Day 1: Brussels — Chocolate Capital & Grand Place Tasting Trail
Welcome to Belgium, the world’s undisputed capital of both chocolate and beer. Upon arrival at Brussels Airport, your STM Tours guide — a certified beer sommelier and chocolate expert — greets you and transfers you to your centrally located hotel. The afternoon begins with the highlight of any food lover’s visit: a hands-on chocolate-making workshop at a master chocolatier’s atelier. Under the expert tutelage of a Belgian chocolatier, learn the art of tempering couverture chocolate, creating filled pralines, moulding truffles, and crafting mendiants (chocolate discs topped with dried fruits and nuts). You will take home a box of your own hand-made chocolates. After the workshop, embark on a guided chocolate-tasting walking tour through Brussels’ historic centre. Visit the flagship stores of Belgium’s greatest chocolatiers around the Grand Place and Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert: Neuhaus (inventor of the praline in 1912), Pierre Marcolini (the haute couture of chocolate), Mary (royal warrant chocolatier to the Belgian court since 1942), and Laurent Gerbaud (whose chocolates incorporate exotic ingredients like Chinese ginger and Turkish figs). Taste pralines, ganaches, and truffles at each stop. The evening introduces you to another Belgian passion: beer. Dinner at a traditional Brussels estaminet pairs dishes like carbonnade flamande (beef stewed in dark ale) and waterzooi (creamy chicken stew) with classic Belgian beer styles. Your guide explains the basics of Belgian beer culture — from Trappist to Lambic, Saison to Dubbel.
Overnight: Brussels (4-star hotel)
Meals: Welcome Dinner with Beer Pairing
Day 2: Bruges — Beer History & Medieval Chocolate
After breakfast, travel to Bruges. Begin at the Bruges Beer Experience (Bruges Beer Museum), an interactive museum housed in a historic building on the Market Square. Using an iPad guide, explore the history of Belgian brewing from monastery traditions to modern craft innovations. The museum’s collection includes over 500 Belgian beer bottles and historic brewing equipment. The guided tasting session in the museum’s atmospheric cellar introduces you to three distinctly different Belgian styles. Continue to the Bourgogne des Flandres Brewery, a working brewery that produces the traditional Flemish red-brown ale and demonstrates historic brewing methods from the 18th century. The tour ends with a tasting of their signature beer paired with local cheese. After lunch, visit the Choco-Story Museum, housed in the 15th-century Huis de Croon. This museum traces the 4,000-year history of chocolate from Aztec xocolatl to modern Belgian pralines, with live chocolate-making demonstrations and generous tastings. In the afternoon, stop at Bruges’ finest chocolate shops: The Chocolate Line (run by celebrity chocolatier Dominique Persoone, known for his experimental flavours including wasabi and bacon), Dumon (a family-run chocolatier since 1920), and BbyB (with its distinctive test-tube packaging). A canal-side tasting of Belgian waffles — the authentic Liege style with pearl sugar — rounds out this indulgent day. Return to Brussels for overnight.
Overnight: Brussels (4-star hotel)
Meals: Breakfast, Beer Tastings
Day 3: Chimay & Rochefort — Trappist Beer Pilgrimage
Today is a pilgrimage to two of Belgium’s legendary Trappist breweries. Depart early for the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Scourmont near Chimay, a working Cistercian monastery founded in 1850. While the abbey’s interior remains private (as with all Trappist monasteries), you can visit the beautiful abbey church, walk the peaceful grounds, and — most importantly — visit the Auberge de Poteaupre, the abbey’s guesthouse. Here, enjoy guided tastings of the full Chimay range: Chimay Rouge (Dubbel, 7%), Chimay Blanche (Tripel, 8%), Chimay Bleue (Grande Reserve, 9%), and Chimay Doree (a lighter Patersbier traditionally reserved for the monks themselves). Pair the beers with Chimay cheeses, also produced at the abbey, for a complete Trappist experience. After a scenic drive through the Ardennes, arrive at Rochefort. The Abbaye Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy has been brewing since 1595. Though visitors cannot enter the brewery itself, the abbey shop offers bottles of the highly sought Rochefort 6 (7.5%), 8 (9.2%), and the legendary Rochefort 10 (11.3%) — widely considered one of the world’s greatest beers. Enjoy a tutored tasting session at a nearby specialist beer cafe. Return to Brussels for an evening at leisure. For the adventurous, your guide can recommend Moeder Lambic, a legendary Brussels beer bar with an encyclopaedic list of Lambics, Gueuzes, and Krieks.
Overnight: Brussels (4-star hotel)
Meals: Breakfast, Trappist Beer & Cheese Tastings
Day 4: Orval Abbey & Belgian Waffle Workshop
Journey to the beautiful Gaume region near the French border to visit the Abbey of Orval (Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Orval). The approach to Orval is dramatic — the ruins of the medieval abbey, destroyed during the French Revolution, stand in atmospheric contrast to the modern monastery built in the 1920s. Visit the abbey museum, which tells the story of Orval’s foundation following Countess Mathilda of Tuscany’s legendary lost ring, tour the medieval ruins including the magnificent Gothic chapter house, and explore the medicinal herb garden. The modern brewery is not open to visitors, but the abbey tavern serves the famous Orval beer — a unique Trappist ale with a distinctive dry-hopped character and Brettanomyces yeast that evolves remarkably with age. Enjoy a tasting accompanied by Orval cheese (Port Salut-style) and bread baked at the abbey. In the afternoon, return to Brussels for a hands-on Belgian waffle-making workshop. An expert baker teaches you the difference between the two authentic styles — Brussels waffles (light, rectangular, dusted with powdered sugar) and Liege waffles (denser, oval, with caramelized pearl sugar) — and guides you through making both. Top your creations with whipped cream, Belgian chocolate sauce, and fresh fruit. Final evening: a farewell Trappist dinner at a Brussels brasserie, pairing each course with a different Belgian beer style: witbier with seafood starter, dubbel with Flemish stew, tripel with dessert. A Zythologist (certified beer expert) explains each pairing.
Overnight: Brussels (4-star hotel)
Meals: Breakfast, Farewell Beer-Pairing Dinner
Day 5: Ghent — Medieval Brewing & Departure
On your final morning, travel to Ghent for a fitting gastronomic conclusion. Visit the Gruut Brewery, a remarkable operation that revives a pre-hop brewing tradition. In medieval times, the city of Ghent held a monopoly on the sale of gruut — a mixture of herbs (gale, mugwort, yarrow, and others) used to flavour and preserve beer before hops became standard. The Gruut Brewery, housed in a converted factory beside a canal, produces five different gruut beers including a wheat-based “White”(Wit), a spiced “Brown” (Bruin), and an “Inferno” with chili notes. The brewery taproom overlooks the canals and the beautiful towers of Ghent’s skyline. After the tasting, a guided walk through Ghent’s medieval centre takes you past the guild houses of the brewers and grain merchants that testify to beer’s central role in Flemish urban life. Visit the Groot Vleeshuis (Great Butchers’ Hall) where cured hams hang from the medieval rafters — an ideal spot to purchase Ardennes ham and local cheese for a final taste of Belgium to take home. Last stop: Tierenteyn mustard shop, making mustard in the same Ghent cellar since 1790. Transfer to Brussels Airport, carrying with you the taste of Trappist ale brewed in silence, the silkiness of fresh pralines on the tongue, the crunch of pearl sugar in a Liege waffle, and the warm welcome of every abbey, brewery, and chocolatier you have visited. Santé, and tot ziens!
Meals: Breakfast, Gruut Beer Tasting
