Best hostels in Brussels

Brussels funnels most of its budget beds into two zones — the old center around Grand-Place, where hostel rates compete with tourist-priced terraces, and the airport belt east of the city, where inventory shifts to layover overnights and early-departure sleeps. This list covers the airport belt: Diegem and Machelen, two villages along the Haachtsesteenweg where clean rooms run from around $56 a night and shuttle buses connect to the terminal. If your Brussels trip is the city itself — waffles on Rue du Midi, Magritte at the Royal Museums — stay in the center and pay for walkability. If Brussels is a connection point and you need a pillow near departures, these deliver on price without pretending to be neighborhoods you would wander on foot. The trade-off is transparent: you swap cobblestones for airport convenience, and the rates reflect it. Budget travelers heading into the city catch the train from Brussels Airport-Zaventem to Brussels-Central; the savings on the room cover the fare and then some.

1. 1

   Diegem

   Airport belt east of Brussels, Flemish Brabant along the Haachtsesteenweg

   Name-brand airport hotel with shuttle access and corporate-park quiet after sundown.

   The Holiday Inn Brussels Airport holds an 8.9 on Trip.com at about $79 a night, which makes Diegem the stronger airport-belt pick for travelers who want a name-brand bed near the terminal. Skip the overpriced chains closer to Brussels-Central; out here the rate buys a shuttle ride and a quiet room away from the Rue Neuve crowds. Diegem sits along the Haachtsesteenweg between the airport and the Pegasus Park office campus — the walk to departures is a bus or hotel shuttle, not your feet. The area is corporate-park quiet after sundown: no late-night bar scene, no cobblestone charm, just clean corridors and an early alarm. That suits the red-eye traveler better than any hostel bunk in the center. If you want Brussels as a destination, Diegem is the wrong address; if you want Brussels as a launchpad, the Holiday Inn Brussels Airport by IHG earns the rate.

   1. Budget

      Holiday Inn BRUSSELS AIRPORT by IHG

      The room I stay which has a bit of bad water pile smell, exhausted fan is not work and there are some stain on the towels, lucky that window can be opened so the bad small reduced some. Not count for

      8.9 rating ~$79/night
      Check rates
2. 2

   Machelen

   Residential Flemish Brabant village just north of Brussels Airport's runway

   The cheapest clean room near the terminal, in a quiet residential village that does not pretend to be a tourist quarter.

   At about $56 a night the Fly Inn Brussels Airport anchors Machelen's budget tier with a 7.9 rating and a front desk that earns repeat mentions for friendliness. Don't bother with the pricier airport-perimeter hotels if all you need is a clean room and a shuttle to the terminal; Machelen sits just north of the runway, close enough to catch the hum of early departures and far enough to sleep through them. The area is residential Flemish Brabant — row houses, a bakery or two, a bus stop on the Haachtsesteenweg — not a tourist quarter. The express bus connects to Brussels-Central for travelers who want a day in the city before an evening flight, and the Fly Inn keeps rates low enough that the round-trip fare barely registers. Machelen is for the traveler who treats the hotel as a place to sleep, not a place to stay, and the $56 rate respects that math.

   1. Budget

      Fly Inn Brussels Airport

      excellent enjoying in Belgium next airport hotel , front desk is friendly and hotel rate is affordable nearby careful express can buy some chocolates for souvenirs...

      7.9 rating ~$56/night
      Check rates

This is an early version of the Brussels list. We add picks as we test more places.