Activities in Brussels

To go antiquing in Brussels is to bask in civility and ease. Stay hard by the Gothic, gilded Grand Place - a square called on of the most beautiful in

Treat yourself to a package of speculoos (traditional Belgian spice cookies) to snack on as you descend back toward the Grand Place.

These dealers in African art and relics as well as the adjacent Congo Basin Art History Research Center can be found on a charming lane off the Place

Established in 1839, this antiques store is one of the few still holding on to its spot on the Place du Grand Sablon. Its salons are filled with 18th-

At the Desmet antiques gallery, nearly everything is of majestic scale and almost nothing is Belgian. Sarcophagus-like stone tubs come from France, bo

The multitalented Muriel Bardinet (dealer, interior designer, painter, photographer) puts the chic back into shabby. Behind the striking curved-glass

An ormolu-mounted fruit-wood desk and a bench of thick rubber molded to resemble giant blocks of chocolate front a huge painting of African dancers. A

Haute Antiques houses 40 dealers whose wares span the full range of styles and periods, from a fanciful iron birdcage and a mod trapezoidal fireplace,

Though they aim to emulate Axel Vervoordt, this design store is a more affordable and polite version of eclectic Belgian style.

In Brussels’s main square, 10 master Belgian chocolate makers are showcased at this boutique, where they host daily workshops to teach the secret ingr

Rue Haute, like parallel Rue Blaes, traverses the Marolles district; both are dotted with antiquaries that grow more affordable the farther you travel

American decorators haunt this place for Michel Lambrecht's clever furnishings.

This year-old cooking school–cum–bookshop also sells esoteric ingredients like Orleans vinegar.

Do yourself a favor and stop by the boutique chocolatier, Pierre Marcolini, in Place du Grand Sablon.

What to Expect: Brussels' Christmas market has been around only since 2002, but it pulls off its Plaisirs d'Hiver/Winter Pret

Vincent Colet is a shop that appreciates the industrial, as in the Triplex Pendlar lamp, by Swedish inventor-designer Johan Petter provenance. Colet h

Take a break from antiques-hunting with a stop by this chococalatier in Place du Grand Sablon.