Brussels

Capital of Europe, though the label "European Village" perhaps better encapsulates Brussels' unique blend of cosmopolitan vitality and small town intimacy; this is a great city on a human scale. The atmosphere, like its inhabitants, is both pleasant, lively, relaxed, yet quirky, irreverent and endlessly surprising

This is a city where an illustrious and often bloody past co-exists in perfect harmony with a constantly reinvented present, a city of monuments and institutions, of galleries, parks and arcades, the Mannekin Pis and Comic Strip Wall, of Art Nouveau and joie de vivre, of chips, waffles, chocolate and 365 different beers; a city that bears the marks of every major religious, cultural and technological movement to have shaped European civilisation

The magnificent Grand Place, ringed by guild houses, dominated by its gothic City Hall and considered by many the most beautiful square in the world, is the city's heartbeat; the narrow alleys around abound with restaurants the quality and quantity of which are the envy even of Paris. But each district has its own unique character, from the hip Dansaert with its designer labels; newly fashionable Ste-Catherine with its bars and fish restaurants; Sablon with its delightful squares and weekend bric-a-bric market; the Mont des Arts, linking the upper and lower town, with its many museums, including the new Magritte ...

Thanks to Eurostar, the centre of this remarkable city is now a mere 1 hour 51 minutes from London, making this the most accessible of all the European capitals; one which, despite its proximity, is too exotic and too quixotic to be anything other than uniquely foreign; and one to which, because of its proximity, it would be unforgivably remiss not to pop over for the weekend at the earliest opportunity