🇧🇪 Belgium · Europe
Brussels
Grand-Place gold, comic-strip walls, and beer treated as a branch of philosophy.
cityfoodculture☀ best: May – Sep
SHOESTRING
€61/day
dorms, street plates, transit
COMFY
€104/day
private room, sit-down meals, a treat
FLASH
€208/day
nice hotel, good dinners, no maths
🧮 Trip maths
€729 total
What Brussels costs, day to day
🛵 Getting around
Uber
Bolt
STIB metro / tram ride€2.3
Day pass€6.9
Airport train€8.7–€10
Weekend return to Brugesweekend tickets run ~50 % off€14–€17
🛏 Stays
Per night
Hostel dorm bed€19–€30
Airbnb 1-BR€61–€104
3-star hotel€78–€130
Grand hotel€139–€260
Monthly
Studio€781–€1,215
1-BR, Ixelles€955–€1,476
🛒 Groceries & daily life
Colruyt — cheapest — a Belgian institution
Lidl / Aldi — budget backup
Delhaize — full-range
Water 1.5 L€0.6–€0.9
Milk 1 L€1–€1.2
Eggs ×10€2.4–€3.1
Bread loaf€1.5–€2
Rice 1 kg€1.6–€2.2
Chicken breast 1 kg€7.4–€9.1
Bananas 1 kg€1.5–€1.8
Local beer 0.5 L (shop)€1.1–€1.6
🍜 Eating out
Frites cone + sauceeaten standing on the square, as intended€3.5–€5.2
Street waffle€2.6–€4.3
Moules-frites€19–€26
Trappist beer€3.5–€5.2
Pralines, 250 g€6.9–€13
🎡 Things to do — with kids
Comics Art Museum€8.7–€11
Mini-Europe€15–€17
Train World€10–€12
🌙 Things to do — grown-ups
Grand-Place by nightfree
Delirium’s 2,000-beer menuper beer€3.5–€6.1
Magritte Museum€8.7–€10
Bruges or Ghent day trip€14–€22
🌤 Climate
Day °CRain
Best: May – Sep · Wet: —
It rains a little, often — carry the umbrella, order another lambic.
✈️ Getting there
Brussels AirlinesRyanair (Charleroi)TUI flyLisbon€22–€52
Rome€22–€52
Copenhagen€22–€48
Charleroi ‘Brussels South’ is an hour away — the usual budget-airport asterisk.
🏧 ATMs & money
Fees: Bank ATMs (now often shared white 'CASH' points) are surcharge-free for standard withdrawals.
Limits: Typically €500–650 per pull.
Best machines: BelfiusKBCBNP Paribas Fortis
Frites stands take cards these days; keep a €10 note for markets and you're set.
🩺 Health & safety
Vaccines: Routine only.
Health: Tap water fine; excellent healthcare.
Tap water: ✅ Safe to drink from the tap everywhere.
Safety: Brussels' tourist core is calm; Gare du Midi arrivals is the one pickpocket hotspot — bag zipped, then waffles. Late-night around the station district: take a cab like a local would.
Emergency: 112
🌱 Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Plant-based: Frites are traditionally beef-fat fried — ask 'végétal?'; Ghent invented the weekly veggie day and Brussels has serious vegan frites.
Gluten-free: Mussels and most frites are GF (check fryer); waffles and beer are the wheat walls — GF beer exists in specialist bars.
'Veggie dag' culture means every town has at least one full veggie kitchen.
🛂 Visa & entry
This is a Schengen-area country. Most US, UK, EU, Canadian, Australian, NZ, Brazilian, Japanese and Korean passports enter visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole Schengen zone. From 2025 the EU's ETIAS pre-authorisation applies to visa-free non-EU visitors — check before you fly.
Rules change — always verify with an official source for your nationality before you book.
💬 Traveller tips & reports
Beer is the museum — Order by style, not brand: one lambic, one trappist, one gueuze across three brown cafés — $15 total, five centuries of technique.
@gueuze.geuze · Feb ’26 · ▲ 92