Looking to keep an upcoming trip to Belgium low key and spontaneous.
Aside from tickets to the royal palace, am curious about what other items I may want to prebook for, or if a walk up purchase is feasible.
Brussels - museums?
Ghent - Counts Castle and Belfry?
Bruges - ?
Thanks!
Honestly, not much. Any of the Brussels museums should be just walk in, there are some good ones, but all are a bit niche, and do not see huge crowds compared to those in Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, etc.
In Ghent, if you are interested in seeing the altarpiece, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, at St. Bavo's then I would l would visit the website and likely reserve a time.
Bruges, I can't think of anything that requires it.
In general, if you are interested in a venue, check out their website and see if they require prebooking, but if they do not, then really no advantage in doing so, unless you have a set schedule.
Agree with Paul, Belgium is less touristed than other countries (except for perhaps Bruges, that is mobbed during daylight hours), but even so I think there is no need to prebook most sights, especially in Brussels. Many of the sights there also have no fee (example: Grand' Place. Manneken Pis, Galeries Royales de St.-Hubert). But even so I think you will be good to go almost everywhere. For your peace of mind if you want the augmented reality tour at St.-Baafs (St.-Bavo) in Ghent you can book that in advance but you would have to be unlucky to miss that altogether.
In Brussels, if you can, see the Musical Instruments Museum and the Victor Horta house - not just museums but amazing examples of Art Nouveau.
Lavandula
In Ghent, if you are into art, I recommend seeing The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, it's an altarpiece by Van Eyck, and it's fabulous.
Saint Bavo's Cathedral.
We purchased tickets while we were there, but it may have gotten more popular now.
In mid June mid week, we were able to purchase tickets at both Gravensteen and the Ghent Belfry when we walked up and neither was crowded. We had reservations for the augmented reality and Altarpiece at Saint Bavo, but the sign seemed to say they had tickets available that day.
You can go to their website and start a ticket purchase, either for tomorrow or a certain day of the week or the day you are planning, and it will display which time slots are available. Some sights will display how many tickets remain.
We also enjoyed the Musical Instruments Museum, especially hearing the instruments on the audioguide, and the café next door for waffles.
