Brussels Airport (BRU) to the City by Train

Brussels Airport’s railway station, directly under the terminal, reaches Brussels’ Central station in about 17 minutes, and in the other direction the medieval university town of Leuven is 13 minutes away, with a library tower to climb and a walled medieval quarter, the beguinage, that costs nothing to walk through.

Brussels-Central is 17 minutes from the airport by train

Brussels Airport’s station is on level -1, directly beneath the terminal, and trains from it call at Brussels-Nord, the north station, in about 11 minutes, Brussels-Central, the station for the old centre, in about 17, and Brussels-Midi, the international station, five minutes after Nord, with four to six departures an hour from around 5:30am to 11:30pm. Every journey to or from the airport carries a fixed 6.90-euro supplement, so a single to the centre is a little over 11 euros. From Brussels-Central, the main Brussels guide walks to the Grand-Place and the Saint-Hubert arcade. The city transport company STIB also runs a bus from the airport to the European Quarter in about half an hour, bus 12 on weekday daytimes and bus 21 otherwise, at about 8 euros from the airport.

The University Library tower in Leuven

Leuven, a medieval university town east of Brussels, is 13 minutes from the airport by direct train, every half hour, and its University Library stands on Ladeuzeplein, a square about 15 minutes’ walk from Leuven station. The old library was destroyed in the First World War, and this neo-Renaissance building replaced it between 1921 and 1928, paid for with American funding; inside is a wood-panelled reading room, and the carillon tower above it can be climbed for a view over the town, about 8 euros, with the last climb at 5pm. On the Grote Markt, the town’s main square, the Gothic town hall is closed to visitors for restoration until 2029, though its sculpted front still faces the square.

The Groot Begijnhof, a walled medieval quarter in Leuven

The Groot Begijnhof, on the southern edge of Leuven’s old centre, is a walled quarter of red-brick houses and cobbled lanes where beguines, communities of lay religious women, lived for centuries; it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, now owned by the university and lived in by students and staff. It’s free and open at all hours, and quiet, since people live there.

Luggage lockers at Brussels Airport

Brussels Airport’s luggage lockers stand just outside the terminal on level 0, by the bus station, and are open 24 hours a day: 10 euros for a medium locker for 24 hours, and 12 to 16 euros for the larger sizes. The Begijnhof’s lanes and much of Leuven’s old centre are cobbled, slow going with a wheeled suitcase, and a luggage storage point near Brussels-Central is the alternative for a stop spent in the city.

Collect the bag on the way back to the platform, and allow the door-to-door figure rather than the ride: about half an hour from Brussels-Central once the escalators and the wait are added in.