One writer, nine years in Brussels, no AI slop.
10min•Belgium is the ten-minute, English-language shortcut to Belgium. Run by Margaux from her kitchen in Saint-Gilles. Funded by the occasional tour booking — never by sponsorship.
What we do.
Most Belgium travel coverage online is either (a) a tourism-board press release, (b) a listicle of twelve “hidden gems” that stopped being hidden in 2006, or (c) a machine-generated summary of the two.
We do a fourth thing: short, direct, opinionated guides written after actually turning up — sometimes in the wrong season, so you don't have to. Every article answers one question in under ten minutes of reading. Everything we recommend, we've either done or would do.
We say skip itout loud when something is overpriced. We tell you which city pass pays off and which one doesn't. We name the bad weeks to avoid.
Who writes this.
Margaux Dupont
Half-French, half-Flemish, fully obsessed with Belgium. I've lived in Brussels for 9 years, worked 3 seasons as a licensed tour guide in Bruges, and visited every town on this blog at least twice — often in the wrong season, so you don't have to.
- — Licensed Bruges tour guide, 2019–2021 (Flemish + English).
- — 154 articles on Belgium since 2021.
- — Speaks: French (native), Dutch (fluent), English (C2).
- — Currently based: Saint-Gilles, Brussels.
How we test things.
- Show up.
Every tour we recommend has been taken by Margaux or by a trusted Brussels-based second reader. If neither of us has done it, it doesn't appear.
- Price the alternative.
Before we endorse a city pass or a guided tour, we compute the cost of doing the same thing à la carte. If the pass loses, we say so.
- Check the calendar.
Ticket availability, opening hours, last train times — verified against the official source (SNCB, visit.brussels, museabrugge.be) within six weeks of publication.
- Update, don't rewrite.
Articles carry a visible "updated on" date. When a price or a timetable changes, we edit in place and bump that date — we don't republish as a new post for SEO.
How we make money.
When you book a tour through one of our links, GetYourGuidepays us a small commission. You pay exactly the same price. That's the whole business model.
What we don'tdo: sponsored posts, paid placements, press-trip puff pieces, “in partnership with” content, ranked lists influenced by advertiser priority. If we're ever paid by a brand in any form, it will be disclosed at the top of the article in a coloured box — not in a footer footnote.
We drop tours from our lists when they get bad. We keep tours in our lists when they stay good — even when a competitor pays better commission.
Questions we get.
Who writes 10min•Belgium?
One person: Margaux Dupont, founder · writer · ex-tour guide, based in Saint-Gilles, Brussels. A licensed Bruges tour guide between 2019 and 2021 and a full-time writer on Belgium since — no content farm, no freelancer pool, no AI first drafts.
How do you test the tours and day-trips you recommend?
We only endorse a tour if Margaux or a trusted Brussels-based second reader has taken it. Before recommending any city pass we compute the à-la-carte cost of the same visits and flag the pass as "skip it" when it loses. Opening hours, timetables and prices are verified against the official source within six weeks of publication.
Do you accept sponsored content or free press trips?
No. Not press trips, not advertorials, not "in partnership with" posts, not ranked lists paid to reshuffle. If we ever are paid by a brand in any form, it will be disclosed in a coloured box at the top of that article — never in a footer footnote.
How do you make money?
When a reader books a tour through one of our GetYourGuide links, the operator pays us a small commission. The reader pays exactly the same price. That is the entire business model — every article on the site flags its affiliate links and links here for the full disclosure.
How often is the content updated?
Articles carry a visible "updated on" date in the byline and the Article JSON-LD. When a price, a timetable or a closure changes we edit in place and bump the date — we do not republish as a fresh post to game search freshness. High-traffic city and day-trip guides are reviewed at least every six months.
Why only Belgium?
Because nine years of living in Brussels, three seasons of tour-guiding Bruges and visiting every town on the blog at least twice buys a real answer to "where should I actually go next weekend" — and a fake one for anywhere else. Better to be right about one small country than generically plausible about fifty.
How do I report a correction or suggest a tour?
Email hello@travel-to-belgium.com. Corrections land within 24 hours and get a dated update note on the affected article. Tip-offs about new tours, closed museums or price changes are always welcome; press-trip invites politely get a no.
Corrections land within 24 hours. Press-trip invites politely get a no. Tip-offs about new tours or closed museums are always welcome.