Indoor Activities in Brussels for Rainy Days

Best Things to Do in Brussels When It Rains

Brussels weather can be a little unpredictable, especially depending on the time of year you visit. We came at the end of April, and while we had some sunny moments, we also got our share of cloudy skies and rain. Basically, it was the kind of weather where sunglasses and an umbrella both deserved a spot in the bag.

Luckily, a rainy day does not mean sitting in your hotel waiting for the weather to improve. Brussels has plenty of indoor things to do, from museums and historic buildings to chocolate and beer experiences. So whether the rain lasts an hour or sticks around all day, you can adjust your itinerary, head indoors, and keep exploring. And when the sun comes back out, you can continue waddling around the city.

Does It Rain a Lot in Brussels

Brussels is one of those cities where the weather can change its mind quickly. Rain is possible year-round, and even in spring and summer, a sunny morning doesn’t necessarily mean it will stay that way all day. When we visited at the end of April, we experienced exactly that mix, with sunshine, clouds, and rain all making an appearance.

Our advice is simple: pack for both. Bring a small umbrella or light waterproof jacket, wear comfortable shoes that can handle a bit of rain, and do not let a grey forecast scare you away from exploring. The good thing about Brussels is that when the rain does arrive, there is usually a museum, gallery, chocolate shop, café or pub nearby where you can hide until it passes. Not exactly the worst travel problem to have.

Best Indoor Things to Do in Brussels When It Rains

These are indoor activities we actually did during our time in Brussels, and many of them can keep you busy for an hour or two, or even longer. So if the rain decides to stick around, you do not have to put your sightseeing on hold. Just swap your outdoor plans for one of these, stay dry, and keep the Brussels waddle going indoors.

#1: Explore the Atomium From the Inside

The Atomium might look like an outdoor attraction, but once you have taken the obligatory photos outside, most of the experience happens indoors. You can waddle through its giant spheres, explore exhibitions, ride the slightly futuristic escalators connecting them, and head up to the top sphere for views over Brussels. It is also a good place to spend a couple of hours when the weather outside is not cooperating.

We went inside during our Brussels trip and were surprised by how much there actually is to explore beyond simply seeing the Atomium from outside. If you want to know exactly what to expect, what the spheres are like, and whether we think going inside is worth it, check out our full blog post, Inside Brussels’ Giant Atomium.

#2: Spend a Few Hours at the Royal Military Museum

If the rain looks like it is going to stick around for a while, the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History is a great place to hide from it. And when we say a few hours, we really mean it. The museum is much bigger than we expected, covering everything from uniforms and weapons to tanks, military history and an enormous Aviation Hall filled with aircraft.

We didn’t spend as much time here as we’d liked because our Brussels itinerary was already pretty packed. You could easily spend half a day here, or even most of the day if you like reading everything and exploring the collections properly. Our favorite part was definitely the Aviation Hall, but there was much more to explore. If you want to see what you can expect inside, check out our full blog post One of Brussels’ Most Underrated Museums: Royal Military Museum.

#3: Check Out the Cars at Autoworld

This is one of the easiest rainy-day combinations in Brussels. Autoworld sits right across Parc du Cinquantenaire from the Royal Military Museum, so once you finish exploring one museum, you basically need to make a quick dash across the park, and you are back indoors again. If the rain has decided it isn’t going anywhere, you could easily spend half a day at the Military Museum and another few hours at Autoworld, and suddenly most of your rainy day is sorted.

Inside Autoworld, you can waddle through the history of cars, from early automobiles and vintage classics to sports cars and racing legends. We visited both museums on the same day and enjoyed the combination, even though we are not exactly huge car fans. There was still plenty to keep us interested, and it worked really well as part of our Cinquantenaire visit. If you want to see what you can expect inside, we also wrote a full blog post: Autoworld Brussels: From Vintage Cars to Racing Legends.

#4: Discover Belgian Beer World

You cannot really visit Belgium without coming across Belgian beer, so a rainy day is the perfect excuse to learn a little more about what is actually in your glass. Belgian Beer World is one museum we especially recommend because it doesn’t feel like you are just walking around reading information boards. The experience is interactive, playful, and closely connected to Belgian beer culture, so you can easily spend a couple of hours here while the rain does its thing outside.

We visited Belgian Beer World ourselves and really enjoyed the experience, from learning about different beers and brewing to the tasting at the end. There is also a rooftop terrace, which is obviously much better when Brussels decides to give you some sunshine, but even if it is pouring outside, the main experience is indoors. So grab a beer, stay dry, and call it cultural research. We wrote much more about what you can expect in our separate blog post, Belgian Beer World Brussels Review.

