Belgium

From MaxTravelz

Belgium is a low lying country on the North Sea coast in Western Europe. With the majority of West European capitals within 1,000 km of Brussels, the seat of both the European Union and NATO, Belgium sits at the crossroads of Western Europe. Its immediate neighbours are France to the southwest, Luxembourg to the south east, Germany to the east and the Netherlands to the north.

Contents 1 Regions 2 Cities 3 Other destinations 4 Understand 4.1 Climate 4.2 Terrain 4.3 History 4.4 Electricity 5 Get in 5.1 By plane 5.2 By train 5.3 By car 5.4 By bus 5.5 By ship 6 Get around 6.1 By train 6.2 By local transport 6.3 By car 7 Do 8 Talk 9 Buy 10 Eat 11 Drink 12 Sleep 13 Learn 14 Economy 15 Stay safe 16 Stay healthy 17 Respect 18 Contact

Regions

Belgium consists of three regions, listed from North to South:

• Flanders: northern, Dutch-speaking region
• Brussels: central, bilingual region: French, Dutch
• Wallonia: southern, French-speaking region plus a small German speaking minority in the east near the German border.

Flanders and Wallonia are each divided in 5 provinces.

• Flanders: Antwerp (province), East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg and West Flanders;
• Wallonia: Hainaut, Liège, Luxembourg, Namur and Walloon Brabant

Cities

These are the major cities in Belgium.

• Antwerp
• Bruges
• Brussels, Belgium's capital.
• Dinant
• Charleroi
• Ghent
• Leuven
• Mechelen
• Liège
• Namur
• Mons
• Oostende

Other destinations

• Flanders Fields Country

• The Pajottenland
• Binche

Understand

Belgium is a densely populated country trying to balance the conflicting demands of urbanization, transportation, industry, commercial and intensive agriculture. It imports large quantities of raw materials and exports a large volume of manufactured goods, mostly to the EU.

Climate

Temperate; mild winters, cool summers; rainy, humid, cloudy.

Terrain

Flat coastal plains in northwest, central rolling hills, wooded hills and valleys of Ardennes Forest in southeast.

History

Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830. It was occupied by Germany during World Wars I and II and has many war graves near the battle zones. It has prospered in the past half century as a modern, technologically advanced European state and member of NATO and the EU. Tensions between the Dutch-speaking Flemings of the north and the French-speaking Walloons of the south have led in recent years to constitutional amendments granting these regions formal recognition and autonomy.

Electricity

Electricity is supplied at 220 to 230V 50Hz. Outlets are the European standard CEE-7/7 "Schukostecker" or "Schuko" or the compatible, but non-grounded, CEE-7/16 "Europlug" types. Generally speaking, British, U.S. and Canadian travelers should pack an adapter for these outlets if they plan to use their electrical equipment in Belgium.

Get in

By plane

Brussels National Airport (also known as Zaventem due to the town in which it is mainly located) is Belgium's main airport, IATA code BRU. It is not located in the Brussels Capital Region proper, but in surrounding Flanders. The airport is the base of the national airline SN Brussels Airlines and of its low budget sister company plus Virgin Express. All other full-service airlines use BRU, as well as budget carriers such as Vueling and SkyEurope. There is a train (2.60 €) running every 15 minutes to Brussels centre taking 25 minutes, some of them continuing to Ghent and West-Flanders and a bus line number 12 and 11 (3 €) every 20 to 30 minutes to the Schumann (European Parliament) district. The bus stops at NATO and Schuman (for the EU institutions) on its way to the centre. There are also two trains per hour to Leuven, taking 13 minutes. A taxi to the centre of Brussels costs around 20 € (as of 2004) when booked in advance, otherwise around 30 €. Taxis bleus: 02 268 0000, Taxi Brussels: 02 411 4142, Taxis verts: 02 349 4343.

There are two other airports in Belgium with scheduled flights. Ryanair and Wizzair fly to Charleroi airport (aka "Brussels South", IATA code CRL), about 60km away from Brussels. You can get to Brussels Gare du Midi on the Ryanair coach in about an hour (€10.50 each way). If you're going to any other part of Belgium, ask at the Ryanair ticket desk for a combination bus+train ticket via Charleroi Sud station (€10 each way if bought in the airport, but more expensive in stations).

Note that Charleroi airport has no cash withdrawal or currency exchange facilities, and they are also hard to find in Charleroi town. You are strongly advised to bring some cash euros with you!

Antwerp Deurne airport (IATA code ANR) has some business flights, including VLM's reasonably priced link to London City airport. Other airports include Oostende, Liège and Kortrijk, but they only handle freight and charter flights.

Cheap flights to other countries might be worth considering, especially to Amsterdam Schiphol which has a direct rail link to Brussels. WhichBudget will give you all the budget airline routes and booking links.

By train

There are direct trains between Brussels and:

• Amsterdam, Luxembourg (normal trains, running every hour)
• Paris, Köln/Cologne, Amsterdam (Thalys)
• Lyon, Bordeaux, Paris-CDG airport and many other French cities (TGV Bruxelles-France)
• London (Eurostar)
• Frankfurt, Köln/Cologne (ICE)
• Berlin, Hamburg (night train)

They connect with domestic trains at Brussels' Gare du Midi/Zuidstation, and with all Eurostar or ICE and some Thalys tickets, you can finish your journey for free on domestic trains. For all high-speed and sleeper trains, you need to book in advance for cheap fares, either online or using a travel agency.

