Brussels in a day: what to see

At Grand Place, the central square surrounded by guild houses in baroque style and the Gothic town hall, the day begins: it is considered one of Europe's most beautiful squares and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Not far away stands the Manneken Pis, the small bronze statue of a urinating boy, become an irreverent symbol of the city despite its modest size.

Walking among the streets of the center you encounter various murals dedicated to comics, from Tintin to the Smurfs, part of the Comics Art Trail that celebrates Belgium's comic tradition, before reaching the Comic Museum, housed in an Art Nouveau building by Victor Horta.

For lunch, the streets around Grand Place offer numerous fry shops where you can taste Belgian fries, accompanied by mussels marinière in one of the many restaurants in the area.

The European Quarter is home to the institutions of the European Union, with the Cinquantenaire Park and its triumphal arch built for Belgium's fiftieth anniversary of independence.

Further from the center, the Atomium is the steel structure that reproduces an iron cell enlarged 165 billion times, built for the 1958 Expo and today among the most recognizable symbols of the city.

Sainte-Catherine, with its fish restaurants and historic breweries, is the most suitable area for dinner — perhaps pairing the fish with one of the hundreds of Belgian beers available.

The Grand Place, the Manneken Pis, and the comic book murals open a day that unites history and institutions in Brussels, completed by the afternoon choice between the European Quarter and the Atomium.

The alternative Saint-Gilles neighborhood and a trip to Bruges, reachable by train in about an hour, remain good reasons to return. Seeing the gold facades of the Grand Place illuminate at night is perhaps the image that best tells Brussels.