Rue des Bouchers

Rue des Bouchers

Brussels


Uniquely colourful Rue and Petite Rue des Bouchers are a pair of narrow alleys jam-packed with pavement tables, pyramids of lemons and iced displays of fish and crustaceans. It’s all gloriously photogenic, but think twice before eating here, as the food standards are generally poor. Don’t miss peeping inside marionette theatre Toone and, nearby, into the wonderful, age-old biscuit shop Dandoy, full of splendid moulds for speculaas/speculoos (traditional spiced biscuit) figures.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Brussels attractions

1. Jeanneke Pis

0.03 MILES

Squatting just off Rue des Bouchers, this pigtailed female counterpart of Manneken Pis is the work of sculptor Denis Adrien Debouvrie, who installed her…

2. Galeries St-Hubert

0.08 MILES

When opened in 1847 by King Léopold I, the glorious Galeries St-Hubert formed Europe’s very first shopping arcade. Many enticing shops lie behind its…

3. Brussels City Museum

0.09 MILES

Old maps, architectural relics and paintings give a historical overview of the city. Don’t miss Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 1567 Cortège de Noces (Wedding…

4. Maison du Roi

0.09 MILES

This fanciful feast of neo-Gothic arches, verdigris statues and mini-spires is bigger, darker and nearly 200 years younger than the surrounding guildhalls…

5. Le Pigeon

0.1 MILES

Victor Hugo lived here at the artists' guildhall during a part of his exile from France in 1852.

6. Maison des Boulangers

0.1 MILES

The bakers' guildhall is now the cafe Le Roy d’Espagne. The gilded bronze bust above the door is bakers’ patron St-Aubert.

7. Église St-Nicolas

0.1 MILES

Near the Bourse, this pint-sized church is as old as Brussels itself. What really makes it notable is its virtual invisibility – the exterior is almost…

8. Chaloupe d’Or

0.1 MILES

The dressmakers' guildhall is now a particularly splendid grand café whose upper-storey rooms (when open) offer fine views across the square.