Millions of bulbs
A spring display lasting one month only, and the reason the site is known at all.
Michel wal — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Johan Allard — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Johan Allard — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Johan Allard — CC BY-SA 4.0
In April specifically, or late March depending on the weather. This is not advice but a condition: the site is closed to visitors for most of the year and opens mainly for the flower display. Check the season's dates before planning, since they shift each year with the weather.
Keukenhof in the Netherlands is far larger and internationally famous and needs a full day trip from Brussels. This is smaller but fifteen minutes away by car, making it the practical choice for anyone already in Brussels who does not want a full day on the road.
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A moated castle west of Brussels, twelfth-century in origin and largely rebuilt in the seventeenth, its round tower the oldest surviving part. What makes it known today is not the building but the garden. Each spring the grounds are planted with millions of flower bulbs — tulips, daffodils and hyacinths — in a display running about a month between late March and late April. That is normally the only season the castle opens to the public. This point is decisive: outside the flower season the site is closed to visitors for most of the year. Do not plan a visit in summer or winter without checking first, since the likelihood is that it is shut. The display is sometimes compared to the Keukenhof gardens in the Netherlands, but it is far smaller and much closer to Brussels, about fifteen minutes by car. For anyone in the area in April it is among the best things to do; at any other time it does not arise.
A spring display lasting one month only, and the reason the site is known at all.
The oldest surviving part of the original twelfth-century castle.
Far smaller, but fifteen minutes from Brussels rather than a trip to the Netherlands.
Groot-Bijgaarden, west of Brussels