Brussels Travel Guide

Brussels (French: Bruxelles, Dutch: Brussel) is the capital of Belgium and one of the three administrative regions within the country, together with Flanders and Wallonia. Apart from its role within its country, it is also an internationally important city, hosting numerous international institutions, and in particular the headquarters of NATO and the core institutions of the European Union. Due to that, it is sometimes referred to informally as the capital of the EU, and even used as a metonym for the EU institutions. Brussels blends the heritage of a medieval Flemish town with the grandiose projects initiated after it became the capital of what was then a French-speaking country, as well as some impressive modern architecture erected in a large part to house the international institutions. Brussels is now bilingual, hosting and officially recognizing the Dutch- and French-speaking communities of Belgium, and has become increasingly international with the influx of people of various o

50.9013894.4844441Brussels Airport(BRUIATAalso referred to asBrussels NationalorZaventemafter the municipality it is in).This is Brussels' main airport. It has good train connections with the rest of Belgium, and with manyEuropeancapitals and other major cities.(updated Nov 2022)

In short: try to use your car as little as possible. As with most European capitals, Brussels has taken great strides in eliminating cars, and with mostly good measures. Until the mid-2000s, Brussels had some of the worst (if not the worst) traffic jams in the western world, even rivalling cities like Los Angeles and New York City. Though Brussels is still lagging behind places like Amsterdam, the city's (overwhelmingly) left-wing government has installed bike lanes, pedestrianised streets, and

This might come as a shock to the uninitiated, but Brussels is increasingly dealing with the reputation of being a rather unsafe or uneasy city, at least by Western European standards. Though one can argue that it is partially bloated by the media and "word-of-mouth", Brussels has its share of safety issues. Violent crime is rather rare, however pickpocketing, vandalism and petty theft are common. Homeless encampments and drug abusers are a common sight in all of the major train and metro statio

Hotel rates in Brussels can vary widely (especially at the upper end) depending on how many EU bigwigs happen to be in town. Good deals are often available on weekends and during the summer when the bureaucrats flee on vacation.