The Brussels comic strip route on foot: 17 murals from Place Anneessens to the Comic Art Museum, with what is open each day

One of 2 self-guided walks in Brussels. See every walk.

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: Start at Place Anneessens and finish at the Comic Art Museum: 4.4 km, about an hour of walking, past 17 murals at 11 stops. The murals are outdoors and free; the museum is €14 and closed on Mondays, and sells its last ticket at 17:00. visit.brussels counts over 80 murals on the whole trail, which began in 1991 with Broussaille, so this is the centre rather than all of it. Some of the oldest carry QR codes that link to texts placing them in context. Or book a tour: the comic book walls walking tourad is from €13 (GetYourGuide).

The route

Map of the walk numbered stops in walking order

Open the route in Google Maps - all the stops in walking order, set to walking directions, which is the version to put on your phone.

The walk starts at the western edge of the centre, crosses to the Grand-Place and ends at the museum, so it can be done in either direction. The murals are on the City of Brussels’ own route site, parcoursbd.brussels, which gives each address, year and artist.

Walk it with a guide

A guide adds the stories behind each character. None of these includes the museum. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person, except the museum’s own walk, which is priced per guide.

• The Comic Art Museum’s own guided walk: €162 per guide for a group of up to 25, 2 hours 30 minutes, outdoors, booked three weeks ahead through the museum. It runs in eight languages, including English, and meets at the Grand-Place, Brussels-Central, the museum or the Palace of Justice.
• Brussels: The comic book walls walking tourad: from €13, 4.7 stars from 42 reviews, 2.5 hours.
• Brussels: Comic Strip Walking Tourad: from €85, 5 stars from 10 reviews, 2.5 hours.

1. Place Anneessens

Free · outdoors, always · Place Anneessens 2A and Boulevard Maurice Lemonnier 32

Thorgal (2012, 75 m²) shows the Viking hero with his wife Aaricia, drawn by Grzegorz Rosiński. The series mixes Viking myth with science fiction and fantasy. 167 m on, Froud & Stouf (2014, 63 m²) uses a building whose windows were blocked, probably to avoid the 19th-century tax on windows, as comic panels. Jannin put his two blue philosopher dogs, created in 1996 with the writer Liberski, among the false windows.

2. Rue Terre-Neuve

Free · outdoors, always · Rue Terre-Neuve 25 and Rue Philippe de Champagne 31

Yoko Tsuno (1999, 32 m²) is by Roger Leloup. Yoko is an electronics engineer of Japanese origin who has adventures on Earth, in space and through time, and she has appeared in Spirou since 1970. 115 m on, XIII (2010, 43 m²) is by William Vance and Jean Van Hamme, both born in Brussels according to the City. The thriller began in Spirou in 1984, and the mural catches its misty New York.

3. Rue des Alexiens

Free · outdoors, always · Rue des Alexiens 49

Le jeune Albert (2000, 110 m²) is by Yves Chaland. Albert, nicknamed Al Memory, reads in a red coat in the Marolles of the 1950s, where the yellow trams date the scene.

4. Rue des Bogards

Free · outdoors, always · Rue des Bogards 28 and Rue de la Gouttière 24

Monsieur Jean (2002, 64 m²) is by Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian. He is an ordinary man, a writer who lives in a flat in Paris. Next to it, Kinky & Cosy (2016, 54 m²) is by Nix with the Brussels writer BRT. The gag series began in 2001.

5. Rue du Chêne

Free · outdoors, always · Rue du Chêne 9

Olivier Rameau (1997, 60 m²) is by Dany and Greg. Olivier and his colleague Monsieur Pertinent ride a runaway tram through a forest into the fairy-tale world of Réverose. The series appeared in Tintin magazine from 1968.

The Olivier Rameau mural on Rue du Chêne, Brussels. Photo: Trougnouf, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

6. Rue de l’Étuve

Free · outdoors, always · Rue de l’Étuve 37

Tintin (2005, 36 m²) is by Hergé, from The Calculus Affair (1956). Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock rush down the fire escape of a hotel in the fictional country of Borduria to rescue Professor Calculus. The Manneken Pis stands in the same street. Manneken Pis says which statue is the original, and the statue is stop 4 of the old town walk.

7. Rue du Marché au Charbon

Free · outdoors, always · numbers 19, 39 and 60, then Rue du Bon Secours 9

Four murals on one short stretch:

• Le passage (1995, 20 m², number 19) is by François Schuiten, a nod to Les Cités obscures, the series he made with Benoît Peeters.
• Broussaille (1991 and 2020, 45 m², number 39) is by Frank Pé and Bom, and it is the first mural of the trail. In 1991 the alderman in charge of advertising hoardings refused a billboard a few metres from the Grand-Place and had a comic painted on the wall instead.
• Victor Sackville (1992, 60 m², number 60) is by Francis Carin, François Rivière and Gabrielle Borille. Sackville is a British spy in Brussels in the First World War.
• Ric Hochet (1994 and 2018, 30 m², Rue du Bon Secours 9) is by Tibet and André-Paul Duchâteau. The street’s name means “good help”, and in the scene Ric Hochet risks everything to save his companion Nadine from an attacker.

The Victor Sackville mural on Rue du Marché au Charbon, Brussels. Photo: Trougnouf, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

8. Passage Hilton

Free · outdoors, always · Carrefour de l’Europe 3, 730 m from the last stop

The Smurfs (2018, 207 m²) is by Peyo, the largest of the 17 murals on this walk. Peyo created the Smurfs in Spirou in 1958, in the medieval world of Johan and Peewit. The leg to it is the longest of the walk. The Grand-Place is on the way.

