Must-see attractions in Brussels

  • BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - August 09, 2014: General view of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, one of the most visited museums in Belgium with its large art collection.; Shutterstock ID 586734455; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts POI

    Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts

    Brussels

    This prestigious museum incorporates the Musée d’Art Ancien (ancient art); the Musée d’Art Moderne (modern art), with works by surrealist Paul Delvaux and…

  • The museum of musical instruments "Old England", Brussels, Belgium

    Old England Building

    Brussels

    This 1899 former department store is an art nouveau showpiece with a black facade aswirl with wrought iron and arched windows. The building contains the…

  • Triumphal Arch at Parc du Cinquantenaire in the EU Quarter.

    Parc du Cinquantenaire

    Brussels

    Parc du Cinquantenaire was built during Léopold II's reign. It's best known for its cluster of museums – art, history, military and motor vehicles – which…

  • TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY Laurent Thomet.A picture taken on July 28, 2011 shows stuffed rhinoceros at the Brussels Royal Institute for Natural Sciences Museum. It was a daring daytime robbery at the natural science museum. The two thieves snuck into the rhino gallery and ripped a stuffed head off the wall. They carried it to a restroom, opened a window, and dropped the 30-kilo trophy two-stories down to an accomplice waiting in a van. The museum had never been robbed until the July heist, when it became the latest of a rising number of science museums in Europe targetted by thieves for rhino horns, which can fetch tens of thousands of euros on the black market.  AFP PHOTO / GEORGES GOBET (Photo credit should read GEORGES GOBET/AFP/Getty Images)

    Institut des Sciences Naturelles

    Brussels

    Thought-provoking and highly interactive, this museum has far more than the usual selection of stuffed animals. But the undoubted highlight is a unique …

  • Lace making in Bruges, 2014. The intricate lace patterns in Belgium are unmatched in any other country. The lace trade rose during the early Renaissance. Emperor Charles V decreed that lace-making should be a compulsory skill for girls in convents and beguines throughout Flanders. Lace became fashionable on collars and cuffs for both sexes. Trade reached a peak in the 18th century. Lace makers are traditionally women. Hundreds of craftswomen still work in Bruges and Brussels, centres of bobbin lace, creating intricate work by hand, often using over 100 threads per bobbin. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

    Musée Mode & Dentelle

    Brussels

    Lace making has been one of Flanders’ finest crafts since the 16th century. While kloskant (bobbin lace) originated in Bruges, naaldkant (needlepoint lace…

  • Musée Art & Histoire

    Brussels

    This astonishingly rich collection ranges from ancient Egyptian sarcophagi and Meso-American masks to icons to wooden bicycles. Decide what you want to…

  • BELGIUM - AUGUST 11: BELGIUM, BRUSSELS, The Grand Place in Brussels. (Photo by Ulrich Baumgarten via Getty Images)

    Grand Place

    Brussels

    Brussels’ magnificent Grand Place is one of the world’s most unforgettable urban ensembles. Oddly hidden, the enclosed cobblestone square is only revealed…

  • Our Lady of Sablon Church, Brussels, Belgium.

    Église Notre-Dame du Sablon

    Brussels

    The Sablon’s large, flamboyantly Gothic church started life as the 1304 archers’ guild chapel. A century later it had to be massively enlarged to cope…

  • MIM

    MIM

    Brussels

    Strap on a pair of headphones, then step on the automated floor panels in front of the precious instruments (including world instruments and Adolphe Sax’s…

  • TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY PHILIPPE SIUBERSKI .A figurine of cartoon character "Spirou" is seen in the "Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinee" (Belgian Comic Strip Center) on October 3, 2014 in Brussels, as it marks its 25th anniversary. The museum, one of the largest worldwide dedicated to comic strip art, marks its 25th anniversary with a series of special exhibitions and happenings. Spirou has been written and drawn since 1938 by a succession of artists, as Rob-Vel, Jije, Franquin, Yoann, Vehlmann, Schwartz and Bravo for comics publisher Dupuis. AFP PHOTO/ EMMANUEL DUNAND == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE, MANDATORY CREDIT OF THE ARTIST, TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION ==        (Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

    Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée

    Brussels

    This centre offers a definitive and enjoyable overview of the country’s vibrant comic-strip culture. Even if you’re not excited by the ‘ninth art’, do…

  • Musée Horta

    Musée Horta

    Brussels

    The typically austere exterior doesn’t give much away, but Victor Horta’s former home (designed and built 1898–1901) is an art nouveau jewel. The…

  • Galeries St Huber walls

    Galeries St-Hubert

    Brussels

    When opened in 1847 by King Léopold I, the glorious Galeries St-Hubert formed Europe’s very first shopping arcade. Many enticing shops lie behind its…

  • Flagey building from across the pond

    Flagey

    Brussels

    This marvellous 1938 ‘liner’ building originally conceived as the national radio building, is now the centre of an up-and-coming nightlife area. With its…

  • St-Gilles Town Hall facade

    St-Gilles Town Hall

    Brussels

    One of Brussels’ overlooked architectural wonders, this splendid Napoleon III–style palace

  • Argos

    Brussels

    A not-for-profit gallery in a former banana warehouse, founded in 1989 to promote video art that engages with politics. In addition to changing temporary…

  • Train World

    Brussels

    Wonderful old engines gleam in the low light of this imaginative and beautiful museum, located in the renovated 1887 Schaerbeek station: exhibits include…

  • Kuumba Cultural Centre

    Brussels

    The Kuumba Cultural Centre organises tours of the district, plus excellent events featuring Congolese bands, dance workshops and food.

