Brussels Walking Tour

My mom recently retired, and I asked her if she wanted to take a trip to celebrate. She said yes, and I started planning. I wanted to take her somewhere we’ve both have never been, and not too expensive. We decided on Brussels, Belgium. The only I thing I knew about Brussels is that they are known for their waffles, frites, and chocolate. What more do we need, right? In this blog I will highlight where we visited during our few days in Brussels. This city did not disappoint and left us wanting to visit again someday.

Before I get to our walking tour destinations, I wanted to mention the hotel we stayed in. I booked through Expedia and found a great package deal with Novotel Brussels off Grand Place. We stayed on the top floor and our view was amazing. This hotel is close to everything you need during your stay. The train station is less than a 5-minute walk. The Grand Place is right around the corner. There is a Frites and a waffle restaurant right across the street. The service was excellent. They let us check in at 9am without charging us. Overall, I highly recommend this hotel.

The first stop on our walking tour is Monte des Arts. Situated close to the city center, this is a fun place to visit several museums in the area and a beautiful garden. We walked around and saw kids practicing dance routines, a few street artists performing, and a stroll through the garden for some great pictures. You can spend an afternoon there or just an hour like we did.

The next stop is Cathedral des St. Michael. When I first walked up to the church, it reminded me so much of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The cathedral is built of stone from the Gobertange Quarry. The western facade is in a French Gothic style, but without a rose window, which was replaced by a large window in the Brabantian Gothic style. It’s free to enter and is centrally located to several Brussels sites.

The next three stops are in the “bizarre statue” category. When I visit new cities, I like to find quirky and unusual sites to check out. Statue la Chatte a Bicyclette is one of them. It’s located on Rue de l‘Ecuyer 50. A statue called “La Cycliste” by Alain Séchas, features a cat on a bicycle. It’s not much, but a cool statue to take a picture next to.

The next two quirky statues are Jeanneke Pis and Manneken Pis. These two are part of a family of “peeing statues” around Brussels. Jeanneke Pis is located on Impasse de la Fidélité 10-12. Her brother Manneken Pis is located at the intersection of Rue de l’Étuve/Stoofstraat and Rue du Chêne/Eikstraat. We saw replicas of this statue everywhere in Brussels. There are a few stories behind the boy, but one tale says that the statue is a likeness of a boy who saved Brussels from fire and disaster by peeing on the fuse of an explosive.

Close by is Grand Place. I saved this site for last. The Grand Place is the central square of the City of Brussels. All over the world it is known for its decorative and aesthetic wealth. The Grand Place is surrounded by the guild houses, the City Hall and the Maison du Roi. Every building looks fancy with the gold décor, it really is grand. It was crowded when we went because we saved it for last, but I would suggest going early in the morning.

We had a great time walking around Brussels and found it very easy to find the locations on the list. Everything is centrally located, so it was easy to find all the sites on our first day in Brussels. You can split it up into a couple of days, but we had plans for a day trip to Paris and Cologne. My mother told me she felt like she was on an episode of Amazing Race, but it was a lot of fun and definitely an adventure. Have you visited Brussels? What was your favorite site to see? Leave a comment below.