Things to do in Brussels: 10 sights worth your time
The best of Brussels costs nothing: the Grand-Place, the shopping arcades, the cathedral and the view from the Palais de Justice are all free. You pay for the museums, and most of them close on Mondays.
Two offers bring the cost down. The Brussels Card gives free entry to 48 museums, among them the City Museum, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts with the Magritte Museum, the Musical Instruments Museum and Autoworld. It costs €41 for 24 hours, €53 for 48 and €59 for 72; the Magritte Museum, the musical instruments and the City Museum alone cost about as much as the 24-hour card, so it pays off from the third museum on the same day. The other offer is free: on the first Wednesday of every month from 1 pm, the Magritte and Old Masters museums, the Musical Instruments Museum, the Natural Sciences and Army museums and the Halle Gate let you in without a ticket.
1Grand-Place
Photo: Magda Ehlers / Pexels, Pexels License
The market square of Brussels has been the heart of the city since the Middle Ages, and it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1998. One side is taken up by the Gothic town hall, built in the 15th century, with an openwork spire topped by a gilded St Michael. Facing it stands the King's House, which despite its name never housed a king; it holds the City Museum.
The other sides are lined with the houses of the guilds, the bakers, brewers, boatmen and tailors, with gilded statues and gables. They look medieval but most are younger: in 1695 French artillery under Marshal Villeroy flattened the centre, and the guilds rebuilt their houses within a few years, each trying to outdo its neighbour. Victor Hugo lived for a while in one of them, Le Pigeon, during his exile.
Time
30 min to 1 h, longer with the City Museum
Setting
Both
Best time
Early morning for photos without crowds, after dark for the lit façades
Getting there
Metro Gare Centrale or De Brouckère; premetro Bourse
Tip: Walk in from Rue Charles Buls or Rue de la Colline rather than the main shopping streets: the square opens up suddenly at the end of a narrow lane. Stand at the top end in front of the King's House for the full view of the town hall.
Inside the King's House, the City Museum tells how the square and the city grew, and keeps the original 17th-century Manneken Pis; the bronze boy at his street corner is a copy. The same ticket covers the Garderobe MannekenPis, where his wardrobe of more than a thousand costumes is kept. In August of even-numbered years the square is covered for a few days with a carpet of begonias, and in December it hosts a light show as part of the Christmas season. Details are on the visit.brussels page.
The square is open at all hours and free. The City Museum opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm, and is closed on Mondays. Ticket €10, including the Garderobe MannekenPis; free with the Brussels Card.
One of the first covered shopping arcades in Europe, opened in 1847 under a long vault of glass and iron. Its three sections, the King's, the Queen's and the Princes' galleries, hold chocolatiers, bookshops, a theatre and a cinema.
Time
30 to 45 min
Setting
Indoor
Best time
On a rainy day, or in the evening when the shops are lit
Getting there
Metro Gare Centrale, a few steps from the Grand-Place
Tip: Walking through costs nothing and links the Grand-Place with the cathedral area, so use it as your route rather than a separate stop. The chocolate shops here are among the oldest in the city and their prices show it; buy a few pralines by weight instead of a gift box. The arcade's own website lists the shops.
Photo: Abdel Rahman Abu Baker / Pexels, Pexels License
A Gothic church with two square towers on the slope between the lower and upper town, built over about three centuries from the 13th onwards. Inside are 16th-century stained-glass windows and a carved Baroque pulpit; Belgian royal weddings are held here.
Time
30 to 45 min
Setting
Indoor
Best time
A weekday morning, or a sunny afternoon for the colours of the glass
Getting there
Metro Gare Centrale, five minutes uphill
Tip: Entry is free. Look at the great west window above the entrance on your way out, and visit the treasury in the chapel of the Holy Sacrament, where the reliquaries and paintings are kept. Bring cash for the treasury ticket. Visits stop during services, which is why on Sundays the church opens to visitors only in the afternoon; the cathedral's visitor page has the times of Mass.
Open Monday to Friday 8 am to 6 pm, Saturday 8 am to 5 pm, Sunday 1 pm to 6 pm. Entry free; treasury €3, cash only, free under 12. Free guided tour in French and English every Saturday at 2 pm.
A terraced garden laid out for the 1958 World's Fair on the slope below Place Royale, framed by the Royal Library and the city's major museums. From the top, the lower town spreads out with the town hall spire in the middle. Next door, the Old Masters Museum has Bruegel and the Flemish primitives, and the Magritte Museum gathers the work of Belgium's best-known Surrealist.
Time
45 min to 1 h 30 min for the gardens and the view, half a day with a museum
Setting
Both
Best time
Late afternoon into dusk for the view; a rainy day for the museums
Getting there
Metro Gare Centrale or Parc; tram 92 to Place Royale
Tip: The garden and the view are free at any time. For the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, choose one museum per visit: Old Masters or Magritte each cost €13, and a combined ticket for both is €20. Both are free with the Brussels Card and on the first Wednesday of the month from 1 pm.
They open Tuesday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and at weekends from 11 am to 6 pm, and close on Mondays. Leave the panorama for after your museum visit, when the light is softer.
