Brussels Travel Guide

I’ve been to Brussels four times, which is a lot for a city I never intended to visit. In all the four times that I involuntary visited Belgium, I needed to catch connecting flights from Brussels to other destinations. Many locals, travelers and guidebooks recommend Bruges, a much prettier city to visit. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to visit Bruges. Having said that, Brussels slowly secretly grew on me, and perhaps it will do the same to you too.

Trip brainstorm

– Half-day: If you have only half a day, don’t let that discourage you from checking out this city. Most touristic sights are to check out major highlights of Brussels, most of or surrounding Grand Place/Grote Markt.

• Take a picture in front of the Manneken Pis aka the peeing little boy.
• To please the feminist movement back home, you should also pay a visit to the boy’s rival, Jeanneken Pis, the peeing girl, hidden in a dead end street, Impasse de la Fidelite, right by the lobster paradise on Rue des Bouchers / Beenhouwersstraat (Butchers’ Street).
• Now that you’re here stroll down the alley packed with restaurants displaying red-hot lobster, fatty fish, and water-dripping fresh mussels.
• Eat Frites (Belgian fries), said to be the best fries in the world.
• Choose and snack from many different kinds of Belgian waffles.
• Remember to try snails from sold from a snack stand. (summer only)
• Sample Belgian chocolates and buy a couple of boxes as gifts for friends and family back home.
• Bargain for oddities at the flea market @ Place du Jeu de Balle-Vossenplei
• Buy frozen mussels pack from any supermarket and cook it if you stay at a place with kitchen or return on a short flight.

– Full day to get to know Brussels a bit more. You will do all of the above, except you do it more slowly and soak in the spirit of Brussels. Plus a visit to some museums. In the evening, sample local pubs to try Belgium’s hundreds of beer. Visit French-speaking and Dutch-speaking only pubs to have an understanding of the bilingual nature of the city. My Couchsurfing host took me to this oldest French pub in Brussels and then later to a Flemish pub where Dutch-speaking artists hang out. What a culture experience.
– 2 hours to walk the comic route. (You should be able to get this map from a tourist office or at your accommodation. Or ask a local to highlight this route on a regular tourist map.)
– 4 hours + to walk the comic route and visit the Comic Strip center.
– 2 hours to walk around the EU headquarter. This area is far from the city center. Add 3 more hours if plan to visit Mini Europe which houses a collection of small models of major cities and landmarks in Europe.
– 4 hours to explore different ethnic neighborhoods of Brussels

• Moroccan neighborhood @ Molenbeek-St-Jean or Sint-Jans-Molenbeek especially if you live in the Generation Youth Hostel, a couple of blocks away. There are many cheap Moroccan and Arabic restaurants and many clothing and shoes stores there.
• African neighborhood @ Chaussée d’Ixelles/Elsenesteenweg, south of Brussels with colorful clothing shops, women braiding hairs, men socializing in barber shops. (Some online travel guides say that these areas are not safe, do keep it in mind)

– 5 hours for a quick trip to the famous battle site of Waterloo, only 15 km away from Brussels.

If you have a direction orientation IQ of almost 0 like me, add 2 hours + to each of those above. You will spend an unprecedented amount of time to figure out where you are, flip around the map and retrace your steps back to the same place and never find out why you can’t return to the same place even though it is right around the corner. Visit museums early in the day because there is high chance that you will not make it there on time when starting out 2 hours before closing.

Cheap accommodation Brussels

Transportation

• Train tickets bought at vending machine can be used on local buses for free (TEC). You can pay on the bus or at ticket vending machine
• Brussels National airport (BRU) is directly connected by train (€5 one way) and bus via metro station Schuman, the EU area.
• Brussels South Charleroi airport (CLR) is directly connected by buses from Brussels Midi/Zuid ( €13 one way,  €22 return).  The bus parks on a street without any obvious sign, so make sure ask the people who work in the train station to get there. Take the train to Charleroi station where you take bus 58 (free) or the airport bus, line A. Bus 58 doesn’t go on the weekend. Bus A goes every day. The last but from Charleroi station leaves at 10. (See update schedule below). The last bus from Charleroi station is at 10. (See update schedule below)

Sample Cost

Accommodation

• Hostel:  from €18
• Budget hotel:  from €50 per room

Transportation

• Bus 1-ride: €1.50
• Bus one-day: €4
• Bus 5-ride: €6.50
• Metro: almost same as bus
• Taxi: €20 for a less than 10-minute ride

Food

• Fries: €2
• Kebab: €5-10
• Beer: €2-5
• Lunch: €15-20

Visit

• Museum entrance: €4-8 (discount €2-5)

Guidebooks

Resources

• Belgium rail
• Chaleroi airport bus from/to Brussels
• Charleroi local bus

Photos of Brussels

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