Day Trip to Brussels- Suggestions on what to do?
 

A friend and I are taking a day-trip to Brussels on Eurostar. We'll be there for a total of 7 hours. Any suggestions on an itinerary or "must-see"s?

Gosh - I was there years ago - so maybe I am not the best person to answer - the Grand Place comes to mind as does the small steets with all of the cafes selling moules et frites! I remember eating very well there!(We're talking 20 or so years ago so that's all my fuzzy brain can remember! sorry).

Where are you starting from?Paris,London?Why Brussells?If you insist on Brussels head straight to The Grand Place and explore.

We're leaving from London. We decided on Brussels since it's only a day-trip and Eurostar has a direct train there.

Paris is only 3 hours by eurostar direct also.

Going to either city as a day trip is not a great idea,if possible cancel a couple of london nights and give yourself more time to visit properly.

In seven hours you could hop on the sightseeing bus and get off at the salient attractions - Atomium, art museum, etc. etc.

I was there for three nights, and took things at a more leisurely pace.

Better than the tour bus is a self-guided walking tour (combined with mass transit as the attractions of Brussels are spread out). I've given it here a couple of times and people have said it worked well for them...I'll repost it here a little later (very busy day today).
With only 7 hours, I would skip the Atomium. There are much better things to see. You can see it from a distance from the overlook by the Palais de Justice--although you'll be pretty far away, the Atomium isn't that much more attractive close up and going out to see it isn't the best use of your limited time.
Can you give me an idea of your interests? Would you like to have lunch at one of the local's favorite restaurants (but what's your price range)? Do you or your friends have any particular interests (Art Nouveau? cars? antiques? gardens? shopping?)? Do you know if you will be there on a week-end or a weekday? Some of the city's most interesting sights are open on a limited schedule (example, the Van Buren museum and gardens, open only two to three days a week).

BTilke -- Looking forward to seeing the walking tour -- please post soon.

Thanks BTilke and everybody for your responses!
My friend and I are more interested in seeing the city, getting a feel for it and walking around. We'd like to see some of the main attractions but not every single museum around. Perhaps some shopping would be OK too but it's not a priority. We'd love to have lunch in a local restaurant and we could pay up to middle range for it. Your walking tour sounds fascinating. Any information on that would be great! Is Brussels small enough to walk around in?

I walked most of Brussels though it wasn't intentional. At each site, I kept saying that I would get on the underground but the next site seemed within walking distance so before I knew it, I had walked to all of the stops. Grand Place and the surrounding area is a must. Mannequin Pis (sp?) is close by but it's almost anti-climatic. I would have walked right by it were there not a group of Japanese tourists snapping away with their cameras.

Brian

Brian

Brussels is more spread out than most people realize. Walking from the edge of Woluwe St. Pierre to the edge of Jette would be longer than walking from the Grand'Place to the airport in Zaventem. You can walk the central sights, for example, from the Place Louise down to the Sablon and from there to the Grand'Place pretty easily; tossing in the Cinquantenaire would stretch the walk considerably and adding another section (say St. Job in Uccle) would make it quite a hike indeed.