Is Brussels "grim" as a city break destination?

[Czerwonitz]

Or fun to see?

I've been there plenty of time for work and it's nice. My recommendation would be to spend one day in Brussels and one day in Brugge (just an hour away by train):

I wouldn’t stay in Brussels for a long weekend, there was enough to entertain us for a day but no longer (not a fan of museums or art galleries). The Grand Place is stunning and the cafes and shops around it are interesting. Transport system is good so I’d suggest day trips out if you want to see something more. But having been to a fair amount of other European cities, this was the one I’d least want to go back to.

Might as well push on to Amsterdam

So glad you started this thread @Czerwonitz. I just booked a family break for the Easter holidays. We are staying 3 nights. I'll be trawling through this later and taking notes.

It’s really nice. Bruges is much nicer though!!

I go there for work a couple of times a year, but I've also brought my partner and some friends for a long weekend. I completely disagree with those that said there's nothing to see or do. It's a lovely city. Yes the EU area is grey and industrial, but there's a lot more to the city than that. There's loads of museums, parks, activities, interesting buildings and of course restaurants and bars.

Both. I was disappointed as nowhere as nice as when I'd visited in my youth. However, still had a great time doing touristy things and eating the best chips in the world!

Brussels is nice like lots of cities but Brugges and Ghent are lovely and would be a better choice for a weekend break imo.

Near the station is grim. But you can walk past and head into city in a few minutes. There is a good few things to do and see, and it is a nice enough place.

But, places like Ghent kick it to touch for 'nice European short break' that is a similar distance. Belgium has amazing train network (I am told more miles of track per m2 of area than any other country...?) so easy to arrive on Eurostar or flight and be elsewhere in an hour or so.

tell us what you're interested in and we can help you with an itinerary. Lots of interesting museums, art deco/nouveau buildings, but also nice parks, good shopping, easy day trips etc.

A weekend is enough, Ghent is far nicer!

DH had a conference there a few years ago, so I went along. We caught the eurostar and I had nectar points I could convert, so it wasn't too expensive. I walked around each day on my own and felt very safe. Together, we did a day trip via train to Bruges. Your itinerary would be different if you have kids, but some highlights I really enjoyed:

-Musical instrument museum
-The museum where the manneken pis outfits are in. I didn't realise how tiny the actual statue is!
-Art and history museum. It was much bigger than I was expecting and I could have spent all day there. There was a lovely park nearby too.
-Grand place
-Trying a Belgium waffle and delicious chocolates
-I'm not normally a fan of beer, but did enjoy a cherry beer!

Went with the kids whilst Interrailing, and we struggled to find enough to keep us occupied, in contrast to every other European capital I've been to.

It didn't help that it was bitterly cold, so there was no enthusiasm for the proposed trip to the Atomium. We went to the comic strip museum instead, which I enjoyed, but the DC were highly pissed off that it didn't have anything devoted to Tintin.

I recall food being difficult, too- we couldn't find anywhere cheap and good to eat- it was all quite formal, pricey sit down restaurants in the centre- so we subsisted on frites and chocolate, to the delight of the DC.

Complete agree with this. Brussels is great and would highly recommend the Jam hotel. Lots going on in the St Gilles neighborhood where it's located, and within easy reach of the old town/ Grand Place.

I’ve always loved visiting Brussels personally! Lovely city.

I visited Brussells several times when I was an academic based on an EU project. I am very interested in antiques and the city has some wonderful shops and markets for vintage. There is also some very fine art nouveau architecture.

However as other posters have pointed out cities like Bruges and Ghent probably have more to offer to tourists. Again, if you are interested in art and architecture you will appreciate these small cities.

A point of interest. Belgians are famous for their ability to speak several languages. I found that although I speak fluent French people in the Flemish speaking areas would quickly revert to English when I addressed them. They did not wish to speak French and did not expect visitors to understand Flemish.

We spent a long weekend there a few years ago and had a great time. Our apartment was in a superb location, just a couple of metres off the Grand Place and above a shop devoted to all things Tintin. I'd recommend the Museum of Musical Instruments, which is situated in a striking Art Nouveau building. We saw a live act and had dinner in a jazz club, which was nice. DH loved the wide range of excellent beers that were inexpensive in supermarkets and he crammed as many bottles as he could in his case before returning on Eurostar.

Grim would be an overstatement. The central part around the Grand Place is quite elegant and beautiful, there are some nice museums and restaurants.

Outside of the central quarter its surprisingly sketchy (as is the bit round the main station) but no worse than any other big European city.

If you want a really picturesque and more chilled mini break you might be better off with Antwerp, Bruges or Ghent though.

I have visited every eu capital city. Brussels is not on my list to return to. Not because it was grim, I just didn’t find it very exciting. I prefer Ghent if you want to do Belgium.

Cafe Leopold is great for breakfast.
Brussels is, as others have said, very handy to take trips from. Great art. Hilly. Very easy to get lost (perhaps because it's not on a river). Good for wandering. There's a brilliamt toyshop behind the Grand Place.
We avoid the Grand Place because it's packed with tourists and naff shops.
The place i intend to go to next is the Museum of the Congo, a tramride out of town. It's just been revamped.

We used to love Ghent, but it's just as tourist packed as Bruges now.
The place i love is Mechelen.

Place marking as we keep meaning to plan a trip to the Atomium.

Brussels is one of those places where the more you put in to finding out what’s going on and where to go, the more you’ll get out of it. It’s great and not boring. Bit dicey in a few parts but where isn’t?