Brussels(capital of Belgium) is a fascinating place with stunning architecture and fascinating history. It is just two hours away from Amsterdam or Paris, via high speed trains and is a good stopover city or a weekend city to explore.

During our euro trip, we decided to spend half a day at Brussels, while traveling from Amsterdam to Paris. We took Eurostar from Amsterdam early morning(took around 2 hours). We got down at Brussels Midi, stowed our bags in automated luggage lockers in Midi station, boarded a train towards Brussels Central(3-5 minutes ride time) and then walked the alley towards The Grand Place.

Breakfast @ De Pistolei

First thing we noticed, as we started walking from Central Station towards The Grand Place, were lot of street side eateries selling Belgian fries and waffles. We decided to get some breakfast from De Pistolei . We had some delicious breakfast and headed out to explore rest of the area.

Time: 30 - 45 minutes

The Grand Place

Brussels magnificent Grand Place is one of the world’s most unforgettable urban ensembles. You will be awed by this place and you could easily spend an hour just walking around the square and clicking pictures.

See more details about The Grand place and travel pictures in our “The Grand Place” blog

Time: 1 - 1:30 hours

Manneken Pis

Manneken Pis is an odd statue but is a popular tourist attraction in the city. You will be surprised to see a small statue of a little boy peeing into the fountain. Sometimes the Manneken Pis will be dressed in exotic costume. Read this article to know more about the story of Manneken pis

Time: 15 minutes

Belgian Waffles and fries

In Belgium, waffles are served as street food, usually wrapped in a piece of paper and eaten with your hands. Here, because they’re so well made, the real highlight is the waffle itself, not the plethora of toppings you might smother it in (though there are plenty of toppings to go around).Powdered sugar, fruit, whipped cream, and chocolate are what you’ll find on real Belgian waffles.

Belgian Waffles — Brussels Waffle Vs. Liege Waffle

So we all know Belgium is famous for their waffles. But what you may not know is that they have two different types of waffles that are totally unique from each other.

Brussels waffle is what is known in America as a typical “Belgian waffle”. It’s thick, crispy on the outside, and light and fluffy on the inside.

Liege Waffle is the hidden secret of Belgium. This waffle is made from a yeasted dough, and it’s much more dense than a regular waffle. But what makes Liege waffles so special are the giant pearls of sugar mixed into the batter. When the waffle is cooked on the hot iron, the sugar caramelizes on the outside. The outside is crispy and the inside is sweet and gooey!!!

There are lot of articles on the best waffles in Brussels, in case you want to try the best. Since we were short on time, we just tried couple of waffles from La Gauferie , next to the Manneken Pis statue itself.

There were lot of souvenir shops on Rue de l’Etuve 6 street, we got our traditional fridge magnets and some Belgian hand made chocolates from Le Temps du Sucre (they had a lot of variety to try from) and we headed out our way onto next location along the alley.

Time: 30 minutes

Mont des Arts

Mont des Arts or Kunstberg, meaning “hill/mount of the arts”, is a historic site in the center of Brussels. One of the most iconic places in Brussels, with a long floral garden and views of the city hall tower.

It is the elevated site between the Place Royale and the Place de l’Albertine. It’s one of the most known places in Brussels for people to sit back on the stairs whilst admiring Brussels, if you go to the top of the stairs you might have a very beautiful view (similar to “Place Poelaert”).

Time: 30 minutes - 1 hr

Some History: At the end of the 19th century, the Saint Roch district on Court Hill was a popular area where traffic was difficult. There were many plans for upgrading the hill until King Leopold II bought the whole area. He demolished all the houses in the neighborhood and wanted to create a Mont of Arts, but for lack of financial means, the project was aborted and a huge void was created in the center of the city. In 1910, the king had Pierre Vacherot create a “Temporary Garden”, so that this void was filled for the universal exhibition. The architect therefore created a monumental staircase in a park where fountains fed streams flowing towards the hillside. Between 1956 and 1958, the whole area was demolished and René Péchère created a geometric park surrounded by important buildings: the Royal Library of Belgium, the Palais des Congres, etc. It is today a high point from which we have a beautiful city view and easy access to many tourist attractions.

Getting back to Brussels Midi

At this point, we were really running short on time, to get back to Brussels Midi for our next train to Paris.

We quickly ran to the underground train station at Brussels Central, got into a train headed towards Brussels Midi(took around 5 minutes), got all our luggage from the lockers and barely made it on time, to board our next train to Paris.

Walking map

You can include more attractions if you have more time, as you would have read in other blogs. Having only limited time in our itinerary and with all the food tasting breaks we took, we could not squeeze in more attractions in the city.We managed to get a good short glimpse of the city art and architecture before heading out of Brussels. Below is a map of our attractions, just to give you a layout of the city.