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Grand Place: Baroque buildings with gilded facades, such as the 15th century City Hall, form the backdrop to the mediaeval square, frequented in the past by such eminent figures as Victor Hugo, Karl Marx and Jean Cocteau.

Royal Museums of Fine Arts:  More than 10,000 works of art from the 15th to the 21th century. Of particular note is the collection of Flemish painters, especially the Rubens gallery with a number of masterpieces by the Baroque artist.
Address: Rue de la Régence 3, 0032 2 508 32 11, www.fine-arts-museum.be

Magritte Museum: An iconic neoclassical building in the Grand Place, with two hundred works by the sui generis Belgian painter René Magritte, one of the leading surrealist artists of the 20th century.
Address: Rue de la Régence 3, 003225083211, www.musee-magritte-museum.be

Musical Instrument Museum: A popular attraction for music-lovers, this restored art nouveau building houses an amazing collection of 7,000 musical instruments from all over the world, both traditional and contemporary. The café on the top floor offers amazing views of the city.
Address: Rue Montagne de la Cour 2, 003225450130, www.mim.be/museum

Belgian Comic Strip Centre: The museum is housed in a superb art nouveau building designed by the architect Victor Horta, and is a sight worth seeing in its own right. This is the ideal place to meet the famous reporter with the distinctive hairstyle, Tintin, and his faithful dog Milou, creations of the Belgian cartoonist Hergé, as well as the Smurfs, Lucky Luke and many other comic book heroes who have enlivened the childhoods of whole generations. On the top floor there is a Museum of the Imagination, where you can follow the evolution of comics from paper to 3D animation. Or you can just chill out in the library and leaf through some of the 30,000 comics in its collection.
Address: Rue des Sables 20, 003222191980, www.comicscenter.net/en/home

Atomium: This is Brussels’ most futuristic landmark, although in fact it is now more than half a century old, having been constructed for the International Exhibition of 1958. The grandiose architectural sculpture rising above the heart of the city represents an iron atom magnified 156 billion times! You can go inside, walk among the spheres and tubes, and enjoy the 3600 view of the city.
Address: Avenue de l'Atomium, 1020 Ville de Bruxelles, 0032 2 475 47 75, http://atomium.be

Mini-Europe: This is a wonderful attraction for visitors of all ages. Located close to the Atomium, Mini-Europe is a park containing the most famous buildings, monuments and natural landscapes in Europe re-created on a Lilliputian scale. With just one stride you can travel from the Eiffel Tower and the gondolas of Venice to the Coliseum in Rome and the eruption of Vesuvius at Pompeii. 
Address: Bruparck 1020 Brussels, 003224741313, www.minieurope.com

Parlamentarium: If you want to find out more about the workings of the European Parliament, and how the decisions are taken which affect the lives of everyone living in Europe, you should visit the fascinating European Parliament Visitors’ Centre. Through interactive exhibits and activities, available in all 24 official languages of the EU, visitors of all ages can explore the importance of European integration.
Address: Willy Brandt Building Rue Wiertz 60, 003222832222, www.europarl.europa.eu/visiting/el/visits/parlamentarium.html

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences: Tarantulas, termites, dinosaur skeletons, a piece of moon rock – just a few of the 37 million items in the collection of the Institute. The exhibits allow visitors to travel back in time to the Neanderthal era, to visit the north and south poles, or to meet Tyrannosaurus Rex and his friends in the largest collection of dinosaur skeletons in Europe. The wildlife exhibits are truly breath-taking – you won’t be able to tear yourselves away!
Address: Rue Vautier 29, 003226274380, www.naturalsciences.be

Manneken-Pis:  Near the Grand Place you will find a little street called Rue de l’Etuve, home to the famous Manneken-Pis, a bronze 17th century statue of a little boy urinating – the city’s most frequently photographed landmark!

You can find old copies of Tintin comics in the second-hand shops around the Grand Place. In the elegant arcades known as the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, around the central square, time seems to have stopped in 1847. You can admire 19th century lace, porcelain miniatures and Gobelin tapestries.

Brussels is a great place for retail therapy, with boutiques stocking creations by Belgian designers, Flemish practitioners of haute couture and plenty of clothes from international fashion houses.

Visit the fashionable Rue Antoine Dansaert Straat, with the minimal, deconstruction-style collections of Ann Demeulemeester, Dries van Noten and the famous groups of designers known as the Antwerp Six. Then make your way along Avenue Louise, the catwalk boulevard which is home to all the top names in French and Italian fashion.

There are lots of bargains to be had on Rue Neuve and Rue des Fripiers, while the Marolles quarter is a great hunting ground for antiques and vintage clothes.

This is the city where the heart of Europe can be said to beat, and naturally enough all the different cuisines of the continent are represented here – in their most authentic form. Brussels is a city where you can find genuine Italian trattorias, Greek tavernas and French bistros, with other restaurants representing every corner of Europe – and indeed every continent of the world.

We recommend an authentic Belgian meal: mussels steamed and served in a big black pot, accompanied by French fries lathered in mayonnaise and a glass of chilled Belgian beer. Fruits de mer hold the place of honour in all the brasseries of the city centre.

You will also want to pay homage in the temples of Belgian chocolate to be found on the main square, and you should definitely sample the famous pralines. The Belgian praline was invented in 1912, by a pharmacist working in his pharmacy in the heart of Brussels attempting to create a new flavour for pastilles for sore throats. 

The streets of the city do not empty at nightfall; here in the central metropolis of Europe the bars and nightclubs are open all hours, with top international DJs pumping out techno, electro and house music, as well as Reggae, Salsa and R ‘n’ B.

Events in Brussels always reflect the latest trends in fashion and the arts, alive with the colours, flavours and images of the city.

• Flower Carpet: Every second year, in the month of August, the Grand Place in the centre of the city is covered by a magnificent carpet made of a million brightly coloured begonias. One hundred and twenty garden designers and gardeners, assisted by volunteers, toil to create this fragrant work of art, which has a lifespan of just four days!
• Cycle Tour – Brussels for Lovers: Every year on Valentine’s Day there is a three-hour nighttime cycling tour of the city centre for couples in love.
• MODO: Every October fashion designers from Belgium and all over Europe, artists, fashionistas and important figures in the international fashion industry, pour into Brussels for this three-day fashion show, with art performances and parties in the Dansaert and Sablon districts.
• Brussels Short Film Festival: Non-stop screenings of the latest work by Belgian and international filmmakers, with special tributes and themed programmes and a competition for best film. An event full of inspiration, humour and imagination – held at the end of April in the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts.
• Salon du Chocolat: The Belgian praline holds pride of place in this gastronomic event held each February. Expert chocolatiers present mouth-watering creations in dark and white chocolate, nuts, dried fruit and spices. Held in the Brussels Expo, the event features three days of tastings, chocolate sculptures and fountains.

Transport from the airport

Aegean flights land at Brussels International Airport, 11km to the north of the city. This is a busy airport with lots of shops, restaurants, cafes, banks, bureaus de change, a post office, pharmacy, first aid point, hairdresser’s and smokers’ areas. Wi-Fi is free for the first thirty minutes; for longer use you will need to pay by credit card.

You can get into the city by train from the station beneath the airport, with departures to Brussels Central Station every 15 minutes. There is also the Airport Line bus, which gets you to the city centre in 30 minutes. If you take a taxi into town, expect to pay about 45 Euro.