As a Swiss person I obviously love chocolate. It is said that Belgium chocolate is just as good as the Swiss one and of course I had to find out if that is true. I went on a quest to find the best hot chocolate in Brussels. After almost having a sugar shock due to all the hot chocolates I have to admit that Belgium has delicious chocolate. Find out where you can find the best hot chocolate in Brussels and other things to do in Brussels in that post.

The best hot chocolate in Brussels

If you are in the bustling city center you will soon realize that every second shop sells freshly self-made melted hot chocolate. Someone even laughed at me when I asked about the best one. “They are all good. You are hardly going to find a place that uses powder. It should be all real melted chocolate.” Well, there they actually are a step ahead of Switzerland. In Switzerland it’s still a bit of an inside knowledge to find a place where they don’t use powder. You can find a list of the places with the best hot chocolate in Switzerland here.

Neuhaus

Back to the city center of Brussels. Just look out for the machines that are rotating a brown liquid. Many of the cute souvenir shops sell a cup for €4. I tried one of Neuhaus because they are famous in Belgium. It was good but compared to the other ones I had only mediocre. (We’re talking on a high level here).

The Gallery

Since we wanted to find a restaurant where we could sit down, we ended up in an authentic, rustic French café (Le Pain Quotidien) in the galleries with healthy food. It’s called Le Pain Quotidien and if you order a big hot chocolate there, you receive a swimming pool. That cup could easily be shared. The big one costs €5 and the small one €4 for the normal size. This cup of chocolate was delicious and was even made with organic chocolate.

So, both places we tried in Brussels were good and all the other ones looked great as well. However, as I was in Ghent the day before and tried the hot chocolate there as well, the hot chocolates in Brussels had a tough competition. In Ghent (read more about things to do in Ghent here), we found a cute café right next to the big cathedral. You will recognize it on the big slices of cake in the window. There, you still had some of the actual melted chocolate inside and you could chose different flavors (for example caramel, dark, vanilla,…) We even received one of their pralines for free to go with the drink. And that only at €3.50 a cup. Definitely a place worth going back to! That was the best hot chocolate in Belgium for me!

Other things to do in Brussels

With so much sugar in your blood, you have enough energy to walk the streets in Brussels. Brussels is on a hill and therefore there are ups and downs, which is a bit odd since Belgium otherwise is pretty much flat.
You shouldn’t miss the big square with the amazingly beautiful houses in the center of town. Then of course the famous statue of Manneken Pis. Did you know that there also is a female version of it? I wrote a more detailed post about the sights in Brussels and how to find them. Check it out here.
There are a few nice museums and as a lover of surrealism it was a must for me to visit the museum of Belgian painter René Magritte. But you can also find a lot of free art in form of cool murals.
Have a look at the several beautiful cathedrals and then take the tram out to the Atominum which looks cool from any angle. In case you need another enforcement, I’d recommend a Brussel waffel. Click here to read the post about the waffel with the best view.

Where did you have the best hot chocolate in Brussels? Or even in the world?