Food and Drinks in Warande Park
A snack cart appears at the south end of Warande Park around mid-day, but then leaves after the business people who use the park at lunchtime disappear inside the white stone buildings surrounding the park. That’s your best chance for a cold drink if it’s what you’re looking for, otherwise you’ll need to find a café in the neighborhood.
There are many small cafes for fast snacks and picnic gear near the park.

Family Activities in Warande Park
Run through the trees, kick a ball on the lawns, play hide’n’seek, or have a picnic under the sun near the stone pillars. Warande Park lets the kids run freely and chase lots of birds swooping in for summer seeds. While there’s no children’s playground here, the green grass and trees are a change from the otherwise concrete jungle of upper and lower Brussels.

Outside Warande Park
Brussels is divided between the lower town and the upper town. Warande Park is in upper town, which is the highest point in Brussels. The architecture in upper town dates from the mid-1800s. You can get a great view of the lower city from the top of the stairs just southeast of the park, at Royale Koningsplatz.

Brussels’ parliament is across the street from Warande’s north gate. The interior is ornate, if functional to the business of government. You may watch parliament in action when it’s in session. The royal palace is on the opposite end, across the street from Warande’s south gate. A walkway leads you through a small formal garden.

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts is across from the southeast corner of Warande park. It holds more than 20,000 paintings, drawings, and sculptures, including Belgian and European masters the likes of Bosch and Bruegel, Cranach and Memling, Jordaens and Rubens, Delveaux and Magritte. The building also contains the Ancient & Modern Arts Museum.

Most of the other tourist destinations are down the hill, in the section of Brussels called (what else?) Lower Town. Here you’ll find (along with hundreds of others) the “Grand Place” — the main square of Brussels. Merchant and craft guild buildings surround the square. Built in the 1600s, they reflect the wealth (and power) these groups held in Brussels.

Cultural attractions in Brussels include the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Natural History, and the Albert I Library. The Theatre de la Monnaie stages operas and ballets. For a full list of cultural sites and nightlife in the city, visit the Brussels city page.

Directions to Warande Park
Warande Park is on Rue Royale, between Rue de la Welstraat (north) and Place des Palais (south). Brussels’ central train station is just down the hill, from which you can walk up and through the small gardens surrounding the Albertine & Albertina Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. The old town square and market square are a 15 minute walk from the park. Warande Park is free to enter and is open daily from 8 a.m.

(return to Warande Park’s main page here)