Summer in Brussels: 19 events not to miss over the holiday season

Brussels is alive and kicking over the summer. In fact some of the city’s biggest and best activities take place in the holiday months. Here’s our selection.

13-23 June
Dinner in the Sky
Fine dining served by a celebrated chef with diners strapped into a chair suspended 50m above the Brussels canal

20-29 June
Brussels Shakespeare Summer Festival
First edition of event at Théâtre La Balsamine includes Henry V and two original plays inspired by the bard

20-29 June
Brussels International Film Festival
New cinema from around the world, with competitions, premieres, special guests and free open-air screenings

28-30 June
Couleur Café
World music festival in Brussels with acts including Ms Lauryn Hill, Craig David and Zwangere Guy

28-30 June
Musiq3
Classical meets rock’n’roll in a unique Brussels festival known for its diversity and appeal to youngsters

28 June-8 September
The 12th Time Zone
Exhibition showing the thriving contemporary art scene in Russia, at Bozar in Brussels

1 July-30 August
Festival des Minimes
Free lunchtime classical, jazz and world concerts in Brussels’ Royal Museums of Fine Arts

4-7 July
Brussels Grand Depart
Several days of activities as the Tour de France takes off from Brussels for the first time since 1958

5-19 July
Bruxelles fait son Cinéma
Open-air film screenings in squares and parks, with a stop in nearly every Brussels municipality

11 July-14 September
Festival Bruxellons!
Twentieth anniversary edition of the French-language theatre festival, featuring a new translation of My Fair Lady

13 & 14 July
Brosella
Free folk and jazz festival in a lovely garden amphitheatre near the Atomium, with special Kids Brosella section

13 July-18 August
Foire du Midi
Brussels’ big summer fairground with more than 130 rides, plus games and other amusements

21 July
National Day
Services, parades, street fair and other free festivities in the centre of Brussels on Belgium’s national holiday

22 July-1 September
Opening of the royal palace
Annual summer opening of the palace in Brussels’ city centre, with exhibitions and family activities

14-18 August
Brussels Summer Festival
The capital’s big open-air music fest, with more than 60 local and international acts across three locations

14-18 August
Flowertime
International florists have been given carte blanche to decorate the historical rooms of Brussels’ town hall from top to bottom

Until 25 August
Intimate Audrey
Exhibition about Audrey Hepburn at Espace Vanderborght, curated by her son, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of her birth in Brussels

Until 30 September
Carolus Festival
Celebration of Brussels’ Renaissance history includes the massive Ommegang procession and spectacle

Until 31 January
Beyond Bruegel
Immersive experience at Brussels’ Place de la Dynastie puts visitors in the paintings of the master of the Flemish Renaissance