24 Hours in Brussels

When you're over in Europe, and you're from the States, you usually don't have a ton of time. You want to see as much as possible in the period of a few days, since flights and hotels can be so expensive. One small city, which I think is truly spectacular, is Brussels! And good news, I know for a FACT it can be tackled in 24 hours because that's exactly what I did!

I had a Sunday free but had an appointment at 10am on the day before (Saturday). Well, Skyskanner (my best friend) found a flight from Rome to Brussels, Belgium for $34 round trip. What else did I have to do? So I grabbed my girlfriend on Friday night, booked the flight, and we started packing! Brussels is great for a short trip (like a day trip from Amsterdam!) because everything is so close and walkable. The closer you can stay to the Grand Palace, the better off you are!

Here's what you can't miss in Brussels and can totally tackle in 24 hours (because I did!):

1. Grand Palace

The Grand Palace is a huge city square (that's filled with beautiful flowers in the spring!). It's encircled by these 14th century buildings that make you feel like you're in a Fairytale. This is like the "city center" where you can experience the best kind of people watching! Artists, chocolate shops, souvenirs and more. I could stay here for hours just looking at the architecture (and sipping on that Starbucks. Gonna be honest, I was desperately missing it, don't judge me!).

2. Manneken Piss

You can't go to Brussels and not see the Manneken Piss. While it's extremely small, and not all that enchanting, it's cute, cheeky, and right around the corner from the Grand Palace. Take a moment, snap a pick, giggle to yourself, then move in whatever direction your nose takes you (because all of Brussels smells like chocolate and french fries and waffles).

3. Chocolate Museum

The Chocolate Museum, also right by the Grand Palace, is a small museum featuring chocolate-related exhibits & live demonstrations with a master chocolatier. Everything from chocolate sculptures to some of the oldest hot chocolate pots in the world! It's a tiny little museum that you wouldn't really notice walking by, but it's so cute and interesting that it's totally worth a stop in! PLUS it ends with a chocolate demonstration where a chocolatier shows you how to make truffles, and then you get to sample them of course (only reason I bought the ticket duh).

4. Chocolate Shop Crawl

After whetting your appetite at the Chocolate Museum keep the chocolate train goin!!! Brussels has more chocolate shops than I've ever seen in a small city. Passion, Neuhaus, Galler, Pierre Marcolini, Leonidas, and so many more drool-worthy chocolate shops! What did I do? I wondered in to as many as I could to find, perused the isles, aaaaaand of course got a tasty little sample (if they offered it). I called this my Chocolate Crawl, and I ate so much that I ended up skipping lunch.

5. Chow Down on Pommes Frites

What in the world are pommes frites? They're glorified french fries. Seriously, they're french fries but SO MUCH BETTER! A lot of time they have mayo on them, but if that's not your speed you can get plain, ketchup, garlic, chili flavored, and everything in between. There's so many sauces that the pommes frites stands can pour on it's mind blowing. You may not be able to tell, but I really really enjoyed mine.

6. Atomium & Mini-Europe

If you have some spare time (and spare cash because the Uber is a bit pricey) I would suggest making your way out to the Atomium & Mini-Europe! Atomium is a landmark building, originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. It looks like a giant Atom and it's SO cool!!! You can have some pommes frites as you take in the view, or you can ride the elevator to the top of the landmark!

Right next to the Atomium is Mini-Europe. Mini-Europe is a little park that has reproductions of monuments in the European Union on show, at a scale of 1:25. It's ADORABLE! And as a former lover of dollhouses, Polly Pockets, Playmobil, and Barbies, it threw me back to the good ole kindergarten days!. Wonder around a cute little park and see all your favorite cities in the EU recreated!

Brussels was probably my favorite city I visited in Europe. It is everything I imagined a Fairytale European city to look like. I was waiting for Belle or Snow White to scare the crap out of me and bust out singing. Anyways, the food is to die for!!! If you choose to skip Brussels (or Belgium in general) I guarantee you're going to regret it (well, I can't guarantee but strongly suggest going)!