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The STIB, one ticket across metro, tram and bus, and a centre that is far more walkable than the network map suggests.
One operator, STIB/MIVB, runs the metro, the trams and the buses, and one ticket covers all three for an hour including changes. Buy before you board or tap a contactless card at the gate; buying from the driver costs more, where it is possible at all.
The map makes Brussels look bigger than it is. The old centre is walkable end to end in about twenty-five minutes, and most of what a visitor wants sits inside that. Use the network to leave the centre — to Saint-Gilles, to the Cinquantenaire, to Heysel — rather than to cross it.
Two quirks worth knowing. Some tram lines run underground through the centre in what are called prémétro tunnels, so a tram stop can look like a metro station. And the city sits on a hill: the upper town and the lower town are a real climb apart, which is why there are free public lifts and why walking routes are not symmetrical.
Singles, a book of ten, and 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour passes all exist. The arithmetic is the usual one — a pass pays around the fourth or fifth journey of a day — so it depends entirely on whether you plan to walk the centre or hop across it.
Brussels Airport has a train station under the terminal with a direct link to the central stations. Charleroi, which many low-cost airlines call "Brussels South", is about an hour away by coach and is not in Brussels at all — see Getting Here & Onward.
Checked on 5 September 2026 against published sources. Fares, hours and closing days change without much warning — confirm before you travel.
Brussels has three main train stations — Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid, Bruxelles-Central/Brussel-Centraal, and Bruxelles-Nord/Brussel-Noord. The one printed on your ticket is often not the one you want. Most trains that call at one of them call at all three, in sequence. The real decision is which exit lands you closest to where you are actually going. What does … Read more
A premetro stop looks like a metro station because it mostly is one: a deep concrete platform, tiled walls, escalators, built to metro dimensions. What arrives, though, is a tram. Brussels built these tunnels from the 1960s onward, planning eventual conversion to full metro. Some tunnels got it. Others never did. What does “premetro” actually … Read more
Is Brussels-Charleroi Airport actually in Brussels? No. It sits near the city of Charleroi, roughly 50 km south of central Brussels, in the Walloon municipality of Gosselies. It is run by a separate company, Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA), not by the operator of Brussels Airport at Zaventem. The two share a marketing name and … Read more
Brussels Airport in Zaventem connects to the city center mainly by train, which is the fastest and most frequent option. A bus line fills the gaps when trains are not running. Taxis and ride-hailing cars cover the hours when neither does. None of this applies if the flight actually landed at Brussels South Charleroi Airport, … Read more
A 24, 48 or 72-hour STIB pass pays for itself once the rides taken exceed what those same rides would cost as single tickets. For most visitors that threshold is low — often four or five rides a day. An airport transfer plus two museum visits in different neighborhoods usually clears it easily. A short … Read more
A single STIB ticket is a time-based pass, not a point-to-point fare. Once validated, it covers unlimited transfers across bus, tram, and metro for 60 minutes from that first tap. It does not cover a return trip on the same line in the same direction. And it stops working the instant a traveler boards a … Read more
Where can you actually store luggage in Brussels? Short answer: in fewer places than guidebooks suggest. Gare Centrale/Centraal Station has no left-luggage facility. Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid removed its public lockers years ago, for security reasons, and has not fully restored them. Bruxelles-Nord/Brussel-Noord and app-based storage networks are the more dependable options. Eurostar and Thalys travelers face a … Read more
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