Why do cafés in Brussels serve beer as well as coffee?

In Belgium and the Netherlands the word café also covers the local bar, a place that sells alcohol as well as coffee. The estaminet, a traditional tavern for beer, tobacco and old games, is counted as heritage in Brussels as well as in Picardy and French Flanders, and L'Estaminet 1030 in Schaerbeek keeps the name.

Which cafés in Brussels stay open after midnight?

Café Belga on Place Flagey is open until 01:00 every day, Taverne de la Paix in Schaerbeek until 03:30 and Jon's Cafe near Sainte-Catherine until 04:00. Café Circus on Place de Londres closes at 01:00 from Monday to Saturday, and Comic Sans and Palto stay open until 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.

How do you get home from a late café in Brussels by night bus?

Noctis, the night bus network, runs on Friday and Saturday nights. As of 2022 it had 11 lines, all leaving from Gare Centrale between midnight and 03:00, and it had run since 20 April 2007. On other nights, Café Belga on Place Flagey serves until 01:00 and Taverne de la Paix in Schaerbeek until 03:30.

Open-Late Cafés in Brussels: Coffee and Beer After 22:00

In Belgium, as in the Netherlands, a café is also the local bar: the word covers places that sell alcohol as well as coffee.¹ The estaminet is the traditional version, a tavern for beer, tobacco and old games that counts as heritage in Brussels as well as in Picardy and French Flanders; the Picard word first meant the pillar holding up a room, then the room itself.²

Late here usually means 22:00 or 23:00. The Grand-Place streets and Schaerbeek & Saint-Josse have the most late cafés, with Sainte-Catherine and Dansaert next, and a handful run far past midnight: Taverne de la Paix in Schaerbeek opens from 09:00 to 03:30 every day, and Jon's Cafe near Sainte-Catherine closes at 04:00.

Local tip: On a Sunday night, when much of the city closes early, Café Belga on Place Flagey serves until 01:00 and Café De Markten near Place Sainte-Catherine until midnight.

Where these cafés are: Sainte-Catherine & Dansaert (5), Schaerbeek & Saint-Josse (5), Grand-Place & Centre (5), Châtelain & Avenue Louise (3), Saint-Gilles (3), Marolles & Sablon (3), Flagey & Matonge (2), Molenbeek & Anderlecht (2), Uccle & Forest (2), European Quarter & Etterbeek (1), Laeken & the north (1).

At a glance

32Cafés listed

31With opening hours

06:00Earliest opening

04:00Latest closing

Opens earliest: Onyx, from 06:00 (Daily 06:00–00:00).

Closes latest: Jon's Cafe, until 04:00 (Daily 11:00–04:00).

Most common features: outdoor seating (44%), indoor seating (34%), wi-fi (28%).

Past midnight

Café Belga keeps its room in the old radio building on Place Flagey open until 01:00 every night of the week, and visit.brussels points to its Art Deco interior.³ On Place de Londres (Londenplein), Café Circus opens at noon and closes at 01:00 from Monday to Saturday.

Friday and Saturday push the hours further. Pigeon Bar runs 18:00–01:30 on those nights, Comic Sans in the center and Palto in Laeken stay open until 02:00, and La Belladone in Saint-Gilles closes at 01:00 from Wednesday to Saturday.

Coffee bars that stay open into the evening

A few coffee bars run later than the specialty norm. Batch on Chaussée de Waterloo, which pours coffee from the roaster La Cabra, opens on Tuesday evenings from 18:00 and serves until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.⁴ At Silk the evening turns to cocktails, which it pairs with coffee, and it serves until 23:30 at the end of the week.⁴

Café Winok, the Schaerbeek café with its own roastery, is open until 23:00 every day.⁴ The Wayne Café on Rue Van Eyck (Van Eyckstraat) serves until 22:00 late in the week, on Thursdays and Fridays, and Gazetta until 23:00 except on Sundays.

Estaminets and old-style cafés

L'Estaminet 1030 keeps the old name in a courtyard off Chaussée de Haecht (Haachtsesteenweg) and serves until 22:00 from Tuesday to Friday. Mokafé Taverne, under the glass roof of the Galerie du Roi (Koningsgalerij), serves until 23:00 from Monday to Saturday.

Café De Markten, a Dutch-speaking café that ELLE Belgique described as fair trade, is open until midnight every day, Sunday included.⁵ In Anderlecht, L'Horloge on Avenue d'Itterbeek serves daily 11:00–22:00, and Cafe Riga on Square François Riga in Schaerbeek until 23:00.

Getting home after midnight

Brussels runs a night bus network, Noctis, on Friday and Saturday nights. As of 2022 it had 11 lines, all leaving from Gare Centrale (Centraal Station) between midnight and 03:00, and it had been running since 20 April 2007.⁶

Café Belga, Taverne de la Paix, Café De Markten and Onyx, open 06:00 to midnight, close as late on Sundays and Mondays as on any other day.

Cafés open late in Brussels

At a glance

Au Laboureur

Batch

Café Belga

Café Circus

Cafe Riga

Café Winok

Cappuccino Brussel

L'Estaminet 1030

L'Horloge

La vieille Chéchette

Le baron perché

Mokafé Taverne

The Sister Brussels Café

The Unusual

The Wayne Café

Beroea

Café Costermans

Café De Markten

Comic Sans

Gazetta

La Belladone

Le poisson sans bicyclette

Palto

Perruche

Pigeon Bar

Silk

Café Boudin

Jon's Cafe

La Renaissance

Mon Chéri

Onyx

Taverne de la Paix

Past midnight

Coffee bars that stay open into the evening

Estaminets and old-style cafés

Getting home after midnight

Sources

Other ways to browse Brussels

Specialty coffee

Terrasses

Wi-Fi

Bakery cafés

Open late in Brussels: questions

Why do cafés in Brussels serve beer as well as coffee?

Which cafés in Brussels stay open after midnight?

How do you get home from a late café in Brussels by night bus?

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