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Grand-Place, Brussels

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Brussels Local time

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Belgium

Travel to Brussels

Flying to Brussels

Airlines offering flights to Brussels from the UK include British Airways, Brussels Airlines, easyJet, Ryanair, Flybe and bmi.

Flight times: 

From London - 55 minutes; New York - 7 hours 30 minutes; Los Angeles - 13 hours 35 minutes; Toronto - 7 hours 45 minutes; Sydney - 27 hours.

Travel by road

Summary:

Traffic drives on the right and the minimum driving age is 18 years in Brussels. The speed limit on motorways and dual carriageways is 120kph (75mph), on single carriageways outside built-up areas is 90kph (56mph) and in built-up areas is 50kph (31mph). A valid national driving licence is required and national stickers must be displayed. EU nationals taking their own cars to Belgium are advised to obtain a Green Card, as basic insurance is mandatory for driving in Belgium.

The main motoring organisations in Brussels are the Royal Automobile Club de Belgique (tel: 02 287 0911; www.racb.com), Touring (tel: 02 233 2202; www.touring.be) and VAB (tel: 03 253 6111; www.vab.be).

Emergency breakdown service:

Royal Automobile Club de Belgique (tel: 02 287 0900 or 078 152 000); Touring (tel: 070 344 777); VAB (tel: 070 344 666).

Routes:

The extensive motorway ring road around Brussels offers easy access into the city centre. Routes E19 and A12 lead north to Antwerp - from there, the E19 continues over the border toward Rotterdam and Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Route E19 also extends south to Paris, becoming E15. Route E40 links Brussels with Ghent - from there, Ostend is reachable via route E17. Route E411 links Brussels to Namur and route E40 to Liège, continuing east over the border toward Cologne, from where the E35 heads toward Frankfurt.

Driving times:

From Antwerp - 35 minutes; from Ghent - 45 minutes; from Ostend - 1 hour 20 minutes; from Liège - 50 minutes; from Amsterdam - 2 hours 25 minutes; from Paris - 3 hours 20 minutes; from Frankfurt - 4 hours 15 minutes.

Coaches:

De Lijn (tel: 070 220 200; www.delijn.be) operates buses between Brussels and Flanders, while TEC (tel: 010 235 353; www.tec-wl.be) provides a similar service to French-speaking Wallonia. Most buses depart from Gare du Nord, in the Espace Nord, although some depart from Place Rouppe, in the Marolles district. There is a general enquiries line (tel: 02 515 2000).

Eurolines (tel: 02 274 1350; www.eurolines.com) operates international services to major European destinations. It has direct routes to Cologne, Munich and Luxembourg from Noord I, CCN Noordstation, Rue du Progrès - Vooruitgangstraat 80, and services to certain destinations in France, Portugal and Spain from Zuid/Midi, Place de la Constitution 10.

Travel by rail

Services:

Services run by the Belgian National Railways, SNCB/NMBS (tel: 02 528 2828; www.b-rail.be), are fast and very efficient. There are three major railway stations in Brussels - Bruxelles-Central, located in the heart of the city, Bruxelles-Nord, to the north of the main ring road, and Bruxelles-Midi, to the south. They share a rail enquiries line (tel: 02 555 2555). All three stations have bars, refreshments and disabled access, while Bruxelles-Midi and Bruxelles-Nord both have car parks.

Operators:

Most domestic trains stop at all three stations in Brussels. Eurostar trains (tel: 02 528 2828; www.eurostar.com) from London and Thalys express trains (tel: 070 667 788; www.thalys.com) from Aachen, Amsterdam, Cologne, The Hague, Rotterdam and Paris stop at Bruxelles-Midi, the TGV (high-speed train) terminal. Links to Paris (journey time - 1 hour 30 minutes) and London (journey time - 1 hour 50 minutes) are fast and efficient.

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