Brussels is a city layered with history, contradictions, and voices often left unheard. Beyond its monumental façades and institutional image lies a capital shaped by centuries of social change. Brussels By Foot was created to bring those hidden stories to life, offering alternative guided tours that invite visitors to walk through Brussels while truly understanding it.
A Project Born From Experience and Curiosity
From International Guiding to a Local Calling
After several years working as a tour guide in Colombia, François Ghislain returned to Belgium with a new outlook. Guiding abroad taught him how powerful storytelling can be when it connects people to place. It also revealed a gap in the way Brussels was usually presented to visitors.
Back home, François realized that many guided tours focused on polished narratives and famous landmarks, leaving out the social history that shaped everyday life. He felt the urge to create something different — tours that would reflect the Brussels he loved and knew, a city marked by resistance, creativity, and constant transformation.
Writing the City Through Reading
Reading became the starting point of this new project. François immersed himself in books about history, popular movements, and urban struggles. As he read, the city began to reorganize itself in his mind. Streets became timelines, neighborhoods turned into chapters, and walking routes emerged naturally.
This process led François to write his own guided tours, carefully crafted to combine historical research with accessible storytelling. Thus, Brussels By Foot was born.
The Idea of Alternative Guided Tours
Walking at Human Scale
Brussels By Foot is built around the idea that cities are best understood on foot. Walking allows time to observe, reflect, and connect. Instead of rushing through highlights, participants move slowly through neighborhoods where history unfolded gradually and often painfully.
The tours prioritize quality over quantity. A single street corner can reveal centuries of conflict, negotiation, and survival. By slowing down, visitors gain a deeper appreciation of Brussels’ complexity.
Looking Beyond Official Narratives
Classic tourism often celebrates power and prestige. Brussels By Foot chooses a different lens, focusing on social movements, working-class neighborhoods, and collective resistance. This approach offers a richer and more honest portrait of the city.
Through carefully chosen stories, visitors discover how ordinary people influenced urban development, challenged authority, and defended their communities.
“1000 Years of Struggles”: A Foundational Walk
The Marolles as a Living Archive
François’ first tour, “1000 Years of Struggles,” focuses on the Marolles, one of Brussels’ most emblematic districts. The neighborhood has long been associated with popular resistance, cultural identity, and strong community ties.
Rather than treating the Marolles as a picturesque backdrop, the tour presents it as a living archive of social history, where past and present coexist.
Tracing Social Movements Across Centuries
The tour explores major struggles that shaped Brussels, from medieval conflicts to modern urban battles. Participants learn how residents organized themselves to defend housing, labor rights, and local culture.
Each stop on the walk connects a specific location to a broader movement, transforming abstract history into concrete experience. By physically standing where events took place, visitors develop a stronger emotional connection to the past.
Storytelling as a Central Tool
Making History Accessible
Brussels By Foot relies on storytelling rather than academic lectures. Complex historical themes are presented in clear, engaging narratives that invite questions and discussion.
This method makes history approachable, even for visitors with no prior knowledge of Brussels or Belgian history. The focus remains on understanding, not memorizing.
Creating Space for Dialogue
The tours are interactive by nature. Walking together encourages conversation, allowing participants to share impressions, ask questions, and reflect collectively. This dynamic turns the guided tour into a shared experience rather than a one-way transmission of information.
Rethinking the Way We Visit Brussels
For Travelers Seeking Meaning
Brussels By Foot attracts visitors who want more than surface-level sightseeing. These tours speak to travelers interested in culture, history, and social realities, as well as locals who want to rediscover their city from a new angle.
Rather than consuming the city, participants are invited to engage with it critically and thoughtfully.
A Deeper Connection to the City
Many visitors leave Brussels By Foot tours with a changed perception of Brussels. Streets they might have overlooked gain new significance, and neighborhoods reveal unexpected depth.
The experience encourages people to continue exploring, reading, and questioning long after the walk ends.
Brussels By Foot Today
A Commitment to Thoughtful Tourism
Brussels By Foot continues to grow while staying true to its original philosophy: offering meaningful, well-researched guided tours rooted in social history and human experience.
Each tour reflects François Ghislain’s commitment to sharing Brussels honestly, without simplifying or romanticizing its past.
Seeing Brussels Differently
By combining walking, storytelling, and historical reflection, Brussels By Foot offers an alternative way to experience the city. It invites visitors to see Brussels not just as a destination, but as a place shaped by centuries of struggle, resilience, and collective memory.
For anyone eager to understand Brussels beyond the surface, Brussels By Foot opens the door to a deeper and more authentic encounter with the city.