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Brussels Sights

Posted by (NM, USA) on

We're taking a river cruise starting in Brussels in Jun. We arrive the day before the cruise with an overnight in a hotel near the Grand Place. We'll have all that afternoon/evening for sight seeing and from about 10-3 the next day. The cruise includes a walking tour of Brussels then stops in Antwerp, Bruges, etc. On our own we'll do some basic walking around the area of the Grand Place, buy some chocolate/frites/waffles, etc. I mainly have a couple of questions about 2 museums that look interesting:

City Museum - close to the Grand Place/hotel and I'd like to see the costumes for the Manneken Pis
Autoworld Car Museum which my husband and brother would enjoy (me too actually). We'' probably take the metro for that one.

Any thoughts on those two museum? Any other museums worth seeing that are an easy walk from the Grand Place area?

Posted by
2153 posts

It must be more than 10 years ago I have visited Autoworld and to my opinion worth a visit for those with a passion for cars. Some are unique like the Minerva cars, once a Belgium quality car maker. You can spend a few hours there. Opposite Autoworld the Royal Military Museum is I think worth a visit too. It's a bit old fashioned, more a museum in itself, but that makes it attractive. There are also airplanes on display in a huge hangar, not flashy but somehow nice.

The Museum of Fine Arts at walking distance from the Grand Place is topnotch, as wel as the nearby Museum of Music Instruments. If you like Tintin, the Comic Art Museum houses in a nice Art Nouveau building. Needs a bit more walking, around 15 minutes from the Grand Place.

Posted by
56 posts

The costumes for the Manneken Pis are housed in a building "Garde-Robe" which is on Rue du Chêne, down the street from the statue.

For Autoworld you should take the metro to Schuman and walk through Cinquantenaire park. Although Mérode is closer, it's not a nice district any more (used to be a small upscale enclave) and using this metro would be unpleasant / dangerous. As Wil says there is also a military museum there which can take up some of your time also.

In Brussels the Magritte Museum or the Old Masters are two within the complex of Fine Arts museums. Both are standouts, Magritte is lovely!

Lavandula

Posted by
914 posts

Thank you both for the help. Will definitely keep the Autoworld on the plan. Glad to clarify where the Mannekin Pis costumes are.

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