Magnificent and magical experience - it was a sight for my eyes to behold!!! But I do think park…read moremgmt has to do a better job with parking and also getting more park benches, hence while its 5 stars showing, in reality it's more like 4.5 from me. There's a great park ranger blog you can follow (and best of all its in English) and they post videos + pics and so that's what I have been doing since mid-March, as didn't want to miss the hyacinth flowering like had done last year. Last Friday the blog showed a sea of blue and since they flowers have a short flowering season of 2 weeks, a group of 5 of us left around noon and then got to Hallerbos 40 mins later. Parking was really horrible and we finally got some a long way from the park entrance. We found the blue marker near parking lot #2 and set off down the trail, sorta disappointed not to see that many hyacinths covering the wood floor as had expected. Encountered lots of tree stumps along the trail way that had been converted into stools to sit upon. About the halfway point, there was a long steep hill and when we reached the top and from the corner of my left eye, to paraphrase the poet: When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of blue hyacinths... beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. I just stopped and stared in wonder and turned around in a circle because all around me, I was surrounded by blue undergrowth. I felt had wandered into a sacred, special place and luckily it wasn't too crowded, so we all just co-existed, marveling at natures bounty. The hyacinths were numerous in number now and we continued our walk, upto parking lot 8, where all the trails converged and had great ice-cream for an €1 per scoop which was totally worth the wait in the long line. This is when I sorta felt let down because here was this great open space, and only one park bench? C'mon!! Surely park mgmt can do better! However this is a minor gripe, cause if you live in Belgium and don't come and see this beautiful sight that welcomes spring you are totally missing out!

Hard to describe how pretty Hallerbos is. Twice a year, the wood is turned into a blue rug of…read morehyacinths. A lot of pedestrian, horse rider and bicycle ways exist to explore the wood and its surroundings (more extended than expected - my legs are still hurting ! ). Since hyacinths do need sun to grow up, the wood is bright and light. Walking, sun taning AND enjoying the smell of the flowers is the perfect combination for a Sunday afternoon a few minutes away from Brussels. Little tip : you can follow the blossoming of the flowers on the website http://www.hallerbos.be/.

We were in Brussels for a night and was exploring the area when we stumbled across an office…read morebuilding that had a virtual room sticker. We were super curious as to what it was and happened to bump into a guy coming out of the building. He was able to speak to us in english and offered to let us play the virtual reality escape room! He told us that they have not finished setting up the whole place yet, and we would be the first public group to experience this. My group and I love escape rooms & have gone to plenty in the US. But we've never tried a virtual one. The concept was super cool! In reality, the 3 of us were in separate rooms with headsets & consoles, but in the virtual world, we were literally standing side by side to solve puzzles. We had to perform tasks together in order to move onto the next virtual reality setting. We were able to throw things to each other, talk to each other, and even take selfies. An hour later, we were all very sad it was over. We were also able to meet the owner and talk to him about their expansion plans. Hopefully, they will come to Los Angeles, CA soon!! Overall this was a super cool concept, and we were glad we were able to participate in it. It really made our Brussels stay a memorable one. Thank you Virtual Room!!

What a beautiful landscape to walk the grounds and simply admire the beauty with a coffee in hand…read more The gardens are so well kept and perfect to admire all the different vegetation they keep maintained. The various sculptures and fountains had me in awe. I noticed there was a strong affiliattion for koi fish at each one. After some sleuthing it was apparent that artists in Belgium also saw koi fish as a sign of good luck. We accessed Botanique by strolling the adjacent park close to our hotel and it made for a wonderful morning. There are plenty of benches and of course you can hang out on the steps of the Botanique. I felt like I was on an international episode of Gossip Girl tbh #IYKYK.

Arrived around 11:30 on a Friday just to walk around the grounds. It's pretty underwhelming, as…read morethere was not much to see. It's basically a big garden with a greenhouse and fountain at the end. It's a bit far from the city centre so if you're a tourist just looking for things to do, you can probably skip it. I have a feeling it's more for locals to get away from the noise of the city.

It's free. It's not crowded. If you happen to stumble upon this place then, great! But don't go out…read moreif your way looking for this. When you do find this, take quick pictures. There are a few Tin Tin stuff in scattered all over the city. I found some of them. If you're a big Tin Tin fan then ok, go ahead and try to locate this wall painting.

