Language · 11 published
Country guide
Belgium covers 30,689 km² and holds more than 11.8 million people, a density of 383 per km² that ranks sixth in Europe. It is divided three ways — Flanders in the north, Wallonia in the south, the Brussels-Capital Region in the middle — and the language divides with it: Dutch for about 60 per cent of the population, French for about 40, German for the one per cent in the East Cantons. The choice for a visitor is largely between Brussels, which carries the seats of the European Commission and Council and the headquarters of NATO, and the Flemish cities: Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Leuven.
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
Photograph · Ank Kumar · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
100 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
Grand-Place, or Grote Markt, is Brussels' historic central square and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998.
The Atomium is a building in the shape of a cube standing on one corner, and it is a model of something: the unit cell of an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times.
Manneken Pis is a bronze fountain figure of a small boy urinating, 55.5 centimetres tall, set in a stone niche on the corner where the Rue du Chêne meets the Rue de l'Étuve, a short walk downhill from the Grand-Place.
The City Hall of Brussels is the working seat of the city's administration and the only building on the Grand-Place that a visitor can go inside on a ticket.
The Royal Palace of Brussels serves as the official palace of the Belgian King and houses the administrative services of the monarchy. Despite its name, it is not the royal residence; the King lives at the Palace of Laeken.
The Bourse Palace, locally named Bourse - Beurs, is a historic building in Brussels. Its production identity way/13494623 is assigned through pois.city_place_id for Brussels, with stored production names and coordinates copied without approximation.
The Palace of Justice of Brussels, known locally as Palais de justice or Justitiepaleis, stands as one of Belgium's most monumental law courts.
Brussels Park, known locally as Parc de Bruxelles and Warandepark, is a public park situated in the heart of Brussels. It lies adjacent to the Royal Square and the Belgian Parliament building.
The Stoclet Palace is a private residence in Brussels, Belgium, designed by architect Josef Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstätte between 1905 and 1911. It stands as one of the most refined achievements of the Vienna Secession movement.
The Royal Castle of Laeken serves as the official residence of the Belgian royal family. Located in the Laeken district north of central Brussels, this neoclassical palace complex stands within extensive private grounds.
Hôtel Tassel is a landmark Art Nouveau town house in Brussels, Belgium. Designed by Victor Horta and completed in 1893, it stands as one of the earliest and most influential examples of the Art Nouveau architectural style.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·
Five to seven days covers Brussels plus two or three rail-linked cities such as Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Leuven or Liège. Staying in one or two bases avoids losing time to repeated hotel changes in this compact network.
Belgium’s foreign-affairs service publishes visa and short-stay requirements. Check the rule for the passport being used and the full Schengen itinerary, especially when Belgium is not the first external border crossed.
Brussels Airport connects directly with Belgium’s national rail network, and intercity trains link the principal cities without compulsory reservations. Local buses, trams and metros belong to separate regional operators, so one urban ticket is not automatically valid nationwide.
April through June offers long sightseeing days, while September usually retains workable conditions with fewer peak-summer pressures. Belgian weather remains changeable, making a waterproof layer useful in any of these months.
The euro (EUR) is Belgium’s currency. Card and cash acceptance can differ between a station machine, a market stall and a small business, so retain a second payment method rather than assuming one card will work everywhere.
Belgium uses 112 for emergencies and Type C or E plugs at 230 V. The recorded national guidance says mains tap water is safe.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}