Brussels

The currency is the euro. Approximate 2026 ranges: espresso €2.80–4; draft beer €3.50–5, Trappist or lambic €5–9; cone of fries €3.50–5; lunch special €15–22; sit-down dinner with a drink €35–55; midrange hotel €110–180 a night, with a city lodging tax charged separately, around €3–4.50 per room per night. Cards are accepted almost everywhere (the local debit system is called Bancontact), but some fritkots, neighborhood flea markets and old bars still take cash only, so carry €20–30 in cash. Service and taxes are included in the bill and tipping isn't required: round up, or leave 5% after a long dinner. Station and public restrooms usually charge €0.50–1, so keep some coins handy.

Zaventem at 12 km, four trains an hour

Brussels Airport (BRU), in Zaventem, is 12 km northeast and connects to the center by train, with about 4 departures an hour and 17 minutes to Bruxelles-Central; the fare already includes the Diabolo surcharge for station access. A taxi to the center costs €50–60. Don't confuse it with Charleroi (CRL), a different airport 46 km south of the city. International trains leave from Bruxelles-Midi: London in about 2 hours, Paris in 1 hour 22 minutes, Amsterdam in 1 hour 50 minutes, Cologne in 1 hour 50 minutes.

Metro, tram, and the late-night Noctis

Within the city, STIB/MIVB runs 4 metro lines (1, 2, 5 and 6), about 18 tram lines and more than 50 bus lines, from 5am to 12:30am, with Noctis night buses on Friday and Saturday nights. Tapping your credit or debit card directly at the gate charges per single trip, with a daily cap: a good deal if you make several trips in one day. 24-, 48- and 72-hour passes and the MOBIB card are also available for longer stays. Validate again every time you change lines, even if your ticket is still valid, because fines start at about €100. The Pentagon is walkable but hilly; Villo! public bikes and shared e-bikes cover the rest, and the center has been a 30 km/h zone since 2021, with a long pedestrian stretch on Boulevard Anspach.

Brussels has low violent crime and high petty theft: the real concern is pickpockets. They're most active at Bruxelles-Midi station and around it, on metro lines 2 and 6, along the Bourse–De Brouckère axis and in the crowds on the Grand-Place on event nights. Wear your backpack on your front in the metro and don't leave your phone on a terrace table, where it can vanish in a moment of distraction. At night, the area around Midi, Place Fontainas and the Anneessens–Lemonnier area get unpleasant more because of pestering and verbal harassment than direct danger; a taxi or ride-hail takes care of that stretch. Bike theft is very common, so use a U-lock. There's no neighborhood you need to avoid during the day. Emergency: 112, answered in English too; police, 101. Protests and EU summits close streets in the European Quarter with little notice, which is a traffic problem, not a safety one.

Greet on the way in

Say “bonjour” or “goeiedag” when you cross the threshold of a bakery, pharmacy, or small shop, and “au revoir” on your way out.

Don't guess which language to use

The city is bilingual, but each person has their own language. Start in French or English; speaking Dutch to a French speaker, or the reverse, can come across as a political statement.

Don't confuse Belgium with its neighbors

Calling the beer German, the chocolate Swiss or the city “almost Paris” is the comment that annoys people most. Treating Brussels as part of Flanders also goes down badly, because the city is a region of its own, surrounded by Flemish territory.

Every beer has its glass

Establishments serve each brand in the glass designed for it and won't swap. Don't order a generic “beer”: pick one from the menu, which often runs from 20 to 200 options.

Fries are eaten standing up

At a fritkot, you eat next to the counter, with the little plastic fork, without looking for a table. Choose your sauce while you wait in line, so you can order in one go when you reach the register.

Sunday: shops closed; museums and markets open

On Sundays shops close, while street markets and museums open as usual.

Having dinner on Rue des Bouchers

Having dinner on Rue des Bouchers because the street is lit up and busy. It's the center's tourist trap, with waiters who grab passersby by the arm and seafood of uneven quality. Two streets over, in Sainte-Catherine, you eat better for the same money.

Planning on a flat map

Planning the day on a flat map. Between the Grand-Place and the Place Royale there's about 60 meters of elevation and several staircases; the route that looks like 15 minutes takes 30 with the slope.

