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Research guide · Belgium

Belgium: Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, coast, best time to travel, getting there and costs 2026

Plan Belgium: new ICE from Cologne, airport to centre, seven destinations from Bruges to Dinant, climate, rail, low-emission zones and 2026 admission.

By Nighthopper editorial teamCreated with AITranslated with AIPublished 11 min read

How this article was made

This English version was translated from the German original with AI and has not been reviewed by a person. The checks described here refer to the German original, which is authoritative.

Text created with AI and checked with AI against the sources listed. Approved by Simon Misiak on .

Editorially responsible: Saimon Misiaki (Simon Misiak).

How we work

Floodlit houses on the Grand-Place in Brussels at night, with gilded decoration and a golden equestrian figure on a gable
Grand-Place in Brussels at night, December 2021 · Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

  • Passengers from Germany: 558,150 in 2025, 34th of 211 destination countries abroad; 99.8% flew to Brussels (our own analysis, Destatis).
  • Since 7 September 2026 an ICE has run twice a day directly from Cologne to Antwerp, stopping at Brussels airport; from there to Cologne in under two hours.
  • Brussels Airport: 17 minutes by train to Brussels-Central; on the STIB bus from the airport you need Airport2City for €7.90 (fare from 1 February 2026).
  • Brussels low-emission zone: Euro 5 diesels have not been allowed in since 1 January 2026; register cars with foreign plates (other than Dutch) free of charge beforehand.
  • Tourist tax: Brussels €5 per room and night (since 1 January 2026), Bruges €4.20 per person (2026–2027 rate), Ostend €5 per room (since 2023).
  • museumPASSmusées: €64.95 for a year in 275 Belgian museums, including the Belfry in Bruges (as of September 2026).

Belgium suits you if you want to link several cities by train. From Brussels airport you are in Brussels-Central in 17 minutes by train, in Antwerp in about 30 minutes and in Ghent in just under an hour (as of September 2026). 16 Belgian sites are on UNESCO's World Heritage List (as of September 2026).

New since 7 September 2026 is a direct ICE from Cologne to Antwerp, stopping at Brussels airport. In Brussels, Euro 5 diesels have been excluded from the low-emission zone since 1 January 2026, and the tourist tax there has been €5 per room and night since then.

Belgium is a poorer fit if you are looking for sun and beach weather. In Uccle in the Brussels region, precipitation (from 0.1 mm) falls on almost 190 days a year. In Ostend the mean high in July is 21.5 °C (KMI, 1991–2020).

Getting there from Germany

In 2025, 558,150 passengers flew from Germany to Belgium, which was 34th place among 211 destination countries abroad. 99.8% of them landed in Brussels (BRU); most departed from Munich (201,855), Frankfurt (182,939) and Berlin Brandenburg (125,185). From Düsseldorf there were only 747, from Cologne/Bonn 127 (Federal Statistical Office, year 2025, our own analysis; excluding those changing planes abroad).

Flight delayed or cancelled?Check whether you’re owed money under the EU air passenger rights regulation — with every step of the check in plain language.

By train and car from Germany

Since 7 September 2026 an ICE has run without a change from Cologne Hbf to Antwerp-Centraal, stopping in Aachen, Liège, Leuven and at Brussels airport. It runs twice a day in each direction, leaving Cologne at 6:11 and 14:38 (as of 7 September 2026). You reach Cologne from the airport in under two hours, and from Antwerp in about 2 hours 20 minutes. Together with the older Frankfurt–Brussels line, that makes ten ICE trains a day in each direction.

Tip

By car: no toll, but register for low-emission zones

If you drive to Belgium in your own car, you currently pay no toll on the motorways, only €6.20 by card in the Liefkenshoek Tunnel in Antwerp (as of September 2026). Before you drive into the low-emission zones of Brussels, Antwerp or Ghent, you must register the car there. In Brussels a free registration valid for five years is enough (as of September 2026).

