WARNING: Travel to, from and within Brussels is currently heavily disrupted due to a series of terror attacks on 22 March 2016.
Government travel advisories

(Information last updated Mar 2016)



Skyline of Brussels


Grand Place-Grote Markt



Brussels operates as a bilingual city where both French (85% of the population) and Dutch (Flemish) (15% of the population) are official languages. Thus all the streets have two names, which can sound totally different. For example, the Main Square is called both la Grand-Place and de Grote Markt. Although officially bilingual, French is undoubtedly Brussels' lingua franca. English is also widely understood, but not always widely spoken. Visitors should realize that language is a very divisive issue in Belgium (though this is not as noticeable in Brussels).






Daily highs (°C) 6 8 11 14 18 20 22 23 19 14 9 6
Nightly lows (°C) 1 1 3 5 9 12 13 14 11 8 4 2

See the Brussels forecast at World Meteorological Organization






Tourist offices

Get in

By plane

Brussels Airport is in Zaventem, a municipality immediately north of Brussels

Brussels Airport

Brussels' main airport is Brussels Airport, (also referred to as Brussels National or Zaventem after the municipality it is in) (IATA: BRU). It has connections to pretty much all European capitals and many other major cities, but the intercontinental offering is more limited than at Europe's largest aviation hubs. Belgium's flag carrier Brussels Airlines, which operates an extensive network of flights within Europe, also offers long-haul flights to North America and, quite uniquely for a European airline, many African destinations. Major North American carriers also offer flights to Brussels, as do a few Asian ones.

The airport is the hub for the aptly-named Brussels Airlines, the flag carrier of Belgium

Direct connections to Asia are especially scarce in Brussels - you may have to change in an intermediate airport, and may want to consider using one of the Middle Eastern carriers (Emirates, Etihad and Qatar all serve Brussels) or change in one of Europe's major hubs like London Heathrow Airport, Frankfurt Airport, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport or Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The latter two can also be reached by a direct train from Brussels. Turkish Airways (via Istanbul-Ataturk) and Finnair (via Helsinki) also have particularly developed networks of connections to the Far East.

Travel between Brussels Airport and Brussels City
There is a train station incorporated in the airport's terminal, with direct connections not only to Brussels but also many other cities in Belgium, France and the Netherlands



Luggage left facilities


Although the airport in Charleroi has been officially renamed as "Brussels South", it is a significant distance away from the city, especially compared to Brussels National Airport

Brussels South Charleroi Airport

CRL is only served by low-fare carriers, such as Ryanair. The opposite is not true, however - since 2014, Ryanair also operates from BRU

Brussels South Charleroi Airport (IATA: CRL) is located 42km south of Brussels. Several budget airlines, including Ryanair and Wizzair operate service from this airport to cities such as Barcelona, Belgrade, Budapest, Dublin, Edinburgh, Manchester, Rome, Sofia, and Warsaw.

To travel between the airport and the city:

Other airports

By train

Brussels Central handles mostly domestic traffic

Brussels has three main railway stations:

Apart from the above, there are also stations of Brussels-Congress, Brussels-Chapel and Brussels-West, as well as stations in municipalities of the Brussels region that do not have "Brussels" in their name (e.g. Schaerbeek, Evere) which only see limited local service by RER trains.

High-speed trains like the Thalys stop at Midi / Zuid

International train services to Belgium include:

Brussels North has an impressive art deco terminal building with a modern expansion
Arriving by train from within Belgium

Belgium has one of the most dense and best developed railway networks in Europe. Domestic trains are operated by the national railway operator NMBS/SNCB (hotline: +32 2 528-2828). Besides simple one-way tickets there is a bewildering variety of tickets available depending on the exact route (returns are obviously cheaper, there are also "all Belgium" tickets), frequency, your age and occupation (students get discounts) and departure time (travel after 9AM and on weekends is usually cheaper).

Frequencies and approximate travel times from Brussels Central station to selected cities in Belgium:

Note that all three major stations in Brussels are very busy and there are trains departing in many directions almost every minute. If you are on the platform, do check if the train you are boarding is the one you intend to, as it may be the one that departs just those few minutes are earlier. Do also keep vigiliant for last-minute platform changes. As the announcements for many trains (except for major international services and trains to Brussels Airport) are made in French and Dutch only, it is worthwhile to pay attention to departure displays. Always memorize the name of your destination in both French and Dutch to easily recognize it - the name as you may know it in English might not be used at all.

By bus

Several bus operators offer long-distance connections to Brussels.

