Hotels near Grand Place (Grote Markt)

No guide to the top places to visit in Brussels could begin anywhere other than the Grand Place - UNESCO World Heritage Site, and widely considered the most beautiful medieval square in Europe. Surrounded on all four sides by extraordinary 17th-century guild houses built after the French bombardment of 1695, the square is a theatre of architectural magnificence: the Gothic Brussels Town Hall (begun 1401), the neo-Gothic King's House (now the Brussels City Museum), and nearly 40 guildhalls each representing a different medieval trade - their gilded facades competing in baroque splendour.

The Grand Place is theatrical at any hour. At night, dramatic lighting transforms it into one of Europe's most beautiful illuminated spaces. In summer (even-numbered years, mid-August), the Flower Carpet event covers the entire cobbled square in a 75m x 24m tapestry of begonias. At Christmas, Winter Wonders fills the square with a giant tree, ice rink, and market stalls. Enter the square from any side street for maximum impact - the reveal as you step into the full square from a narrow lane is one of Europe's great architectural moments.