5 Best Sights in Brussels, Belgium

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. 

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. 

This tranquil park, just next to the EU Quarter, has a strange history of failures. First, it was a poorly maintained 19th-century pleasure garden, then home a zoo in which most of the animals died (its two entrance pavilions date from this era). By the 1930s, thankfully, it found its purpose and became an important scientific library and institute, around which a pair of museums were later added. It's largely peaceful except at lunchtime, when seemingly every corner is invaded by local schoolkids. 

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. 

There's a strong dash of Vienna in this white, symmetrical square, built in the neoclassical style by Brussels's then Austrian overlords. Elegantly proportioned, it is the centerpiece of the Upper Town, which became the center of power during the 18th century. Place Royale was built on the ruins of the palace of the Dukes of Brabant, which had burned down. The site has been excavated, and it is possible to see the underground digs of Coudenberg and the main hall, Aula Magna, where Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, and where, 37 years later, he abdicated to retire to a monastery.