Hôtel Métropole's cafe-bar is the grand old lady of Brussels' cafes. With its wonderful high ornate ceilings, enormous glass chandeliers, padded red leather seats, elegant red lampshades and giant picture windows, it's perfect for apéritifs and people-watching.

The Belga Queen is Brussels' queen of indulgence. Generous opening hours, a fabulous restaurant with an equally fab crowd, a lustrous ecailler (oyster bar) and a cigar bar leave you no excuses for not visiting. The main menu (split between meat and fish) even has a vegetarian section and low-calorie options for visiting supermodels.

This old coach inn, dating from the 18th century, is worth seeking out if you're after a 'true' Brussels eatery. Arrive with a healthy appetite to try one of the classic beer-soaked Belgian mains such as pintadeau à la bière de framboise (guinea-fowl in raspberry beer).

Belgium's national symbol, the statue known as Manneken Pis, is just a wee boy, literally. This tiny sculpture of a young boy happily taking a leak is sometimes missed because it's so small, but it is visited, sooner or later, by just about everyone who comes to Brussels.

The statue's origins are lost in time: some say he was the son of a nobleman, others say he was a boy who once found an unusual and risky way to put out a house fire.

He was first carved in stone in the mid-14th century and called 'Little Julian.' In 1619 a bronze version was sculpted by Jerôme Duquesnoy, and this is the Manneken Pis we see today.

Whoever the little boy with the big bladder was, for centuries the people of Brussels have adopted him as a kind of mascot. On various occasions, such as public holidays, they like to dress him up in little costumes, of which more than 650 have been made.

Brussels' magnificent central square, Grand Place, boasts the country's finest baroque guildhalls, popular pavement cafes and intimate restaurants. Hidden at the core of the old town, it's only revealed as you enter the narrow side alleys surrounding the square, a discreet position that adds to its charm.

The square dates from the 12th century and was once marshland. By the mid-14th century, Brussels was booming and a prosperous market covered not only the Grand Place but also the surrounding streets.

The city's increasingly wealthy merchant guildhalls were established in the middle of the milieu and the city added the Hôtel de Ville, cementing the Grand Place's role as the hub of commercial, political and civic life in Brussels. If you were promoting a jousting tournament or public execution in medieval Belgium, this would have been your A-list venue.

Most of the square's historic buildings were destroyed in 1695, when France's King Louis XIV bombarded the area for 36 hours. The Hôtel de Ville was the only major building to survive - ironic, considering that it was the primary target - and nearly all the other buildings on Grand Place today are 17th-century replacements.

Only 20 visitors at a time can fit into this museum; others have to wait on the street. The curators have painstakingly assembled hundreds of original items - from Magritte's passport to paintings, photos, furniture and a pipe.

This museum houses Belgium's premier collections of ancient and modern art and is particularly well endowed with works by Pieter Breugel the Elder, Rubens and the Belgian surrealists. Both sections are large and you'll need a good day here if you want to do them justice.

Highlights of the Museum of Ancient Art are paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries, including Flemish primitives, Hans Memling, Rogier Van der Weydan, Dirk Bouts, and a whole room dedicated to Hieronymus Bosch.

Rubens dominates the 17th- and 18th-century collection, including the magnificent Adoration of the Magi, although you'll also get to appreciate fantastic pieces by Brueghel the Elder and Anthony van Dyck.

The rich 19th-century exhibition covers Romanticism, Orientalism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and includes wonderful work by Paul Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard, and James Ensor, among others. The highlight for many, however, is the 20th century with its spectacular collection of Surrealism, and work by Paul Delvaux, Giorgio de Chirico, and the largest collection of Magrittes in one place anywhere! There's also a lovely sculpture garden, a decent cafe and an excellent bookshop.

Anyone with even a vague interest in Belgian beer must not miss the excellent family-run Cantillon brewery, where the owners still proudly use traditional methods to make their fine lambic beers.

Also called 'the champagne of the poor', lambic is a unique beer that takes years to make and comes out sparkling right when you need it. There are three main types. The most popular (but still something of an acquired taste) is gueuze, a sour, refreshing beer made from a mix of different-aged lambics.

Kriek comes from lambic mixed with real cherries, and traditionally has a rather sour taste similar to Framboise, a slightly sweeter raspberry beer. Faro is a sweet beer with a short shelf-life (the caramel and sugar added to the lambic cause strong fermentation and possible explosions).

Seventy years ago there were some 50 family-run breweries in Brussels, but today the century-old Cantillon Brewery is the sole survivor. So grab an English-language leaflet and make your way around the ancient, and at times dusty, complex. Then head back to sample two of the brews on the house.

This state-of-the-art club, with cool ice-box lighting and disco balls, is Brussels' biggest and one of Europe's best for techno and house. Spread over several floors, it crams clubbers in on weekends.

Victor Horta's gorgeous Art-Deco palace, reborn as BOZAR, is now a vibrant Centre for Fine Arts. It has an exciting programme of classical music (from chamber music to symphony orchestras), Belgian jazz, innovative dance and theatre (occasionally in English), along with challenging art exhibitions and film, architecture and literary events.

Ravishing, century-old Art-Nouveau cafe (it was listed as a protected monument in 2000) includes fittings courtesy of well-known interior decorator Victor Horta. Ease yourself onto a well-padded banquette amidst the pressed-metal ceilings, chandeliers and stained glass, and savour a Leffe Tripel in a style to which you could easily become accustomed.