Brussels, Belgium: 3-Day Itinerary

The Grand Place in Brussels has been called the most beautiful square in Europe, which is a contested claim, but even its critics do not dispute that it is remarkable: a Gothic town hall on one side, the Baroque guildhalls of the 17th-century trading companies on the others, and the whole thing lit at night in a way that makes it appear larger than it is. What the tourist brochures rarely mention is that a hundred metres from the Grand Place, Friterie Tabora on Rue de Tabora serves the best frites in the city, and locals eat them in the street with Andalouse sauce from a paper cone. Both things are Brussels.

Getting In

Brussels Airport (Zaventem/BRU) is connected to the city by a direct train from the airport’s own station under the terminal. Services run to Brussels-Central in about 17 minutes, Brussels-North in 10 minutes, and Brussels-South (Bruxelles-Midi, where the Eurostar and Thalys arrive) in around 25 minutes. Trains run frequently from around 5 am to midnight. The standard airport train ticket costs around €13; using contactless payment on the airport bus (STIB line 12) costs €7.90 and takes about 30 minutes to the city centre.

If you are arriving from London by Eurostar or from Paris/Amsterdam by Thalys, you arrive directly at Brussels-Midi, which is on the metro and within taxi range of every central hotel.

For city transport, the STIB/MIVB network covers metro, tram, and bus. A MOBIB card costs €6 and lasts five years; it holds up to eight different ticket types and covers all STIB services. Single rides on contactless payment cost €2.10. The Brussels Card (available for 24, 48, or 72 hours) includes unlimited STIB transport, entry to 49 museums, and various discounts; it covers bus line 12 from the airport but not the airport train.

Day 1: Grand Place, Magritte, and the Beer Neighbourhood

Morning

Grand Place is the right starting point but deserves more than a quick photograph. The Musee de la Ville de Bruxelles (Museum of the City of Brussels) inside the Gothic town hall has a surprisingly good permanent collection that explains how the square evolved through seven centuries. The guildhalls were rebuilt after Louis XIV’s artillery destroyed them in 1695; the speed of reconstruction and the ambition of the result say something about the commercial power of the 17th-century Belgian trading guilds.

From the Grand Place, the short walk to Manneken Pis is technically obligatory and delivers the reliable disappointment of discovering that the famous bronze boy is roughly 60 centimetres tall. More interesting is the Rue des Bouchers nearby, the tourist street of restaurants, which is worth knowing about but not necessarily eating on.

Afternoon

The Magritte Museum, five minutes from the Grand Place, contains the world’s largest collection of works by Rene Magritte (1898 to 1967), the Belgian surrealist. Around 250 paintings, drawings, and sculptures cover his full career across three floors of a neoclassical building. The permanent collection is well laid out and accessible without specialist art knowledge; the context provided about his life in Brussels and his relationship to the Surrealist movement is genuinely useful.

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts next door have a strong collection of Flemish Masters (Bruegel, Rubens, Van Dyck) and are often combined with the Magritte ticket.

Evening

In ’t Spinnekopke on Place du Jardin aux Fleurs is an 18th-century estaminet (the Belgian equivalent of a pub with food) that cooks almost entirely with Belgian beer. Lapin a la gueuze (rabbit braised in sour lambic beer), poulet a la kriek (chicken in cherry beer), and various carbonnade flamande variations run through the menu. The building is old and the cooking is deliberate rather than trendy; this is where to eat Belgian food the first night.

Afterward, Delirium Cafe on Impasse de la Fidelee holds the record for most beer varieties on offer: over 3,000 labels. Order a Trappist ale (Westvleteren, Rochefort, or Chimay) rather than defaulting to the tourist choices.

Day 2: Ixelles, Chocolate, and the European Quarter

Morning

The neighbourhood of Ixelles, south of the city centre, is where Brussels food writers and expats eat when they are not covering the Grand Place area. The Matongue district within Ixelles reflects Brussels’ large Congolese community in its food, music shops, and fabric stores along Rue de la Longue Haie and Chaussee de Wavre.

For brunch, Le Pain Quotidien on Rue Antoine Dansaert has excellent bread and good coffee. The Rue Dansaert area around it has the city’s best independent fashion boutiques.

Afternoon

The European Parliament visitor centre is free and gives a comprehensive explanation of how the EU’s institutions actually work, which is more useful than it sounds in a city that governs them. The European Quarter around Place du Luxembourg is a dense cluster of institutional buildings, lobbying offices, and expat restaurants. On Thursday evenings when the European Parliament is in session, the bars around Place du Luxembourg fill with staff and correspondents.

Belgian chocolate is worth understanding beyond the airport praline box. Pierre Marcolini on Place du Grand Sablon makes some of the most technically accomplished chocolate in the country, single-origin bars and pralines with precisely labelled cacao sources. Wittamer, established on the same square in 1910, is the traditional alternative with a tea room attached. The Grand Sablon neighbourhood around them is the antiques district and a good afternoon walk.

Evening

Fin de Siecle near Place Sainte-Catherine is the right answer to where to eat Belgian classics if In ’t Spinnekopke was last night: carbonnade flamande (beef braised in Belgian ale with bread and mustard), stoemp (mashed potato with vegetables) and sausage, moules-frites in season. It does not take reservations and fills fast; arrive before 7 pm or after 9 pm.

The Place Sainte-Catherine neighbourhood is the seafood market area of Brussels, historically, and still has the highest concentration of fish restaurants in the city. After dinner, the bars on Rue du Marche au Charbon and Rue des Riches Claires are where the city’s younger residents spend evenings.

Day 3: Atomium, Comics, and Departure

Morning

The Atomium was built for the 1958 Brussels World Expo, modelled at 102 billion times the scale of an iron crystal. Its nine spheres connected by tubes are now a museum and event space; the top sphere has the best panoramic view in Brussels. Tickets are required and advance booking is recommended in high season. The Mini-Europe park adjacent to it (scale models of EU landmarks) is aimed at families and does what it does well.

The Belgian Comic Strip Centre on Rue des Sables is consistently underrated by visitors who associate comics with cheap popular culture. Belgium produced Tintin, the Smurfs, and Lucky Luke; the centre houses a serious museum on the history of the ninth art with strong original artwork and context. The building is also one of the best Victor Horta Art Nouveau interiors in the city.

Afternoon

The BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts hosts major temporary exhibitions in a Horta-designed building and is worth checking in advance for whatever is running. The Palais de Justice, at the top of the Marolles neighbourhood, is one of the largest buildings constructed in the 19th century and the most architecturally contentious in the city; the Marolles flea market at Place du Jeu de Balle below it runs every morning and is the best place to find genuinely old Belgian objects at reasonable prices.

Practical Notes

Language: Brussels is officially bilingual (French and Dutch), with French dominant in the city centre. English is widely spoken in tourist areas. On public transport, announcements and signage appear in both French and Dutch.

Beer culture: Belgian beer etiquette holds that each beer has its correct glass. A bartender who gives you a Duvel in the wrong glass is considered unprofessional. Ordering a “beer” without specifying a type will always prompt a question.

Chocolate buying tip: Buy from chocolatiers rather than chain shops. Leonidas is the acceptable chain option; Godiva, despite its Belgian origins, is now mass-market and the quality reflects that. Neuhaus, founded in 1857, invented the praline and remains excellent.

Frites: The correct order is a large cone with sauce, eaten from the paper. The best friteries, including Friterie Tabora, close between lunch and evening service. Check hours before making a trip.