9. Rue de l’Écuyer

Free · outdoors, always · Rue de l’Écuyer 15, 570 m on

Gaston Lagaffe (2007, 40 m²) is by André Franquin. Gaston first appeared on 28 February 1957 in the margins of Spirou, without explanation, and got a series of his own in December that year. He is a clumsy employee of the magazine under Fantasio, who tries to avoid work in order to sleep or play with his pets.

10. Rue du Canon and Rue du Damier

Free · outdoors, always · Rue du Canon at Rue aux Choux, and Rue du Damier 23

Les crocodiles (2020, 47 m²) is by Thomas Mathieu and Juliette Boutant, and every male character in it is a crocodile. In 2013 the Brussels author opened “Le projet crocodile”, a blog that collects and illustrates women’s testimonies of street harassment. 138 m on, La Vache (1992, 32 m²) is by Johan De Moor and Stephen Desberg. The Cow turns into the secret agent Pi = 3.1416 whenever animals or the world are threatened, in an adult animal comic that ran to eight albums.

11. The Comic Art Museum

€14, ages 12 to 25 and 65 and over €11, ages 6 to 11 €6, under 6 free · Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, last tickets 17:00 · closed Mondays · Rue des Sables 20

The Comic Art Museum (formerly the Belgian Comic Strip Center) fills a building that Victor Horta designed as a warehouse for the textile merchant Charles Waucquez, 419 m from La Vache. The museum puts the visit at about 1 hour 30 minutes, and all its texts are in French, Dutch and English.

The Comic Art Museum, in Horta’s former Waucquez warehouse at Rue des Sables 20, Brussels. Photo: Ben2, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

• The permanent exhibitions: The Invention of Comic Strip, The Art of Comic Strip, Horta and the Waucquez Warehouse, The Awakening of Little Nemo and the new A Century of Belgian Comics.
• The temporary shows: Alone. Not even scared (to be scared!), on the comic series Alone, 20 years old, to 15 November 2026. Mangatopia, 30 years of manga from the publisher Kana, from 16 October 2026 to 17 May 2027. Mayhem at the Workshop!, work by ESA Saint-Luc master’s students, in the gallery from 9 October 2026 to 31 January 2027.
• Booking is not mandatory. An online ticket is not a fast lane: the museum scans it at the door, and Brussels Card, museumPASSmusees and Art Nouveau Pass holders enter free but queue too.
• The building is a site on the Art Nouveau Pass. See Brussels Art Nouveau.

Where to buy

More murals off the route

Nine more murals, from the City’s route site, sit elsewhere in the centre. Each is on the street.

visit.brussels sets out five themed routes, all marked for families:

• The historic centre: 3 hours, 5 km, on foot. It takes in the Grand-Place, the Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries, the Cathedral, Place des Martyrs and the Manneken Pis.
• The Marolles: 3 hours, 5 km, with fifteen murals.
• Sainte-Catherine: 3 hours, 5 km, along the canal to the Corto Maltese mural.
• Laeken and Haren: 4 hours, 7 km, on foot and by bus, with the Atomium and Mini-Europe between murals.
• The other communes, including Ixelles and Saint-Gilles: a day and 15 km by bus, tram and metro.

When to go

The timing that works: walk in daylight, start at 11:00 and reach the museum by 16:30, since a visit of about 1 hour 30 minutes ends at closing time. What does not close: the murals, which are on the street.

Getting there and back

• To the start: trams 3 and 4 stop at Lemonnier, on Boulevard Maurice Lemonnier. Brussels public transport has the fares.
• From the end: the museum is on Rue des Sables. Brussels public transport covers the way back.
• Next: the Grand-Place and the Town Hall are on the way between stops 7 and 8.

What to do with the rest of the day

• The Horta houses: the museum is one of nine sites on the Art Nouveau Pass, and the Horta Museum is Horta’s own house.
• More museums: best museums in Brussels lists the others that close on Mondays, and Brussels Card: is it worth it? says when the card pays.
• Free and family: free things to do in Brussels and Brussels with kids list what to add.
• Another walk: the old town walk crosses this route at Rue de l’Étuve and goes on to the Mont des Arts, Place Royale and the Sablon.
• Tours: Brussels walking tours sets the guided walks side by side.
• The whole trip: 3 days in Brussels builds the days round the Monday closures. For a bed, see where to stay in Brussels.

Common questions

How long is the Brussels comic strip route?

The walk on this page is 4.4 km, about an hour of walking, past 17 murals in 11 stops. visit.brussels sells it as a 3-hour, 5 km walk through the historic centre, and counts over 80 murals on the whole trail, which began in 1991.

Is the comic strip route free?

The murals are on the street and cost nothing. The Comic Art Museum at the end is €14 for an adult, €11 for ages 12 to 25 and 65 and over, €6 for ages 6 to 11, and free under 6.

Is the Comic Art Museum open on Mondays?

No, except on 26 October 2026. It is open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, sells its last ticket at 17:00 and is closed on 25 December and 1 January.

Where is the Tintin mural in Brussels?

At Rue de l'Étuve 37, a few steps from the Manneken Pis. It shows Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock on a hotel fire escape, a scene from The Calculus Affair, and it dates from 2005.

Can I take a guided walk of the murals?

Yes. The Comic Art Museum sells a 2 hour 30 minute guided walk for €162 per guide, for groups of up to 25, booked three weeks ahead, without the museum visit. GetYourGuide sells a comic book walls walking tour from €13 and a comic strip walking tour from €85.

What are the QR codes next to some Brussels murals?

Since 2021 the City of Brussels has added texts to the oldest murals that put them in context, and the QR codes link to them. visit.brussels says the texts invite critical reflection without justifying the images.