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Public Transport

Brussels centre is quite small. It is fairly easy to walk from one side to the other, but public transport is widely available. Moreover, it has international public transport connections and cities like London, Paris and Amsterdam are all less than two hours away by train. Explore Brussels, Belgium, Europe:

On foot

Finding your way around Brussels is not always that easy, but we advise you to obtain a map of the city. Free maps of the city are available in most hotels, as well as at the Tourist Office at the Grand Place/Grote Markt in Brussels. There are also on-line maps, the best tool available at the moment is on the Mappy site which provides practical street maps and enables you to plan a route between two addresses in the city.

By metro, tram & bus

The MIVB/STIB (Dutch/French) is Brussels’ transport company and Belgium's leading urban public transport company.  It serves the 19 communes of the Brussels Capital Region and ten other communes on the outskirts of the city.

The Brussels metro network consists of two main lines and one secondary line. This metro network is supplemented by an extraordinary network of trams, both underground and aboveground, and buses. 

Season tickets for students

Students can get a special public transport season ticket, which allows them to use the bus, tram and metro in Brussels for one year. Students will be informed about the prerequisites and the required documents at the beginning of the academic  year.

By train

The SNCB is the Belgian railway company. There are twenty-eight stations in Brussels, but the three main stations are:

  • Brussel Noord/Bruxelles Nord (North Station)
  • Brussel Centraal/Bruxelles Central (Central Station) near the Grote Markt/Grand Place
  • Brussel Zuid/Bruxelles Midi (South Station) Thalys, Eurostar… international connection

At Brussel Zuid/Bruxelles Midi (South Station) you can take high-speed trains: with Eurostar, Thalys and TGV you easily travel to other European cities.

By taxi

If you want to take a taxi, you have to go to a taxi stand (taxi's won't stop for you if you try to make them stop by waving in the middle of the street). There is no typical 'taxi-look'. Official taxis have an illuminated panel mentioning " Brussels Gewest - TAXI - Région de Bruxelles" on top. Note that taking a taxi can be rather expensive.

By plane

If you want to travel by plane, you can find information on the website of the national airport. Brussels National Airport is situated in Zaventem, near Brussels. To leave the airport, you can easily go by train or take a taxi. The latter is rather expensive. Do not confuse this airport with Brussels South. This one is located in Charleroi and isn’t near Brussels. It is an interesting airport if you want to travel cheaply with Ryanair.