19 Best Sights in Brussels, Belgium

Like a giant, shiny child's toy rising up out of a forest, the Atomium was created in 1958 as part of the World's Fair of Brussels. It's shaped like an atom, with an elevator taking you up the central axis where walkways link to the protruding spheres by escalators. One sphere contains a permanent exhibition about the building's history; the others are set aside for temporary displays on design and architecture. Audio guides in English are available and there are great views from the top sphere, known as the Panorama. 

It fell to the land of Tintin to create the world's first museum dedicated to the ninth art—comic strips. While comics have often struggled for artistic recognition, they have been taken seriously in Belgium for decades. In the Belgian Comic Strip Center, they are wedded to another strongly Belgian art form: Art Nouveau. Based in an elegant 1903 Victor Horta–designed building, the museum is long on the history of the genre, if a little short on kid-friendly interaction. In addition to Tintin, the collection includes more than 400 original plates and 25,000 cartoon works. A library and brasserie are added incentives, but best of all is the bookshop, which sells a comprehensive collection of graphic novels and comic books, albeit largely in French or Dutch. Keep an eye out for the comic-strip murals that dot the city; walking maps showing the location of each one can be found at the tourist information office.

This jewelry box of a square is arguably Europe's most ornate and theatrical. It's also a vital part of the city—everyone passes through at some point. At night, the burnished facades of the guild houses look especially dramatic. Try to make it here for the Ommegang, a historical pageant re-creating Emperor Charles V's reception in the city in 1549 (in June and July), or for the famed Carpet of Flowers, which fills the square with color for four days in mid-August on even-numbered years. Dominating the square is the magnificent Gothic-era Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall). Work began on it in 1402, and it's nearly 300 years older than the surrounding guild houses. The belfry is topped by a bronze statue of St. Michael crushing the devil beneath his feet. 

This four-story building is almost as impressive as the museum it houses. Built in 1899, architect Paul Saintenoy didn't hold back. Its elaborate facade twists its glass and iron into a symphony of Art Nouveau. Inside, it's no less fascinating. If you've ever wanted to know what a gamelan or Tibetan temple bell sounds like, here's your chance. In addition to seeing more than 2,000 instruments, you can listen to most of them via headphones. Head to the rooftop café for fantastic views of the city; also look out for MIM's regular lunchtime concerts—some are even free.

The history of Belgium is one of invasion, and Cinquantenaire Park itself has even played its role. In the dying days of World War II, it was the scene of skirmishes between the Belgian resistance and the German army. Exhibits include uniforms, weaponry, and even Leopold I's camp bed, with items dating from the Middles Ages up until the wars of the 20th century, though English translation can be sporadic. More compelling are the later sections, when suddenly you find yourself (without warning) in a vast hangar of some 50 fighter planes, gliders, cargo craft, and tanks that appear out of nowhere, or reading about the first Belgian expedition in the Antarctic. 

The most picturesque park in the city is a joy in summer when its shaded grassy lawns and paths fill with joggers, picnickers, dance troupes, and even climbers practicing on its walls. It is home to a number of museums as well as the capital's take on the Arc de Triomphe: the Arcade du Cinquantenaire. Pay special attention to the park's northwest corner where you'll find the Great Mosque. This was originally built as an Arabic-style folly for a national exhibition in 1880 but was gifted to King Faisal ibn Abd al-Aziz of Saudi Arabia to use as a place of worship in 1967, and has remained a mosque ever since. 

Belgium's national botanic garden is a sprawling site that takes up most of the southern fringes of Meise. It wraps the old estate of Kasteel van Bouchou, which, despite being utterly destroyed during the French Revolution, was later rebuilt and now houses a museum all about the grounds. Beyond its moat lies an English-style garden filled with exotic plants from around the world, but the pièce de résistance here is the Plant Palace, the largest greenhouse in Belgium and one of the biggest in Europe. It is a vast biome of 35 hothouses filled with huge water-lily pads and tropical wonders. Other sights, such as the much smaller, mid-19th-century Balat Greenhouse, which was originally intended for a zoo, are just as fascinating for those interested. In addition, you'll find medieval, medicinal, and rose gardens, rhododendron woods, trails, art, an apiary, and some 18,000 plant species. Visit any time, though spring is naturally the most colorful season.  

