. A combined Memorial and Lion’s Mound ticket runs about EUR 24, several bundles exist including the Pass 1815, so check the exact package at purchase. Back in Brussels by early afternoon, catch a direct train to Leuven, 20 to 25 minutes, fare around EUR 6 to 9, for the Gothic Town Hall facade, the Grote Markt, and KU Leuven, the oldest university in the Low Countries, founded in 1425. Both stops are genuinely half-day sized; trying to stretch either into a full day just means standing around.
Can you really do Waterloo and Leuven in one day?
Yes, comfortably. Waterloo needs roughly 3 to 4 hours including the connection, and Leuven’s sights are covered in 2 to 3 hours. Doing Waterloo first and looping back through Brussels before heading to Leuven works better than attempting a direct connection between the two towns, which isn’t a practical direct rail route.
Is the Waterloo battlefield worth the connection and the ticket price?
If battlefield history interests you at all, yes. The combined Memorial and Lion’s Mound ticket, around EUR 24, covers the visitor center, the mound itself, and the surrounding battlefield markers. If it doesn’t interest you, this is the one stop on this itinerary you can drop without guilt and simply spend a full day in Leuven or back in Brussels instead.
Do Waterloo in the morning specifically. The site’s exhibits and the Lion’s Mound climb take longer than they look on paper, and arriving early avoids being rushed out the door to make the connection back for Leuven’s afternoon.