I used to visit Brussels on a regular basis in the late noughties; I started again in 20’s. This page was copied across from the v3 wiki in the early summer of 2013. I had stopped visiting Brussels for business in 2009, but on 4th August 2013, Starwood Hotels spammed me with notice of new and old hotels. I decided to revise the page. Most of the what I said then is now getting dated. But in 2021, I had cause to look and revise the page again. I might need to go back which I did in the Summer of 2022 and again in the spring of 2023.
More of my pictures are here….
My Brussels Map
This is the Google Map, I have focussed it on the Rond Point Schuman, in the European Quarter.
View Larger Map
Hotels
- A stayed at the Sofitel in the European Quarter in the noughties, it is located on the Place Jourdain in the European Quarter, near the Berlaymont and Rond Point Schuman. Sadly the restaurant was shut, which is why they offered a price below the expense limit at the time.
- Carrefour d’Europe, a once a Best Western, now an NH near the Gare Centrale. On metro route 1 and the train to Zaventem. Useful for my stays in the noughties but I never stayed there since its always full and I book late.
- Once was Le Meridien, now a Hilton on the Grand Place near the Gare Centrale, so good for the airport. Was very nice but pricey.
- I stayed at the Van Belle in 2022. I liked it’s ambience, the room and the food! The wine menu was a bit limited, but Brussels is a beer city and the journey to the European Quarter was by foot; I wasn’t well at the time. I liked this and would go back depending on what I was doing. This was booked via Eurostar.
- In 2023 stayed in the New Hotel Charlemagne. , this is next door to the Berlaymont.
The Metro
It is now stated that NFR cards can pay for journeys on the transport.
Here is the metro ticketing site.
Getting there
- Looks like Eurostar is the way to go these days. Eurostar to Brussels is now Fab, centre to centre, so saves the journey in from the Airport in Brussels, and in London if not travelling via LCY. They run a frequent users club, Club Eurostar although it requires a lot of journeys to get access to the Bar. The Brussels waiting room is a bit meh! The London waiting room can get crowded. Get Euros from the Post Office, the machines and kiosk in London are very expensive.
Visas
- Now we need to count our days in the Schengen Area, it’s for the whole area not by each member state.
CV19
Today it seems that there are no extra documentation needs to travel to Belgium.
Things to do
- You can visit the European Parliament building.
- The pictures in the Musee des Belle Artes.
- The awesome Grand Place
- The Winterfest in St. Catherine’s.
- What trip advisor say!
Featured Image: CC dfl (i.e. me) 2007 BY-SA
The rss feeds have failed and I can’t be bothered to work out to fix them as the links contained in the list are just so out of date.
I may have to return, and so I amended the page. I added comments about Eurostar, which maybe the best way to travel now, particularly given the CV19 restrictions and risks and removed the comments about the Comfort Hotel Siru. I also note that Brussels seems cheaper than Brighton, at least during conference season.
I removed the following comments about Belgian travel documents required during the peak of the CV19 pandemic today,
For the vaccinated, it looks like, you need a PRC test on arrival in Belgium, but possibly not if staying under 48 hours, and on return from Belgium. Do I have to pay for the UK one? Yes! One needs a GHIC and travel insurance (if British). Also, now, you need to complete a passenger locator form.
I travelled via Eurostar earlier in the week, the Belgian’s require no documentation for CV19, the Eurostar staff did, but my digital vaccine certificate was good enough.
I removed the following comment from the post main article, “Hotels in Brussels during the working week are expensive. I have at the moment a very long list of hotels on my del.icio.us tag list and on my google map. I am looking for an acceptably priced hotel near Rond Point Schuman, or on Metro Line 1 with internet access. The *** Hotels I have tried do not have either internet, nor mini bars, and while I am not desperate for booze during the night, it is nice to have some water.” This was written in 2009.
I removed the following text, it seems it’s now wrong. Cards on the transport. Wikipedia says, “MoBIB is the STIB/MIVB smart card, introduced in 2007. It uses contactless technology based on the Calypso system originally developed for Paris and is in some ways similar e.g. to the London’s Oyster card. All Metro stations, buses and trams have MoBIB readers. Passengers can purchase monthly passes, yearly passes, 1 and 10-trip tickets and daily and 3-day passes. These can be bought over the Internet, but require customers to have a smart card reader. GO vending machines accept coins, local and international chip and PIN credit and debit cards. “