Pentagon, Brussels: neighborhood guide

The Pentagon (Le Pentagone, Vijfhoek) is the old city inside the ring of boulevards that traces the 14th-century walls. Its five sides give the name. Everything the postcard Brussels promises sits here: Grand-Place, the Royal Galleries, the Marolles, the fish restaurants around Place Sainte-Catherine and the Dansaert design strip.

It is also the working centre of a country and a half. EU staff, commuters and shoppers fill the streets on weekdays, and the same streets empty out after 19:00 except around Saint-Géry and Dansaert, where bars stay busy. The upper town, around Place Poelaert and the Palace of Justice, is quieter and more residential, with a free lift dropping you into the Marolles below.

Distances are small. From Grand-Place you can walk to the Marolles in 10 minutes, to Dansaert in 12 and to Place Sainte-Catherine in 6. The trade-off is that the Pentagon is the most expensive and most tourist-heavy part of Brussels, and the streets around the Grand-Place are the least local you will find in the city.

Stay if this is your first visit, you are arriving by train and you want to walk to dinner, the museums and the beer bars without planning transport. Stay if you have two or three nights and no car.

Do not stay if you need parking, quiet nights, a large modern room or a low price. The same money buys more space in Woluwe, Heysel or Molenbeek, all 20–30 minutes away by metro. Families with a car and travellers on a tight budget are usually happier outside the Pentagon and visiting it by day.

Place Sainte-Catherine is the seafood quarter: several restaurants face the square and serve fish and shellfish, with prices to match. Rue des Bouchers nearby is the tourist strip; walk one block off it for better value. The Marolles and Dansaert have the newer kitchens, from Belgian classics to small Asian and Middle Eastern places, and Rue Antoine Dansaert is where the beer bars and cocktail rooms cluster.

For cheap eating, look at the snack counters around the Bourse and the Marolles: sandwiches, fries, Turkish and Moroccan grills. Brussels' own dishes to try are moules-frites, carbonnade flamande (beef stewed in beer), waterzooi and the waffles sold from street windows. The Brussels Beer Project on Dansaert brews its own beer and runs short tours with a tasting; booking ahead is recommended because groups are small (2026 estimate: about €12).

Most kitchens serve lunch roughly 12:00–14:30 and dinner 18:30–22:30; many close one day a week, often Sunday or Monday. Check before you walk across town.

Brussels-Central station sits inside the Pentagon, a 5-minute walk from Grand-Place, with direct trains to the airport, Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp. Brussels-North and Brussels-South (Midi) are just outside the ring; from Midi take metro 2 or 6 to Louise or Porte de Hal, or walk 20 minutes.

Inside the Pentagon, walk. The metro and premetro cover the edges rather than the middle: lines 1 and 5 cross at De Brouckère and Centrale, lines 2 and 6 loop the small ring, and premetro 3, 4, 32, 33, 48, 51, 82, 92 and 93 fill in the rest. A single ticket costs about €2.10–2.60 depending on where you buy it (2026 estimate); a day pass is usually better if you take four or more rides. Buy at machines or by contactless card where accepted.

Trams 92 and 93 stop at Poelaert, and a free lift connects Poelaert Square with the Marolles below. Taxis and ride-hailing work but are slow in the one-way streets; the metro is faster for anything beyond the ring.