SEE

The Tintin trail begins as soon as you step off the Eurostar. Rising before you at Bruxelles-Midi station is a 20ft-high mural featuring the intrepid reporter's trademark quiff swept back as he rides a train in pursuit of gangster Bobby Smiles from Tintin In America.

Exit the station and make a beeline for Place du Jeu de Balle, site of the daily flea market in Brussels and the opening scene of the new film in which Tintin, voiced by Jamie Bell, buys a model ship for his best friend, Captain Haddock, which turns out to contain a treasure map.

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Browse the rows of bric-a-brac and antiques before heading to Rue de l'Etuve where you will find Manneken-Pis, the city's infamous statue of a boy taking a wee. Not Tintin, alas, but you will find him a little further up, in a mural from The Calculus Affair in which Tintin, his dog Snowy and Captain Haddock flee down a fire escape.

From here, you can walk to Bruxelles-Central station and ride the train to Maelbeek. Take a stroll through the European Quarter, the beating heart of the European Union, until you reach the European Parliament and Brussels-Luxembourg station.

Georges Remi (Herge was his pen name) also dabbled in advertising during his career and this station contains one of his first campaigns, a mural that celebrates the rapid expansion of heavy industry in Belgium.

Back on the underground, Stockel station is decorated in a 440ft mural featuring all of the characters who appear in the 23 Tintin comic books. It was drawn by Herge just before his death in 1983.

VISIT

West of town, overlooking the commune of Anderlecht and gleaming after its restoration, is a revolving Tintin and Snowy sign. It sits on the Lombard building (Avenue Paul-Henri Spaak 7), the publishing house that Herge set up to put out his comic journals after the Second World War.

In the Watermael-Boitsfort commune south of the city centre, you'll find one of Herge's houses (17 Avenue Delleur). He lived there from 1939 to 1953 and used it as his first studio. Unfortunately, it is closed to the public so you will have to make do with furtive exterior shots.

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Somewhere else worth a visit is the Musee du Cinquantenaire.

This is housed in a wing of the imposing triumphal arches designed by King Leopold II in 1880. Herge used to sketch artefacts here and used them in The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners Of The Sun comics.

LEARN

Housed in an elegant warehouse, the Belgian Comic Strip Center (comicscenter.net) has a new section dedicated to Tintin.

It features black and white photographs of Herge in the Jeu de Balle marketplace and the stone bust at the foot of the stairs was on his desk for years.

A 20-minute train ride south of the city centre, in the university town of Louvain-la-Neuve, is the remarkable Herge Museum (museeherge.com).

Opened in May 2009, the building's dynamic architecture uses the same clean lines with which Herge made Tintin universally recognisable.

An iPod audio tour leads you through the multimedia collection of family albums, early doodles, original sketches and interviews many of which come from personal collections belonging to Fanny Rodwell, Herge's second wife.

BUY

The Herge Museum and Belgian Comic Strip Center have excellent gift shops in which to buy Tintin souvenirs. I also recommend the Tintin Boutique (13 Rue de la Colline), close to Brussels's major attraction, the Unesco-listed Grand Place (take time to admire the fa§ades of the 17th-century guild houses). Ideal for families, the store stocks a large selection of the comic books as well as T-shirts, toys and other souvenirs.

Nearby are the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert. Built in 1847, they were Europe's first shopping centre and are famed for their spectacular vaulted glass ceiling. Inside is Neuhaus chocolatiers, where Jean Neuhaus gave the world his praline chocolate centres in 1912. Take a whiff of the rich chocolatey air and buy a box of special edition Tintin chocolates.

DRINK

Finish at Bar Dessine in the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel where there is a bust of Tintin and the walls feature various comic strip heroes and heroines (radissonblu.com/royalhotel-brussels).
The bar even has its self-titled Bar Dessine comic book; look for it propped up against the magnum of Mumm champagne on the bar.

However, Belgium is all about the beer and my favourite bar in Brussels was also Herge's. The cartoon genius frequently headed to Le Fleur en Papier Dore (53 Rue des Alexiens) for a glass of Geuze. Little has changed and the walls sag with memorabilia.

Order a round and marvel at the fact you're admiring the same portraits and beer advertisements that Herge did while dreaming up the adventures of his boy detective.

GETTING THERE

Eurostar (0843 218 6186/eurostar.com) offers three nights at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Brussels from £400pp (two sharing), B&B. Price includes return Eurostar travel from London St Pancras. Visit Brussels: visitbrussels.be

The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn is released on Wednesday.