The Roof by The 1040, a 7th-floor terrace over Place Jourdan, is the only rooftop bar in the European Quarter and the easiest skyline drink near the EU institutions.
The rooftop runs on the hotel's booking system and can be privatized for up to 70 guests. Book ahead for a summer sunset.
The Roof by The 1040 sits on the 7th floor of Sofitel Brussels Europe, on Place Jourdan in Etterbeek, a short walk from the EU institutions. We Love Brussels and Visit Brussels both make the same claim, that it is the only rooftop bar in the city's European Quarter, which is the whole reason to know about it.
The space is a partly covered green terrace, planted and sheltered enough to work whether the Brussels sky cooperates or not. The view runs over Place Jourdan, the square below known for its frites and weekend market, rather than a wide-open skyline. This is a neighbourhood rooftop, not a tower-top spectacle, and it reads as the better for it.
The programme is cocktails and mocktails, Champagne, spirits and wine, served with a tapas menu and platters built to share. A DJ plays on Friday evenings, and the room can be booked out for up to 70 guests. The terrace season runs May to September, while the indoor lounge stays open through the year, daily from 5:00pm to midnight.
The 1040 in the name is the postcode of Etterbeek, the commune the rooftop looks over, which tells you who shows up. This is an after-work and weekend room for the people who work the EU quarter, not a landmark tourists hunt down. The Sofitel's mixologists lean on fresh garden herbs for the cocktails, a nod to the planted terrace they pour on, and the result feels closer to a neighbourhood roof than a hotel bar.
Come for a summer-evening drink before dinner in the EU quarter, or a Friday with a DJ. For where it lands among the city's roofs, see our best rooftop bars in Brussels, the wider Brussels rooftop bars guide, and our round-up of the 25 best rooftop bars in Europe.
The terrace season is the whole point, May to September, and a clear evening near sunset is when the planted roof earns its reputation. Friday brings a DJ and the after-work EU-quarter crowd, so it runs louder and later into the night.