What kind of game is the Brussels scavenger hunt?
The Brussels scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk from the European Quarter to the old centre, solve a riddle at each of 10 landmarks by looking closely at what is in front of you, and unlock the stories behind them. It takes about 3 hours at a relaxed pace, with around 60 minutes of walking over 5.2 km, and you start whenever you like.
Highlights include the Royal Palace, the carillon of the Mont des Arts, Manneken Pis and Jeanneke Pis, the Grand-Place with its Gothic Town Hall and the glass-roofed Royal Galleries of Saint Hubert. The walk shows two sides of Brussels: the wide avenues of the European capital and the royal quarter on the hill, then the narrow streets of the lower town around the Grand-Place.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 60 min · 5.2 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
How the game plays from the EU quarter to the lower town
The answer is on the wall
Every one of the 10 stops carries one riddle, and the clue is in plain view: a figure on a clock face, a name over a gallery entrance, a date on a façade. Careful eyes and a little logic are all a player needs, with nothing to learn beforehand.
A story for every right answer
Once a riddle is solved, the app tells the story of the stop: what the flag on the roof of the Royal Palace means, which painted figures circle the carillon of the Mont des Arts, how a small bronze boy came to own around a thousand costumes. The audio narration can read it all to you as you walk.
From avenues to alleys
Google Maps leads you over 5.2 km and about 60 minutes of walking: through the European Quarter, into the royal district and then down the steps of the Mont des Arts to the lower town. The broad avenues slowly give way to the narrow streets around the Grand-Place.
Room for a waffle
There is no clock on the game. Stop for a waffle or a Belgian beer near the Grand-Place, carry on later or the next day, and reorder the stops in the app if your hotel is closer to the cathedral than to the Parlamentarium.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who gets the most out of the Brussels hunt
A short stay in Brussels
In one afternoon the hunt links the European Parliament, the royal quarter and the Grand-Place, which many visitors only see on three separate outings. A riddle at each stop makes you look at the detail rather than just the postcard view.
Families
Children like the clues because they are about finding things: two small bronze statues, a gentleman in a top hat striking a bell, a gilded saint on top of a tower. An adult plays along, and everyone in the team can have a go at the answer.
Colleagues from the European Quarter
The start is a few steps from the EU institutions, which makes the hunt an easy team outing for anyone who works in the area. Teams of up to 5 players use their own phones and compare results in front of the cathedral.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The route: from the European Parliament through the royal quarter to the cathedral
10 stops · about 60 min walking · start: Parlamentarium · finish: Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula
The hunt starts at the Parlamentarium in the European Quarter and crosses Place du Luxembourg, then heads west to the Royal Palace and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts on the hill. From the carillon of the Mont des Arts you walk down to Manneken Pis, the Grand-Place and Jeanneke Pis, then through the Royal Galleries of Saint Hubert to finish at the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula. None of the ten stops has a ticket desk to pass, since every riddle is read from the street, and the app lets you choose a different first stop or rearrange the sequence to suit your day.
Open the route map ↗
1ParlamentariumStart
The European Parliament's visitor centre in the Espace Léopold opened in 2011 and is described as the largest parliamentary visitor centre in Europe. Its multimedia exhibition explains how the Parliament and the other EU institutions work, in all 24 official languages of the EU.
2Luxembourg Square (Place du Luxembourg)
Place du Luxembourg is a 19th-century square in the Leopold Quarter, lined with neoclassical houses and closed off by the old Brussels-Luxembourg station building, with the European Parliament rising behind it. In the middle stands a statue of John Cockerill, the English-born industrialist who helped build Belgian industry.
3Royal Palace of Brussels
The Royal Palace is where the King of the Belgians works and receives official guests, although the royal family lives at Laeken. Its present front was built after 1904 on the initiative of Leopold II, on ground once occupied by the medieval Coudenberg Palace, and the flag flies on the roof when the king is in the country.
4Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
The main museum building, designed by Alphonse Balat, opened in 1880. The Royal Museums group several museums, among them the Old Masters Museum, with the Landscape with the Fall of Icarus long attributed to Bruegel, and the Magritte Museum, opened in 2009.
5Carillon of the Mont des Arts
The clock and carillon at the Mont des Arts were built in 1964 by the architect Jules Ghobert and have 24 bells. Twelve painted figures around the clock, one for each hour, run from a Gaul to Charles V, Rubens and a First World War soldier, and a bronze Brussels gentleman in a top hat strikes the bell.
6Manneken Pis
The bronze figure of a little boy, only about 55 cm tall, was made by Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder around 1619–1620. The statue on the corner today is a replica from 1965, while the original is kept in the Brussels City Museum, and the boy owns around a thousand costumes.
7Grand-Place
The Grand-Place is the main square of Brussels and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. The Gothic Town Hall was built between 1401 and 1455, its 96-metre tower is topped by a gilded Saint Michael, and most guild houses around the square were rebuilt after the French bombardment of 1695.
8Jeanneke Pis
Jeanneke Pis is a small fountain statue of a squatting girl, made by Denis-Adrien Debouvrie in 1985 and unveiled in 1987 as a female counterpart to Manneken Pis. It stands behind iron bars at the end of the Impasse de la Fidélité, a narrow alley off the Rue des Bouchers.
Read the full story →
9Royal Galleries of Saint Hubert
The Royal Galleries of Saint Hubert, designed by Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar and opened in 1847, are among the first covered shopping arcades in Europe. Under their long glass roof run three sections, the King's Gallery, the Queen's Gallery and the Princes' Gallery, lined with shops, cafés and a theatre.
Read the full story →
10Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint GudulaFinish
This Brabantine Gothic church grew over three centuries, from the choir begun in 1226 to the west front with its two unfinished 64-metre towers, built in 1470–1485. It became a cathedral in 1962, and in 1999 it hosted the wedding of Prince Philippe and Mathilde.
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Anonymous (verified owner) –
Excellent!
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Kathleen– Belgium –
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chouette activité, nous permet de visiter Bruxelles en une fois et en s amusant
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