Brussels (BRU)

.../> I have travelled to Brussels airport (or Zaventem as it is known to the locals) many times, both on my way to North America and to visit the city of Brussels itself. I find it to be a clean and modern airport, not too crowded and with excellent facilities. The duty free shops are some of the best I have seen. Practically everybody who works there speaks English.

Because the airport has excellent links to the centre of Brussels ...
...of the sights that the Brussels has to offer if you are en route somewhere and have more than five hours to wait for your connecting flight. If you have only a couple of hours to spare I would NOT recommend travelling into central Brussels, however.

Getting To And From The Airport
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There are excellent facilities for car rental from the airport, with rental desks for all the major firms such as ... more

Introduction
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I have travelled to Brussels airport (or Zaventem as it is known to the locals) many times, both on my way to North America and to visit the city of Brussels itself. I find it to be a clean and modern airport, not too crowded and with excellent facilities. The duty free shops are some of the best I have seen. Practically everybody who works there speaks English.

Because the airport has excellent links to the centre of Brussels and beyond, it is convenient for a quick visit to the city centre from the airport, where you can experience some of the sights that the Brussels has to offer if you are en route somewhere and have more than five hours to wait for your connecting flight. If you have only a couple of hours to spare I would NOT recommend travelling into central Brussels, however.

Getting To And From The Airport
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There are excellent facilities for car rental from the airport, with rental desks for all the major firms such as Budget, Hertz, Avis, National and Europcar located in the arrivals hall.

Taxis are also available. A taxi into the centre Brussels from the airport will cost about 30 Euros and taxis are available just outside the arrivals hall. As with all airports there is an eternal problem with unlicenced taxis, I have always been advised to check for a blue and yellow plate on the taxi to signify that it is real, these can usually be found screwed to the front of the vehicle.

Buses leave from a station located just below the arrivals hall. Buses include regular hotel shuttles (free) and scheduled services to cities such as Antwerp, for which you should expect to pay around 8 Euros for a single one way ticket and 15 Euros for a return.

Trains
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I have given trains a section all of its own because this airport has some of the best train connections I have ever seen.

The Airport City Express trains leave from a station located directly beneath the main airport terminal at basement level. Other than shelling out for a taxi, trains are easily the quickest and cheapest way to get into the centre of Brussels. Trains run from 6am until midnight seven days a week. The trains are frequent, (around every fifteen minutes) cheap and my recommendation would be to travel first class, it costs only 3,90 Euros for a single one way ticket as opposed to 2,60 for second class. Return tickets are also available, as are ‘weekend’ tickets which can offer a significant saving. If you tell the clerk at the ticket window how long you are visiting they will generally do their best to find you the cheapest and most appropriate fare.

Trains travel to several locations within the city centre, these are the Brussels-Midi, Brussels-Central and Brussels-North Stations. The North Station is located near to the botanic gardens and many of the city’s ‘budget’ type hotels, this is quite far from the centre however, so unless you are needing to get to a hotel nearby don’t use this station. If you want to visit the city centre, your best bet is to aim for the Central station which is located near the famous Market Square (Grand Place).

As well as the shuttle service to and from Brussels, there are now direct links with the west and south of Belgium via train, cities include Ghent, where there is a lovely Cathedral and Mons, which will be of interest to anyone wishing to visit sites associated with famous battles of the First World War.

If you intend to continue your rail journey to another destination within Belgium or beyond, it is best to change trains at Brussels-Midi station which was recently modernized and offers great facilities. Brussels Midi is also the departure and arrival point for the high-speed trains Thalys, TGV and Eurostar.

To access buses, trains and left luggage, look for the signs as you come through passport control into arrivals, they are diagonally to your right down an escalator (there is also a lift). Brussels airport has excellent signs in several languages including English, but if you can't find what you need look for an information desk, they are very helpful.

