Brussels in 3 days: the medieval guild square rebuilt in Baroque stone after a French bombardment, the Art Nouveau buildings that started a global movement, the beer tradition with more styles than any country, and Magritte's bowler-hatted men at the museum that holds the most Surrealism in the world.
Louis XIV bombarded this square for 2 days in 1695, burning 4,000 houses. The guilds rebuilt in Baroque stone in 4 years. Victor Hugo called it the most beautiful theatre in the world.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Belgian praline (invented by Neuhaus in 1912): a hard chocolate shell with a soft center. Marcolini sources and roasts his own cacao beans from Madagascar, Venezuela and São Tomé.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Belgian national dish since 1893: the finest Dutch Zeeland mussels (available September–March) marinière-style in white wine and shallots, with double-fried frites and mayonnaise (never ketchup).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Guinness World Record bar for most beers: the six Trappist ales (monk-brewed, Westvleteren is officially not for sale), the Cantillon spontaneously-fermented Gueuze, and the white Hoegaarden.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideVictor Horta designed the first Art Nouveau building in 1893: his own 1898 home is where the style reached its peak. The iron stairwell columns, stained glass skylight and mosaic floors designed as a single work. UNESCO.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBuilt to be torn down like the Eiffel Tower: the public kept it. The observation sphere at 92m has the finest Brussels panorama, and the sphere interiors have the most atmospheric temporary exhibitions in the city.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe velvety cream and egg-yolk broth with carrot, leek, celery and potato around braised chicken: the Flemish stew that began as a river-fish dish in Ghent and became the signature Flemish restaurant comfort food.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe museum of the world's most significant national comic tradition in a 1906 Art Nouveau department store: 24 Tintin albums in 70 languages, the original Smurf drawings and the full history of the Belgian bande dessinée.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuide50+ antique shops and a weekend market: Horta-era furniture, WMF silver-plate, original Hergé strips (€50,000–500,000 at auction) and the Gothic Notre-Dame du Sablon church (1430–1550).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe oldest waffle shop in Brussels: the rectangular Brussels waffle with beaten egg whites for lightness (distinct from the smaller, denser, pearl-sugar Liège waffle). With Belgian strawberries and whipped cream in season.
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