Shopping

Brussels is not the place to come looking for bargains. On the whole it's rather expensive, though no more so than neighboring big cities like Paris, Amsterdam, and Cologne. Still, there are reasonable prices to be found, and even bargains. A lot depends on where and when you shop. As a general rule, the upper city around avenue Louise and Porte de Namur is more expensive than the lower city around rue Neuve and the city-center shopping galleries around La Monnaie and place de Brouckère. But this is not a fixed rule. For example, rue Haute, in the upper city, is generally inexpensive, while the Galeries Royales St-Hubert, in the lower city, is generally expensive. In any case, the words to look for are Soldes and Solden (meaning "Sales" in French and Dutch, respectively), and the even better Liquidation Totale and Totaal Uitverkoop, spreading the good news that "Everything Must Go."

Store hours are generally 9 or 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday. On Friday evening many city-center stores, particularly department stores, stay open until 8 or 9pm. A useful source of shopping information is the weekly English-language magazine the Bulletin, which keeps tabs on the latest shopping ideas and trends, reviews individual stores, and carries advertising.

Belgian Specialties: Chocolate & More

Lace is the overwhelming favorite purchase in Brussels, followed by crystal, jewelry, antiques, and pewter. Chocolate, beer, and other foods are more economical. Belgians know a thing or two about chocolate. If you have a sweet tooth, you'll feel you're in heaven when you see Brussels's famous chocolate stores, filled with sumptuous soft-centered handmade pralines, from around 12€ ($15) a kilogram (2 1/4 lb.). Just ask anyone who has ever bitten into one of those devilish little creations -- sold by Wittamer, Nihoul, Cornez, Neuhaus, Léonidas, and . . . well, it's a long list. So addictive are they that they really should be sold with a government health warning. You'll find some of the finest confections at Chocolatier Mary.

Lace is another old favorite that's widely available in the city, particularly in and around the Grand-Place. Buy from Maison Antoine or Manufacture Belge de Dentelle.

For beers like gueuze, kriek, and faro, among the 450 or so different Belgian beers, head for the great bar A la Mort Subite.

Other traditional products of Brussels include geneva (gin), of which there are some 270 brands produced by 70 distilleries; crystal, particularly superb Val-Saint-Lambert crystal from Liège; ceramics; jewelry; hand-beaten copper or bronze; and even diamonds, though Brussels is nowhere near as sparkling in this respect as Antwerp. And in souvenir stores you'll find replicas of Manneken-Pis, so you can bring the little guy home with you.

Shopping Promenades

Many of Brussels's most interesting stores are clustered along certain promenades or arcades. You can enjoy a stroll along modern shopping promenades, the busiest of which is pedestrian-only rue Neuve, which starts at place de la Monnaie and extends north to place Rogier; this busy and popular area is home to many boutiques, big department stores like Inno and H&M, and several modern malls including the giant City 2 mall. Boulevard Anspach, which runs from the Stock Exchange up to place de Brouckère, is home to a number of fashion boutiques, chocolate stores, and electronic-appliance stores. The Anspach Center (near place de la Monnaie) is a shopping mall.

One of Europe's oldest "malls," the glass-roofed Galeries Royales St-Hubert (Métro: Gare Centrale) is a light and airy arcade hosting boutiques, restaurants, sidewalk cafes, upmarket bookstores, a theater and a movie theater, and street musicians playing classical music. Built in Italian neo-Renaissance style and opened in 1847, architect Pierre Cluysenaer's gallery offers shopping with a touch of class and is well worth strolling through even if you have no intention of even looking in a store window. The elegant, glass-roofed gallery of three connected wings -- Galerie du Roi, Galerie de la Reine, and Galerie des Princes -- was the forerunner of other city arcades like the Burlington in London. The Galeries Royales St-Hubert is just north of the Grand-Place, between rue du Marché-aux-Herbes and rue de l'Ecuyer, and is split by rue de Bouchers. There are entrances on each of these streets.

Some of the trendiest boutiques are on rue Antoine-Dansaert, across from the Bourse. An interesting street for window-shopping, rue des Eperonniers, near the Grand-Place, hosts many small stores selling antiques, toys, old books, and clothing. The Galerie Agora (off of the Grand-Place) offers a wide variety of modestly priced merchandise, including leather goods, clothing, souvenirs, records, and jewelry.

Avenue Louise attracts those in search of world-renowned, high-quality goods from such stores as Cartier, Burberry's, Louis Vuitton, and Valentino.

Outdoor Markets

At the Vieux-Marché flea market on place du Jeu-de-Balle, a large square in the Marolles district, you can find some exceptional decorative items, many recycled from the homes of the "recently deceased," as well as unusual postcards, clothing, and household goods. So you should be able to snap up a bargain on everything from the weird to the wonderful. The market is held daily 7am to 2pm. After its closing time, you can hunt around in the leftovers for bizarre things that nobody wanted at any price.

Every weekend the place du Grand-Sablon hosts a fine antiques market. The salesmanship is low-key, the interest pure, the prices not unreasonable (don't expect bargains though), and the quality of the merchandise -- which includes silverware, pottery, paintings, and jewelry -- is high. The market is open Saturday 9am to 6pm and Sunday 9am to 2pm.

The Grand-Place has a daily Flower Market. Nearby, at the top end of rue du Marché-aux-Herbes, in a square loosely called the Agora, there's a weekend Crafts Market, with lots of fine specialized jewelry and other items, mostly inexpensive.

The area around the Gare du Midi is the site of the vast Sunday Market, which lasts from 6am to 1pm. It features a large number of Middle Eastern and south European merchants who offer food, clothing, and household items and odds and ends at low cost, as well as unusual items from their home areas. You can find many excellent food bargains, making it a perfect place to gather provisions for a few days. Because many of the merchants are of Arab origin, the scene resembles a casbah. Hold onto your wallet because the market attracts pickpockets. (Don't park in this area on a Saturday evening, planning to leave your car there on Sunday -- it will be towed for sure.)

From mid-May to September, painters, sculptors, potters, photographers, and other artists sell their work -- and some of them produce it too -- at the Marché d'Art, Parvis St-Pierre, Uccle. The market is open on Sunday from 10am to 1pm.

Two weekends before Christmas is the occasion for the European Union Christmas Market in the Grand-Place. From Friday evening until Sunday evening, the square is a hub of activity, as each country of the E.U. sets out its stall with traditional foods and other products. There's music, singing, and dancing, and the festive spirit is fueled by mulled wine and typical national drinks. The main problem is that at times the square gets so busy that it is almost impossible to move. Still, this is another colorful and memorable event.

An Affordable Wine Source

If you're planning to buy wine by the bottle, don't be fooled into the idea that you have to go to some expensive wine store to get something worthwhile. The midprice Delhaize supermarket chain has built up an enviable reputation and a loyal local following for the quality of its wine department. Delhaize's buyers look for good value in all price categories and have an adventurous streak that makes them look beyond just the classic names. There are Delhaize supermarkets all over Brussels (and Belgium). Ask at your hotel desk for the nearest branch and try it out.