🇪🇸 Alicante → 🇧🇪 Brussels · 2 weeks

Visit the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts on a Thursday evening when it stays open until 8pm and the crowds thin dramatically — the Magritte Museum section alone is worth the trip, and seeing his paintings in the city where he lived and worked reframes them entirely. Book tickets online (€10) to skip the queue.

Drink lambic beer at Cantillon Brewery (Rue Gheude 56, Anderlecht) on a Saturday when they run open brewery days — this is one of the last traditional Brussels gueuze producers and the sour, wild-fermented lambic aged in oak barrels is unlike anything you'll find elsewhere. Tours are self-guided and a tasting costs €7.

Walk through the Marolles neighbourhood on a Sunday morning when the Jeu de Balle flea market fills the square — it's Brussels at its most local, multilingual, and chaotic. Dealers spread antiques, comic books, old lace, and inexplicable junk across 500+ stalls from 7am. Arrive early for the serious finds, stay late for the price drops.

Follow the Brussels street art trail in the Dansaert and Saint-Gilles neighbourhoods — the city has over 60 official comic-strip murals (BD murals) painted on building facades, connected by a self-guided walking route. Pick up the free map from the tourist office or use the Brussels Comic Strip Route app. The Tintin staircase mural on Rue de l'Étuve is the most famous.