Brussels walking tours compared: the tip-based Grand-Place tours, paid walks from €25, a tasting walk and the bike tours

💡 The Short Version: The free tours are tip-based: reserve a place at no charge, meet on the Grand-Place in front of the Town Hall, and tip what the tour was worth. SANDEMANs’ Free Tour takes 2.5 hours and ends at the Mont des Arts; Walkative’s takes 2 hours 45. Paid walks start from €25 (the 2.5-hour Guided Walking Tour, 4.6 stars from 4,320 reviews), and a walking and tasting tour is €70. Bike tours are €25 to €39, bike included. The free tours go inside nothing: the Town Hall and the museums sell their own tickets. Or book now: the Guided Walking Tourad is from €25 and the City Highlights Walking and Tasting Tourad is from €70 (GetYourGuide).

The tours compared

Paid prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” price for one adult. The free tours have no price: the guides ask for a tip.

The flea market on the Place du Jeu de Balle in the Marolles. Photo: DimiTalen, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Free walking tours

A free tour and a paid one cover the same few streets of the centre. On a free tour the guide is paid only by tips, so the cost is yours to set.

SANDEMANs Free Tour of Brussels

Tip at the end · 2.5 hours · English and Spanish · wheelchair accessible

SANDEMANs starts in front of the Town Hall tower on the Grand-Place and finishes by the Mont des Arts. It says tours run in rain, hail or shine and are never cancelled. The route takes in the Grand-Place and the Maison du Roi, the Stock Exchange, the Royal Galleries of Saint-Hubert, the Manneken Pis, La Monnaie, St Nicholas’ Church and the Mont des Arts, with a stop for the comic murals. Gratuities for the guide are optional. The booking page shows the times.

Walkative

Pay what you wish · 2 hours 45 · English and Spanish · booking obligatory

Walkative runs its Historic Centre Free Walking Tour with Belgo Tours guides, who carry a yellow umbrella with the company’s logo. It meets on the Grand-Place in front of the Gothic facade of the Town Hall and goes through the Old Town to the Marolles and the Sablon, then the Royal Quarter, the Royal Palace and the Mont des Arts, where it ends. Groups of 8 or more cannot join and must book a private tour. Walkative says most guests give between €10 and €50 a person. It also runs a 1.5-hour evening tour, Legends and Dark Stories.

Notre-Dame du Sablon, the Gothic church on the Sablon square. Photo: Leogs, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

GuruWalk

Tip at the end · 1.5 to 2.5 hours

GuruWalk is a marketplace of independent guides, and its Brussels listings include general history tours, evening legends-and-mystery walks and tasting walks. The reservation is free, and each listing gives its language, start time, meeting point and duration. GuruWalk recommends a tip of €15 to €50 a participant.

The Rue des Bouchers in the evening, a street of restaurant terraces a few steps from the Grand-Place. Photo: Rex, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

Paid walks

From €25 · 2 to 3 hours

A paid walk gives a fixed price, and every tour below cancels free on GetYourGuide.

• The Guided Walking Tourad is from €25 for 2.5 hours, 4.6 stars from 4,320 reviews, in English, French and Spanish. The listing says it must be booked at least 2 hours ahead and mentions tasting traditional Belgian chocolates.
• The Must-See Attractions & Hidden Gems walkad is from €28 for 2 hours, 4.8 stars from 211 reviews. It has a private option.
• The Highlights and Hidden Gems walkad is from €30 for 3 hours, the longest of the standard walks.
• The City Highlights Walking and Tasting Tourad is from €70 for 2.5 hours, in English, 4.9 stars from 577 reviews. It is the walk to book when you want food on the route; Brussels food tours compares it with the chocolate, beer and waffle tours.
• A private walk is €295 for 3 hoursad, for a group of up to 20, with pickup available.

Themed walks

• The comic-strip murals have a free self-guided route, and the Comic Art Museum sells a guided walk of them for €162 a guide, 2 hours 30 for up to 25 people, booked 3 weeks ahead: see the Brussels comic-strip route.
• Art Nouveau houses open on their own tickets or the Art Nouveau Pass: see Brussels Art Nouveau.
• The Grand-Place and its guildhalls need no guide for the square itself: the Grand-Place page says what each building is.

Bike tours

€25 to €39 · 3.5 hours · bike included

Groovy Brussels meets on the Grand-Place and rides for 3.5 hours at 10:00 in groups of up to 14, with regular bikes and no e-bikes. The price is €39 with the bike, and food and drink are extra: the halfway stop is for frites and beer at Maison Antoine. Riders must be at least 1.50 m tall, there are no child seats, and helmets are not provided or compulsory. Booking is required, and the tour runs daily from April. About 300 metres of the route are uphill. The Brussels Card gives 30% off Pro Velo’s bike tours; the Brussels Card sums say when the card pays.

On GetYourGuide the Highlights and Hidden Gems bike tourad is from €35 and the Sightseeing Bike Tour Beyond the City Centerad from €25, both 3.5 hours.

Which to book

• A first orientation on a budget: a free tour from the Grand-Place, with a tip of your choosing.
• A set price and a group size: the Guided Walking Tour at €25, or the 2-hour Must-See walk at €28.
• More ground in a morning: the 3-hour Highlights and Hidden Gems walk, or a bike tour.
• Food on the route: the walking and tasting tour, €70.
• A group of 8 or more: a private walk, since Walkative’s free tours turn such groups away.
• A loop with commentary on a bus: the hop-on hop-off bus, from €24.75.
• No guide: the old town walk is a self-guided route from Brussels-Central to the Sablon, with the opening days for each stop.
• A museum day: none of these is covered by the Brussels Card; Brussels Card: is it worth it? has the sums.

What to book before you go to Brussels lists the closed days for every sight, because a walk passes what is shut on a Monday and does not go inside. The Manneken Pis and the Town Hall are on every route, and free things to do in Brussels lists what to add on your own.