Where to Stay in Brussels, Bruxelles-Capitale

What is Brussels known for?

Brussels is known for its museums, its old churches, and its long service as the seat of the European Union. Brussels' cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula crowns a rise above the old town, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and the neighbouring Magritte Museum hold the national collections, and the Horta Museum preserves the Art Nouveau house of the architect Victor Horta. Art and institutions stand together.

Stone towers mark the centre.

What are the main landmarks in Brussels?

Brussels keeps its landmarks between the old churches and the great national museums. Brussels' cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula rises above the lower town, the Church of Our Lady of Laeken guards the royal graves to the north, and the Chapel of the Resurrection stands near the parliament in the eastern quarter. Museums fill the hill and the park.

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Magritte Museum, and the Musical Instruments Museum gather on the height, while the Cinquantenaire Arcade, Autoworld, and the Museum of Natural Sciences of Belgium draw crowds toward the eastern park. Old stone anchors it all.

What is the history of Brussels?

Brussels grew from a medieval settlement into the capital of Belgium and a centre of European government. Brussels' cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula rose over generations above the lower town, and the guild houses and market of the old core recorded the wealth of a trading city. The City of Brussels took its administrative shape in 1795.

Power gathered on the hill above the old town over the following century. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium opened as the national collection, the Cinquantenaire Arcade rose to mark a national anniversary in the eastern park, and the Church of Our Lady of Laeken became the burial church of the royal house to the north. War and rebuilding reshaped the twentieth-century city.

International institutions settled here in the decades that followed, the House of European History was later founded near the parliament, and Brussels held its place as the capital of Belgium and the seat of the core institutions of the European Union. The layers of guild town, royal capital, and European centre still meet across the city.

Where is Brussels?

Brussels sits in the central portion of Belgium, forming an enclave surrounded by Flanders, with Wallonia lying a short distance to the south. Low hills lift the old town. The ground rises from the lower streets toward the museum quarter and the royal palace on the height, then falls again toward the parks, so the city climbs and dips between its market square and the Cinquantenaire to the east.

It holds the heart of the country.

What is the climate of Brussels?

Brussels has a mild maritime climate of cool, cloudy winters and soft, changeable summers. Rain falls across the year. Grey skies and drizzle settle over the lower town through the colder months, damp westerly weather blows in off the North Sea beyond Flanders, and the summers stay temperate rather than hot, with long light evenings over the hill.

Frost is light and snow uncommon.

How do you get to Brussels?

Brussels is reached through its international airport on the northern edge and the high-speed rail lines that cross Belgium. Trains converge on the central stations. International services run in from Flanders and Wallonia and on to the neighbouring capitals, metro and tram lines thread beneath the hill between the old town and the Cinquantenaire, and motorways ring the city from the surrounding country.

The rail hub ties it to the wider network.