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Sights & Attractions in Brussels

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Brussels Sights

Around the 1,000-year-old historic center of Brussels, a group of ring roads form concentric circles. Crossing them is like traveling back and forth across the centuries. Brussels once had a river, the Senne, but it was buried in the 19th century after becoming clogged with sewage; the absence of left and right riverbanks can make orientation in the city a bit difficult.

The center, sitting in a bowl, is sometimes known as the Pentagon, from the shape of the oldest ring road, which roughly follows the ancient ramparts. The remains of the ruins include one of the gates, the Porte de Hal, and a small patch of wall next to a bowling alley near place de la Chapelle. From the 19th-century ring road you can see the cupolas of the Palais de Justice and the giant basilica in the Koekelberg commune (to the north). In the center, the slender belfry of the Hôtel de Ville rises like a beacon.

Brussels is small enough that you can get a superficial impression of it from a car window in a single day. For a more substantial appreciation, however, you need one day for the historic city heart, another for the uptown squares and museums, and additional days for museums outside the center and excursions to the periphery.

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