Souvenirs from Brussels

The filled chocolate was invented in Brussels: Jean Neuhaus Jr. made the first praline in 1912 in his shop in the Galerie de la Reine, and the ballotin box followed soon after. Buy fresh pralines from a chocolatier and eat them within a few weeks; the long-life boxes at souvenir stalls and airports are not the same thing.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Neuhaus's first shop in the Galerie de la Reine, and the chocolatiers around the Grand Sablon such as Pierre Marcolini and Wittamer.

Thin, crunchy biscuits spiced with cinnamon and brown sugar, traditionally pressed into carved wooden moulds for Saint Nicholas. Maison Dandoy has baked them in Brussels since 1829 and still sells large moulded figures next to the everyday biscuits. Supermarket packs are fine for coffee; the bakery versions are thicker and more fragrant.

• 🏷️ Price: from €9.90 for a 120 g box at Maison Dandoy
• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Maison Dandoy, Rue au Beurre 31 next to the Grand-Place, with other shops in the Galerie du Roi, on Rue Charles Buls and in the Sablon.

A crisp, oblong biscuit rolled in pearl sugar, found almost only in Brussels. Despite the name it has nothing to do with Greece: it comes from the bread once handed out near the 'gracht', the old canal ditch. Less known than speculoos, so a more local gift.

• 🏷️ Price: €9.90 for a 120 g box at Maison Dandoy
• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Maison Dandoy's shops, starting with Rue au Beurre 31 by the Grand-Place.

Lambic is the beer of Brussels and the Senne valley: brewed with wild yeasts from the air, aged in oak casks, then blended into sparkling gueuze or steeped with cherries for kriek. Look for "oude gueuze" or "oude kriek" on the label; sweetened supermarket versions taste nothing like it.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Brasserie Cantillon, Rue Gheude 56 near Midi station, the last lambic brewery in the city (closed Wednesday and Sunday), or specialist beer shops such as Beermania.

In Belgium almost every beer has its own branded glass, and cafés serve it in nothing else. A gift box with a few bottles and the matching glass is a popular take-home. Bottles travel badly in hand luggage: buy close to departure or pack them in checked bags.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Beermania, Chaussée de Wavre 174–176 in Ixelles, sells around 400 beers plus glasses and gift boxes; supermarkets carry cheaper gift packs.

Brussels was a centre of fine lace from the 16th century, worked with needle and bobbins. Most "Belgian lace" in the shops around the Grand-Place is machine-made in Asia; real handmade lace is costly and slow to make. Ask where and how a piece was made before you buy.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Manufacture Belge de Dentelles, Galerie de la Reine 6–8, a family lace shop in the galleries since the 19th century.

Brussels is the home of Hergé, Tintin and much of Franco-Belgian comics, and its walls carry more than 50 comic-strip murals. Albums, posters, postcards and figurines make light souvenirs. Cheap Tintin T-shirts and mugs on market stalls are often unlicensed; official items carry the Moulinsart / Tintinimaginatio label.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The Tintin Boutique, Rue de la Colline 13 by the Grand-Place; the Slumberland shop of the Comic Strip Center, Rue des Sables 20; the comic bookshop Brüsel, Boulevard Anspach 100.

The little bronze boy is the city's mascot, with more than a thousand costumes kept in the GardeRobe museum. Replicas come in every size, also in chocolate at the chocolatiers. Most cheap resin figures and corkscrews are mass-produced abroad; a chocolate one is at least made in Brussels.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The souvenir shops on Rue de l'Étuve between the Grand-Place and the statue; chocolate versions at the chocolatiers around the Grand-Place.

Built for the 1958 World Expo, the Atomium shows an iron crystal enlarged 165 billion times, and small models of it have been sold since the fair. Vintage 1958 desk models turn up at the flea market; new ones range from key rings to detailed scale models.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The Atomium shop at the monument (daily 10:00–17:30, its webshop is closed until early 2027); vintage models at the Place du Jeu de Balle flea market.