33 Best Bars in Brussels, Belgium

The rather nondescript interior masks what is one of the best beer pubs in the city. Located out by the Cirque Royale, it has a huge list of obscure, small-batch Belgian beers, including some excellent organic brews. Part of the bar has now also become a shop, with some 250 bottles to choose from. 

This small, two-floor bar manages to be both laid-back and achingly hip with good beer and cocktails, a vintage Photomatique machine, chandeliers, free live jazz and electronica, and DJs on most nights. And the nights go long here—until 8 am on some days!

This lively local brewery and tap house is set in a former stables. This used to be where they kept the mules that pulled Schaerbeek's trams until the first electric line was installed in 1894. Now tables have been strewn across the old stable yard, and its friendly, mulleted owner pours out glasses of his own-brewed German-style wheat beers, along with the odd saison and lager.

A fantastically hip, cozy brick-walled cocktail bar where the quality is never less than high and the drinks deceptively potent. A huge selection of rums and whiskeys adorn the menu, and the cocktails go by season, so there's always something interesting to try.

A neighborhood wine bar on Place Colignon that does a roaring trade in crowd-pleasing sharing plates, from shiitake arancini to frites drizzled in Parmesan and truffle. It's mostly good-quality French wines, though you can just as easily bag a beer or kombucha.

An accomplished cocktail bar whose setting, within a 19th-century tailoring shop, lends it an added dash of ambience. The speakeasy chic might be de rigueur for most cocktail bars these days, but its vintage decor certainly carries it off with style, and the gin-heavy cocktail menu aims for the stars.

A slightly scruffy interior belies what is essentially a delightful old-school café-bar with a terrace on the street outside. It's popular with locals, who fill the tables in the evening. Just grab a beer and a croque monsieur and watch the world go by.

The café-bar Monk was something of a local institution until it shut down in early 2024. Billie is its likeable second coming, having kept the infamous dark "brown bar" interior, legendary giant plates of spaghetti, and decent beer selection (now including its own Billie beer).

You might have thought that U.S.-style craft beer would go down like a lead balloon in the notoriously old-fashioned world of Belgian beer, but that's rather the point of this iconoclastic project. BBP's original 24-tap taproom on Dansaert has quickly become an essential stop for any hop lovers in the city and was the first step to world domination---they're now even in Paris and Tokyo. A recent renovation has given it a fresh look, and now there are taprooms in Ixelles on Rue de Bailli and in Anderlecht at Port Sud.

Set in an ocean-liner-like Art Deco building, this is a favorite among Brussels’s beautiful people. It's the kind of place you'd spot a minor local TV star sipping a cocktail or mint tea at the zinc bar, or outside gazing at the swans on the Ixelles ponds. DJs play until late; it's also a popular brunch spot for hungover locals on Sunday.

A charming bar set on the corner of Ladeuzeplein. Old wooden floors, high ceilings, and a stash of board games you can play while having a beer make it a laid-back escape. There's also always a pot of soup on the go if you're hungry.

The hipster-dense Parvis de Saint-Gilles area is stuffed with great bars, but this popular joint is among the more pristine. It does a fine brunch, and late-night DJs often go on until late on weekends. It's named after a demolished Victor Horta–designed building, the loss of which is often used as one of the worst examples of Brussels's gentrification.

This cozy café-bar has a good lineup of free jazz (mostly) concerts on Sunday night at 8 pm. At any other time though, it's typical of most Belgian bars in the city: lively and friendly, with a good selection of beers.

Having marked its 30th anniversary in 2024, this bastion of drag remains a city stalwart. Maman herself presides over this disco with a drag show (in French) every Friday and Saturday.

The first bar of the Moeder Lambic brewery opened in the 1980s. It's an icon on the Brussels beer scene, and alongside its own brews, it claims to stock 300 Belgian beers and quite a few foreign ones. Soak up the old-school vibe and pore over a fine collection of comic books while you sip. It has a second branch on place Fontainas in the center.

On Parijsstraat, this aging but very cozy bar heaves with both young and old. It's unpretentious, has a really good choice of local beers, and there's just nothing else to it—no elaborate effort to make it more than it is. That in itself makes it special. Plus, you can bring your own food.

A friendly neighborhood cocktail bar near the eastern entrance to Cinquantenaire. There's a good choice of organic wines and some enthusiastically made cocktails.

Yes, it's horrifically touristy, but the beer selection at this bar-cum-village now tops 3,000 brews, and that deserves sampling, even if most are only available at the tiny bar downstairs. Over the years, it's expanded to more than three floors, with a taproom and the quieter "Hoppy Loft" offering respite from the barrel tables, tourists, and clutter on the first floor. Floris Bar, which is owned by the same people and specializes in absinthe, tequila, and a Dutch-style gin known as jenever, sits across the alleyway, and offshoot Little Delirium lies a short walk away at 9 Rue du Marche aux Fromages.

This likable craft beer bar usually has at least 15 draft beers on tap and an ace in its pocket. The selection is huge, the staff are friendly and knowledgeable, but you can also order Japanese food from the rather fine restaurant across the street (Tokidoki). A definite winner.

An excellent and discreet neighborhood cocktail bar buried among the houses a street back from Parc Josephat. It's surprisingly slick given its offbeat location, and it has lost none of its charm, or mixologist flair, after a recent change of ownership, having been taken over by the people behind the equally impressive Life is Beautiful bar on Rue Antoine Dansaert.

Goupil Le Fol skirts a fine line between curiosity shop and bar, complete with jukebox, comfy old sofas, and no beer for once. The drinks menu consists of an array of fruit wines and punches, while its owner is often sprawled spiderlike in a corner cubbyhole watching TV. If the conversation ever drags, there's always something weird to look at.

The Art Deco design of L'Archiduc attracts a thirtyish, fashionable crowd, which is hardly surprising given the upmarket shopping area in which it resides. Add to the mix live jazz on weekends and fine cocktails, and it makes for one of the more polished entries in the city's bar scene.

A great little local beer bar with an excellent selection of bottled and draft (usually around 20) brews, all typically from the smaller breweries that don't find their way onto most bar menus. Regular music nights add to the fun.

This sparse-looking cooperative-run bar in the Marolles area is branching in a number of directions, with brunch on weekends and dinner served Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. But it's a brewpub at heart, with a handful of its own beers on tap and a real neighborhood vibe.

The cozy, dimly lit Music Village hosts a plethora of international jazz musicians, with nightly concerts usually starting around 8:30 pm. You don't need a ticket, but it's usually best to make a reservation (pay on-site).

A wonderful blend of bookshop (largely in Italian), café, wine bar/shop, and live music venue. It's as much a cultural center as it is a bar or kitchen, with plenty of artsy events held across the year (check out its calendar). But there's a great selection of Italian wines.

This speakeasy-style bar nestled on the outskirts of the Marolles is tiny, chic, and the kind of place that you stumble over and don't forget.

A tiny but mighty wine bar that is usually packed. You'll be lucky to squeeze in, but if you do, you're in for a treat; there's a great range of natural wines in particular, plus a rotating cadre of guest chefs who have put together some interesting pop-ups in the past.

Sounds has been dishing up contemporary jazz along with decent Italian food since 1986, and it shows no signs of losing its rhythm. It also does plenty of good, regularly offering its space to gigs in support of local nonprofit organizations.