Brussels
Belgium
A gilded guildhall square that fills with a light show and a market every winter, a comic-strip tradition taken as seriously as painting, and the best beer list on earth
Photo by Stephanie LeBlanc on Unsplash
Photos by Najib Samatar, Fisnik Murtezi, François Genon and Bibhash (Polygon.Cafe) Banerjee on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Belgium
Late November to late December for the markets, and May to September for everything else — the markets are busiest at weekends and in the last fortnight before the holiday
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 80mm in Dec
Where it is
50.85°N, 4.35°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- See the light show over the Grand-Place
- Drink a gueuze somewhere that is not on the square
- Eat chips from a fritkot, standing up
- Follow a few of the comic-strip walls
- Go out to the Atomium if the weather is clear
Brussels travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Belgium
Mid-rangeEuro, and cards work almost everywhere — but the Christmas market stalls are the exception, and a good many of them still want cash for a mug of Glühwein. Carry notes for the market and nothing else. Never change money at a station booth.
ATMs & cards
Use a bank’s own machine — Sparkasse, Volksbank, ING, BNP — rather than the Euronet ones near the markets and stations, which charge and push their own conversion. Always decline the conversion.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- the machines beside the Christmas markets
Use these instead
- KBC
- BNP Paribas Fortis
- Belfius
- ING
Decline the conversion. Draw before the market rather than at it: the independent machines cluster where the stalls are, and a good many stalls still want cash.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Belgium
SafeComfortable, with ordinary city caution. Pickpocketing around the Grand-Place and on the metro is the common crime and it is organised. The quarters immediately north and west of the Gare du Midi are poorer and worth care at night. The market area itself is heavily policed.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (5 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the metro and the Grand-Place crowds — organised pickpocketing, which is the city’s one persistent crime
- the streets north and west of Gare du Midi at night — poorer and quieter than the rest of the centre
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Belgium visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Belgium
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Tetanus up to date
Getting treated
Excellent, and among the fastest access in Europe. The EHIC and GHIC are accepted and visitors pay the same small patient share residents do. Pharmacies are everywhere and pharmacists give real advice.
Nothing. The one thing that catches visitors is the canal edges in Bruges, which have no railings.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodMoules-frites, carbonnade cooked in beer, waterzooi; chips from a fritkot with the sauce of your choosing; and the beer, which deserves a list of its own — lambic, gueuze and kriek are the ones made nowhere else, and the Grand-Place cafés are the worst place to drink them.
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- HeetchWorks here
- From the airport
- Brussels airport to the centre €45–55
- Against a taxi
- About level. Brussels licenses both onto one tariff.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Brussels — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Getting online
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Belgium, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Dutch
- HelloHalloHA-lo
- PleaseAlsjeblieftAL-shuh-bleeft
- Thank youDank je weldank yuh VEL
- Yes / NoJa / Neeya / nay
4 more phrases
- Excuse mePardonpar-DON
- How much is it?Hoeveel kost het?HOO-vayl kost het
- The bill, pleaseDe rekening, alsjeblieftduh RAY-kuh-ning
- Cheers!Proost!prohst
Practically everyone speaks excellent English and will switch the moment they hear an accent. Trying anyway is still appreciated.
Religion
Catholic by heritage, secular in practice
The churches and béguinages are among the finest in Europe and are visited rather than attended. Belgium was the second country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage, which says something about the distance travelled.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Order the beer in its own glass, which every brewery has and which arrives with it
- Say bonjour in Wallonia and goedendag in Flanders — Bruges is Flemish and the distinction is not pedantry
- Give three kisses when greeting friends, starting on the right
- Take chips from a friture with mayonnaise, which is what everybody actually does
Don't
- Do not call it French fries in front of a Belgian
- Do not speak French first in Flanders; English is the safe neutral option
- Do not order a Trappist expecting a session beer — they run to eleven per cent
- Do not cycle on the pavement or walk in a cycle lane, both of which are taken seriously
Where to stay in Brussels
No Holistay rentals in Brussels yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Brussels on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Brussels BRU
20 minfrom the airport· 12 km as the crow flies
20 min by train to Bruxelles-Central.
Also worth pricing: Brussels South Charleroi CRL — an hour by coach, and not in Brussels.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