Quick Visits To Brussels
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If you have just a few hours between flights and have not visited Brussels before I would recommend the ‘Grand Place’ or Market Square which is full of historic buildings and pavement type cafes where you can relax with a beer. Nearby are located many ‘tourist type’ restaurants which offer cheap fixed price menus featuring some Belgian cuisine and seafood but in the main these are of the Italian lasagne type variety. There are many better restaurants located away from the city centre but I suggest you leave those for a weekend visit. Two to three hours should leave enough time for a quick lunch, a beer and a few photographs. Near to the Grand Place is located the Manneken Pis or ‘Peeing Boy’ and the usual tourist souvenir shops selling copies of this famous statue.

If you are visiting Brussels just for the day I would suggest leaving your rucksack or suitcase in a left luggage locker at the airport before travelling, you will enjoy your visit so much more unencumbered by luggage. The left luggage lockers are located near to the bus station and car parks and there are change machines nearby which will even change banknotes.

Hotels
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If you are needing a hotel between flights, lots of the national chains have locations at or very near the airport. These include all the usual suspects such as the Sheraton, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn. Regular shuttles leave from the bus station located below the arrivals hall. If you are needing to book a hotel in Belgium I can heartily recommend the website www.hotelconnect.com which I have used many times to find astonishing bargains on bed and breakfast type accommodation. The site is a bit clunky, but they are very good about sending faxed confirmations of your booking and the service is free – you just pay the hotel direct at the end of your stay.

Places To Eat
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Eating at the airport is not something I have done very often as it's usually cheaper and more convenient to travel into Brussels proper to do this. But if you are stuck at the airport and feeling hungry, there is a Pizza Hut and Burger Bar (I seem to remember the Burger Bar is called ‘Gourmet Burger’ – is this the only airport in the world without a McDonalds??). There is also the inevitable ‘International Food Court’, numerous bars serving beer and coffee and an Italian restaurant. I have also observed with some fascination a small stand called ‘Seafood Island’ where they sell shellfish, smoked fish and sushi prepared in front of and served to travellers somewhat precariously perched on bar stools.

Navigating Around The Airport
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If you are travelling into Brussels and need to change flights, you will find the transition process very easy. TV screens showing arrivals and departures are located everywhere, in addition it is very common for incoming flights to be met by representatives of the airline who will happily direct transferring passengers where they need to go, often in several languages!!

To get to the departure gates you will have to go through security, there is one security checkpoint for all departure gates and it is very fast compared with other airports as they generally have several lanes open.

Accessing the departure gates is by underground or overground passageways with a choice of walking or using moving walkways, unlike airports such as Paris (which I have also reviewed on Ciao but much less favourably) you don't have to wait for buses to take you to various parts of the airport. Allow about 10 minutes to get to some of the more distant gates, longer if you have young children. There are plenty of toilets on the way to the gates and lots of seating at the gates themselves. Sometimes the flight will leave directly from the gate, other times buses will take you out to the plane.

Telecommunications
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It's almost inevitable that I'm going to have to include a section on this as the question I'm most often asked is 'will my mobile work in Belgium?'. The answer is, 'Yes, it will,' but do make sure that you contact your phone service provider before you leave to make sure any international barring is disabled.

Belgians appear to have an eternal love of mobile phones and practically everyone who passes through the airport seems to be on the phone almost constantly. It is not uncommon to see people with more than one phone. The telecommunications system in Belgium is very advanced and I appreciated the fact that when I got off the plane I switched on my phone and it located a local service provider (Belgacom) almost immediately. Belgacom also sent me a little message saying ‘Welcome to Belgium’. Nice!

Conclusion
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One of the things I appreciate about Brussels is that it is a very clean and modern airport with plenty of space. It reminds me in many ways of American airports and I have seldom experienced a problem finding a seat when waiting at the departure gate. If I have one criticism it would be that everyone seems to smoke, I would personally prefer a no smoking airport or designated smoking areas but I suppose the airport has to cater for everybody. But do bear this in mind if you have young children.

All in all I would heartily recommend Brussels airport. Whether you are just passing through en route to some exotic holiday destination or have come to Brussels for a weekend break, you are sure to find everything you need and fast connections to everywhere you need to go.

 

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