Belgium Budget Travel Guide is created to provide useful information for people who are keen to visit Belgium on a limited budget. As a travel enthusiast, I hope that my description of Belgium will be helpful to you as you plan your trip. Listed on this page are the principal cities of Belgium that you might want to visit, along with some of the most famous sights.
About Belgium
Belgium is a small country in the centre of Western Europe. Due to its central location, its capital Brussels is the seat of the European Union as well as NATO. Belgium shares a border with the Netherlands in the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, and France to the Southwest. Belgium can be split into two language divisions - the Flemish north where the people predominantly speak Flemish while the south called Walloonia where they speak French.
The weather is unpredictable, but for the best bet, go between May and September. The drawback is that everybody else will think the same, and as a result, expect everywhere to be more crowded during these months.
What to wear in Belgium
Assuming you are going to Belgium in the months of May to September, bring lightweight clothing for the warm days, medium weight clothing for the cooler days, and keep your umbrella and raincoat handy at all times.
Getting into Belgium
By Flight
The Brussels International Airport, www.brusselsairport.be, (BRU) is located in the town of Zaventem outside of Brussels. It is the base of Brussels Airlines, www.brusselsairlines.com, the national airline for Belgium. Flight from London to Brussels takes approximately 50 minutes. Airport City Express train, www.b-rail.be between the airport and Brussels takes approximately 25 minutes. It costs 2.80 E and runs once every 15 minutes. In addition, buses #12 and 13 goes from the airport to Place Luxembourg, the European Parliament, every 20-30 minutes for 3Euro. Taxis from airport to Brussels cost 30euro; if booked in advance, they cost 20euro. Call Taxis Bleus 02 268 0000, Taxi Brussels 02 411 4142 and Taxis Verts: 02 349 4343.
In addition to the Brussels Airport, Brussels is also served by two other airport, Charleroi Airport, www.charleroi-airport.com, (CRL), 46km from Brussels, served by low cost carriers Ryanair, www.ryanair.com and Wizzair, www.wizzair.com, and Antwerp Deurne Airport (ANR), for business flights and VLM www.flyvlm.com to London City airport.
For wider options, you may also consider flying into Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) which has rail links to Brussels and Antwerp.
By Train
There is a selection of rail connections available with Brussels.
From London, you can take the Eurostar, www.eurostar.com, that goes to the Brussels South railway station; from there, you get free connection to other stations in Belgium. On the London end, the Eurostar presently (Sept 2007) stops at Waterloo station, but will move to St Pancras station on 14 November 2007, at which time, it will be called the High Speed 1.
You can also reach Brussels using the high-speed Thalys, www.thalys.com, train, which connects with Cologne (in 2 hours 23 minutes), Paris (1 hour 20 minutes) and Amsterdam (2 hours).
You can reach Brussels from Frankfurt-am-Main on the German high-speed ICE train. It runs once a day and costs 93 euros each way.
You can also take the Eurocity train that links Brussels with Amsterdam, via Rotterdam, The Hague and Schiphol airport.
Nationals of the EU do not require a visa. Nationals of Australia, Canada and US do not require a visa if visiting Belgium for up to three months in a 6-month period.
Budget Travel within in Belgium
There are no domestic flights within Belgium, it being such a small country. Belgium National Railway, www.b-rail.be (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges, SNCB) offers a comprehensive with other major cities in Europe.
Money matters in Belgium
Belgium uses the Euro (EUR, symbol €). Banknotes are in denominations of €500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5 while coins are in denominations of €2 and 1, and 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 cents. Banking hours differ between cities but are generally Mon-Fri, 9:00am to 4:00pm.
At time of writing (Oct 2007), USD1.00 = EUR0.71 For the latest exchange go to the Oanda Currency Converter.
Before booking a hotel room, make sure you are getting the lowest price for it. Different hotel booking websites offers the same room at different prices. If you stick with one site all the time, you could be paying more for the same room. Now why pay more?
The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!
Our Flight Checker helps travelers compare flights and get the lowest fare for their trips. If you're flying somewhere, use our Flight Checker to compare the rates from different airlines. To use it, enter where you will be flying from, where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.
Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.