By bicycle

Brussels is the third capital on Eurovelo Route 5, which starts in London, through Brussels and Switzerland and ends in southern Italy. A number of other international and national cycle routes converge on Brussels.

Get around

On foot

Most sights in Brussels are fairly close together, within reasonable walking distance of each other. The oldest part of town can have uneven cobblestone roads, but the rest of the city is fairly easy to walk. Since June 2015, a zone of 50 hectares in the city center is reserved for pedestrians, the second largest in Europe after Venice. Brussels has many wet days, and in winter small amounts of snow can make the ground slushy, so water-resistant footwear is a must if you will be out walking all day.

By metro

The metro in Brussels is quite clean and safe compared to most metro systems. Metro entrances are marked by big "M" signs in blue and white, with the station name underneath. All announcements are made in Dutch, French and English. There are 6 metro lines. Tickets are sold through reusable plastic cards: an empty MOBIB Basic card costs €5, they are available at major metro and underground tram stations, including those at the three major railway stations (Brussels South, Central and North). Tickets can be put onto a MOBIB card at the GO vending machines in all metro stations and at many tram and bus stops. Paper tickets are being phased out, but single journey (€2.10), 24 hour (€7.50), and Airport Line (€4.50) tickets are still available as paper tickets. A MOBIB card is required for the return trip (€4.20), 5 journey (€8), 10 journey (€14), 48 hour (€14) and 72 hour (€18) tickets. Single journey paper tickets can be bought from the driver on buses and trams (not on the metro) for €2.50, the Airport Line ticket can be bought from the driver on bus lines 12 and 21 for €6.

To validate a ticket on a MOBIB card, you hold the card in front of the white circle on the red card reader until it beeps. On buses and trams, the card readers are on the vehicle. At metro and underground tram stations, the card readers are at the entrance. Most stations have the card readers on automatic gates. A green status light indicates a ticket was validated. If it's red, there's no valid ticket on your card. A single journey ticket remains valid for one hour, but you must still validate the MOBIB card again when changing to another metro, tram or bus.

To validate a paper ticket, you use the orange validators. You insert the ticket with the arrow pointing down. A time stamp is printed on the back of the ticket and is also written on the magnetic strip. A single journey ticket remains valid for one hour, but you must still validate the ticket again when changing to another metro, tram or bus. The orange validators are being removed, so even long buses and trams may have only one orange validator; at metro stations there's always one gate which still has an orange validator.

A group of people can share a single MOBIB card if it has multiple single journey tickets, or a 5 or 10 journey ticket. For example, if you are 3 people with a single MOBIB Basic card with a 10 journey ticket: you hold the card in front of the red card reader until it beeps to validate it for the first person, then you simply do this again 2 more times for the other 2 people. The card can still be used for 7 journeys after that. The first 3 validations remain valid for one hour. When changing to another metro, tram or bus, you have to validate the card again and you have to again validate it 3 times.

By bike

Bicycle rental




Grand Place-Grote Markt, Brussels
Manneken Pis
Palais de Justice/Justitiepaleis grand staircase
Bourse-Beurs, Brussels

Museums and galleries

Horta Museum

European Union

EU parliament debating chamber




Stoclet palace



Forest (pronounced with a silent "st") is the French name of one of the municipalities surrounding Brussels (the Flemish name is Vorst), known for its historically important abbey, a collection of art deco buildings and a major concert hall. Green and tranquil as the name might suggest, Forest is nevertheless also home to a large portion of Brussels' industrial facilities, including a car factory and the depot used by Eurostar trains.










The Bozar Center for Fine Arts

The BOZAR at the Rue Ravensteinstraat



Galeries Saint Hubert


Belgian specialities





Shopping centers




Chocolate until you drop








Cheap dining


Rue des Bouchers-Beenhouwerstraat, bustling on a Saturday night


A few restaurants stand out from the crowd though:




In Ixelles-Elsene:




Kosher dining



Gueuze tasting at Cantillon brewery


Smoking is prohibited in all bars.



Bars and clubs






Stay safe





In train stations, especially the Nord-Noord train station, scam artists show up in groups trying to distract you with some questions and steal your belongings. They are really professional, and business travelers are often targeted. When being approached by strangers in Brussels at any time, be very vigilant and keep your belongings in close sight.


Work out


At present, the capital city of Brussels hosts 185 embassies. Foreign affairs keeps an updated list of foreign representations.

Go next

Visit the following Belgian cities, all within a two-hour drive of Brussels:



This article is issued from Wikivoyage - version of the Wednesday, March 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.