Art and culture

You might not think you like Belgium’s surrealist master, but the beautifully curated Magritte Museum will convince you otherwise. Take advantage of a combi-ticket to check out the room full of Breugels on the first floor of the fine arts museum in the same complex.

On the up-and-coming canalfront, MIMA has taken over a disused brewery and converted it into a thrilling tribute to "2.0 culture": street art, video installations and more. Another great reuse of space is La Patinoire Royale, a 19th century rollerskating rink turned vast, high-ceilinged shrine to contemporary art.

For a different kind of artistic experience, order a local beer and soak up the surroundings at La Fleur en Papier Doré, the surrealists’ favourite, packed with paintings, photographs and memorabilia dating back to the 1920s.

Shop

IIf Rue Dansaert and its surrounding streets are Brussels’ fashion nerve centre, Stijl is its heart. Owner Sonja Noël has been Belgian fashion’s fairy godmother since the 1980s and her neighbouring women’s and men’s boutiques are the perfect spot for your Ann Demeulemeester or Dries Van Noten style fix.

Around the corner at ultra-creative Hunting and Collecting there’s a playful spirit at work: every season the whole interior has a themed overhaul (think ‘paradise’ or ‘après ski’).

For another take on Belgian style, dive into Gabriele Vintage, where delicate flapper gowns, silk bowler hats and designer pieces from the likes of Lanvin and Lacroix create a stylish picture of bygone Brussels.

Stay

In a belle époque mansion with a huge, rambling garden, Louise 345 has a private club feel: the four suites have handpainted wallpaper, antique furniture and enough space to swing a whole zoo; while downstairs, gifted chef Isabelle Arpin serves the best of Belgian cooking.

Ghent

As beautiful as Bruges and as stylish as Antwerp, Ghent has been given a new lease of luxury thanks to a wave of cool new openings. Start your journey by climbing the sweeping spiral staircase to boutique hotel 1898 The Post, housed in the neo-gothic former post office on one of the city’s most beautiful squares.

Chef Kobe Desramaults is at the forefront of the city’s culinary revolution with his mould-breaking 16-seater restaurant Chambre Séparée, where diners experience a symphonically creative, no-choice tasting menu. Smaller budgets should check out his cool all-day bakery and cafe, De Superette. Vrijmoed has won awards for its vegetarian menus, but omnivores will find plenty to love on its thoughtful, local menus: it even makes its own gin and jenever (the local gin relation).

Ghent’s paved streets are home to a wealth of independent shops: try Mus in een Plas for gifts and homewares or Ile en Ville for understated fashion, accessories and design in a former beguinage (nunnery). And for a different kind of decadence, pop into St Bavo’s Cathedral to admire the Van Eyck brothers’ The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, newly restored to ravishing, jewel-bright beauty.

Antwerp

Brussels’ cooler little sister is the home of Belgian fashion. Museum MoMu holds 25,000 pieces, from ancient to bang up-to-date (Dries Van Noten and milliner Stephen Jones have recently made big donations). The current exhibition celebrates local hero Olivier Theyskens.

Then there are the concept stores. Enes is a lifestyle paradise in a typical Antwerp townhouse, with beauty products in the bathroom, homewares in the kitchen and covetable womenswear everywhere else. Graanmarkt 13 offers one-stop-shopping for luxury-loving grown-ups.

And to really immerse yourself in fashionable Antwerp, splash out and rent the exquisitely understated apartment upstairs.

For a break from high fashion, head to The Chocolate Line. Real-life Willy Wonka Dominique Persoone works with Noma’s René Redzepi and Heston Blumenthal: you can pick up his chocolate ‘pills’ or pralines flavoured with bacon, Havana tobacco and even fried onion in this elegant 19th century boutique.