# Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert

> A glazed shopping arcade of 1847, among the oldest in Europe, a short walk from the apartment and dry in any weather.

- Canonical URL: https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/places/shopping/galeries-saint-hubert
- Category: Shopping
- Address: Galerie du Roi / Galerie de la Reine, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
- Coordinates: 50.848192, 4.355129

## Why we recommend it

It is one of the oldest covered shopping streets in the world and still a working one, with chocolatiers and old-fashioned shops rather than chain stores. We send people here when it rains, and then go anyway when it does not.

## About

The Galeries opened in **1847**, designed by Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer and
inaugurated by Leopold I. They predate Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
by twenty years, which is the claim worth making: this is one of the earliest
glazed shopping arcades in Europe, and it was built as a street rather than as
a building.

Three sections run end to end for about two hundred metres, under a single
iron and glass vault: the **Galerie de la Reine**, the **Galerie du Roi** and
the smaller **Galerie des Princes**. The proportions are the point. Shops on
two levels, tall arched windows, and enough height that the arcade reads as
public space rather than a mall.

## What is actually here

The tenancy has stayed closer to its origins than most arcades of this age.
Chocolatiers, a bookshop, leather goods, a cinema, and cafés with tables set
out along the passage.

**Maison Dandoy** at Galerie du Roi 2 is the one we send people to. The house
has been baking since 1829 and its **speculoos** is the reason to stop: brown
sugar, butter, cinnamon and cloves, pressed in carved wooden moulds. Buy the
plain ones rather than the filled ones if you only try a single kind.

## Getting there

The nearest bus stop is **Arenberg**, a few steps from the Galerie du Roi
entrance, served by lines 29, 38, 48, 63, 65, 66, 71, 86 and 95. Coming by
metro or train, get out at **Gare Centrale** and walk up; **Bourse** is the
other metro option and brings you in from the far end.

From the apartment none of that applies. It is a short walk, and the table
below has the figure.

## When to go

Any weather, which is the practical case for it. The glass roof means the
Galeries work as a route through the centre on a wet afternoon, and they are
warmer than the surrounding streets in winter. Early evening is when the
lighting does the most for the architecture.

## Distances

Straight-line distances computed from coordinates. Walking times are estimates, not measured routes.

| From | Straight line | On foot |
|---|---|---|
| Grand-Place | 250 m | approx. 5 min |
| Brussels Central | 300 m | approx. 6 min |
| Our apartment | 420 m | approx. 8 min |
| Manneken-Pis | 510 m | approx. 10 min |
| Place du Grand Sablon | 770 m | approx. 14 min |

## Links

- [Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert (official)](https://www.grsh.be/en/)

## Map

- [OpenStreetMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=50.848192&mlon=4.355129#map=18/50.848192/4.355129)
- [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=50.848192,4.355129)
- [Walking directions from the Grand-Place](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&origin=50.846700,4.352500&destination=50.848192,4.355129&travelmode=walking)

## Nearby

- [Grand-Place](https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/places/sightseeing/grand-place) — The UNESCO-listed market square at the centre of Brussels, three minutes on foot from the apartment.
- [Passage 125](https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/places/shopping/passage-125) — A four-floor antiques gallery in the Marolles, filling an 1859 building that was once a linen hall and then a Protestant temple.
- [Musée Old Masters](https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/places/museum/musee-old-masters) — Four hundred years of painting at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, with the world's second largest Bruegel collection, ten minutes from the apartment.

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Source: [Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert](https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/places/shopping/galeries-saint-hubert) on [Brussels Grand Place](https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/), the Grand-Place in Brussels building by building, written by people who live 200 m from the square.
Last updated: 2026-09-15.