#5: Learn About Belgian Chocolate at Belgian Chocolate Village

If beer isn’t your thing, Belgian chocolate might do the trick. Belgian Chocolate Village is smaller than some of the museums we have already mentioned, so you do not need to dedicate half a day to it. We would say around an hour is enough for a regular visit, making it a good option when you are simply trying to escape a rainy spell.

Inside, you can learn about the journey from cocoa bean to Belgian chocolate, see chocolate creations, visit the tropical greenhouse, and watch a chocolatier at work. If you want to stay longer, you can also sign up for one of their chocolate workshops, where you actually get to make chocolate yourself. We visited Belgian Chocolate Village during our trip. We wrote more about the experience in our separate post, A Penguin’s Guide to Belgian Chocolate. Chocolate while hiding from the rain in Brussels? We can definitely think of worse ways to spend an afternoon.

#6: Visit St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral

If you only need somewhere to escape the rain for a little while, St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral is an easy option right in central Brussels. The main cathedral is free to enter, so you can step inside, stay dry and spend some time checking out the Gothic architecture, stained-glass windows and impressive interior while you wait for the weather to improve.

You don’t need to spend half a day here, which makes it perfect for those short Brussels rain showers. We stopped here while waddling around the city, and even if churches aren’t normally at the top of your itinerary, it is worth a look inside. Hopefully, by the time you come back out, Brussels has turned the rain off again.

#7: Hide From the Rain in Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert

If the rain suddenly catches you while exploring central Brussels, Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert is a very convenient place to hide for a while. This historic covered shopping arcade has a huge glass roof, so you can still waddle around, admire the architecture and browse the shops without getting soaked outside.

It is a little bit more chic and fancy than your average rainy-day shelter, with boutiques, cafés and, naturally, plenty of Belgian chocolate tempting you along the way. You can waddle through for free, or use the rain as an excuse to stop for a coffee or something sweet. Not a bad place to wait for Brussels weather to sort itself out.

#8: Eat Your Way Around WOLF Food Market

If the rain arrives at the same time as your hunger, we definitely recommend heading to WOLF Food Market. We really loved the vibe here, and the building itself makes the stop even more interesting. WOLF is located inside a former bank headquarters built in 1943, and many elements from the old banking hall were reused in the current design, including marble counters, old desks, and even pieces of the glass ceiling.

Today, it is all about food. You will find 16 different restaurants, with everything from Syrian food and fresh pasta to sushi, burgers, pizza, and vegetarian options, plus a microbrewery producing beer right on site. We stopped here during our Brussels trip and really enjoyed the whole setup. It is a great place to grab lunch, take your time choosing what to eat, and hang around until the rain decides to move on. And with so many choices under one roof, everyone can basically eat something different without having to agree on one restaurant.

#9: Have a Belgian Beer

If it is absolutely pouring down outside, sometimes the best plan is the simplest: find a pub, get comfortable, and work your way through a few Belgian beers. You are in Belgium, after all, so we are counting this as cultural research. We did exactly that at the famous Delirium Café, which is known for its enormous beer selection. It is the kind of place where you can easily hide from the rain for an hour or two, try a couple of Belgian beers you have never heard of, and wait to see if the weather improves. Just remember that with so many beers to choose from, the rain might stop long before you are ready to leave.

#10: Visit the Magritte Museum

If you want to add some art to your rainy Brussels day, the Magritte Museum would probably be our first pick. It houses the world’s largest collection of works and archives by Belgian surrealist René Magritte, with around 230 pieces including paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs and films. Even if you are not usually the type to get excited about art museums, Magritte is weird enough to make things interesting. It is also right in the center around Place Royale, making it easy to add when the rain suddenly starts.

#11: Explore Train World

If you want another museum where you can spend a decent chunk of a rainy day, Train World looks like one of the more interactive options. It takes you through the history of Belgian railways with historic locomotives, railway objects, and immersive displays. You can walk among old locomotives, climb aboard century-old trains, and even experience what it feels like to drive one. It is a little outside the historic center in Schaerbeek, so we would probably save this one for a day when the forecast looks properly miserable rather than for a random 30-minute shower.

#12: Go Underground at Coudenberg Palace

This one sounds especially good for a rainy day because you can literally go underneath Brussels. The Coudenberg archaeological site lets you explore underground passages, cellars, and remains of the former Palace of Brussels, once associated with Emperor Charles V. So. At the same time everyone else is getting soaked above ground, you can wander through the remains of a palace beneath the city.