Landing in Charleroi thinking it's Brussels

Landing in Charleroi thinking you've arrived in Brussels. CRL is 46 km away and requires another hour of bus for about €20, which usually cancels out the savings on the airfare.

Museums on a Monday

Saving museums for Monday, when most of the major collections are closed and you're left with outdoor sights or places open every day, like the Atomium, the squares and the breweries.

Chocolate at the Grand-Place or the airport

Buying chocolate at the first shop on the Grand-Place or at the airport and paying almost double for the same product sold 300 meters away, at the Galeries Saint-Hubert or a neighborhood branch.

Bonjour / Goeiedag

Standard greeting when entering any small establishment, before ordering anything

Une pinte, s'il vous plaît

A beer, please: here “pinte” is the standard glass of about 25 cl, not the British pint

Un cornet de frites avec andalouse

A cone of fries with andalouse sauce

L'addition, s'il vous plaît

The check, please

Merci / Dank u wel

Thank you, in both official languages

Ça va?

You good? In Brussels it works as both the question and the answer

The valley, the Senne, and the canal

Brussels sits in a shallow valley about 100 km from the North Sea, where the Brabant plateau to the south gives way to the Flemish plain to the north. The Senne, now channeled and covered, ran southwest to northeast; the Charleroi Canal, completed in the 19th century, still crosses the city and separates the industrial, working-class west (Molenbeek, Anderlecht) from the historic center.

The sixty meters between low and high

The elevation difference between the Ville Basse (about 15 m) and the Ville Haute (about 75 m) is about 60 meters and is covered by staircases, slopes, and public elevators; underestimating that drop is the classic mistake of anyone planning the day on a flat map.

An oceanic climate and fine rain

Brussels has an oceanic climate, moderated by the Atlantic, with fine rain spread across much of the year and little temperature variation between seasons.

Magritte and surrealism, Hergé and comics

Brussels produced two visual languages the world copied. Belgian surrealism took shape here in 1926 around René Magritte, who lived for 24 years in an ordinary house in Jette, now a museum, and painted the pipe that isn't a pipe; Paul Delvaux and Marcel Broodthaers followed. The second language is comics: Hergé created Tintin in 1929, Franquin created Gaston in 1957 and Peyo the Smurfs in 1958, all working in the city. The Belgian Comic Strip Center (Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée) has occupied a 1906 warehouse designed by Victor Horta since 1989, and more than 60 comic murals are painted on gable walls around the center, along a free, signposted route.

Music scene: from La Monnaie to Ancienne Belgique

Musical life is split between institutions and basements. The Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, an opera house since 1700, was the stage where the spark of the 1830 revolution was lit and still keeps top-tier programming. The Bozar, designed by Victor Horta and opened in 1928, houses the National Orchestra; the Ancienne Belgique, on the Boulevard Anspach, has been the reference rock venue since the 1970s. Jacques Brel, born in Schaerbeek in 1929, wrote “Bruxelles” and “Le Plat Pays” and has a foundation with a permanent exhibit near the Grand-Place. In the 1980s the city exported new beat and EBM, with Front 242 and Telex, and still sustains an electronic and African scene in the clubs of Ixelles and along the canal.

Akerman's cinema, soccer and cafés

In film, the most critically celebrated Belgian movie, “Jeanne Dielman,” by Akerman, was shot in an ordinary apartment in the city. Jaco Van Dormael and the Dardenne brothers carry on the Belgian tradition of low budgets and high precision. In soccer, RSC Anderlecht, with 34 national titles, shares the city with Union Saint-Gilloise, which returned to the top division in 2021 after 48 years away. Away from the screen and the stadium, social life revolves around the neighborhood café-bar, where each beer comes in the glass designed for it.

“The Adventures of Tintin,” by Hergé (from 1929)

Created and drawn in Brussels: the clear line, the restrained humor, and the documentary obsession are the aesthetic the city exported. Start with “The Secret of the Unicorn.”

“Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles,” by Chantal Akerman (1975)

Three hours and twenty minutes in the routine of a widow in a Brussels apartment. Voted the greatest film of all time by Sight and Sound magazine in 2022; it shows the Belgian interior better than any guide.

“Bruxelles” and “Le Plat Pays,” by Jacques Brel (1962)

Two songs by the singer born in Schaerbeek: one rebuilds the city of trams and grandparents, the other describes the plain, the wind, and the low sky that define the climate here.