  • Palais de Justice

    Palais de Justice

    Brussels

    Larger than St Peter’s in Rome, this 2.6-hectare complex of law courts was the world’s biggest building when it was constructed (1866–83). While the…

  • Halles St Gery interior bar

    Halles St-Géry

    Brussels

    In 1881 this superb neo-Renaissance brick-and-wrought-iron meat market was built around a curious pyramidal monument-fountain (itself built to replace a…

  • Musées d'extrême orient view from parc

    Musées d’Extrême-Orient

    Brussels

    Closed at the time of writing for restoration, so check in advance before visiting. A pair of East Asian pagodas form the key attractions here. Both are…

  • Atomium, designed for the 1958 World Fair.

    Atomium

    Brussels

    The space-age Atomium looms 102m over north Brussels’ suburbia, resembling a steel alien from a '60s Hollywood movie. It consists of nine house-sized…

  • Coudenberg

    Coudenberg

    Brussels

    Coudenberg Hill (now Place Royale) was the site of Brussels’ original 12th-century castle. Over several centuries this was transformed into one of Europe…

  • Porte de Hal

    Porte de Hal

    Brussels

    For centuries Brussels was surrounded by a grand 8km fortress wall. It was partly demolished in the 1790s, then removed altogether on Napoleon’s orders in…

  • Rue des Bouchers

    Rue des Bouchers

    Brussels

    Uniquely colourful Rue and Petite Rue des Bouchers are a pair of narrow alleys jam-packed with pavement tables, pyramids of lemons and iced displays of…

  • Colonne du Congrès

    Colonne du Congrès

    Brussels

    Brussels’ 25m-tall version of Nelson’s Column is an 1850s monolith topped by a gilded statue of King Léopold I. It commemorates the Belgian constitution…

  • Fondation Brel facade

    Fondation Jacques Brel

    Brussels

    Chansonnier Jacques Brel (1929–78) made his debut in 1952 at a cabaret in his native Belgium and shot to fame in Paris, where he was a contemporary of…

  • Manneken Pis

    Manneken Pis

    Brussels

    Rue Charles Buls – Brussels’ most unashamedly touristy shopping street, lined with chocolate and trinket shops – leads the hordes three blocks from the…

  • House of European History

    Brussels

    Housed in the beautifully renovated Eastman Building in Parc Léopold, this airy, elegant new museum takes you into some dark corners of European history,…

  • Broussaille mural

    Broussaille

    Brussels

    Painted in 1991 by Frank Pé, Broussaille was the city's first giant mural and depicts a young couple arm in arm. This strip is located in Brussels' gay…

  • People enjoying Bois de la Cambre.

    Bois de la Cambre

    Brussels

    This extensive forest park forms Brussels’ green lungs. It stretches from regal Ave Louise to the Forêt de Soignes, whose soaring beech trees then extend…

  • Parc de Bruxelles

    Parc de Bruxelles

    Brussels

    Brussels is well endowed with outlying forests and parklands, but in the inner city it's a different story. The largest central patch of greenery is Parc…

  • Tour & Taxi street facade

    Tour & Taxis

    Brussels

    A postal sorting shed doesn’t sound like an immediate tourist draw, but the Tour & Taxis complex is an architectural masterpiece, its 21st-century revamp…

  • 500px Photo ID: 97140433 - The House and the Sky - Magritte Museum

    Musée Magritte

    Brussels

    The beautifully presented Magritte Museum holds the world’s largest collection of the surrealist pioneer’s paintings and drawings. Watch his style develop…

  • Place du Petit Sablon

    Place du Petit Sablon

    Brussels

    About 200m uphill from Place du Grand Sablon, this charming little garden is ringed by 48 bronze statuettes representing the medieval guilds. Standing…

  • Museum Chocolate and cocoa facade

    Musée du Cacao et du Chocolat

    Brussels

    Exhibits at Brussels’ museum of cocoa and chocolate give you a quick rundown of chocolate’s history in Europe, along with chocolate’s anti-aging and…

  • MIMA

    Brussels

    On the banks of the Brussels Canal, the engaged and engaging Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art (MIMA) showcases contemporary art with a permanent…

  • Musée BELvue

    Musée BELvue

    Brussels

    Take a chronological audio tour through the airy stuccoed interior of this former royal residence to explore Belgium’s history from independence to today,…

  • Palais Royal

    Palais Royal

    Brussels

    These days Belgium’s royal family lives at Laeken, but this sturdy 19th-century palace remains its ‘official’ residence. One unique room has had its…

  • Zinneke statue

    Zinneke

    Brussels

    In the old Bruxellois dialect, zinneke means ‘a person of mixed origins’, which sums up the city’s inhabitants to this day. Hence Flemish sculptor Tom…

  • Sainte Catherine church from the square

    Église Ste-Catherine

    Brussels

    Église Ste-Catherine must be one of the only religious buildings that positively encourages folks to urinate on its walls (there’s a ‘pissoir’ on its…

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