Photo: Mr Alex Photography / Pexels, Pexels License
A large collection of musical instruments from around the world, from medieval bagpipes to early saxophones, the instrument invented by the Belgian Adolphe Sax. It fills four floors of the Old England building, an Art Nouveau department store of iron and glass from 1899. A headset plays the sound of many instruments as you stand in front of them.
Time
1 h to 1 h 30 min
Setting
Indoor
Best time
A rainy afternoon; the top floor on a clear day
Getting there
Metro Gare Centrale or Parc; tram 92 to Place Royale
Tip: Go up to the restaurant on the top floor even if you are not hungry: its terrace looks over the whole lower town. Under-18s enter free, which makes it an easy choice for families. Opening hours and events are on the MIM website.
Tuesday to Friday 9.30 am to 5 pm, weekends and public holidays 10 am to 5 pm; last ticket at 4 pm; closed on Mondays. Ticket €18; free under 18, with the Brussels Card and on the first Wednesday of the month from 1 pm.
The King's official working palace, facing the formal Brussels Park at the top of the upper town. The King lives at Laeken, outside the centre, but works here. The flag on the roof flies when he is in the country. Beside it, Place Royale is a neoclassical square with the church of Saint-Jacques-sur-Coudenberg.
Time
1 h for the summer tour of the state rooms
Setting
Both
Best time
Summer, when the state rooms are open
Getting there
Metro Parc or Trône; tram 92 to Palais
Tip: For most of the year you see the palace from outside, and a walk through Brussels Park opposite completes the visit. Since 1965 the palace has opened its state rooms every summer. One of them, the Mirror Room, has a ceiling covered in the wing cases of more than a million jewel beetles, a work by the artist Jan Fabre. The dates and tickets for each summer appear on the Belgian monarchy's website.
The exterior, Place Royale and Brussels Park are free at any time. The state rooms open only for several weeks each summer, with tickets booked through the monarchy's website.
The law courts that Joseph Poelaert built between 1866 and 1883 were one of the largest buildings of the 19th century, with a dome that dominates the skyline. The esplanade in front of them, Place Poelaert, is one of the best viewpoints in the city, and it costs nothing. Below lies the Marolles, an old working-class district of narrow streets, second-hand shops and a daily flea market.
Time
1 to 2 h with the Marolles
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
A clear morning, before the flea market thins out
Getting there
Metro Louise; tram 92 to Poelaert
Tip: Take in the view first, then ride the free glass lift from the edge of the square down to the Marolles and walk to Place du Jeu de Balle, where the flea market spreads its boxes of crockery, records and old postcards over the cobbles. Restoration work has kept scaffolding on parts of the building for years, so do not plan on photos of a clean façade. The visit.brussels page describes the building, and the market has its own page.
Place Poelaert and the lift to the Marolles are free. The flea market takes place every day.
The glass offices of the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council fill the quarter east of the centre. The Parlamentarium, the Parliament's visitor centre, explains through interactive exhibits how the EU came about and how laws are made, in all 24 official languages.
Time
1 h 30 min
Setting
Indoor
Best time
Any day; on Mondays only from the afternoon
Getting there
Metro Trône or Schuman; train to Bruxelles-Luxembourg
Tip: The Parlamentarium is free and well made for families with older children. Afterwards walk down into Parc Léopold, a small park with a pond below the Parliament buildings. On weekends the offices empty and the quarter becomes very quiet. The Parliament's visitor page also lists other free visits.
Free. Monday 1 pm to 6 pm, Tuesday to Friday 9 am to 6 pm, weekends 10 am to 6 pm; last entry 30 minutes before closing. Closed 1 January, 1 May, 1 November and 24, 25 and 31 December.
A park laid out for the 1880 exhibition marking fifty years of Belgian independence, closed by a triumphal arch topped with a bronze chariot. The long exhibition halls on either side hold three museums: Art and History, the Army Museum and Autoworld, a large collection of historic cars.
Time
1 to 2 h
Setting
Both
Best time
A dry afternoon for the park; Autoworld in any weather
Getting there
Metro Merode or Schuman
Tip: The park and the arch are free. The terrace on top of the arch is reached through the Army Museum and looks back down Rue de la Loi to the city centre; the museum is free on the first Wednesday of the month from 1 pm. Autoworld is included in the Brussels Card.
Park free at any time. Autoworld opens every day 10 am to 5 pm, weekends until 6 pm.
A model of an iron crystal enlarged 165 billion times, built as the centrepiece of the 1958 World's Fair. Escalators run inside the tubes between its steel spheres, which hold exhibitions about the building and the fair. The top sphere has a viewing deck over Brussels.
Time
1 h to 1 h 30 min
Setting
Both
Best time
A clear afternoon; the spheres look best in low evening sun
Getting there
Metro 6 to Heysel, then a short walk
Tip: Buy your ticket on the Atomium website and keep the visit for a day with good visibility, because the view from the top sphere is the highlight. The ticket also covers the Design Museum Brussels next door, which is worth an hour on a wet afternoon. If you have a Brussels Card, adding the Atomium option costs €14, less than the standard ticket.
Every day 10 am to 6 pm; ticket office closes at 5.30 pm. Adults €17, children taller than 115 cm up to 17 €9, smaller children free. The ticket includes the Design Museum Brussels.
