Gare du Midi Market

Brussels

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Said to be the biggest market in Europe, this sprawl of colourful stalls next to the railway lines has an international flavour, with North African and Mediterranean spices, cheeses, meats, clothing, leather goods and much more. Its food stands, selling Moroccan crêpes with cheese and honey along with mint tea, are a favourite with clubbers winding down from Saturday night.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Belgium, Antwerp, garden in Peter Paul Ruben's house

    Rubenshuis

    26.33 MILES

    This delightfully indulgent 1611 mansion was built as a home and studio for celebrated painter Pieter Paul Rubens. It was rescued from ruins in 1937 and…

  • Interiors of Notre dame d'Anvers cathedral, Anvers, Belgium

    Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal

    26.5 MILES

    Belgium’s finest Gothic cathedral was 169 years in the making (1352–1521). Wherever you wander in Antwerp, its gracious, 123m-high spire has a habit of…

  • BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - August 09, 2014: General view of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, one of the most visited museums in Belgium with its large art collection.; Shutterstock ID 586734455; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts POI

    Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts

    0.84 MILES

    This prestigious museum incorporates the Musée d’Art Ancien (ancient art); the Musée d’Art Moderne (modern art), with works by surrealist Paul Delvaux and…

  • Museum Plantin-Moretus

    Museum Plantin-Moretus

    26.35 MILES

    The medieval building and 1622 courtyard garden alone would be worth a visit, but it's the world's oldest printing press, priceless manuscripts and…

  • The museum of musical instruments "Old England", Brussels, Belgium

    Old England Building

    0.89 MILES

    This 1899 former department store is an art nouveau showpiece with a black facade aswirl with wrought iron and arched windows. The building contains the…

  • Triumphal Arch at Parc du Cinquantenaire in the EU Quarter.

    Parc du Cinquantenaire

    2.4 MILES

    Parc du Cinquantenaire was built during Léopold II's reign. It's best known for its cluster of museums – art, history, military and motor vehicles – which…

  • TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY Laurent Thomet.A picture taken on July 28, 2011 shows stuffed rhinoceros at the Brussels Royal Institute for Natural Sciences Museum. It was a daring daytime robbery at the natural science museum. The two thieves snuck into the rhino gallery and ripped a stuffed head off the wall. They carried it to a restroom, opened a window, and dropped the 30-kilo trophy two-stories down to an accomplice waiting in a van. The museum had never been robbed until the July heist, when it became the latest of a rising number of science museums in Europe targetted by thieves for rhino horns, which can fetch tens of thousands of euros on the black market. AFP PHOTO / GEORGES GOBET (Photo credit should read GEORGES GOBET/AFP/Getty Images)

    Institut des Sciences Naturelles

    1.62 MILES

    Thought-provoking and highly interactive, this museum has far more than the usual selection of stuffed animals. But the undoubted highlight is a unique …

  • Lace making in Bruges, 2014. The intricate lace patterns in Belgium are unmatched in any other country. The lace trade rose during the early Renaissance. Emperor Charles V decreed that lace-making should be a compulsory skill for girls in convents and beguines throughout Flanders. Lace became fashionable on collars and cuffs for both sexes. Trade reached a peak in the 18th century. Lace makers are traditionally women. Hundreds of craftswomen still work in Bruges and Brussels, centres of bobbin lace, creating intricate work by hand, often using over 100 threads per bobbin. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

    Musée Mode & Dentelle

    0.71 MILES

    Lace making has been one of Flanders’ finest crafts since the 16th century. While kloskant (bobbin lace) originated in Bruges, naaldkant (needlepoint lace…

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Nearby Brussels attractions

1. Cantillon Brewery

0.27 MILES

Beer lovers shouldn’t miss this unique living brewery-museum. Atmospheric and family run, it’s Brussels’ last operating lambic brewery and still uses much…

2. Josephine Baker Mural

0.29 MILES

In one of the most distinctive Marolles murals, slinky chanteuse Josephine, with a leopard on a lead, shakes hands with a rotund monk. Behind, both in the…

3. Jardin d’Enfants

0.35 MILES

Victor Horta's first civic commission, the charming Jardin d’Enfants in the Marolles still functions as a schoolhouse.

4. Peeping Policeman

0.43 MILES

This Hergé character uses the terrace end brilliantly for a little spying.

5. Porte de Hal

0.46 MILES

For centuries Brussels was surrounded by a grand 8km fortress wall. It was partly demolished in the 1790s, then removed altogether on Napoleon’s orders in…

6. Bruegel House

0.48 MILES

There is a museum in this step-gabled house where Pieter Bruegel the Elder lived and died, but it’s only open by reservation; phone ahead or check with…

7. Elevator

0.51 MILES

A glass elevator leads from the Palais du Justice down to the earthy Marolles district.

8. Église Notre-Dame de la Chapelle

0.52 MILES

Brussels’ oldest surviving church now curiously incorporates the decapitated tower of the 1134 original as the central section of a bigger Gothic edifice…