Brussels Airport (BRU): from the airport to the centre

The trains leave the airport from level −1, running directly to Brussels-North, -Central and -South every 15 minutes according to visit.brussels (as of September 2026). The Brussels Airport Supplement is due on every train journey to or from the airport; usually it is already included in the fare. Reductions do not apply to it, and accompanied children under 12 do not pay it.

The STIB buses leave from level 0 every 30 minutes for the European Quarter (as of September 2026). Normal single journeys and day passes are not valid from the airport; instead there is the Airport2City fare for €7.90 (fare from 1 February 2026). For a taxi between the centre and the airport, visit.brussels gives an average of €50 (as of September 2026).

Regions and destinations at a glance

Politically, Belgium is divided into the regions of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. All details in the table are as of September 2026.

Region/placeKnown forAirport/getting thereDownside
BrusselsGrand-Place (UNESCO 1998), AtomiumBrussels Airport, train 17 min.most museums closed on Mondays
BrugesOld town (UNESCO 2000), Belfryfrom Brussels Airport about 1.5 hrs by trainsome museums closed for weeks in January
GhentGhent Altarpiece, Gravensteen Castlefrom Brussels Airport just under 1 hr by trainseven altar panels only as a photo until spring 2027
AntwerpPlantin-Moretus Museum (UNESCO 2005), Rubens Housefrom Brussels Airport about 30 min., ICE from ColognePlantin-Moretus closed until 4 December 2026
Coast with OstendKusttram De Panne–Knokke, beachesDirect trains from Brussels and AntwerpLifeguards at all posts only 1 July to 31 August
Ypres“Last Post” at the Menin Gate, In Flanders Fields Museum—Museum closed on Mondays from 16 November to 31 March
DinantCitadel, boat trip on the MeuseStation 250 m from the foot of the citadelCable car closed, 408 steps on foot

Swipe the table sideways to see all columns.

“—” means: no information in the sources.

Brussels

The Grand-Place has been a World Heritage Site since 1998, and Victor Horta's town houses since 2000. The Atomium opens daily from 10:00 to 18:00 and costs €17 for adults, including the Design Museum Brussels (as of September 2026). The Brussels Card is available from €41 for 24 hours, with public transport and the Atomium costing extra (as of September 2026).

Bruges and Ghent

The old town of Bruges has been a World Heritage Site since 2000, the Béguinage since 1998. From Brussels-South you get there three times an hour in about an hour; get off at “Brugge”, not at “Brugge Sint-Pieters” (as of September 2026). In the 83 m high Belfry you climb 366 steps on the only spiral staircase that also leads back down; anyone coming down has priority.

Canal at the Rozenhoedkaai in Bruges with brick houses, stepped gables and a weeping willow, the belfry in the background
Rozenhoedkaai in Bruges with the belfry, August 2018 · Photo: Falk2 · CC BY-SA 4.0

From Ghent-Sint-Pieters station to the centre you take tram 1 or 3, which comes every 10 minutes. Gravensteen Castle costs €15, and tickets are sold until 16:40 (as of September 2026). At present you can see seven panels of the Ghent Altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral only as a colour photo. They have been in the final restoration phase since May 2023, due to be finished in spring 2027.

Historic gabled houses on the Graslei in Ghent in evening light, reflected in the water of the Leie, a clock tower behind
Graslei in Ghent, seen from the Korenlei, March 2015 · Photo: Michiel Hendryckx · CC BY-SA 4.0

Antwerp

The Plantin-Moretus Museum, a World Heritage Site since 2005, has been under renovation since 3 August and stays closed up to and including 4 December 2026. Otherwise it is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00, and payment is cashless only. In Rubens House you can currently visit only the Rubens Experience, the garden and the library; the painter's residence is being renovated (as of September 2026).

Coast, Ypres and Dinant

De Lijn's Kusttram runs between De Panne and Knokke, stops at 67 stations and comes every 10 minutes in summer (as of September 2026). Ostend is 120 km from Brussels. You may swim there only under supervision; at all posts, lifeguards are on duty daily from 1 July to 31 August from 10:00 to 18:30 (2026 season).

