A Half Day Tour Guide in Brussels City

Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. Among other municipalities in the country this city has indeed charmed many of the tourists to visit its finely precious place.

According to its historical background, Brussels is a dutch speaking city which turn into french in the latter. Official languages of the country? French, Dutch, and German. However in the capital city influence by the EU institutions english is widely spoken by people, especially by expatriates, and migrants.

Other languages spoken by the city are Arabic, Spanish, and Italian.

Brussels, Belgium

What to see in the City?

Everyone wants to visit all the famous places in Brussels, but thinking of planning it ahead of time. Well this time I will show you how to visit the city in one snap no need to plan that much and fiddle about.

All you have to do is follow my guide, or you could bring you mobile phone with the help of an app google map or the city map.

Famous places and landmarks that you may visit when you go to Brussels are:

• Grand Place
• Brussels City Hall
• Monts des Arts
• Manneken Pis
• Gallery de la Reine
• Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula
• Royal Palace of Brussels
• Mini Europe
• Cinquantenaire
• Atomium
• National Basilica of Sacred Heart

There are more to see and visit like museums, parks, churches and Basilicas and many more. Check out another Guide to the Highlights of Brussels.

For those who wants to avail the Excursion from Amsterdam to Brussels you can get your tickets HERE for only  21.00 euros

I have personally come up with this tour, since I thought from the beginning this will be very helpful for those who are coming to visit the city. I have seen a couple of tour guides via internet but I would say that mine will be unique.

The purpose of this is to help those people especially those who are in a special situation like:

• In transit and the next flight will be 4 hours or more.
• Only have 1 day or less in Brussels to stay before next voyage.
• People who are in Road trips and would love to visit the city in some hours.
• Those who love Europe tour and has limited time to visit every single city they pass.

Here is my guide for you, a dynamic tour that perfectly fit to everyone. Enjoy the stunning places to see!

Brussels Stock Exchange

Simply called the Bourse/Beurs. the house of stock exchange and covering expositions like Beer Expositions, and a lot more expos of the world.

Getting out of the Metro Station of DeBroukere, you can walk some minutes and directly find this place.

St. Nicolas Church

A very charming church surrounded by fine old houses and building around, located just beside the Bourse.

St. Nicolas Church belongs to the english speaking churches in Brussels, its interior designs and ambiance would make you stay inside the church for a while.

Grand Place, Brussels (Town Hall)

The most beautiful place in the Belgium, the most popular place which receive thousand of tourists everyday.

Grand Place composes different middle ages gothic buildings these are the Town Hall, Museum of the City of Brussels and many more incredible old buildings covered with Guildhalls.

Considered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Grand Place is also known as Grote Markt in dutch.

  

Museum of the City of Brussels

Grand Place voted the most beautiful square in Europe in 2010, among other square nominated were Moscow’s Red Square and France’s Place Stanislas.

Did you know that Grand Place surrounded by foods ? well they streets around it named after foods actually. Butter (Rue au Beurre), Herbs (Rue du Marché aux Herbes), and Cheese (Rue du Marché aux Fromages)

To arrive in this place, all you have to do is walk straight from St. Nicolas Church. It’s a 2 minutes walk from there and you will see bunch of tourists around.

Manneken Pis

Mostly known as the Peeing Boy (meaning of its name in dutch),  a naked statue of little boy urinating in a fountain’s basin. Here you see him with some costume on cause locals actually celebrate festivities at this fountain which includes this little guy.

There are over one thousand costumes , a wardrobe consists of different costumes around the world. A couple of story about why Manneken Pis created. the most hilarious and daring was, one where the boy was a spy during a siege of the city. He put out a ploy to bomb the city by peeing on the explosives.

Getting here is super easy, facing the Town Hall take the left side road and walk straight again for about two blocks and you’ll see this.

Gallery De La Reine

If you want to experience luxurious ambiance, luxury boutiques and chocolate shops all you have to do is visit this place. Among the chic boutiques are Delvaux, le Tanneur and Longchamp.

One of the tourist attraction of the city which get more than six million visitors from around the world.

Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula

   

Roman Catholic Church known for its western façade and gothic french style designs. Sometimes Royal Family comes here for special occasions.

Pope comes here, and often the royal couples married in this church.

  

Royal Palace

  

The official Palace of King and Queen of Belgium. However don’t be confused with the house residence of the royal family. They are totally different, the royal family live in the Royal Palace of Laeken.

The Royal Palace became open to tourists, often mentioned that it a façade 50% longer than Buckingham Palace. You can have a tour that will take about 40 minutes inside. It’s a free entry and you’ll discover the golden, majestic, shining shimmering place.

To find this place all you have to do is walk from St. Michel church. 5-7 minutes walk and you’ll arrive in the Royal park. walk more and you’ll see this at the end.

Royal Square ( Church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg)

Known as the King’s Square which consist of various buildings around it. This is the Church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg the principal building, western side is Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.

