Brussels on a budget
Brussels runs about €55/day ($64) at the floor. That covers a hostel dorm near Rogier for €25, meals from frituren and Turkish grills for €15, and a couple of STIB metro rides at €2.10 each. Beer is the budget-breaker. A Jupiler at a local café in Saint-Gilles costs €2.50, but tourist-zone Trappists near Grand-Place reach €8.
Questions budget travelers ask about Brussels
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Cost per day
Brussels runs about €55/day ($64) at the floor. That covers a hostel dorm near Rogier for €25, meals from frituren and Turkish grills for €15, and a couple of STIB metro rides at €2.10 each. Beer is the budget-breaker. A Jupiler at a local café in Saint-Gilles costs €2.50, but tourist-zone Trappists near Grand-Place reach €8.
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What to avoid
Skip Rue des Bouchers, where frozen mussels cost double and touts block every doorway. The waffle shops around Manneken Pis sell €7 Instagram towers, not real Belgian waffles. Stay away from Rue de Mérode near Bruxelles-Midi after 9pm. Eat seafood at Sainte-Catherine instead, and buy proper gaufres de Bruxelles at Maison Dandoy on Rue au Beurre for €4.
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Getting around
Walk the Pentagon, the old center barely 2 km across, and tap a contactless card on any STIB metro, tram, or bus for the rest. A day pass costs 8 EUR. Four metro lines reach the Atomium, the EU quarter, and every major museum. Bolt beats Uber on price for late-night rides.
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Airport to city
Take the SNCB train from Brussels Airport (BRU) to Bruxelles-Central. It costs €14.70 including the Diabolo surcharge, takes 17 minutes, and runs every 10 to 15 minutes from roughly 5am to midnight. After midnight, the regulated taxi fare is €45 flat to anywhere in the Brussels-Capital Region's 19 communes.
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Food culture
Brussels eats on beer, butter, and twice-fried beef-tallow frites. Moules-frites from September through February, carbonnade flamande braised in dark ale, and grey-shrimp croquettes appear on every brasserie menu. The real food map runs by commune. Sainte-Catherine does seafood, the Marolles serves €12 stoemp with sausage, and Matongé around Porte de Namur brings Congolese cooking to a traditionally Burgundian city.
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