How to Explore All of Europe While Visiting Brussels
I know so many people want to spends months or weeks travelling around Europe, but often only have time for one or two cities. Lucky for you, you can explore all of Europe while visiting Brussels, Belgium!
As the seat of the European Union, Brussels is known as the Capital of Europe. People from all over Europe live and work in Brussels, bringing a little bit of their country and culture with them.
When I first visited Brussels in 2014, I have to admit that it wasn’t my favourite city. In fact, I only planned to spend a night there before moving on to other places in Belgium. But when I visited again in 2022, I ended up spending four nights in Brussels. And you know what? I loved it!
Sure, Brussels isn’t Paris or Rome. It’s not the most popular place in Europe or the most beautiful. But that also means it’s not the most expensive or the most crowded. If you’re writing Brussels off as boring or skippable, I think you should reconsider.
Brussels is a charming city with lots of medieval flare and a funny little mascot (more on him later!). Plus, there’s the delicious Belgian food you can enjoy in Brussels like fries, chocolate and beer.
But there’s so much more to visiting Brussels than just the city itself. Below I’ll share how you can explore all of Europe on a trip to Brussels, Belgium, plus my favourite day trips from Brussels.
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Take a stroll around Mini-Europe in Brussels
As the name implies, Mini-Europe is a tour through some of Europe’s top sights, all in miniature form! Every item displayed in the park is 1/25th its actual size.
As you wander through the open-air museum, you’ll see over 350 monuments from every European Union member state including the Eiffel Tower, Colosseum and lots of Belgium’s famous towers and churches.
Obviously walking through Mini-Europe is not the same as seeing these monuments full-scale, in person, in each of the countries. But it’s an incredible way to discover more of Europe’s culture and history.
You can check out places in Europe that you’d love to go or get nostalgic when you spot European monuments you’ve seen before, such as when Colin and I saw Prague’s Astronomical Clock (ICYMI: We lived in Prague for a year!).
If just seeing the small monuments isn’t exciting enough for you, there are also a number of interactive elements that guests of all ages will love. Almost every display had a button you could press that would play the country’s national anthem or animate part of the display.
For example, you could set off Mt. Vesuvius or tear down the Berlin Wall! There were also games you could play, like trying to nab a thief who stole the Mona Lisa in Paris or rescue a princess from a dragon in a castle.
You might think that Mini-Europe would be like walking through a boring museum or that it’s a place just for kids but I can tell you that Colin and I had an absolute blast!
It was pouring rain and yet we loved checking out every exhibit and display. It was so cool seeing the attention to detail on the mini models and reliving some past trips to Europe.
Probably my favourite part of Mini-Europe was the UK section. As we all know, the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016 and so Mini-Europe has honoured their wishes. They put up hilarious border signs and even had a display of Brexit protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in London.
Before leaving Mini-Europe, you’ll walk through the Spirit of Europe exhibit where you can learn more about the European Union and play some interactive games.
And, if it happens to be raining when you visit like it was during ours, you’ll be happy to know Spirit of Europe is indoors. There’s also a restaurant and a few shops where you can warm up and grab a snack.
Book your tickets to Mini-Europe here!
PS: The Atomium, one of the coolest structures in Brussels with the best views, is right next door to Mini-Europe, so you can easily visit both in one day!
Enjoy the cuisines of Europe (and the world) at Wolf while visiting Brussels
To continue with our trend of exploring Europe while in Brussels, head to Wolf for an international lunch.
Wolf Sharing Food Market is a cool version of a food court just steps away from Brussels’ main square, Grand Place. Alongside funky, modern decor, you’ll find a number of food stalls set up and a large bar in the centre of the room.
Being a modern eatery, you can order from your phone instead of standing in line at each stall. The only downside for international travellers like us who didn’t have sim cards was we couldn’t get a text to alert us when our food was ready.
For lunch, Colin went with fish and chips, exploring the British side of Europe. And I diverted from Europe entirely with my order of Vietnamese bun. There was also Japanese, American, Thai, Greek, Indian, West African cuisines and more to choose from.