The Magritte Museum while on the south-east side is the Belvue Museum. At the center of Place Royale is a statue of Godfrey of Bouillon and

Statue of Godfrey

  

You can enter to all this museums its free except of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. The square is a great place to visit, you’ll have a fantastic time adoring this beautiful architectural designs of the buildings.

It’s located just on the left side of the Royal Palace. Keep in mind that this is a road where you’ll meet cars and trams all over the place.

Lady of the Sablon Church

A 15th-century Catholic church is known for its baroque chapels & Gothic architecture. It’s a 4-5 minutes walk from the Royal Square but if you want to take a tram to go there.

Take tram line 92 or 93 from Royale Station then get down on the first stop in Petit Sablon station.

Park Square of Petit Sablon

Adjacent of Sablon Church, a very charming place consisting of Statue of Counts Egmont and Hoorn and artistic garden designs with different colors of grass and flowers.

Statue of Counts Egmont and Hoorn

Musical Instrument Museum

   

It’s an Art nouveau museum with exhibits including traditional & mechanical instruments & a concert hall. For those who are musical fan and wants to discover more of this museum, tickets are from 6-8 euros per person.

Important thing to remember is that you can take photos inside but without flash.

Getting here from Sablon church, you may walk til Royal Square and get the left road.

The Whirling Ear

Mont des Arts

Mont des Arts (french word) means mount or hill of Arts, it offers one of the finest views in Brussels. You can directly see the head of the Town Hall Grand Place from vibrant higher point.

The garden is has a glamorous allure, you will instantly felt the vibrant breeze of the wind.

At the end of the garden you will see the statue of King Albert riding a horse.

  

  

Statue of King Albert I

Carillon Mont des Arts

Located just beside the Mont des Arts park. Jacquemart Carillion clock with 24 bells found on an arch of the Mont des Arts.

It has 12 figurines that represent important historic and folkloric figures of Brussels through the ages.

St. Mary Magdalene Church

One of the oldest churches in Brussels, a remarkable small church having a harmony between dimensions of the church and the color of the stained-glass windows.

St. Mary Magdalene has some beautiful statues as decoration, portrayed wearing medieval dress, and the statue of St. Anne carrying the infant Jesus.

It’s a 3 minutes walk from Carillon of Mont des Arts just go straight from there and you’ll find it easily.

Summary of the Tour

As I have started from the Metro Station DeBroukere and form there, I started to show you all the places to visit. Ending our tour at Central Station where you can take your train to the Airport, or EU international trains.

Other Recommended Sites

If you still have time after those places that I have shown, well there are still have hidden gems to discover. I would recommend you to visit this aswell.

Jeanneken Pis

     

A modern fountain and statue in Brussels, which intended to form a counterpoint to the city’s Manneken Pis.

Belgian Beer Museum

      

Found in Grand Place beside the Town Hall. Brewery museum displaying 18th-century equipment, plus a modern brewing hall & a café with tastings.

Boutique of Tintin

      

If you are a Tintin fan then this is for you. All Hergé’s works are here. A lovely shop with lovely objects that are now quite rare.

‘T Kelderke Restaurant

     

A restaurant that you must visit where you will certainly appreciate the original flavors at this 17th Century vault.

Food, Drinks and Souvenirs

    

Don’t forget to seize your day with some food specialty of Brussels.

• Belgian Waffle, Beer, Chocolates, and Souvenirs.

How to reach the city?

Via Train

If you are travelling via airport you can directly take train from there, there are 4 trains available per hour. Airport to City center would take about 15-20 minutes.

Train tickets will cost you 7 euros or more, remember that riding without a ticket you’ll be penalized to pay double of the price. You can check the next train from an application called SNCB, easier for you to know how many minutes to wait.

Via Metro or Subway

Your staying in Brussels and you want to visit the center? all you need to grab is a metro ride. All you need to do is getting to the nearest metro station in your place and ride one of the lines of metro to reach the Central Station or DeBroukere Station. 

You can download the application to you phone named STIB for schedules or how much time will it take you to you destination.

Tickets are from 2.50 per ride or you can get 10 rides for 14 euros, or get a 1 day ticket will be more cheaper.

Via Tram and Bus

Tram is the most easiest and accessible to used as transportation in the city. If you’re lazy to walk you can always snatch a tram on you way just a 2-3 of wait and you’ll have it.

Bus however will be useful for those who have their Hotel in an area where trams and metros are not available. It will more longer to transport via bus cause it will stop several times.

Ticket prices of Tram and Bus are the same of metro and bus. (Tram not available at the Airport)

Via Taxi

This is the least recommended, well taxis are ideal to use when you arrive in the city late night, or at dawn since no more public transportations are available.

 

Thank you for reading my post, if you have any questions, suggestions, or other queries don’t hesitate to contact me. Follow my next blog post soon.

For more Brussels Tour Packages and Discounted Tour Prices you can visit HERE