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Mont des Arts, Brussels

Itinerary · Brussels · Belgium

One day in Brussels

A day-by-day plan grouped by neighbourhood, so you spend your time seeing Brussels, not crossing it.

Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team

Photo: Julian Lupyan, CC0

Quick answer

One day is a taster: the plan below covers the essentials, but most visitors want 3. Day 1: Grand-Place and Manneken Pis. Base yourself in Grand-Place and Îlot Sacré.

Key facts

Days
1
Sights covered
4
Day trips
None
Best base
Grand-Place and Îlot Sacré
Book ahead
Nothing essential

Day by day

  1. Day 1: Grand-Place and Manneken Pis

    Grand-Place, Manneken Pis, Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries and Atomium, then Saint-Géry in the evening.

    1. Morning

      Grand-Place

      Come back after dark, when the façades are floodlit and the day-trippers have gone. Allow 30 minutes to 1 hour.

    2. Late morning

      Manneken Pis

      Check whether he is in costume on the day of your visit; the GardeRobe museum a few steps away explains the tradition. Allow 15 minutes.

    3. Lunch

      Lunch: Moules-frites

      Seafood restaurants around Place Sainte-Catherine and traditional brasseries in the centre; avoid touts on Rue des Bouchers.

    4. Afternoon

      Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries

      Walk through on a rainy day and stop for a hot chocolate at one of the arcade cafés. Allow 30–45 minutes.

    5. Late afternoon

      Atomium

      Take metro line 6 to Heysel and combine it with Mini-Europe at the foot of the structure. Allow 1.5–2 hours.

    6. Evening

      Saint-Géry

      Bars and terraces around the former market hall, busy with a young crowd on weekends.

Before you go

If it rains

  • Swap in Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (Sablon and Mont des Arts): Head first to the Bruegel rooms, then follow the chronological route through Rubens's large canvases.
  • Swap in Magritte Museum (Sablon and Mont des Arts): Buy a combined ticket if you also plan to see the Old Masters in the same building.
  • Swap in Musical Instruments Museum (Sablon and Mont des Arts): Even if you skip the collection, the rooftop café is worth a visit for the panorama of the Lower Town.

Where to stay for this itinerary

$$$ · Best for first-timers, couples and shopping

Grand-Place and Îlot Sacré

Guild houses, glass-roofed galleries and narrow restaurant lanes in the historic Lower Town

Pace and daylight

The sights in this plan add up to roughly 3–4 hours of visiting over one day, before meals and getting between them. Daylight runs from about 8 hours in December to 16.5 hours in June, so in winter start early and keep museums for the afternoon.

Getting between stops: Metro. Four metro lines (1, 2, 5 and 6) cross the city east–west and form a loop around the centre, with underground premetro trams on a north–south axis.

More or fewer days

Questions travellers ask

+Is one day enough in Brussels?

One day is a taster: the plan below covers the essentials, but most visitors want 3. How many days Brussels needs.