Getting Around

Getting Around Belgium

As Belgium is a small country getting around is fairly straightforward. The main international airport is Brussels Airport (sometimes called Zaventem), and is located just 25 minutes from Brussels city by train. Antwerp also has a smaller international airport, but because everything is so close together there are no scheduled domestic flights between cities.

Belgium has an efficient and extensive rail service operated by NMBS (or SNCB in French) which connects most of the cities and larger towns. Most of the trains are modern and clean and tend to run on time. Unlike some other European train sevices, there is no need to prebook a ticket. There are two price structures - 1st and 2nd class, with 2nd class carriages getting quite full during rush hours. 2nd class tickets are cheap by European and UK standards with most trips costing 20 euro or less. Fines for not having a ticket can cost up to 200 euro. If you plan to do a fair bit of train travel, consider buying a Go Pass for really good value travel.

Travelling around Belgium by car is another good option as the country is served by an extensive network of roads and toll-free motorways. Because of the language variations around the country things can get a little confusing from time to time. In Flanders the road signs are in Dutch, in Wallonia they are in French, but in Brussels they are bilingual. Additional confusion can also arise because place names are often quite different in Dutch and French. For example Antwerp is called Antwerpen in Dutch and Anvers in French. If you’re not used to finding your way around Belgium and speak neither Dutch or French, good road maps are essential and a satellite navigation system advisable.

Drivers should also be ware of the ‘priority from the right rule’ where at intersections and crossings, traffic coming from the right has priority - except where indicated by signs. Belgians drive on the right.

Buses, trams (and in larger cities, the metro) also offer ways of making shorter trips whilst in Belgium.

Most of the major international Car Rental companies operate in Belgium and in most cases the minimum driving age to hire a car is 25.