Brussels

2022

Realised I hadn’t been on a wintery city break for a while, so booked a last minute long weekend in Brussels with my friend! Click here to see the video.

Cost: ££ – it’s not the most expensive city in Europe, but it’s not cheap either
Rating: 5/10 – nice city and worth seeing, but I won’t be in a rush to go back and there are definitely other cities I’d go to before
Trip length: 1 night would be enough

Eurostar
Return Eurostar tickets were £220 per person. The Eurostar is a really easy way of travelling, especially from London as you only need to be at the station 1 hour before the train departs and security is chilled (however, make sure you leave as much time as it says on your ticket – we may have had a good run).

Accommodation
We stayed at Hotel Indigo, a nice hotel near to the centre in the business district. It was £265 for 2 nights including breakfast (not amazing).

Currency is the Euro – check conversion rates before you go!

Transport
Brussels is small and it was easy to get around on foot. We only took a taxi from the hotel to the airport and walked around otherwise.

Things to do…

– Chocolate Making
Brussels is very well known for its chocolate – there are SO many shops all over the city that you could spend a whole weekend walking around them.

We went to a brilliant chocolate making workshop a short walk away from the centre for £40 per person which was worth doing.

We learned how to make pralines and mendiants, and got to take a box of them away with us too – messy, fun and delicious!

There’s also a Chocolate Museum which we didn’t go to as we had done the workshop but looks good and costs EUR 13 per person to go into (there are chocolate workshops there too).

– Grand Place
There’s a beautiful ‘Grand Place’ in the centre of the city with some pretty streets leading up to it. The City Hall wasn’t open when we were there but it’s lovely to spend some time in the old market square and there are plenty of restaurants to grab a drink / bite to eat in (although a bit tourist trappy and more expensive than other areas).

In the evening there is a little light show to music on the buildings which is quite cute – we watched from a restaurant as it was freezing. There is also a beautiful arcade nearby with lots of shops and high-end restaurants.

– Manneken Pis
I was a little confused by this statue (of a naked little boy weeing) that everyone was crowded around as we walked past. I just googled and it’s a 1965 replica of a 15th century statue which was regularly stolen. It says online that it’s a symbol of Brussels and an example of folk humour!

– Christmas Markets
We went to Brussels thinking the Christmas markets would be nice to walk around, but they weren’t particularly impressive unfortunately. Definitely make sure you get a Belgian waffle though!

– Food & Drink
Here are some of the places we ate in. To be honest, this was a last minute trip and as I’ve been so busy at work, I didn’t do my research or make reservations in advance. If you’re a foodie, I’m sure you’ll do better than this…

Restaurant Vincent
The restaurant was beautiful, had a really nice vibe and the food was good (although not cheap).

Poechenellekelder
Interesting beer hall full of puppets and lots of other bits and bobs – a cute place for a drink.

Nona Pasta
Really reasonably priced, delicious pasta – popular restaurant and had a queue as we left. There is a pizzeria down the road which I read is very popular.

BoCConi
This is a beautiful restaurant but we were underwhelmed by the food (we wanted something hearty and warming but it was a little too fancy and small). Am sure it is a popular occasion restaurant in Brussels and has great reviews online.

La Rose Blanche
Not the most amazing restaurant but it was SO cosy and warm, and was in the Grand Place which is a pretty place to be. Food was okay but if you’re a foodie, I wouldn’t recommend.

– Other
To be perfectly honest, we were mainly focused on being cosy, chocolate, food and drink, so didn’t rush around the city to see all of the sights. Here are other places to see according to Google:

• Royal Palace of Brussels – looks pretty and is open to the public
• Parc du Cinquantenaire – large park with a pretty arch and museum
• St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral – looks like a nice Cathedral

Overall, I enjoyed Brussels but it’s not the most beautiful city in the world and there’s not a massive amount to see. Good to nip there for a day-trip if you’re close-by, but I wouldn’t go out of my way again to spend a weekend.

Total costs per person
You can definitely spend less than this if you’re on more of a budget:
Travel: £220
Hotel: £133
Other: £312
Total: £665