A vast collection of vintage automobiles sits in what was originally planned (in the early 1900s) to be a grand exhibition hall. As time rolled on, hosting such fairs proved impractical due to how built-up the area became. These days, the hall makes the perfect showcase, its curved steel-and-glass roof giving the impression of a huge Art Deco garage. Exhibits range from Model T Fords to '50s Americana vehicles. 

About 8 km (5 miles) south of Beersel, you'll encounter the wilderness area of Hallerbos. It's known locally as "the blue forest" for good reason: come mid-April and early May, the ground underneath becomes a dazzling carpet of blue-violet flowers, as bluebells cover every inch. It's a small window of opportunity, though it's a pleasant spot to wander at any time of year. To get there, take the train from Beersel to Halle, then either hire a bike at the station (www.blue-bike.be) and cycle or take the No. 155 bus.  

Set within Parc Léopold, this modern museum tackles the political upheavals that shaped Europe. It's essentially a conscience in museum form, lest anyone forget the mistakes of the past, with permanent exhibitions charting the rise of industrialization, the authoritarianism and wars of the early 1900s that saw Europe's crumbling empires and global ambitions stretched to breaking point, and how a fragmented continent slowly drew itself back together. 

Just a short stroll from the Atomium lies this kids' favorite, which is essentially a park full of scale models of important European monuments. The 350 monuments range from the Eiffel Tower to a model of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral that was said to have taken 24,000 hours to build. It's a slightly kitsch selfie wonderland.

No ruler ever lived in the 16th-century Maison du Roi (House of the King); instead, it housed Charles V’s administrative offices, built on the site of Brussels’s old covered marketplace. Then, in the 19th century, it was given a neo-Gothic makeover—all brooding spires and arches. Today, it houses the City Museum, which boasts some fine tapestries and paintings, notably the Marriage Procession by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. You can also see the "original" (1619 version) Mannekin Pis and an impressive 15th-century weather vane that used to top the town hall.

The highlights here are the skeletons of some of the 30 iguanodons found in 1878 in the coal mines of Bernissart, which are believed to be about 120 million years old. It also has a fine collection of stones and minerals numbering in the tens of thousands. But the impressive Gallery of Humankind is worth the trip alone and charts the evolution of the human race to the present day.

One of the prettiest stretches of parkland in Brussels made all the more welcome for being deep among the residential mélange of Schaerbeek. Its archways of cherry blossoms are particularly enchanting in spring. In summer there are free concerts and Glacier Cocozza, across the road, draws a queue all the way down the road for its ice creams. The park is best known for its Cherry Festival (last Sunday in June) when locals gather to compete in a highly competitive cherry-pit-spitting contest. 

Tervuren Park, once the hunting grounds of the Dukes of Brabant, was the venue for King Leopold II's 1897 Exposition. His aim was to showcase the wealth and "culture" he was tearing out of the then Congo Free State. International condemnation eventually forced him to even make it a colony. In preparation, he built the Koloniënpaleis (Colonial Palace), which now hosts the Royal Museum for Central Africa; and created gardens in the French style. The exposition itself was considered a success, though is now thought to be a stain on Belgian history. It contained a human zoo of Congolese, several of whom died in the crossing to Europe. But the park is more than this dark corner of history—its 205 hectares span a pair of valleys, and for those walking or cycling the trails here, it's the gateway to the northeasternmost reaches of the Forêt de Soigne, a vast forest of boundless trails. 

Set in the Tour & Taxis building on the riverfront, the city's first computer-game museum only opened in 2020. Its collection charts the history of gaming from 1972, the launch of the Odyssey by Magnavox, to the present day, and elicits great waves of nostalgia among those who lived through this era. 

Another museum that delves into Belgium's comic-book past, though it does so via the figurines and toys they inspired, displayed in various dioramas. Mostly, it's a selfie-paradise for those who long to have a picture of themselves with a giant Smurf or a cutout of Captain Haddock. And that's no bad thing.  

In 1835, Belgium established the first steam passenger railway on mainland Europe—it connected Brussels and Mechelen—and it was one of the first to establish a national railway network. Train World pays full homage to this illustrious railway history. Located in the hangars of Belgium's oldest functioning station, Schaerbeek, it contains 20 full-size locomotives, many of which you can clamber aboard and explore.