Belgian Museum Pass -- Screaming Bargain (But Not for North Americans)

It sounds good, and your post is most welcome. I note some significant omissions, like the world class KMSKA in Antwerp and unified Ancient and Modern Art museums in Brussels. So don’t assume that the "included list” is “complete”. Note that the Rubenshuis may be closed for renovation, and does not own any paintings by Rubens.

Not to overstate the case, to the extent that the Rubenshuis is a “mansion visit”, the Van Den Bergh or the Magdenhuis can be a substitute, as can the home of a Rubens patron, the Rocoxhuis. There is some very special art in the rather small Van den Bergh.

If you have any interest in music, the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels is really good. Our mistake was going directly there from our red eye flight, but it was still worth it. I'd really like to see it again when I'm awake. haha

Antwerp's KMSKA is on the MuseumPASSMusee list.

The Mayer van den Bergh Museum does sound good, but it is either closed for renovation or is closing very soon--i.e., won't be available this summer. A shame, since the pass would otherwise get me in.

The musical instrument museum is on my list for its architecture, even aside from the contents.

The more you dig, the more you find that you want to see.

I would love to read about your Belgium trip. except for Bruges it seems to be an overlooked country. When I talk travel with people, Belgium never comes up as a place they want to visit. It’s been on my radar since I haven’t been to Brussels since 1976.

The Royal Museum of Military History is overlooked. The cafe is also good.

Thanks, Diane. I've added "Good cafe" to my notes. I'm afraid if I leave a museum hungry in Belgium, I'll solve the problem at a chocolate shop. If I do too much of that, the next thing I'll be shopping for will be clothes that fit.

The Belgian Museumpass sounds good, but there is one huge catch that the 3rd party website linked to in the OP, neglected to mention; you need to reside in the EU in order to register the pass.
When you buy the pass online, you need to provide an address in Belgium where the pass will be send to. If you buy the pass in one of the participating museums, you’ll receive a temporary pass that you can use for 2 museum visits before you need to register the pass and provide an EU address. The reason for this is that the pass is subsidized by the government, i.e. the taxpayers.
The pass is therefore not useful to tourists from the USA and Canada who tend to frequent this forum. It’s also why the official website of the pass is mainly in Dutch and French only https://www.museumpassmusees.be/nl

Rats. After all the discussions about the Amsterdam pass, I looked carefully for a similar restriction on the Belgian pass and didn't find it. I guess it would have become evident when I tried to buy the pass at one of the participating museums.

It's not unreasonable to limit a deal like this to residents of Belgium or the EU (though I will mention that Finland and Estonia have no such restriction, nor do the regions of Italy that have similar deals), but they really should specify that restriction clearly on the website so other folks waste their time which places accept the pass.

Thanks for pointing out the limitation.

@acraven; it is pointed out on the website of the Belgian museum pass. You however used a commercial 3rd party website about travel in Belgium. The fact that this unofficial website which isn’t affiliated with the Belgian museum pass, doesn’t mention the restriction is not the fault of the Belgian museum pass.

It's sometimes hard to find the official website for a sightseeing pass like that. I thought I had, else I would have kept looking. Most commercial sightseeing card websites over-sell the product to a rather extreme degree; that one did not, so it passed my smell test.

At some point I was on a site (maybe the one I posted, but not necessarily) that listed a few obvious reasons the pass might might be useful (not-short trip, interest in museums, etc.) and a few reasons why it might not be (including the obvious short trip). The reasons-not-to-buy list also included age in the senior range on the grounds that seniors often get museum discounts. I found that odd, because the senior discounts I've seen in Belgium--when they exist at all--tend not to exceed 20%. In any case, if you're going to point to age as a potential deciding factor (questionable though I think the logic is), why wouldn't you make the EU restriction clear?

“ At some point I was on a site (maybe the one I posted, but not necessarily) that listed a few obvious reasons the pass might might be useful (not-short trip, interest in museums, etc.) and a few reasons why it might not be (including the obvious short trip). The reasons-not-to-buy list also included age in the senior range on the grounds that seniors often get museum discounts. I found that odd, because the senior discounts I've seen in Belgium--when they exist at all--tend not to exceed 20%. In any case, if you're going to point to age as a potential deciding factor (questionable though I think the logic is), why wouldn't you make the EU restriction clear?”

The reasons-not-to-buy are listed on the 3rd party website you linked to, not on the official website of the Belgian Museum pass.
The Belgian Museum Pass is aimed at Belgian residents. Due to EU regulations they must make it available to other EU residents but these are not their focus group. Tourists from outside the EU are not who the Museum Pass is meant for, so that’s why the website doesn’t contain information for tourists. It’s not the fault of the Belgian museum pass that some 3rd party commercial website promotes them without mentioning all the details.

In case this is a minor consolation, I found that the Ghent City Pass sold at the tourist information center is a reasonable deal for sights and public transport in Ghent.