113 Best Bars in Belgium

Café Hopper is open daily as a bar, but also presents jazz performances every Monday at 9 pm in a rather formal environment. Check their website for other performance times.

Café Hopper presents jazz performances every Sunday and Monday starting at 4 and 9 pm respectively in a rather formal environment. Check their website for other performance times.

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 busy café-bar might be attached to a hotel, but it remains a destination in itself—a wood-and-stone interior, copious (albeit fake) red roses for decor, knowledgeable staff, and a beer menu topping 150 that includes some rare Trappist finds, are all potent lures.

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.

This true Liège institution offers evenings of puppet entertainment along with its beer and cocktails.

Formerly known as Red & Blue, the biggest gay disco in Benelux has changed its name and expanded its offerings. Relentless house is still the music de jour on its industrial-style dance floor and it's still men-only on Saturdays, but drag shows have taken over Sundays.

Formerly known as Red & Blue, the biggest gay disco in Benelux has changed its name in recent years and expanded its offerings. Relentless house is still the music du jour on its industrial-style dance floor, though, as the party continues until 7 am.

This LGBTQ+ center has information on gay and lesbian bars, events, and organizations, and also offers help and advice (website in Dutch). On the ground floor, the A-Pluss bar and café has a fine selection of gins, a new street terrace, and live music on weekends.

In uber-trendy Het Zuid, it can be hard to find a traditional brown café. Chatleroi is the lone survivor, sticking out like a slightly down-at-heels sore thumb, and all the better for it. Old posters, cat paintings, mismatched furniture, and the odd jazz band set the scene for a no-nonsense bar that has survived the area's gentrification and kept its charm.

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.

A bistro-bar-cum-secondhand shop, which spills onto the pavement outside on warmer evenings. Great cocktails, an excellent choice of beers, and friendly staff make this an enduring local favorite. 

This bar-restaurant does a fine line in rather eclectic tapas, but it's also just a great spot to hang out thanks to its charming terrace, which nestles under a pair of trees overlooking the river. Have a drink and watch the barges drift on by. 

Jazz, soul, and funk musicians from all over the world have found their way to Damberd's late-night sessions, held in one of the oldest bars in Gent.

Look for the "Special Oudenaardes" sign out front. This is one of the oldest bars in the city and also among the more unusual. The building's gabled exterior comprises two 17th-century brick houses that were once part of a much larger terrace. That they survived at all, having weathered various wars, is miraculous. Inside, it's a typical Belgian brown bar, with an excellent beer selection and a lively atmosphere. In summer, the terrace fills up fast.

A wonderfully atmospheric old brown café, "The Bagpipes" has great beer, a fine selection of single-malt whiskies, and occasional live folk music events.

In this quintessential Ghent pub, there are more than 500 kinds of beer, but the specialty is the 1.2-liter Kwak (a blond 8.5% beer), complete with traditional hourglass-shape glass and stand—ask for a "Max." If you brave this beer, though, you must leave one of your shoes as a deposit when you order.

This old-school estaminet, lying down a narrow alleyway off Breidelstraat, is something of a local icon. Its 140-strong beer list is encyclopedic and well curated, and the 11% house tripel is so potent ("suitable for gourmets," it claims) that staff will only serve you a maximum of three. Classical music sets the scene for an older audience that many of the city bars don't cater to.

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.

Da Vagant is Antwerp's iconic late-night bar, restaurant, and distillery. Sample more than 200 kinds of jenever (20%--54% ABV), a Dutch liquor that is similar to, but predates, gin. The many fruit varieties offer a gentle introduction, but for those without a clue, the staff are very knowledgeable and cheerfully adept at catering to curious tourists.

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.

Facing the main square's fountain, Den Engel draws an eclectic and friendly clientele. It's a great place for people-watching and something of a step back in time; it's not difficult to imagine that it probably hasn't changed much since it opened in 1903.

This long-running pub is a beer lover's paradise that stocks around 500 Belgian ales.

It's a bit of a distance from the center of town, but well worth the excursion. This microbrewery and taproom is the largest and most experimental in Ghent, with 30 beers on tap. Set in the old Dok Noord complex, around 10 to 15 are brewed on-site, and many are only ever made once. The choice is almost overwhelming. Hour-long brewery tours and tastings (€18) can be booked in advance, and the building also has independent street-food stalls inside, with barbecue joint RØK particularly recommended.