BELGIUM

OVERVIEW

• When: 26 November – 28 November, 2025
• Where (accommodations): Hotel Amigo, a Rocco Forte hotel
• Transportation: SAS airlines flight from Boston (via Copenhagen), 2.5 hr car ride from Luxembourg
• Sights/attractions: Brussels: Atomium, Mini Europe, Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula, Grand-Place Brussels, Galeries Royales Saint Hubert, Comic Murals, Notre-Dame su Sablon, Mont des Arts, Manneken Pis, Zinneke Pis, Jeanneke Pis, Saint Catherine Church, Park du Cinquantenaire; Bruges: Market Square, Tolhuis, Belfry Tower, Burg Square, Basilica of the Holy Blood, Canal tour, Church of Our Lady, Ten Wijngaerd, Lake of Love and Lovers’ Bridge; Ghent: St Bavo’s Cathedral (The Adoration of The Mystic Lamb), Saint Nicolas’ Church, Belfry of Ghent, Gravensteen-Castle of the Counts, Graffiti Alley
• Food/drinks: Brussels: La Taverne du Passage, Mary Chocolaterie, Il Teatro, Restaurant Uma, Delirium Bar; Bruges: That’s Toast, The Old Chocolate House, Otto Waffle Atelier, FritBar; Ghent: Cozette, Restaurant De Graslei

Even though we landed in Belgium on Sunday, we drove straight to Frankfurt to enjoy a few days with the family. That means technically I have not yet been to my country #75. But now we are about to take it by storm! After a fun 24 hours in Luxembourg, we are driving to Brussels and basing ourselves here for the next two nights.

The 2.5 hr drive was rainy (at least no more snow!), but as soon as we entered Belgium we were greeted by a rainbow. By the time we reached Brussels the sky was clear and blue. This country is obviously happy to see us 🙂 !

BRUSSELS

From Wednesday morning until Friday evening is all we had in Belgium, and Brussels is where we made our base to explore this country. A lot of people told us that Brussels is boring, but we easily found things to see and do for the entire day and still were not bored. We found it quite charming in fact. Also, it probably helps that the city was decked out for holidays, and that we romanticize European architecture, delicious food, and Christmas Markets!

Hotel Amigo, a Rocco Forte hotel

For three nights we stayed at Hotel Amigo and we could not recommend this place more! Super convenient, central location- less than 5 min walk to the Central Station, Galeries Royales Saint Hubert and everything that downtown Brussels has to offer. Staff was going out of their way to make sure we are comfortable (we got an upgrade to a larger room), they even sent a plate of sweets with a “Happy Thanksgiving” message!

The downside for this five star hotel is that there is no spa. It was a bit disappointing given the price point and the fact that it is considered one of the best hotels in Brussels. But we had a large tub and that helped a lot. After a ton of walking every day, some days being cold and dreary, it was very nice to relax and warm up in a hot bath. We would definitely recommend this hotel for anyone visiting Brussels and exploring the nearby cities.

Now let’s see what you can see and do in the capital of Belgium!

Atomium and Mini-Europe

Before we drove into the city, we decided to see the symbol of Brussels – Atomium and to explore near by “Mini-Europe”. It is about 30 min drive outside of the city center, so it made sense to get it out of the way while we still had a rental car.

Atomium was a centerpiece of 1958 Brussels World’s Fair and is designed based on a iron crystal. There are nine spheres, each representing an atom, magnified 165 billion times.

You can go inside, there are exhibitions and lots of stairs, but for us it was enough to see it from the outside. We were more excited to check out the Mini-Europe (because we are children at heart).

Located right near the Atomium this miniature park has representations of European countries at the size 1:25. Not sure why, but we love miniature stuff. And this park is also interactive.

You push the button and the national anthem of the country you are nearby starts playing. Maybe a boat or a plane starts moving. Even volcano ‘erupts’ shaking the ground beneath you. We LOVED it.

It was not crowded, but we also arrived on the day of the national strike, so not sure if that had any impact. Without rushing, we spent a little over an hour here and felt like we had ‘played’ enough. It was very cool to see that Lithuania had a good size replica of Vilnius’ Old Town- much more impressive than some of the other countries!

Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula

The rest of the major Brussel’s sights were easily reached by foot from our hotel. This beautiful cathedral was a short walk away, so that’s where we went first after check-in.

Very impressive. European churches typically do not disappoint.

Grand-Place Brussels

As in pretty much all cities in Europe, there is typically a main market square. Steps away from our hotel (can’t say enough about the best location) we were able to visit this square a few times while sightseeing.

On the day of departure there was an evening light show. We watched the spectacular display until it was a risk that we would not make it to our flight if we did not leave and get on the train. We made it! Only because central train station was conveniently so close.

