Top 10 Tourist attraction in Brussels in 2016

The Grand Place, with its ornate baroque and gothic guild houses, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. Built as a merchants market in the 13th century, it serves as the city center and a great place to enjoy Belgian hospitality at one of the many terrace cafes. It is also a venue for many concerts & events throughout the year and during the warmer months has a vibrant, daily flower market.

Address: Grand Place, Central Brussels

The first building you notice upon entering the Grand Place is the striking gothic town hall, which dates back to the 13th century. Its beautiful facade features the famous needle-like crooked spire which is 315 feet in height and is topped by the archangel St. Michael. Tours are available of the interior, which contains 15th century tapestries and works of art.

Address: Grand Place, Central Brussels

Address: Grand-Place

Open: Apr-Sept Tues-Wed 3:15pm, Sun 10:45am and 12:15pm; Oct-Mar Tues-Wed 3:15pm; guided tours in English: 3pm on Wed, 10am and 2pm on Sun

Entry: 5 euros, free for children under 6

The cheeky, chubby-cheeked Manneken-Pis is a major character in the folklore of Brussels. He is probably Brussels’ most photographed statue, yet it is only 60cm high. He was designed by Jerome Duquesnoy and is a small fountain piece where the water emerges from a tiny metal penis that the boys points at the viewer. He is usually stark-naked but sometimes he gets dressed. He has an impressive wardrobe of 600 outfits displayed in the Maison du Roi.

Address: Corner of rue de l’Etuve and rue Chêne.

Dedicated to St. Michael and St. Gudula (the patron saints of Brussels) this Gothic church was first founded in 1225 but only completed in the 15th century. The facade is impressive, rising majestically above a broad flight of steps and crowned with twin 69-meter-high towers designed by Jan van Ruysbroeck. The beautifully proportioned interior (108 meters by 50 meters) is lavishly furnished and is home to some outstanding stained glass windows created by Bernard van Orley. Head to the transepts to see the finest examples depicting Charles V and Isabella of Portugal (south transept) and the Hungarian royal pair Louis II and Mary (north transept), and then into the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, to the left of the choir, where the window illustrates the story of the Miracle of the Host.

Address: Parvis Street Gudule, Central Brussels

The most important building on this square is the Royal Palace (Palais Royal) used by the Belgian royal family as an official residence. The Belgian flag, flown from the roof, signals the sovereign’s presence and a ceremonial Changing of the Guard takes place every day at about 2.30pm. Surrounding the palace are an ensemble of cultural buildings boasting neoclassical facades. The Palais des Académies, home of the Royal Academy of Sciences and once the residence of the Crown Prince of Orange, and the Palais des Beaux-Arts (Paleis voor Schone Kunste) on the west side of the plaza, designed and built in the 1920s by Victor Horta, are two of the finest examples.

Address: Place des Palais, Central Brussels

The Mont des Arts was created between 1956 and 1958, occupying the elevated site between the Place Royale and the Place de l’Albertine. The architecturally imposing complex of large buildings includes the Bibliothèque Albert I and the strikingly modern Palais de la Dynastie and Palais de Congrès. From the square between them is a fine view of the lower central city. The Bibliothèque Albert I was founded during the period of Burgundian rule and comprises more than three million volumes together with a valuable collection of manuscripts and several interesting museums.

Address: Boulevard de l’ Empereur, Central Brussels

Belgium’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts (1875-81) is one of the largest and best art galleries in the world. The museum grew out of a collection first set up in 1797 and was originally housed in the former palace of Charles of Lorraine. This was transferred to the newly established Musées Royaux in 1846. The collection is divided into two parts: the Musée d’art ancien (Museum of Ancient Art) with a famous collection of Flemish and Dutch Old Masters including works by Petrus Christus (Pietà), Rogier van der Weyden (The Mourning of Christ), Dirk Bouts (Judgment of the Emperor Otto), Hans Memling, and a fine Adoration of the Magi by Gerard David; and the Musée d’art moderne (Museum of Modern Art), which has a range of mainly 19th- and 20th-century Belgian works.

Address: Rue du Musée 9, Central Brussels

Along with Manneken Pis, the Atomium is Brussels’ best-known landmark, and although it’s a bit of a journey by tram to get out here, the bizarre 102-meter-high steel and aluminium structure, designed by the architect André Waterkeyn for the 1958 Brussels World Exhibition, is the city’s most surreal sight. The building represents a molecule of iron magnified 165 million times, and visitors may enter the interior where four of the nine spheres are now used for the presentation of a show about human life called Biogenium.

Address: Eeuwfeestlaan 20, Boulevard du Centenaire

Located at the foot of the Atomium, Mini-Europe is the only park where you can have a whistlestop tour of Europe in a few short hours. A truly unique journey!

Address: Eeuwfeestlaan 20, Boulevard du Centenaire

This Art Deco church is the fifth largest church in the world, located in the Koekelberg municipality of Brussels. Its impressive dimensions (89 metres high and 167 metres long) look out over the Parc Elisabeth. Though it is modelled on the Sacré-Coeur in Paris it is made of concrete, sandstone and red-brick and, unlike the original, is not gleeming white. King Leopold decided to build it in 1902 and he laid the first stone in 1905. It was finally completed in 1971 in time to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Belgian independence.

The cupola platform, which has a diameter of 33 metres, gives an excellent view over Brussels and the surrounding area.

Address: Boulevard Leopold II

Open: 8am-6pm April to September and 8am-5pm October to March

Getting there: Metro Simonis then bus 87