At the Menin Gate in Ypres, the “Last Post” sounds every day at 20:00 sharp, played by buglers of the Last Post Association. If you want to watch, you need neither pay nor reserve; the ceremony has taken place since 2 July 1928 (as of September 2026).

You can currently reach the citadel of Dinant only via 408 steps or by car, because the cable car is being fundamentally renewed. The fortress is open all the same: adults pay €15, or €25 with a 45-minute boat trip to Anseremme (as of September 2026).

Dinant on the Meuse: collegiate church with onion-shaped spire in front of a rock face, the citadel above, the town reflected in the river
Dinant with the collegiate church and citadel, July 2013 · Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jiuguangw/ · CC BY-SA 2.0
View package holidaysHotel and flight as a package: dates and current prices for this destination.

Best time to travel

The table shows 1991–2020 normals of the Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI): mean high and low and precipitation. For Uccle, the values are those of the station in Brussels (about 100 m); for Saint-Hubert in the Ardennes, those of the municipality.

MonthUccle (Brussels)Saint-Hubert (Ardennes)
January6.1 / 1.4 °C, 75.5 mm3.7 / −1.4 °C, 105.8 mm
February7.1 / 1.5 °C, 65.1 mm4.6 / −1.5 °C, 87.8 mm
March10.9 / 3.5 °C, 59.3 mm8.7 / 0.5 °C, 82.8 mm
April15.0 / 6.0 °C, 46.7 mm12.9 / 3.0 °C, 63.6 mm
May18.4 / 9.2 °C, 59.7 mm16.6 / 6.7 °C, 80.3 mm
June21.2 / 12.0 °C, 70.8 mm19.6 / 9.8 °C, 81.8 mm
July23.2 / 14.1 °C, 76.9 mm21.7 / 11.8 °C, 89.2 mm
August23.0 / 13.9 °C, 86.5 mm21.4 / 11.5 °C, 98.2 mm
September19.5 / 11.3 °C, 65.3 mm17.5 / 8.4 °C, 78.9 mm
October14.9 / 8.1 °C, 67.8 mm12.7 / 5.6 °C, 86.2 mm
November9.9 / 4.6 °C, 76.2 mm7.5 / 2.1 °C, 94.9 mm
December6.6 / 2.1 °C, 87.4 mm4.3 / −0.4 °C, 122.0 mm

Swipe the table sideways to see all columns.

From June to August the mean high in Uccle is above 21 °C, and April is the driest month there. Saint-Hubert has an average of 84 frost days a year and 122 mm of precipitation in December. In Ostend the sun shines for 238 hours in July and 54 in December (KMI, municipality values 1991–2020).

Getting around the country

Train and bus

On 1 February 2026 the SNCB raised its fares by 2.14%, and ten-journey tickets no longer exist. In August 2026, 94.4% of its trains were on time. A new timetable takes effect on 13 December 2026.

If you travel more often, you can buy Train+: for 26- to 64-year-olds it costs €6 a month or €48 a year (as of July 2026). With it, Monday to Friday outside peak times you get 40% off, and no journey in 2nd class costs more than €14. Boarding between 6:01 and 8:59 or between 16:01 and 17:59 counts as peak time.

In Brussels a STIB journey costs €2.40 and is valid for up to two hours (fare from 1 February 2026). In Flanders De Lijn operates, which also runs the Kusttram: a ticket costs €3 there, 24 hours cost €9 (as of September 2026).

Tip

Brussels public transport: at most €8.50 a day with a bank card

If you pay contactless with your bank card at STIB in Brussels, the journey costs €2.40 and the whole day at most €8.50. The paper day pass costs €9. From the airport, however, you need Airport2City for €7.90 (fares from 1 February 2026).

Driving and roads

According to the ADAC, the limit is 50 in built-up areas, 30 in the Brussels region, 70 outside built-up areas, 90 in Wallonia and 120 km/h on motorways. At most 0.5 per mille is allowed, and you give way to rail vehicles in principle, even when they come from the left (as of September 2026). With your own car you need the German driving licence and the registration certificate Part I, but not an international driving licence. According to the ADAC, a toll is planned for Belgium's motorways from May 2027.

