Finding an appartment before moving to Brussels

Hi there,

I'll be moving to Brussels in December and am wondering what is the best solution to find an apartment. I currently live in Switzerland where I rent an apartment and have my own furniture. I can stop my lease fairly easily in Switzerland so I'm trying to understand which is the best option between:

- hiring the services of an agency, giving them my criteria for the apartment (I already know which area I want to move to) and coming to Brussels for a couple of days to visit lots of apartment and choose one. That way I can move my furniture directly from the Swiss to the Belgian apartment.

- coming to Brussels for a longer period and visiting appartment on my own that I got off Immoweb or the like.

IN your experience which option or what else would you recommend? For option 1 does anyone know of a good agency and what are the prices like for this kind of service?

Thanks a lot for your help and see you soon in Brussels,

Isabelle