{"id":660,"date":"2009-11-16T14:14:25","date_gmt":"2009-11-16T14:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wiki.davelevy.info\/?p=660"},"modified":"2025-11-24T22:13:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T22:13:20","slug":"brussels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/brussels\/","title":{"rendered":"Brussels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I used to visit <b>Brussels<\/b> on a regular basis in the late noughties; I started again in 20&#8217;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.&nbsp; 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More of my pictures are <a title=\"my picture set of Brussels on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/davelevy\/sets\/72157603583559801\/\">here&#8230;<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a data-flickr-embed='true' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/davelevy\/albums\/72157603583559801\/' title='Brussels by DaveLevy, on Flickr'><img src='https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/2092\/2148782598_fc42c7756f_b.jpg' width='800' height='600' alt='The Bourse'><\/a><script async src='https:\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js' charset='utf-8'><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">My Brussels Map<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the Google Map, I have focussed it on the <b>Rond Point Schuman<\/b>, in the European Quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<center>\n<br><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?ie=UTF8&amp;hl=en&amp;om=0&amp;s=AARTsJqWXIPtX9EYqGpiZOnVpmCgTY_d2A&amp;msa=0&amp;msid=103078717444100836357.00043f3a8e8be876f6e69&amp;ll=50.846056,4.38406&amp;spn=0.037936,0.072956&amp;z=13&amp;output=embed\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n<br><small><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-align: left;\" href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?ie=UTF8&amp;hl=en&amp;om=0&amp;msa=0&amp;msid=103078717444100836357.00043f3a8e8be876f6e69&amp;ll=50.846056,4.38406&amp;spn=0.037936,0.072956&amp;z=13&amp;source=embed\">View Larger Map<\/a><\/small>\n<\/center>\n\n\n\n<p>No2<\/p>\n\n\n\n<center>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/embed?mid=1BPcVPNLzJKvqaTHGmHx9oIyo0M8&#038;ehbc=2E312F\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/iframe>\n<\/center>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hotels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A stayed at the <a href=\"https:\/\/all.accor.com\/hotel\/5282\/index.en.shtml\">Sofitel<\/a> in the European Quarter in the noughties, it is&nbsp; 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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nh-hotels.com\/hotel\/nh-brussels-carrefour-de-l-europe\">Carrefour d&#8217;Europe<\/a>, a once a <b>Best Western<\/b>, now an NH near the Gare Centrale. On metro route <b>1<\/b> and the train to <b>Zaventem<\/b>. Useful for my stays in the noughties but I never stayed there since its always full and I book late.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once was Le Meridien, now a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hilton.com\/en\/hotels\/brugrhi-hilton-brussels-grand-place\/\">Hilton on&nbsp; the Grand Place<\/a>&nbsp;near the Gare Centrale, so good for the airport. Was very nice but pricey. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I stayed at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hotelvanbelle.be\/\">Van Belle in 2022<\/a>. I liked it&#8217;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&#8217;t well at the time. I liked this and would go back depending on what I was doing. This was booked via Eurostar.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2023 stayed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.new-hotel.com\/en\/hotels-in-brussels\/charlemagne\/\">New Hotel Charlemagne<\/a>. , this is next door to the Berlaymont.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Metro<\/h3>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/8\/85\/Metro_Brussels.svg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Brussels_Metro\">#<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is now stated that NFR cards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visit.brussels\/en\/visitors\/plan-your-trip\/practical-info\/get-around\">can pay for journeys on the transport<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stib-mivb.be\/abon_tickets.html?l=en\">the metro ticketing site<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Getting there<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Looks like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurostar.com\/uk-en\">Eurostar<\/a> 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/london-city-airport-lcy\/\">LCY<\/a>. They run a frequent users club, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurostar.com\/uk-en\/club-eurostar\">Club Eurostar<\/a> 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. <strong><em>Get Euros from the Post Office<\/em><\/strong>, the machines and kiosk in London are very expensive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CV19<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Today it seems that there are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/foreign-travel-advice\/belgium\/entry-requirements\">no extra documentation needs<\/a> to travel to Belgium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things to do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You can visit the <b>European Parliament<\/b> building.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The pictures in the <b>Musee des Belle Artes<\/b>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The awesome <b>Grand Place<\/b><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Winterfest in St. Catherine&#8217;s.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tripadvisor.co.uk\/Attractions-g188644-Activities-Brussels.html\"> trip advisor<\/a> say!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Outside Brussels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.waterloo1815.be\/en\/\">https:\/\/www.waterloo1815.be\/en\/<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/101airbornemuseumbastogne.com\/en\/\">https:\/\/101airbornemuseumbastogne.com\/en\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Featured Image: CC dfl (i.e. me) 2007 BY-SA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I used to visit Brussels on a regular basis in the late noughties; I started again in 20&#8217;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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[79],"tags":[192,108],"class_list":["post-660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-brussels","tag-travel-2"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@davelevy_eu\/112625201225588001","error":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/brusselbourse-cc-dfl-2007-BY-SA.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13474,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions\/13474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}