13 Things to Do & See in
Brussels, Belgium
When planning a trip to Europe,
one must always think of stopping in the capital of the European Union,
Brussels! This beautiful city is not only trilingual but one of the best places
in the world for beer! This is a must see for anyone traveling abroad to
Europe!
How should you spend your time
& where should you stay? Take a look for some awesome ideas for your trip
to Brussels!
1. Find a Hostel on Hostelworld.com! I stayed
at the Youth Hostel Vincent Van Gogh. Although this was not my favorite hostel I have stayed in, it was worth it for the price. It was decent walking distance into the city, had a nice bar, good breakfast (minus the coffee, but good coffee is next to impossible to find in Belgium), and good wifi when in the commons area. I stayed on the third floor and my wifi was pretty much non existent, but the rooms were clean and it was a safe place to stay! It is also less than a block away from a metro station and is easily accessible from the train station!
Address & Phone:
Dwarsstraat 8, 1210 Sint-Joost-ten-Node, Belgium
+32 2 217 01 58
2. Take the "Free" Walking Tour! Although these tours are not technically free in any city, they are totally worth it! The guides work off of tips and pay a certain amount to the company for each person that STARTS the tour. AKA, if you start the tour and leave and don't tip, he or she loses money off of you. I would suggest giving the equivalent of $7-$15 American Dollars as a tip per person at the end of these tours or more if you were absolutely in love! The tours are amazing and the guides do it because they love their city! They will help you with anything that you need after the tour is over as well! You meet in front of the "Grand Place" (picture below) and find the people under the red umbrellas. They will then walk you through the city and give you tips and tricks along the way... My guide even told us the true way to make Belgium Fries! Yummy!!!
These tours start every day at 11am!
What better way to end the tour than with a beautiful overview of the city?
Beautiful clock in the center of the city!
A tour of Brussels would not be complete without a picture of the statue of the peeing boy! There are many different stories to this statue, however, the real one is that this is the place where the homeless could come to sell their urine because it was used in making leather and would give the homeless money.
Another stop on the tour!
The beautiful cathedral stop on the tour!
After the tour we knew we couldn't leave belgium without trying their delicious foods!
3. Visit the chocolate stores! For a chocoholic like me, I had to go into more than one. This Godiva shop across the street from the statue of the peeing boy had some amazing chocolate covered strawberries! Neuhaus was another delicious shop, but much more expensive. Try something small at them all!
4. Eat Belgium Fries! They come in cones as shown in the picture. The fries are great but the sauces are the best! What most people don't know is that Brussels is a place where many different sauces are made! My advice? Order sauces on the side and try them all! My friend and I each had two different sauces and were able to try 4 different sauces! My favorite? Curry Ketchup... Don't knock it till you try it!
5. Eat a (some) Belgian Waffle(s)! Belgaufra (Bel meaning belgium, gaufre is the french word for waffles... aka Belgium Waffles) is the best place to get one of the more authentic belgian waffles. Ask your tour guide to tell you about all the different types. The ones at Belgaufra with chocolate and whipped cream are to die for and are pretty cheap!
Belgaufra has a brown sign with yellow writing. Walk down the shopping street and you will pass about 2-3 different Belgaufras that each serve the same delicious waffles!
6. Take a Beer Tour. After our free walking tour our guide told us there was a beer tour that night for 17 euros. Immediately, we signed up, excited to learn about the history of Belgium Beer! We started out at the bar below & tried our first trappist beer while learning all about why and when belgium became big in the beer industry.
Chimay was the first trappist beer I tried. It was a darker beer with a bit of a fruity flavor.
This was the second trappist beer I tried, which was much more bitter. (My friend and I shared these two beers.... we didn't each get two)
Next, we moved onto the main bar in Brussels known for selling authentic Lambic beers. It was a very nice atmosphere to learn about the Lambic beers.
We were able to taste three different lambic beers while munching on hops (what beer is made from) as shown in the picture below. It was definitely an experience and I realized lambic beers are sour and don't taste like normal beer.
7. Eat the Belgium Dishes Your Tour Guide Suggests. Below are a few examples of the traditional dishes we tried at the restaurants recommended by our tour guide. They were amazing! Although I can't remember their names, the tour guides will definitely be able to tell you what and where to eat!
8. Go to the Flea Market! This flea market was one of my favorite things we did while in Brussels. It opens around 5 or 6 am every day and closes around 1pm. People advise you to go around 11 or 11:30 when the sellers are beginning to close as they leave behind things or will sell things for much cheaper prices.
9. Visit the Atomium. This was designed for the world fair when they thought atomic power was going to take over the world. You are able to go up this in the moving staircases into the different balls. It was awesome to see, however, I'm not sure if it was worth the 9 euros to go up it. It wasn't anything special on the inside except an experience I can say I have had! Even if you do not decide to pay to go inside, it is definitely worth the metro trip to see this beautiful "Atomium"!
10. Go to Comus & Gasterea for Amazing Ice Cream! This little ice cream had very good and different flavors of ice cream! It is a spot for the locals and not many tourists head there. I highly suggest the "speculoos" ice cream. It is almost like a gingerbread flavor but I loved it!
11. Visit the Delirium Bar! Finally, a trip to brussels would not be complete without at least seeing this bar that has made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for most beers on tap (27 or more) & most types of beer (over 2006 types.) This bar was pretty crowded but totally worth it! They have smaller glasses of beer for 2 euros so you can taste different flavors they have on tap! Don't miss out on this wonderful time!
12. Walk down the lit up alley-way of restaurants but DO NOT EAT THERE! It's fun to walk through this alley to here the guys try to flirt with you to eat at their store and tell you how cheap their food and drinks are! However, do not believe them on the prices, it's not always what you see and the drinks are typically high priced. Most of these restaurants are owned by the same people, share the same kitchen, and have the same workers. Walk through this alley for the fun and atmosphere but don't eat there!
13. Take a stroll through the park! There is a beautiful park filled with people having picnics, jogging, and children playing at the park! Sick of walking around and site seeing? Stop by the park to relax and enjoy the atmosphere all around you!
Enjoy Brussels, eat fries, waffles, chocolate, taste the many different beers, and don't forget to visit the beautiful sites that are everywhere in the city!
