When most visitors think of Christmas in Brussels, they think of the Grand-Place: the sound and light show, the 200-plus chalets, the mulled wine and the crowds. All of it is worth experiencing, as we covered in our complete Christmas market guide. But there is another Brussels Christmas that runs alongside Winter Wonders, quieter, more intimate and arguably more interesting: the Grand Sablon in December.
Ten minutes on foot from Alma Grand-Place hotel, the Place du Grand Sablon in winter is the address where Brussels’ residents prefer to spend their Saturday mornings in December, and where the city’s festive season reveals a side that the tourist brochures rarely describe.
Sablon Brussels winter: the antiques market in December
The Sablon Antiques Market has been running on the Place du Grand Sablon every Saturday and Sunday since 3 April 1960, when a single antique dealer named Georges Van de Weghe received permission from the priest of Notre-Dame du Sablon to display his engravings after mass. Gradually, others joined him, and what began as an informal arrangement has become one of the oldest and most respected antiques markets in Belgium.
In December, the market runs against the backdrop of the Notre-Dame du Sablon church — a 15th-century Brabantine Gothic masterpiece whose flamboyant facade is lit at night throughout the festive season. The dealers set up their stalls on the cobblestones from 9am on Saturdays and Sundays, displaying silverware, jewellery, ceramics, paintings, Chinese porcelain, African art, watches and books. The cold concentrates the atmosphere: dealers wear heavy coats and offer advice in three languages; collectors arrive early with purpose; and occasional visitors wander between stalls with the unhurried pleasure of people who have nowhere else to be.
The market closes at 6pm. Getting there: tram 92 or 93 from the city centre (stop: Kleine Zavel), or ten minutes on foot from the hotels via rue de la Régence.
Antiques market Sablon December: what to find and what to buy
December is one of the best months to visit the Sablon market because the dealers arrive with their finest seasonal pieces: ornate candlesticks, vintage silverware, Art Deco jewellery, decorative objects that read as gifts. The selection is genuinely eclectic, a Flemish oil painting beside a Japanese lacquer box beside a set of 1930s cocktail glasses, and the dealers, most of whom have occupied the same pitch for years, are unfailingly knowledgeable and willing to discuss the provenance of anything on display.
What tends to appear specifically in December: Christmas-related antiques (vintage advent calendars, early 20th-century decorations, Belgian Art Nouveau ornaments), gift-quality silverware and porcelain, and the particular category of small decorative objects that make presents no one else will have given.
The market is free to enter. Prices range from a few euros to several thousand. Negotiation is accepted, expected and conducted with mutual courtesy.
The chocolate and festive tables of the Sablon in winter
No visit to the Sablon in December is complete without stopping at Wittamer at Place du Grand Sablon 6 and 12. The Official Supplier to the Court of Belgium since 1910 produces its most elaborate seasonal collections in November and December: praline boxes in Christmas packaging, bûches de Noël crafted with the precision the house applies to its year-round work, and the hot chocolate served in the upstairs café which, on a December morning after an hour at the antiques market, is one of the best things you will consume in Brussels.
Pierre Marcolini at rue des Minimes 1, steps from the square, releases its winter seasonal collection in late November. The single-origin chocolates in Christmas packaging make the most considered edible gift you can bring back from Brussels. As we described in our chocolate guide, the Sablon concentrates more serious chocolate per square metre than any other district in the city.
The new boutiques: the Sablon’s second reason to visit
The Sablon in December 2026 is not only the antiques market and the chocolatiers, it is also the neighbourhood in the middle of its most significant transformation in decades. The new boutiques that have arrived over the past eighteen months AMI Paris at number 5, Breitling at number 8, Christian Louboutin at number 21, are lit from within in December, their windows dressed for the season. Yvan’s, the Brussels jewellery house, operates from its new Sablon location alongside its historic address in the Galeries Saint-Hubert.
The combination of 16th-century church, 60-year-old antiques market, century-old chocolate institutions and brand-new luxury boutiques is unique to this square. It is why the Sablon in December is more interesting than a single category of destination, and why it rewards more than one visit during a stay of several days.
For dinner after an afternoon on the square, Au Vieux Saint Martin at number 38 remains our standing recommendation: Michelin Plate 2024 and 2025, heated terrace in December, open seven days a week. Book for weekends. The full context of the Sablon’s transformation, the Immobel project, the new arrivals, the city’s ambitions for the square is in our dedicated Sablon guide.
Getting to the Sablon from the hotel
From Alma Grand-Place hotel and Aris Grand-Place hotel, the Place du Grand Sablon is a ten-minute walk south through the historic city centre, via the Mont des Arts terrace and rue de la Régence, or through the Petit Sablon garden. Both routes are pleasant on a December morning, particularly if the market is your destination and you have time to stop along the way.
The walk back in the evening, when the church and the boutiques are lit and the square is quiet, is the version of Brussels that most visitors miss entirely, and the one that stays with you longest.
