Brussels: know before you go

Brussels Airport, at Zaventem, puts the railway station directly under the terminal. Direct trains run six times an hour during the day to Bruxelles-Nord (Brussel-Noord), Bruxelles-Central (Brussel-Centraal) and Bruxelles-Midi (Brussel-Zuid), and the ride to Central takes about 18 minutes; the airport supplement is normally folded into your ticket, so you buy one ticket and go. STIB's Airport2City bus is the cheaper alternative and drops you near the European quarter. Trains run from early morning until around midnight. Brussels South Charleroi is a different trip: it sits far outside the city, so arrange the coach or rail transfer as part of your booking and allow generous time. Eurostar and the other international trains arrive at Bruxelles-Midi, where metro and trams run into the centre within minutes, and the lower town is a walk downhill from Central.

STIB (MIVB in Dutch) runs the metro, trams and buses across the Brussels region. The contactless fare is the easy default: tap a bank card or phone on the grey validator and you pay €2.40, transfers are free for 60 minutes, and the system caps you at €8.50 a day, after which the rest of the day costs nothing. There is nothing to buy in advance. A Brupass single costs €2.70, €0.30 more than tapping. For a longer stay the 10-journey Brupass ticket is the better value, and it also covers SNCB trains, De Lijn and TEC inside the Brussels region, which makes short rail hops between the main stations cheap. Each traveller needs their own card or device; you cannot tap one card for two people. The metro is fastest for cross-town trips, while the centre itself is compact, with the Grand-Place, the Bourse and the Sainte-Catherine quays all within a flat walk of each other.

The tourist tax is the one city charge on top of your room rate: Brussels levies it per room per night, at a higher rate for hotels and standard accommodation than for home stays, and your host collects it with the bill. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts open their permanent collections free on the first Wednesday afternoon of every month, and adult admission is €13 for either the Old Masters or the Magritte museum, or €20 for both together. If you plan a museum-heavy trip, the Brussels Card bundles entry to more than 40 museums and can be topped up with unlimited public transport. Cards and contactless payments are accepted almost everywhere, from ticket machines to cafés; carry small change only for the flea market at the Jeu de Balle and similar stalls. Service is included in restaurant and café bills, so tipping is optional; rounding up is customary.

Brussels is a normal European capital with normal capital problems, and the main one is theft from distracted visitors. UK travel advice points to busy areas around the big transport hubs and tourist sites, naming the Bruxelles-Midi (Brussel-Zuid) and Bruxelles-Nord (Brussel-Noord) stations; the same caution applies on the metro, on busy trams and around the Grand-Place, the Bourse and Rue Neuve. Keep phones and wallets in zipped front pockets, keep bag zips closed on café terraces, and stand square to the ticket machines at stations. Late at night the blocks around Bruxelles-Nord (Brussel-Noord) can feel rough; if you are staying there, take a taxi from the station. Demonstrations and strikes can close streets and stop transport, so check local news before a day out. The national terror alert stays at a raised level, and the US advisory is Level 2, asking travellers to stay alert at transport hubs, tourist areas and large events.

Tap water in Brussels is safe to drink and closely monitored under standards stricter than the EU baseline, according to the regional supplier Vivaqua, which calls it excellent drinking water. It is mineral-rich and leaves limescale in kettles, which is normal here. Bring a refillable bottle. Pharmacies are marked by a green cross and handle minor complaints; outside opening hours the city runs a duty rota, and the current night pharmacy is posted in pharmacy windows. In an emergency, call 112 for an ambulance or the fire service, or 101 for the police. For anything serious, hospital emergency departments are spread across the centre and the university districts, and hotel desks will call a doctor or a taxi for you.

Small courtesies carry weight in Brussels. A bonjour before any request in a shop or café changes the temperature of the exchange; almost everyone in the centre will then happily switch to English. Greet staff when you enter, and say merci or dank u on the way out. On trams and the metro, let passengers off first and keep the doors clear. Lunch is a set window, roughly 12:00 to 14:30, and some kitchens close between services; dinner starts at 19:00 and terraces reward a slow pace. Many small shops shut on Sundays, and the weekend markets pack up by early afternoon, so shop in the morning. In the residential streets of the Marolles and Saint-Gilles, keep late-night voices down; people live above the corner bars.

Brussels is officially bilingual, and the signs prove it: Grand-Place (Grote Markt), Bruxelles-Midi (Brussel-Zuid), guichet (loket). French is the everyday language of the centre and most of the region's communes; Dutch, the other official language, is stronger in certain districts and at Flemish institutions. English is widely spoken in hotels, museums, cafés and the EU quarter, so visitors who speak only English manage easily. Still, a few words are worth having: bonjour (hello), merci (thanks), s'il vous plaît (please), au revoir (goodbye) and parlez-vous anglais? (do you speak English?). In Dutch that is hallo, dank u, alstublieft, tot ziens and spreekt u Engels? A greeting wins more goodwill than perfect grammar, and it costs nothing.

Step-free travel takes some planning in Brussels' oldest streets. The Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) is fully accessible to visitors with reduced mobility and its multimedia guide is included in the ticket; the Grand-Place, the Bourse and the Sainte-Catherine quays are flat, though cobbled. Between the two levels of the city, the free glass lift at the place Poelaert (Poelaertplein) terrace saves the climb from the Marolles, and the terrace has the widest view in Brussels. Metro access varies station by station, so check the lift symbol on the STIB map before choosing where to start, and the surface network of low-floor trams and kneeling buses is often the simpler option for wheels. Many older buildings in the centre have steps at the door, so check individual venues when booking.

Several Brussels museums take Monday off: the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, the Musical Instruments Museum, the Art & History Museum and the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces all close, while Autoworld in the same park opens every day. So give Monday to the streets: the comic-strip murals, the Grand-Place, the Sablon and the Marolles all stay open, and the Cinquantenaire museums fit Tuesday to Sunday. The Art Nouveau day works Thursday to Sunday, when the Horta Museum and Maison Hannon are both open. Two closures to know about: the Musical Instruments Museum's rooftop restaurant is shut for now, and the Art & History Museum's Egyptian and classical antiquities galleries are closed for renovation, with a temporary display of the collection planned elsewhere in the museum. The statue at the Barrière de Saint-Gilles came down in March 2026 for works and is due back in the second half of 2027. Belgium has ten public holidays: 1 January, Easter Monday, 1 May, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, 21 July (the national day), 15 August, 1 November, 11 November and 25 December. Easter Monday, Ascension and Whit Monday move with Easter; in 2027 they fall on 29 March, 6 May and 17 May. Check opening hours before planning a museum day on any of them.

A few Brussels addresses are worth booking before you arrive. The Horta Museum and Maison Hannon, the two Art Nouveau houses on the Saint-Gilles walk, are small: Horta takes visitors by booking only, Hannon advises booking online, and the combined ticket for the two is sold online only and must be used on the same day; allow about an hour for Horta and 45 minutes for Hannon, with ten minutes of walking between them. Hôtel Solvay, the most lavish of Horta's private houses, opens inside only for pre-booked guided tours. Belgian Beer World at the Bourse sells timed entry too, and is open every day from 10:30, with last entry at 18:30 from Sunday to Thursday and 19:30 on Friday and Saturday; the visit finishes on a rooftop bar. The Royal Palace opens to the public for just a few weeks each summer, so check the dates if your visit falls in that window. And book dinner for weekend evenings in the Sablon and Sainte-Catherine, where the best tables go by midweek.