7 best museums in Brussels

Museums in Brussels

Museum · Sablon and Mont des Arts

1.Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

Belgium's national art collection covers Flemish masters from the 15th to the 18th century, including Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Rubens and Jordaens, plus Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Marat.

Time needed

2–3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Art
• History
• Rainy day
• Iconic

Gallery · Sablon and Mont des Arts

2.Magritte Museum

The largest collection of works by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte, from early advertising designs to bowler-hatted men, pipes and floating stones, is arranged over several floors with letters, photographs and films that explain his life in Brussels.

Time needed

1.5 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Art
• Rainy day
• Couples

Museum · Sablon and Mont des Arts

3.Musical Instruments Museum

Housed in Old England, a former Art Nouveau department store of iron and glass, the museum displays instruments from around the world and across the centuries.

Time needed

1.5 hours

Cost

Low cost

• Rainy day
• Views
• Kids
• Architecture

Museum · European Quarter

4.Parlamentarium

The European Parliament's free visitor centre uses multimedia guides, a 360-degree room and interactive displays to explain how the EU and its Parliament work.

Time needed

1–1.5 hours

Cost

Free

• Free
• Rainy day
• History

Museum · European Quarter

5.House of European History

In a converted Art Deco building in Parc Léopold, this free museum tells the story of Europe from the 19th century to today across six floors, with a tablet guide in many languages.

Time needed

1.5–2 hours

Cost

Free

• Free
• History
• Rainy day
• Off the beaten path

Museum · Lower Town

6.Belgian Comic Strip Center

Set in a former textile warehouse designed by Victor Horta, the museum traces Belgian comics from Tintin and the Smurfs to contemporary graphic novels, with original drawings and a reading library.

Time needed

1.5 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Kids
• Rainy day
• Art
• Architecture

Museum · European Quarter

7.Museum of Natural Sciences

Its Dinosaur Gallery, one of the largest in Europe, displays a herd of Iguanodon skeletons found in a Belgian coal mine at Bernissart in the 19th century.

Time needed

2–3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Kids
• Rainy day
• Nature

Grouped by area

Booking and timing

Of these 7, 2 free, 1 low cost, 4 mid-priced. None needs booking far in advance. The longest visit is Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium; group the rest by area to save travel time.

How to fit them into 3 half-days

Grouped by area and kept to about four hours each, so you walk more than you ride.

• Half-day 1 (Sablon and Mont des Arts): Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium → Magritte Museum, at least 4 hours.
• Half-day 2 (Sablon and Mont des Arts and European Quarter): Musical Instruments Museum → Parlamentarium → House of European History, at least 4 hours.
• Half-day 3 (European Quarter and Lower Town): Museum of Natural Sciences → Belgian Comic Strip Center, at least 4 hours.

The quietest months for queues

• February: highs of 7°C (45°F), about 11 rainy days, quiet crowds. Still cold and often wet; a good month for museums, beer cafés and low hotel prices.
• March: highs of 11°C (52°F), about 12 rainy days, quiet crowds. Changeable early spring weather with the first blossom in the parks; showers are frequent.
• January: highs of 6°C (43°F), about 13 rainy days, quiet crowds. Cold, grey and damp with short days, but hotels are quiet and the winter sales usually start early in the month.

The neighbourhoods they are in

• Sablon and Mont des Arts — Antique dealers, chocolatiers and the royal museums in the elegant Upper Town
• European Quarter — EU institutions, Parc Léopold and the Cinquantenaire arch on the eastern side

More of Brussels

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