The Top 10 Attractions in Brussels

The Top Ten Brussels Attractions

1. The Grand Place

The Grand Place is one of the most famous Brussels attractions and is a must-see sight. The Place is home to some of the city’s most beautiful and iconic buildings, including the City Town Hall. Many buildings feature beautifully detailed engravings and designs. Every two years in August, an enormous “flower carpet” is set up in the Grand Place.

2. Tour the Cantillon Brewery

This is the only brewery in Brussels to offer tours. Situated in one of the more run down areas of the city, some way out from the city centre, the brewery does not look much from the outside. Inside you’ll find a fully working brewery and a merry band of happy Belgians willing to take you on a tour of the factory and show you the entire brewing process from the vat of steaming barley to a bottle of beer.

3. Savor a Belgian Beer in a Belgian Bar

Belgian’s love for beer is as strong as an Englishman’s love of tea; it forms a massive part of their culture and if you really want to immerse yourself in the local way of life then you’ll have to try the beer.

There are hundreds of different beers to choose from but the fruit beers are very popular and come in every flavor you can imagine from raspberry to peach to pomegranate!

4. Take a Look at Manneken Pis

This statue of a small boy taking a piss on the corner of Rue de l’Étuve/Stoofstraat and Rue du Chêne/Eikstraat, is a top attraction. The statue was, according to some accounts, built to commemorate a battle where the then infant Duke Godfrey III of Leuven urinated on the troops of the Berthouts, prompting them to lose the battle.

5. Visit the Notre Dame du Sablon
This beautiful late-Gothic church is famous for its four-fold gallery with brightly colored stained-glass windows and two beautiful baroque chapels decorated with funeral symbols in white marble, though you would never have guessed the extent of the church’s inner beauty based on the huge gray-white arches and walls that make up its exterior. On Sundays there’s a great market selling antiques and all sorts of jewelry which is well worth a look when you’ve finished looking round the church.

6. Visit the Atomium

The Atomium is a monument in Brussels, originally built for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Designed by André Waterkeyn, it stands 335 ft tall and has nine steel spheresconnected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Tubes connect the spheres enclose escalators connecting the spheres containing exhibit halls and other public spaces. The top sphere provides a panoramic view of Brussels.

7. Check Out the Royal Palace

The official seat of the Belgian Royal Palace barely gets a mention in most guide books.

Backing on to Brussels Park, the Palace is an impressive spectacle and is enormous, spanning the entire length of a road. The big gardens in front of it and the two guards that protect the main gate (similar to the Royal Guards that stand outside Buckingham Palace) add to its grandeur.

8. Visit the Royal Museum of Fine Arts

Brussels is home to some of the finest art collections in the world, some of the best pieces are in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts/Les Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. The museum contains more than 20,000 drawings, sculptures, and paintings dating back to as early as the 15th Century. Unsurprisingly, the museum concentrates on Belgian and Flemish artists, housing an extensive array of paintings by some of Belgium’s finest sons.

9. Explore Sablon

Sablon is one of the most prestigious and attractive areas of the city, a place where all the super suave and aristocratic types go to buy antiques and check out the mini-art galleries. The area boasts hundreds of antique shops and comes alive at weekends when the weekly antiques market comes to town. The market is open from 9-6 pm on Saturdays and 9-1pm on Sundays and is a great place to go to get a gift or to check out chocolate shops with with world renowned names.

10. Visit the Horta Museum

Some way out of the center of Brussels in the southern sector of Saint-Gilles, the Horta Museum is among the finest examples of art nouveau architecture in the world and was actually the Brussels home of Victor Horta, one of the most important figures of the art nouveau movement. The main attraction is the stairwell which is absolutely stunning and has to be seen to be believed, but the whole house in all its lavish grandeur will impress.

	1. The Grand Place The Grand Place is one of the most famous Brussels attractions and is a must-see sight. The Place is home to some of the city’s most beautiful and iconic buildings, including the City Town Hall. Many buildings feature beautifully detailed engravings and designs. Every two years in August, an enormous “flower carpet” is set up in the Grand Place.
	2. Tour the Cantillon Brewery This is the only brewery in Brussels to offer tours. Situated in one of the more run down areas of the city, some way out from the city centre, the brewery does not look much from the outside. Inside you’ll find a fully working brewery and a merry band of happy Belgians willing to take you on a tour of the factory and show you the entire brewing process from the vat of steaming barley to a bottle of beer.
	3. Savor a Belgian Beer in a Belgian Bar Belgian’s love for beer is as strong as an Englishman’s love of tea; it forms a massive part of their culture and if you really want to immerse yourself in the local way of life then you’ll have to try the beer. There are hundreds of different beers to choose from but the fruit beers are very popular and come in every flavor you can imagine from raspberry to peach to pomegranate!
	4. Take a Look at Manneken Pis This statue of a small boy taking a piss on the corner of Rue de l’Étuve/Stoofstraat and Rue du Chêne/Eikstraat, is a top attraction. The statue was, according to some accounts, built to commemorate a battle where the then infant Duke Godfrey III of Leuven urinated on the troops of the Berthouts, prompting them to lose the battle.
	5. Visit the Notre Dame du Sablon This beautiful late-Gothic church is famous for its four-fold gallery with brightly colored stained-glass windows and two beautiful baroque chapels decorated with funeral symbols in white marble, though you would never have guessed the extent of the church’s inner beauty based on the huge gray-white arches and walls that make up its exterior. On Sundays there’s a great market selling antiques and all sorts of jewelry which is well worth a look when you’ve finished looking round the church.
	6. Visit the Atomium The Atomium is a monument in Brussels, originally built for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Designed by André Waterkeyn, it stands 335 ft tall and has nine steel spheresconnected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Tubes connect the spheres enclose escalators connecting the spheres containing exhibit halls and other public spaces. The top sphere provides a panoramic view of Brussels.
	7. Check Out the Royal Palace The official seat of the Belgian Royal Palace barely gets a mention in most guide books. Backing on to Brussels Park, the Palace is an impressive spectacle and is enormous, spanning the entire length of a road. The big gardens in front of it and the two guards that protect the main gate (similar to the Royal Guards that stand outside Buckingham Palace) add to its grandeur.
	8. Visit the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Brussels is home to some of the finest art collections in the world, some of the best pieces are in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts/Les Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. The museum contains more than 20,000 drawings, sculptures, and paintings dating back to as early as the 15th Century. Unsurprisingly, the museum concentrates on Belgian and Flemish artists, housing an extensive array of paintings by some of Belgium’s finest sons.
	9. Explore Sablon Sablon is one of the most prestigious and attractive areas of the city, a place where all the super suave and aristocratic types go to buy antiques and check out the mini-art galleries. The area boasts hundreds of antique shops and comes alive at weekends when the weekly antiques market comes to town. The market is open from 9-6 pm on Saturdays and 9-1pm on Sundays and is a great place to go to get a gift or to check out chocolate shops with with world renowned names.
	10. Visit the Horta Museum Some way out of the center of Brussels in the southern sector of Saint-Gilles, the Horta Museum is among the finest examples of art nouveau architecture in the world and was actually the Brussels home of Victor Horta, one of the most important figures of the art nouveau movement. The main attraction is the stairwell which is absolutely stunning and has to be seen to be believed, but the whole house in all its lavish grandeur will impress.