Is The Magritte Museum Free?
The Magritte Museum is not free daily: it is free on the first Wednesday of the month from 13:00, permanent collections only, with free tickets at the desk. Otherwise adult entry costs EUR 13. Here is the full rule, the prices and the free alternatives.
Is The Magritte Museum Free? The Short Answer
No, the Magritte Museum is not free on an ordinary day. It is free on the first Wednesday of each month from 13:00, for the permanent collections only, and the free ticket is collected at the desk with no online booking for the free entry. Under 18s (not in a group visit) are free every day. On every other day, adult entry costs EUR 13, and temporary exhibitions are charged separately.
That single sentence carries the whole rule, and the details behind it matter more than most visitors expect. The free entry is real, but it is conditional: it exists on one afternoon a month, it covers the permanent collections and not the temporary exhibitions, and it cannot be secured online. Anyone who turns up on a Tuesday hoping to walk in for nothing pays the standard price. Anyone who plans the visit around the first Wednesday afternoon pays nothing at all.
The adult ticket costs EUR 13. A reduced rate of EUR 10 applies to visitors aged 65 and over. Visitors aged 18 to 25 pay EUR 5. A combined ticket of EUR 20 covers both the Magritte Museum and the Old Masters Museum.
The reduced rates are worth a moment of attention before the free day even enters the picture. A visitor aged 20 pays EUR 5, which is a small enough figure that the first Wednesday becomes a convenience rather than a necessity. A visitor aged 70 pays EUR 10, and a combined visit for that visitor is not priced in the figures the operator's page prints here, so no combined reduced rate will be stated. What the page does state is the EUR 20 combined adult ticket, and that figure stands on its own.
The distinction between a free attraction and a conditionally free one is the whole story here, and the Magritte Museum is one of the clearest examples of a conditional free attraction in Brussels. It is not a museum to cross off a free list, and it is not a museum to pay for blindly either: it is a museum with one free afternoon a month, and knowing which afternoon changes the entire budget of a Brussels trip.
What Is Free And What Needs A Ticket?
The permanent collections are free on the first Wednesday of the month from 13:00, with the free ticket collected at the desk and no online booking for that free entry. Everything else needs a ticket: adult EUR 13, 65+ EUR 10, 18 to 25 EUR 5, combined with the Old Masters Museum EUR 20. Temporary exhibitions are charged separately on every day, including the free Wednesday.
The operator's own admission page, at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, prints the full price table. Here it is as the operator states it, in one place:
| Ticket | Price | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | EUR 13 | Standard entry |
| 65 and over | EUR 10 | Reduced rate |
| 18 to 25 | EUR 5 | Reduced rate |
| Under 18s | Free | Free every day, not in a group visit |
| Combined Magritte and Old Masters | EUR 20 | Both museums on one ticket |
| First Wednesday from 13:00 | Free | Permanent collections only |
| Temporary exhibitions | Charged separately | Not covered by the free entry |
Two details in that table decide most visits. First, the free Wednesday covers the permanent collections only, so a temporary exhibition running that same afternoon is still a paid add-on. Second, the free ticket is a desk transaction: the operator's page states no online booking for the free entry, so the free visit starts at the counter, not in an inbox.
The combined ticket deserves a second look. At EUR 20 it covers the Magritte Museum and the Old Masters Museum together, which is EUR 6 less than the two adult tickets bought separately. On the first Wednesday, by contrast, both museums fall under the same free rule, so the combined ticket is irrelevant that afternoon: both permanent collections are free, and both free tickets are collected at the desk.
That EUR 6 saving follows directly from the two figures, EUR 13 and EUR 20. The temporary exhibitions are charged separately.
Visitors comparing the free options across the city can find the full conditional-free landscape in the guide to free museums in Brussels, and the broader question of which museums are free in Brussels is answered museum by museum. A conditionally free museum is never called simply free, and the condition always travels with the claim.
When Is It Open Or Free?
The free entry runs on the first Wednesday of the month, from 13:00, and on no other day. It covers the permanent collections only, and the free ticket is collected at the desk with no online booking for the free entry. This first-Wednesday rule belongs to a specific group of museums, and it must not be confused with the separate first-Sunday scheme run by different institutions.
Brussels runs two museum free-day schemes, and they are not interchangeable. The first Wednesday of the month from 13:00 is the scheme the Magritte Museum belongs to. The first Sunday of the month is a different scheme, run by different bodies, covering the City of Brussels museums, the Horta Museum and the Design Museum Brussels, none of which is the Magritte Museum. A visitor who mixes the two schemes arrives on the wrong day and pays. The wider set of guides lives on Free Things To Do In Brussels.
The first-Wednesday participants, as listed by Brussels Museums, are these:
| Museum | Free day and time | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Magritte Museum | First Wednesday from 13:00 | Permanent collections only, ticket at the desk |
| Old Masters Museum | First Wednesday from 13:00 | Permanent collections only, under-18s free all year |
| Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) | First Wednesday from 13:00 | Otherwise EUR 18 |
| Art and History Museum | First Wednesday from 13:00 | Permanent collections only |
| Royal Military Museum | First Wednesday from 13:00 | Not free daily, otherwise EUR 12 |
| BELvue Museum | First Wednesday from 14:00 | Also listed for the first Sunday |
| Museum of Natural Sciences | First Wednesday from 13:00 | Listed by Brussels Museums |
The Royal Military Museum is not free daily; it is free only on the first Wednesday from 13:00. The BELvue starts at 14:00 rather than 13:00, which is the one variation inside the scheme.
The afternoon-only character of the scheme shapes the day around it. A first Wednesday in Brussels is not a full free museum day from opening time: the free entry begins at 13:00, so the morning belongs to something else and the afternoon belongs to the permanent collections.