Galeries Royales Saint Hubert

Three connected shopping galleries (King, Queen and Princes’) were beautifully decorated for Christmas and we enjoyed window shopping, lunch at La Taverne du Passage and finally bought some Belgium chocolates at Chocolaterie Mary.

La Taverne du Passage restaurant came highly recommended by someone we met in Luxembourg (he was from Brussels), it also was listed under Michelin guide recommendations, so we were excited to try it for lunch. Here is our take on it. Service was VERY slow. Apps and main meals arrived at the same time. Foie gras was delicious but they had no GF bread. They had mice (multiple!!) running around the restaurant. Right between the tables where people were sitting and eating. We brought it to the staff’s attention and they shrugged the shoulders. “They are everywhere, they come from outside”. I am glad I am not scared of mice, and we just laughed it off, but this was not something you would expect from a restaurant listed in the Michelin guide. So that was our first lunch in Belgium. With a company of ratatouille! Mary’s chocolates were delicious (they are a few doors down) and we saw no mice, so definitely recommend trying some!

Manneken Pis, Zinneke Pis, Jeanneke Pis

You can’t come to Brussels and not visit one of the smallest, most underwhelming statues/fountains – Manneken Pis (The Peeing Boy). But there are more peeing statues in the city- there is a girl AND a dog. We made our mission to find them all and so we did.

Definitely not impressive works of art :), but while in Brussels…

Comic Strip Murals

There are more than 50 mural paintings on the walls in Brussels. We did not follow the entire route, but had fun finding a bunch.

They are really well made and not destroyed by graffiti. If we had one more day, we probably would have found the map that has them all and went on the scavenger hunt.

Notre-Dame du Sablon

One more beautiful church that was open when we were sightseeing, so of course we went in.

Mont des Arts

This “hill of arts” is perfect to visit before sunset. Beautiful view and we so happened to come during the protest. But the speeches quickly ended, and then music and singing started, so it was quite nice.

Extremely well manicured gardens, even in November we thought it was impressive. I bet summer this place is gorgeous, and probably a lot busier.

Christmas Markets, Park du Cinquantenaire, and Brussels dinners

We only drove by Park du Cinquantenaire and saw it on the way to drop off the car at the airport, but we got lucky with the Christmas Markets. They opened up on Friday at noon, our flight was not until 9pm, so we had a good exercise speed walking to see as many of them as we could. I also got super lucky to reconnect with my Lithuanian friends that live in Brussels! Ruta explored the markets with us, while with Laima we had a lovely dinner.

Talking about dinner. We had AMAZING Thanksgiving feast in Brussels at Restaurant Uma. We came in worrying that it might be overpriced experience like in Luxembourg, but it was quite the opposite. Everything was incredible and the cost was not overinflated either!

Il Teatro where we had dinner with my friend Laima and her daughter was great too! Good, comfort Italian food that everyone enjoyed. I haven’t seen Laima for 9 years and yet it felt like no time has passed.

What I also enjoyed very much was going back to my friend’s place and petting her cats. The best reason to visit Brussels 🙂 !

I also have to mention Delirium – the bar with the most beers on tap. We went to check it out after my brother-in-law told me about it, and it is indeed impressive. For the beer lovers especially!

BRUGES

Anyone that we talked to about going to Belgium mentioned Bruges. And EVERYONE raved about it. So it was no way we could be 1 hour train ride away and miss it. Staying right near the Central Station was amazing. We didn’t have to get up early, no need to take a taxi or Uber in a quite bad Brussels traffic. We just woke up, grabbed coffee, and walked 5 minutes to the train. It took us a bit to figure out the machine for the train tickets, but once we got a hang of it it was smooth sailing. The trick was having each of us to create an account/receive a QR code and then we were able to buy the off peak hours tickets, which saved us over 40%. The train was very comfortable, we didn’t have to change tracks and one hour later we arrived to the charming city of Bruges.

Despite being gloomy, the town instantly felt charming, just like everyone told us. We beat the rush at That’s Toast and had incredible breakfast. Now, we are ready to sightsee and explore!

Market Square had a little Christmas Market going, so we strolled through that. We knew we will be back to climb the Belfry Tower, but wanted to do a little walking tour of the city first.

Festive decorations, colorful houses- gloomy or not, we liked Bruges instantly. We walked over to Tolhuis– the Old Toll house, while taking in cute streets and little shops along the way.

Everything is close by and very walkable. We returned to The Belfry Tower and went to the top for the panoramic views. The climb to the top though was not our favorite. Stairs are narrow and spiral. There was nobody controlling traffic and you had to try and squeeze by with people going both directions. And there are over 300 steps. But, when all is said and done, it was worth it.

Try to time it up when there are less people, otherwise it might feel cramped and uncomfortable.

