Brussels Airport to city centre: train, bus, taxi

Brussels Airport in Zaventem lies north-east of the city, and its railway station is directly below the arrivals and departures halls. That makes the train the standard way into the city: no bus to the station, no change. The short answer: take the train to Brussels-Central if your hotel is near the Grand-Place, to Brussels-North for the business district and to Brussels-South (Midi) if you continue by Eurostar or TGV. Take bus 12 if you are staying in the European Quarter, and a taxi if you are a group or arrive at night.

Brussels Airport to the city centre: the options

Times: trains according to Brussels Airport; taxi as pure driving time to the Grand-Place area based on OpenStreetMap, without traffic. STIB does not publish a journey time for bus 12. Price according to STIB, as of October 2026. On the ring road around Brussels, allow considerably more for the taxi at rush hour.

By train: the standard way

The station Brussels Airport-Zaventem is on level -1, directly below the terminal; you reach it by escalator or lift within minutes. According to the airport, six direct trains an hour run to the city, from early morning until around midnight:

• Brussels-North in about 11 minutes – for the business district around the Rogier and the north of the centre.
• Brussels-Central in about 18 minutes – a few minutes on foot from the Grand-Place, the best stop for most hotels in the old town.
• Brussels-South (Bruxelles-Midi) in about 23 minutes – for the Eurostar to London and the TGV to Paris.

Two trains an hour also connect the airport with the European Quarter.

Tickets: Train journeys to and from the airport are subject to the Brussels Airport Supplement of €6.90, which the Belgian railway company SNCB-NMBS collects. According to SNCB, it is included in most tickets to or from the airport; if not, you buy it separately. Buy the ticket on the SNCB website or app or at the machines in the station or in the baggage reclaim hall, and scan its QR code at the gates. Up to four children under 12 travel free with an adult.

Bus 12 (Airport Line): to the European Quarter

The Airport Line, bus 12 of STIB-MIVB, the Brussels transport company, runs from the bus station on level 0 – about 100 metres from the arrivals hall, connected by a covered walkway – to the European Quarter, with stops including Schuman, Maelbeek and Luxembourg.

• Ticket: from the airport into town you need an Airport2City ticket: according to STIB €7.90 by contactless bank card or MOBIB card and €8.40 as a paper ticket (as of October 2026). Brupass tickets are not valid in this direction.
• Connections: within the first hour, the Airport2City ticket is valid on the whole STIB network; at Schuman you change to metro lines 1 and 5, at Trône to lines 2 and 6.
• Good for: hotels and meetings around the EU institutions.

At night, the De Lijn night bus N62 runs between about 0:55 and 4:45, roughly every 30 minutes, with stops such as Evere and Schaerbeek, according to the airport.

Taxi and transfer

Taxis wait outside the arrivals hall. Without traffic, the drive to the Grand-Place area takes about 22 minutes for 14 km; at rush hour on the ring road it often takes much longer. For one or two people the train is cheaper and usually faster.

A pre-booked transfer is worth it for families with children who need car seats, for groups, or if you land late. Transfers from Brussels Airport^* can be booked with Kiwitaxi. Our article on when an airport transfer pays off compares the options for ten airports.

Which option suits whom?

• Hotel near the Grand-Place or in the old town: the train to Brussels-Central.
• Hotel near the North station or Rogier: the train to Brussels-North.
• Continuing by Eurostar or TGV: the train to Brussels-South.
• Hotel or meeting in the European Quarter: bus 12 or one of the two trains an hour to the European Quarter.
• Family with small children, group, arrival after midnight: a taxi or a pre-booked transfer.

Brussels Airport is not the same as Brussels South Charleroi: Charleroi is a separate airport much further from the city, without a station at the terminal. Check which one your ticket says.

If you come from outside the EU, for example from the UK, set up mobile data before you land so you can buy the train ticket in the app straight away – a travel eSIM for Belgium^* (Airalo) is usually cheaper than roaming; our eSIM price index compares the prices per gigabyte.

On the day you leave

Trains to the airport leave from Brussels-South, Brussels-Central and Brussels-North; plan with the 18 minutes from Central plus a buffer, and check the SNCB journey planner for construction work, which can thin out the service. The airport recommends arriving 2 hours before a European flight. If you have already checked out and fly in the evening, you can use luggage storage in central Brussels^* (Radical Storage) while you have one last waffle on the Grand-Place.

How long to stay and what to see is in our article how many days in Brussels.

Brussels trip planDay by day, with map and tips

How YesTrip helps you plan

In YesTrip you add your flight and hotel to your trip and plan each day around them, with a map of your places in Brussels and the weather for your travel days. The ready-made plans for Brussels can be copied into your trip with one tap. With the offline package you have the map without a connection, already on the train from the airport. YesTrip is free.

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