Must-see in Brussels: a first-timer's guide

A brief history Brussels began as a marshland settlement on the road between Cologne and Bruges and grew rich on cloth trading in the Middle Ages. Bombarded by French troops in 1695, its centre was rebuilt in an exuberant guild-house baroque still visible on the Grand Place. Capital of independent Belgium from 1830 and later of the European Union, it is today a bilingual, strikingly international city of art nouveau, comics and civil servants. 10 must-see attractions 1. Grand Place — a UNESCO-listed square ringed by gilded guild halls and the gothic Town Hall. 2. Manneken Pis — the tiny, endlessly costumed fountain boy who became the city's cheeky mascot. 3. Atomium — a 102-metre model of an iron crystal from Expo 58, with panoramic views from the top sphere. 4. Royal Museums of Fine Arts — Flemish masters plus a superb Magritte collection next door. 5. Magritte Museum — several floors devoted to Belgium's greatest surrealist. 6. Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert — a glass-roofed 1847 arcade of chocolatiers and old bookshops. 7. Mont des Arts — terraced gardens with the best skyline view over the lower town. 8. Belgian Comic Strip Center — Tintin, the Smurfs and more in a Victor Horta art nouveau warehouse. 9. Horta Museum — the architect's own house, the purest example of Brussels art nouveau. 10. Parc du Cinquantenaire — triumphal arch, military and car museums in a grand nineteenth-century park. Tip: eat where the queue is Belgian, not where the waiter calls you in from the street.