The bucket-list things to do — and who runs each one.
Here’s the bucket list for your day ashore: the most extraordinary thing to do at each stop, who runs it, and how to book it direct — so you can weigh it against your ship’s excursion and pick what suits you.
In port at Brussels, the bucket-list move is Bruges & Ghent: Private Full-Day Treasures of Flanders. Below: 5 bucket-list things to do on a Brussels port day — worth weighing against whatever your ship offers.
Step into two of Europe's most perfectly preserved medieval cities on a private full-day journey. Glide along Bruges' mirror-still canals and lose yourself in Ghent's floodlit Gothic skyline — a bucket-list double that defines Flanders.
Book itPrivate tour : Treasures of Flanders Ghent and Bruges from Brussels Full day€673 per person (about $786)
Unlock the golden heart of Brussels — the UNESCO-listed Grand Place — and its hidden Baroque backstreets with a private professional guide. This is the definitive way to read one of Europe's most theatrical city squares.
Book itBrussels Highlights and Secrets: Private Tour with Beer Stop$116 per person
Run by Maison des Ducs de Brabant · 4.80 from 58 reviews
Stand on the exact ridge where Napoleon's Imperial Guard made its last charge at the Battle of Waterloo. A private historian-guide brings the 1815 carnage to life across the original battlefield terrain — utterly unmissable for history lovers.
Book itPrivate Tour Battle of Giants Waterloo Memorial€499 per person (about $583)
Run by Waterloo Battlefield · 4.50 from 6,400 reviews
Ascend the gleaming steel spheres of Brussels' most iconic structure and survey the whole continent in miniature next door at Mini-Europe. An otherworldly afternoon that blends 1950s Atomic Age wonder with 350 scale-model landmarks.
We have not yet verified a bookable operator and price for
this one, so we are not quoting either.
Follow the Western Front through the Ypres Salient — Passchendaele, Tyne Cot Cemetery, and the Last Post at the Menin Gate — with a private battlefield historian. One of the most emotionally profound journeys in all of Europe.
Book itPrivate tour : Treasures of Flanders Ghent and Bruges from Brussels Full day€673 per person (about $786)
Run by In Flanders Fields Museum · 4.60 from 7,900 reviews
Plunge into Belgium's two greatest obsessions — world-class chocolate and complex Trappist ales — guided by artisan producers in the cobblestoned Sablon and Îlot Sacré quarters. The ultimate edible souvenir of Brussels.
Book itBrussels Private Food Tour: Waffles, Fries, Beer & Local History$153 per person
Your day in BrusselsNothing picked yet — tick what you fancy
$0for two, booked direct
Now plan the rest of it
You know what to do on the day. Here is the trip it belongs to —
each one opens as a whole plan, not a list: where to fly in, every port, what it runs.