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Day Trips

Excursions · Uitstapjes

Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and Leuven — which station, how long, and whether a return beats two singles.

The Rozenhoedkaai canal in Bruges
Photograph by Ank Kumar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Belgium is small and its trains are frequent, which makes a day out of Brussels genuinely easy — thirty to sixty minutes to four different cities.

Where people go

Ghent, about half an hour, is the one locals recommend: a real working city with a medieval core and a fraction of Bruges' coach traffic. Bruges, about an hour, is as beautiful as promised and as busy as feared — go early, or stay the night and have it at dawn. Antwerp, about forty minutes, has the fashion, the port and a railway station that is worth the fare on its own. Leuven, about half an hour, is a university town with an extraordinarily ornate town hall and almost no visitors.

A street in Bruges
Ghent is the one locals send you to; Bruges is the one everyone books. Photograph by Marc Ryckaert (MJJR), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Buying the ticket

Trains are run by SNCB/NMBS. Fares are distance-based and modest, and there are long-standing weekend reductions on Saturday and Sunday travel. Check whether a day pass or a weekend return beats two singles before you buy, and note that most trains leave from Bruxelles-Midi, Central and Nord in sequence — so you can usually board at whichever is nearest.

A canal in Bruges
Thirty to sixty minutes puts you in four different cities. Photograph by Ank Kumar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
A train at Brussels-South station
Most trains call at all three Brussels stations in sequence. Photograph by Phil Richards, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Checked on 5 September 2026 against published sources. Fares, hours and closing days change without much warning — confirm before you travel.

This section is being written. The guide above is the section for now. New articles are published across the site about twice a week rather than a section being filled in a day, so this page grows steadily — it is worth looking in again. In the meantime the sixteen sight pages and the plans by trip length are finished, and they are the best place to start.

Coming next in this section

  • Ghent or Bruges from Brussels: which one, and why
  • Antwerp from Brussels in a day
  • Leuven from Brussels: the town almost nobody visits
  • Belgian train tickets: weekend returns and day passes

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