I'm surprised to see such a low rating for the Sewage Museum, as I found it to be a delightful…read moreexperience. Okay, sure, I am more enthusiastic than most to visit a sewage museum, as I once kept myself looking busy while working for a water engineering firm by making fake travel brochures for a fake travel company that catered to retired water engineers. I also wonder why I didn't go get a job with the The Global Network of Water Museums. Alas, this has warped my life since then and I keep finding myself drawn to WWTPs and excitedly pointing out water control elements to my (less than excited) friends. I long ago swore never to work for engineers again and have forgotten the ranking of my favorite TBMs, but I cannot stop the water engineer tourism. Even if you don't suffer from my particular affliction, you will probably enjoy the Musée des égouts. The displays are concise and make it obvious how covering and then re-routing the Senne has saved Belgians from cholera, flooding, and other assorted unpleasantness. Normally I hate audio tours, but theirs is truly a delight. It's quirky and charming. Sure, the wall text is in French and Flemish, but it is not nearly as entertaining as the audio guide. The website suggests you reserve a ticket. I assumed this was a holdover from the height of the pandemic and probably it would not be so mobbed that I couldn't get in. Indeed, reservations were not necessary. They are not kidding about sending you down to view the underground channel the Senne runs through and the sewer, so wear close toed shoes that you are okay with...getting a little dirty. That part of the tour is closed on rainy days, so this is not a good rainy day museum. The Newtown Creek WWTP remains my great love (obviously) but I highly recomend the Musée des égouts.

This museum is absolutely insane and an absolute must-visit for anyone who can stomach it! At…read morefirst, my friends and I were pretty disappointed because the exhibits were very basic and the space was small. While the infographics were in French, they provided us with books to follow along in English, which was nice, but still not exactly what we were expecting. Then, we discovered the lower level. They had many more exhibits, a reconstruction of a sewer tunnel for you to walk through, and also... AN ACTUAL SEWER! We were confused at first, but one of the hilarious employees personally escorted us down to the sewer level of the museum and walked with us through the sewer to the second building of the museum (that we hadn't even noticed because it was across the street)! I will not lie, it was a sewer so it did not smell good, it was moist, and it was dark. But it was an actual sewer that we were able to walk through! There's a grated platform throughout that you walk on as you explore. While it is sturdy, it is not stable and it can be a little slippery, but overall the museum is a very fun, one-of-a-kind experience that I will be recommending to EVERYONE! Absolutely unbeatable, especially for the price! Go!

I wouldn't really call this a museum, but for five euros, it's definitely worth it. It's really…read morejust one room with some info on how the beer is made and a short video playing on a screen. You're basically paying for a really good-quality beer. You can choose between a dark or light ale, and the owner is super friendly. He let us take fun photos behind the bar, pretending to serve the beer ourselves. This is a fun little stop if you're near the Grand Place.

Not much to this "museum". For five euros, you get access to a short video in a small room with…read moresome old beer making equipment. You also get a beer - either house light or dark. Honestly, that's the going price for a beer anyway.

After our scheduled tour was canceled, I was looking for places to go and found this suggestion…read moreunder a Yelp collection. After realizing Belgium was the home of the smurfs, I had to stop by. In front of the entrance is a huge smurf statue, and right next door is the smurf store. The museum cost 14 Euros, which is equivalent to about $15 usd. They do request that you don't use flash when taking pictures. I really enjoyed this museum and the flashback of my childhood. If you grew up watching the Smurfs or TinTin, I would add the Mook Museum to your list. Our visit was 45 minutes to an hour.

Amazing museum - very unusual musical instruments - 3 full floors of exhibits. You are able to…read morehear the instruments through museum provided headphones

There's a statue of a naked boy holding his penis and peeing, are you surprised that there is a…read morestatue of a little old lady shopping? You shouldn't be. This small statue is protected by a couple of chains but you really can get right up to her and get your selfie. Why not? I have zero idea why this is a thing, but here it is. It's cute, but it's not worth going out of your way.

Humorous statue when so many others are devoted to serious people and subjects. Worth stopping by…read morewhile on an evening stroll around the town. Be sure to look for all the murals around town too.