One date needs care. 1 November 2026 is both a first Sunday and a public holiday, and which of the first-Sunday museums open that day is not settled, so no visitor should build a plan around it. The Magritte Museum's own free day, the first Wednesday, is unaffected by that overlap.
A few practical points follow from the rules as they stand. Because the free ticket is collected at the desk rather than booked online, there is no way to secure a place in advance, so the visit depends on turning up in person during the free window. Because the free entry covers the permanent collections only, anyone specifically wanting a temporary exhibition at the Magritte Museum should expect that part to be outside the free ticket.
The scheme also allows more than one museum in a single afternoon, since several participants share the same first-Wednesday window from 13:00. A visitor could, for instance, plan the Magritte Museum first and then move on to another listed museum, keeping in mind that the BELvue alone starts an hour later at 14:00. The one thing not to do is treat the first Wednesday and the first Sunday as the same offer: the institutions, the organising bodies and the days themselves are all different.
Finally, the timing point is worth repeating in practical terms: the free afternoon begins at 13:00, not at opening time, so anyone arriving in the morning will be entering as a regular paying visitor until the free window starts.
What Is The Best Free Alternative Nearby?
The Old Masters Museum is the strongest free alternative, because it sits under the same first-Wednesday rule: free from 13:00 on the first Wednesday of the month, permanent collections only, free ticket at the desk. Under-18s are free all year at both museums. Otherwise the two are combined on one EUR 20 ticket.
The two museums are part of the same institution, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, and the operator prices them as a pair. That makes the Old Masters Museum the natural fallback in two situations. If the Magritte Museum's first Wednesday has already passed for the month, the Old Masters Museum is in exactly the same position, so the visit simply moves to the next first Wednesday and covers both permanent collections in one free afternoon. If the visit falls on a paid day and the budget only stretches to one ticket, the choice is between the two collections at EUR 13 each or both at EUR 20 combined.
Under-18s not in a group visit are free every day at both museums. A family visit therefore does not need to wait for the first Wednesday at all at either museum: the children enter free on any day of the year, and only the adults' tickets carry a price.
Beyond the pair, the first-Wednesday scheme itself is the alternative worth planning around. The Musical Instruments Museum, the Art and History Museum and the Royal Military Museum all open free on the same afternoon, so a first Wednesday in Brussels can carry a full museum day at no entry cost, moving between institutions that share the rule.
For visitors who want the whole conditional-free picture in one place, every scheme has its condition attached, and the first-Wednesday and first-Sunday museums are distinct.
Which Free Walking Tour Passes This Spot?
No free walking tour in Brussels documents a route, so no walk can honestly be said to pass the Magritte Museum. Walks are chosen by platform, guide, meeting point, language and duration, not by landmark coverage. The walks that meet at Grand-Place are the closest documented option, and the Historical Story Tour by Legends Free Tours is the history-focused pick among them.
The Historical Story Tour by Legends Free Tours runs on GuruWalk, rated 4.56 out of 5 across 249 GuruWalk reviews, lasts 2 hours 30 minutes, runs in English and French, and meets at Grand-Place. It is free, pay what you want, reserved on the guide's GuruWalk page. For a visitor whose day is built around the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, it is the history walk to check, and the French option makes it one of the few listed walks that serves both languages.
The Grand-Place meeting point is where most of the listed walks gather, and each is a separate listing on its own platform. The Original Free Tour of Brussels, English only, is a freetour.com listing by SANDEMANs Tours, rated 9.3 out of 10 across 14,442 freetour.com reviews, 2 hours, meeting at the Grand-Place City Hall tower. The Free Tour of Brussels and Free Chocolate Tasting, also on freetour.com by Bravo Discovery, is rated 8.3 out of 10 across 1,497 freetour.com reviews, lasts 2 hours 30 minutes, runs in English, French and Spanish, and meets at the Grand-Place City Hall. The Insider Storytellers walk by Ambassadors Tours, freetour.com, rated 9.4 out of 10 across 583 freetour.com reviews, lasts 2 hours and meets at Grand-Place.
The evening option is the Dark Side of Brussels tour by Legends Free Tours on GuruWalk, rated 4.68 out of 5 across 726 GuruWalk reviews, 2 hours, in English and Spanish, meeting at Grand-Place. None of these listings states a route, so the honest way to use them is to pick by language, duration and meeting point, and to treat any landmark coverage as unknown until the guide says otherwise on the day.
Every walk is free, pay what you want, and the 15 free walking tours across GuruWalk and freetour.com are reserved on their own platform pages.
Common Questions About This Topic
Is The Magritte Museum Free?
No, not daily. It is free on the first Wednesday of the month from 13:00, permanent collections only, with the free ticket collected at the desk and no online booking for the free entry. On every other day, adult entry costs EUR 13.
When Is The Magritte Museum Free?
On the first Wednesday of each month, from 13:00. The free entry covers the permanent collections only, and the free ticket is collected at the desk. Temporary exhibitions are charged separately, including on the free Wednesday.
Can You Book The Free Entry Online?
No. The operator's admission page states no online booking for the free entry: the free ticket is collected at the desk on the first Wednesday from 13:00.
Is The Old Masters Museum Also Free?
Yes, on the same first-Wednesday rule: free from 13:00 on the first Wednesday of the month, permanent collections only, ticket at the desk. Under-18s are free all year. Otherwise the two museums are combined on one EUR 20 ticket.
Do Under 18s Pay For The Magritte Museum?
Under-18s (not in a group visit) are free every day at both the Magritte Museum and the Old Masters Museum.
Are Temporary Exhibitions Included In The Free Entry?
No. The first-Wednesday free entry covers the permanent collections only. Temporary exhibitions are charged separately on every day, including the free Wednesday.