Get into European politics at the EU Parlamentarium
Of course, the real reason why Brussels is known as the capital of Europe is because it’s home to some of the European Union’s most powerful organizations such as the European Commission, European Council and European Parliament. EU Parliament Members meet in Brussels regularly and the city is home to many people from all over Europe.
While visiting Brussels, you have the opportunity to learn more about the city’s role as the seat of the European Union at the Parlamentarium. And best of all, visiting is free (though you do need to reserve a spot online)!
Being a pretty important political area, your visit to the Parlamentarium starts with a security check. Once you and your bags have made it through security, you’re off to visit Europe’s largest parliamentary visitors’ centre.
There is a ton to see and experience at the Parlamentarium museum. I’ll be honest: At first I found the whole thing pretty dry. There were an endless number of black and white photos and documents, with even more audio guide options.
I was feeling overwhelmed with all of Europe’s history staring me in the face. If you have more patience or interest in history than I do, this section of the museum will entertain you for hours.
But lucky for me, my Parlamentarium visit got a lot more exciting when I journeyed downstairs. Suddenly the exhibits got way more interesting and interactive. On one side, there was a wall of EU representatives where you could learn more about each person.
In another space, there was a giant conference room with a 360 degree movie walking you through the process of voting in the European Parliament.
In a large space in the middle of the museum, a map of Europe was drawn onto the ground. Visitors could then walk around with these machines on wheels. When you rolled over a specific region on the map, the screen on your machine would begin playing a short film detailing an EU issue in that area.
On the opposite wall there were interactive globes showing off different routes across the EU.
One of my favourite parts of the museum was an interactive screen where you could vote on the exact same issues that EU Parliament Members have voted on. The screen would then tell you how your vote compared to other museum visitors and the actual Members of Parliament.
It was pretty fascinating to see how our votes stacked up!
Being from Canada, and obviously not part of the EU, I thought the Parlamentarium visit might be a bit boring or not as impactful for me. But I really enjoyed it!
After a bit too much history at the beginning, I really enjoyed learning more about the European Union’s processes and being able to interact with so many of the displays. I can only imagine how much more meaningful this experience would be if my home country was part of the EU.
Book your free tickets to the Brussels Parlamentarium here
And for more parliamentary visits, check out my guide to the BC Parliament Buildings in Victoria, Canada.
See more of Europe on day trips from Brussels
As the capital of Europe, it’s easy to explore so much of the continent while visiting Brussels. From Brussels, you can easily hop on a bus, train or flight to lots of other European destinations.
On a day trip from Brussels you can visit other Belgian destinations such as Ghent (30 minutes from Brussels by train), Antwerp (40 minutes) and Bruges (1 hour). You can even take a day trip from Brussels to Paris in only 90 minutes and Brussels to Amsterdam in just under two hours.
Don’t want to figure out the transportation yourself? Hop on a day tour from Brussels!
Conclusion: Enjoying all the things to do while visiting Brussels!
Besides Mini-Europe and the EU Parlamentarium, there is so much more to discover, see and eat in Brussels, Belgium. You can plan an entire Brussels day trip around Manneken Pis, the city’s funny little mascot of a boy peeing. You can stroll through beautiful Grand Place, see the city from above at the Atomium, tour the Royal Palace, explore a chocolate museum (with a free tasting, of course!), and so much more.
I know a lot of people skip Brussels in favour of the big cities of Europe, like London or Paris, or for the smaller cities in Belgium that are more charming, like Ghent and Bruges. Back in 2014, I was one of those people! But in 2022, I changed my tune.
I’m not saying you should plan an entire trip around Brussels or only visit Brussels when you go to Europe. But I am saying that if you give Brussels a chance, it might surprise you! There’s so much to do in this city and it’s an amazing gateway to the rest of Europe.
Brussels looks like such a fun place to visit. Maybe we will get there someday. I enjoyed your post!
Thanks so much! Hope you get to visit Brussels one day soon, Kellye!
I had no idea Mini-Europe existed but it looks like a great place to visit!
It’s really fun!
Cool + for the post
Thank you!