#13: Learn About Belgium at the BELvue Museum

If you finish your Brussels trip knowing a lot about beer, chocolate and waffles but not much about Belgium itself, the BELvue Museum could fix that. 😅 It focuses on Belgium’s history and society through themes such as democracy, migration, languages and Europe, alongside more than 200 objects connected to the country. It is another useful option around the Royal Quarter, so you could easily combine it with the Magritte Museum or Coudenberg when the weather refuses to cooperate.

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Create Your Own Rainy-Day Museum Hop

If the forecast shows rain for most of the day, you can also turn it into your own little Brussels museum hop. Several indoor attractions are close enough to combine, so you can spend most of the day exploring indoors without constantly crossing the city in the rain.

• Cinquantenaire. Combine the Royal Military Museum + Autoworld. They sit on opposite sides of Parc du Cinquantenaire, so you only need to make one quick rainy dash across the park. You could easily spend half a day in each if you take your time.
• Central Brussels. Combine Belgian Beer World + Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert + St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral. They are all around central Brussels, with plenty of cafés, chocolate shops, and restaurants nearby for extra rain cover.
• Royal Quarter. Combine the Magritte Museum, BELvue Museum, and Coudenberg Palace. We did not visit these ourselves, but they are clustered around Place Royale, making them a practical option when you want to spend most of the day indoors.
• Atomium Area. Start with the Atomium and spend a couple of hours exploring the spheres and exhibitions. This area has fewer indoor attractions within a very short walk, so we would probably combine the Atomium with another museum elsewhere rather than trying to spend the entire rainy day around Heysel.

The best part is that you do not really need to plan your whole trip around the weather. Keep a few of these combinations in mind, check the forecast in the morning, and move your museum day to whichever day Brussels decides to pour.

What to Do if It Only Rains for an Hour

If Brussels gives you one of those random showers that looks like it will disappear as quickly as it arrived, there is no need to change your itinerary completely. Find somewhere nearby and turn it into an unplanned little stop. Pop inside St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, waddle through Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, browse a chocolate shop or grab a coffee and something sweet. If hunger strikes at the same time, WOLF Food Market works perfectly, and if it is already beer o’clock, well, hiding in a Belgian pub until the rain passes sounds like a pretty solid backup plan to us.

What to Do if It Rains All Day

If you wake up, look out the window, and Brussels has apparently decided that rain is today’s entire personality, that is when we would rearrange the itinerary and make it a proper museum day. Pick three or four larger indoor attractions and build your day around them rather than spending half your time running through the rain between smaller sights.

You could spend the morning at the Royal Military Museum, dash across Parc du Cinquantenaire to Autoworld, stop somewhere for lunch and then finish with Belgian Beer World in the afternoon. Another option is to spend a couple of hours inside the Atomium, head to Belgian Chocolate Village and finish somewhere central with dinner or a few Belgian beers. You might not get the Brussels day you originally planned, but you don’t have to lose an entire sightseeing day just because the weather refuses to cooperate.

What to Pack for a Rainy Day in Brussels

You don’t need to pack for a full expedition, but a few rain-friendly items can make exploring Brussels much easier.

• Small umbrella. Something compact you can keep in your bag, because rain can appear when you least expect it.
• Light waterproof jacket. Especially useful when the rain is too annoying for an umbrella but not bad enough to stop exploring.
• Comfortable waterproof shoes. Brussels involves a lot of walking, and spending the rest of the day waddling around in wet shoes is definitely not fun.
• Layers. The temperature can change throughout the day, especially in spring and autumn, so layers make life much easier.
• Small backpack: Handy for carrying your umbrella, extra layer, water and anything else you might need without dragging a huge bag around museums.
• A flexible itinerary. Technically not something you can pack, but probably the most useful thing to bring. Keep a few indoor attractions saved and swap your plans around if Brussels gives you a rainy day.

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A little rain doesn’t have to ruin a trip to Brussels. When we visited at the end of April, we had a bit of everything, from sunshine and blue skies to cloudy moments and rain. It simply meant adjusting our plans depending on what Brussels decided to throw at us that day.

What we liked is that Brussels makes this pretty easy. There are so many museums and indoor attractions that you can move your sightseeing indoors without feeling like you are missing out. You can spend hours exploring the Military Museum or Autoworld, learn about Belgian beer and chocolate, wander through covered galleries or hide in a pub with a Belgian beer until the rain gives up.

So pack an umbrella, keep your itinerary flexible, and don’t let a rainy forecast put you off visiting Brussels. Some of the rainiest moments might give you an excuse to discover somewhere you would otherwise have walked straight past. And if everything else fails, there is always chocolate and beer.

Travel Bold. Eat Well. Waddle Wild.

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