We made it down and walked over to the Burg Square where Basilica of the Holy Blood was open for visitors.

Luckily here it was not crowded because the church is small and beautiful.

And now, my favorite part of Bruges- canal tour! It was around 40 min long and we hopped on a tour that was just about to leave. Somehow that gave us the front seats on the boat too!

The rain held off and even though chilly, it was pretty manageable. I am glad we did the tour, because that’s where we learned the most about the history and various random facts that we would otherwise not have known. For example, who knew that Bruges MUST keep a certain number of swans or else something bad will happen 🙂 ?!

The guide was informative and funny- I would for sure recommend doing the canal tour!

Church of Our Lady with Michelangelo’s Madonna was last on our itinerary before we desperately needed to get some food and warm up.

The Madonna with Child is the first of only a few works of Michelangelo to leave Italy during his lifetime.

And now, we eat! We started kind of backwards- hot chocolate at The Old Chocolate House, GF Belgium Waffle at Otto Waffle Atelier and finally lunch at FritBar.

Everything was delicious and I was even able to enjoy amazing GF beer! Who knew Belgium is this gluten free friendly!

Before taking the afternoon train back to Brussels, we stopped by Ten Wijngaerd– quiet, historic complex founded in 1245, now UNESCO World Heritage site.

And finally – Lovers’ Lake and a kiss on the Minnewaterbrug (Lover’s Bridge)!

Perfect day in Bruges, leaving us enough time to get back to Brussels, relax and have Thanksgiving dinner in the city.

We loved this city, and would consider coming back during warmer time of the year. We don’t often care to return to the places where we have seen everything we wanted to see, so that tells you that Bruges left a great impression!

GHENT

Ghent is only a 30 min train ride from Brussels and on the same line as Bruges. In theory you probably could see both cities in the same day, but it would feel rushed. I am glad we spent the quality time in Bruges Thursday and came to Ghent on Friday morning. Our flight was not until 9pm, so we knew we don’t need to hurry.

Weather for Ghent was very moody- rain and mist was spraying the entire time, but at least it felt warmer than Bruges.

Just like the previous morning, we left Brussels without breakfast, so first thing we did was find a cozy caffe. Cozette was about 15 min walk from the train station and served delicious food.

But before we got to the cafe- we were literally shocked at the amount of bicycles everywhere. First we thought it’s a junk yard of abandoned bikes, but then we saw a young guy go over and take one of the bikes. He confirmed that those are mostly student’s bikes and that they are all very much in use. Ghent is a university city, and many students live here, so it all made sense! The mystery though is how do they recognize their own bike- everything looked the same to us.

After a great breakfast we took Uber to Ghent’s city center. The train does not drop you off within walking distance like in Bruges, but there is a tram that goes often. Because we already walked to the cafe, we were no longer close to the tram and didn’t want to waste time, so a short Uber ride was the best option.

Our first stop- Saint Bavo’s Cathedral with the The Adoration of The Mystic Lamb multi panel altar piece.

Cathedral is stunning and we explored it for a bit. You can also do VR experience in the crypt, but we opted to only walk around there and not have the head pieces.

Then we walked over to Belfry of Ghent, but their elevator to go to the top of the tower was being repaired, so they only offered guided tours. The next tour was not starting for another 30 min, so we had time to visit Saint Nicolas’ Church while we waited. Luckily when you are in the center of Ghent, everything is only a few steps away from each other.

When it was time for our tour, we got back to The Belfry of Ghent and started climbing. There are a bit less steps than in Bruges, but I can see why the tour was mandatory. The staircase was even more narrow than in Bruges and there is no way you could pass people if they were coming down (or up) in the opposite direction.

We actually really enjoyed the hour long tour- the guide was funny, informative and made the right amount of stops along the way, so that nobody felt winded. The views once again were worth it, even on this super gloomy day.

A short walk away there is St Michael’s Bridge with a nice view that you can see all three buildings sort of in one row.

One of the main tourist attractions in Ghent is Gravensteen-Castle of the Counts, so even though we were a bit lazy we still went to see it.

We did an audio guided tour and it was pretty interesting. There were a lot of kids, probably a school excursion so it felt a bit crowded.

Before having lunch at Restaurant De Graslei (which was delicious by the way), we stopped at a few shops and walked by Graffiti Alley (not very impressive).

And that concludes our short visit to Ghent! It was a bit too dreary to spend more time here, but overall we enjoyed the city.

CONCLUSION

Three days, three cities, two reunions with friends we have not seen in a long time, two towers climbed, and many steps made. I think we have a good picture of what Belgium is like and we enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting! Our favorite was for sure Bruges. But we had a great time in Brussels and Ghent. There are some other cities we probably would like to see in this country, so who knows, we might be back! Besides, there are always more Belgium chocolates and waffles to sample, so why not?