Caution

Brussels low-emission zone: Euro 5 diesels excluded since 2026

The whole Brussels-Capital Region is a low-emission zone around the clock, except the motorway ring and some access roads to car parks. Since 1 January 2026, diesels need at least the Euro 6 standard and petrol cars Euro 3 or better. A violation costs €350; only for cars that have been excluded only since 2026 does a warning letter come first (as of September 2026).

Car hire at Brussels Airport (BRU)Latest price sample for each car class and rental company, plus the search for your travel dates.

Money and costs

Payment is in euros. With Visa, Mastercard or your phone you can usually pay without problems according to the ADAC, even in a small shop; the club nevertheless advises taking a few euros in cash. According to Visit Bruges, service is already included in hotels and restaurants, so tipping is voluntary (as of September 2026). For restaurants and hotels the price level in 2024 was 124.2 according to Eurostat, in Germany 112.1 (EU = 100).

ItemPriceAs of
Airport2City, bus from the airport€7.90fare from 1 February 2026
STIB journey Brussels / paper day pass€2.40 / €9.00fare from 1 February 2026
Atomium, adults€17September 2026
Brussels Card, 24 hoursfrom €41September 2026
Belfry in Bruges, from age 18€16, 3 November to 31 March Mon–Fri €15September 2026
Gravensteen Castle, Ghent€15September 2026
Plantin-Moretus Museum, aged 26 and over€12September 2026
In Flanders Fields Museum, adults€12September 2026
Dinant Citadel, adults€15September 2026
Tourist tax, Brussels€5 per room and nightsince 1 January 2026
Tourist tax, Bruges€4.20 per person and night2026–2027 rate
Tourist tax, Ostend€5 per room and nightsince 1 January 2023

Swipe the table sideways to see all columns.

Tip

Museum pass: a year for €64.95

The museumPASSmusées costs €64.95 and is valid for a year in 275 Belgian museums (as of September 2026). It gives free entry to, among others, the Belfry in Bruges and the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp.

Practical information

According to the ADAC, Belgium is on the same time as Germany all year round. The constitution recognises four language areas: the Dutch-speaking, the French-speaking, the German-speaking and the bilingual area of Brussels-Capital. In the EU country Belgium you make calls and use data at domestic prices, and the country code is +32 (as of September 2026).

You reach the ambulance service and fire brigade on 112, the police in urgent cases on 101 and the on-call doctor service on 1733 (as of September 2026). The national day is 21 July, and 11 November is also a public holiday. Smoking is banned in cafés, restaurants, railway stations and all public transport, among other places (Visit Bruges, as of September 2026).

What applies to entry, safety and health is on the German Foreign Office's country page.

Entry requirements and safety

The rules that apply are published by the German Federal Foreign Office — always up to date there.

Travel and safety advice: Belgium (in German) (opens in a new tab)

Who Belgium is not for

  • Anyone looking for sun and settled weather: In Uccle precipitation falls on almost 190 days a year, and in Saint-Hubert 122 mm in December alone.
  • Anyone who wants to swim: You may go into the sea only in supervised zones, and all posts in Ostend are staffed daily only in July and August (2026 season).
  • Anyone arriving with an older diesel: Euro 5 diesels have not been allowed into the Brussels low-emission zone since 2026; after a first warning letter, €350 is at stake.
  • Anyone who wants to eat and sleep cheaply: In 2024 restaurants and hotels were above the German price level according to Eurostat, and in Brussels there is also an tourist tax of €5 per room and night.
  • Anyone who wants to see particular buildings in 2026: Plantin-Moretus stays closed until 4 December 2026, the residence in Rubens House for the time being too, and in Dinant the cable car is not running.
  • Anyone who takes the train to Brussels airport several times: Every journey incurs the airport supplement, and discounts do not apply to it.

Sources and last update

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Information last checked on 28 September 2026.

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