Brussels City Guide - Nightlife

Brussels' location at the heart of Europe encourages top artists and budding stars to tour here. However, the city has a thriving home-grown scene of its own. Jazz has been strong since the 1920s and there is year-round live jazz in a cluster of venues, climaxing in the annual Brussels Jazz Marathon in May. The club scene is relatively new, drawing the crowds after much lingering in the city's many bars and Irish pubs that overflow with expatriates. The legal drinking age in Belgium is 16 years.

Aside from the tacky discos for tourists, there is the big-name-DJ-drawing The Fuse (see Clubs below). The best send out their sounds into the night, around Place de St-Géry, Manneken-Pis and in the Marolles district. Clubs open at 2300, heat up at midnight and survive until about 0600. Being foreign and dressed in tune with the club's image helps the admission process along considerably. Entrance is sometimes free but will more likely cost around €7.

Fnac, in the City 2 complex on Rue Neuve (website: www.fnac.be), is the best place for club tickets, although the tourist office on Grand-Place may also be of help. Perhaps the highlight of the clubbing year is the Klinkende Munt outdoor music festival, held every July in Brussels at the Place de la Monnaie, Petit-Chateau and the Beursschouwburg.

Listings and information on nightlife events in Brussels can be found online (website: www.noctis.com). Tels Quels magazine (in French) has the most comprehensive gay nightlife listings.

Bars: Belgium is justly famous for its superb selection of beers, not least those created by Trappist monks at various monasteries around the country. Brussels, furthermore, has its own idiosyncratic varieties, notably the spontaneously fermented Gueuze and the fruit flavoured Kriek varieties. Centrally located beer havens include La Bécasse, Rue de Tabora 11, A La Mort Subite, Rue Montagne aux Herbes Potagères, and La Rose Blanche, Grande-Place 11.

Le Soleil, Rue des Capucins 63, is an intimate little bar, tailor-made for an evening of good beer and good chats. A number of bars transform into clubs as the night wears on, including lively Le Sud, Rue de l'Ecuyer 43-5, open Thursday to Saturday. A quieter evening is on offer at the Théâtre de Toone VII, Impasse Schuddeveld 6, off Petite Rue de Bouchers, where puppets form a backdrop to the drinking. For the younger audience, the bars around Place St Géry are popular venues.

Clubs: Brussels offers around 100 dance venues. Top international DJs play techno, house and jungle at Le Fuse, Rue Blaes 208 (website: www.fuse.be). Bazaar, Rue des Capucins 63 (website: www.bazaarresto.be) is a large and popular restaurant/nightclub complex in Les Marolles. Le You, at Rue Duquesnoy 18 is a prime House, Funk and R'n'B venue with a gay night every Sunday (website: www.leyou.be). The Brussels trendy set goes to Les Jeux d'Hiver, Bois de la Cambre (website: www.jeuxdhiver.be).

Live Music: Jazz dominates the live music scene in Brussels. There is jazz on Saturday and most Sundays at L'Archiduc, Rue Antoine Dansaert 6 (website: www.archiduc.net). Sounds Jazz Club, Rue de la Tulipe 28, is another popular venue for this genre. Mainstream rock acts regularly appear at Ancienne Belgique, Boulevard Anspach 110 (website: www.abconcerts.be). Everything from Electro to jazz can be experienced at Beursschouwburg, Rue Orts 20 (website: www.beursschouwburg.be).

The main venues for touring big-names are the Forest National, Avenue du Globe 36 (website: www.forestnational.be), Botanique, Rue Royale 236 (website: www.botanique.be), and Cirque Royal, Rue de l'Enseignement 81, for smaller acts (website: www.cirque-royal.org).