Plan your trip with the Deutsche Bahn timetable. It has all domestic and international connections across Europe.

By car

Major European highways like the E-19, E-17, E-40, E-411 and E-313 pass through Belgium.

By bus

You can get to Belgium from all over Europe on Eurolines coaches, but it's often cheaper to fly with Ryanair.

By ship

There are overnight ferries to/from Zeebrugge from Hull in England and Rosyth in Scotland, but they are not cheap. There's also a vehicle-only daytime service from Oostende to Ramsgate in England.

Get around

Being such a small country (300 km as its maximum distance), you can get anywhere in a couple of hours. Public transport is fast and comfortable, and not too expensive. Between larger cities, there are frequent train connections, with buses covering smaller distances.

To do some local sightseeing, especially in Flanders, a lot of infrastructure is prepared for bikes.

By train

Most of Belgium is well connected by train, run by NMBS (SNCB in French) with most of the main routes passing through the Gare du Midi/Zuidstation in Brussels. This is where you'll arrive on international trains, and it's directly reachable by train from Brussels airport or by coach from Charleroi airport. Transfers are very easy. Note that all Eurostar & ICE and some Thalys tickets allow free same-day transfers by domestic trains to any other Belgian station.

Normal fares on Belgian trains are cheap compared to Germany or the UK, with no need to prebook or reserve. 2nd class fares don't go much higher than €20 for the longest domestic trips, and 1st class always costs 50% extra. Trains can get very full during the rush hours, so you might need a 1st class ticket to get a seat at those times. You can buy normal tickets online or in stations, but not usually in travel agencies, and a supplement is charged if you buy them on the train.

The cheapest option if you're planning several train trips is a Go Pass, which gives you 10 single 2nd class rides (including train changes if necessary) for €45. It's valid for a year and can be shared with or given to other people without any restrictions. The only problem is you have to be younger than 26, but there's a more expensive version for older people called a Rail Pass. This costs €68 for 2nd class or €104 for 1st.

The SNCB website has a searchable timetable with delay information, and a fare calculator.

By local transport

Buses cover the whole country, along with trams and metro in the big cities. Most routes cover short distances, but it's possible to go from city to city by bus - slower but slightly cheaper than taking a train. There's also the Kusttram, running along almost the whole Flemish seaside from France to the Netherlands - definitely worth a trip in summer!

Within cities, a normal ticket for one zone never costs more than €1.50, and there are various travelcards available. Note that local transport is provided by different companies - STIB/MVIB in Brussels, De Lijn in Flanders and TEC in Wallonia, and outside Brussels they don't accept each others' tickets.

A useful site is InfoTEC, which has a door-to-door routeplanner for the whole country, covering all forms of public transport (including trains).

By car

Belgium has a dense network of modern toll-free motorways, but some secondary roads, particularly in Wallonia, are in poor condition. Signs are always in the local language only, except in Brussels, where they're bilingual. As many cities in Belgium have quite different names in French and Flemish, this can cause confusion. For example, Mons in French is Bergen in Flemish; Antwerp is called Antwerpen in Flemish and Anvers in French; Liège in French is Luik in Flemish, and so on. This even applies to cities outside Belgium; driving along a Flemish motorway, you may see signs for Rijsel, which is the French city of Lille.

Drivers in Belgium should also be aware of the "priority from the right" rule. At road crossings, traffic coming from the right has the right of way unless otherwise indicated by signs or pavement markings. You're most likely to encounter such crossings in urban and suburban areas. Observant visitors will notice a lot of cars with dents along their right sides! Drive defensively and your car will avoid the same fate.

Do

• Carnival de Binche Belgium's most famous carnival, the carnival in Binche, attracts thousands of visitors annually. For three days in February the town of Binche is transported back to the 16th century for one of the most fantastic festivals of the year. Highlighted by music parades and fireworks, the climax of this event is when the Gilles appear on the Grand Place and throw oranges to the spectators. This infamous festivity has been classified as part of the world's cultural heritage by UNESCO along with its renowned Gilles.

Talk

Belgium has three official languages: French, Dutch, and German. English is widely spoken by people under 30, regardless if you are in Flanders or Wallonia, but speaking foreign languages is far more common in Flanders, especially English and German. You will find that some older people do speak English but it is less likely.

Please note that although Belgium has three official languages, that does not mean that all of them are official everwhere. The only official language of Flanders is Dutch; Brussels has both Dutch and French as its official languages (although French is much more widely spoken in Brussels). The only official language of Wallonia is French, except for a small area (the town of Eupen and its surroundings) in the East where German is the official language as well.

Buy

• Belgian chocolate: A long tradition has given the belgian chocolate a superior refinement process, that is world wide recognized.
• Textiles in Bruges
• Designer fashions in Antwerp

Eat

Belgium is Famous for its good cuisine and Belgians like to go to restaurant frequently. However as a small country in the centre of western Europe, the cuisine is influenced not only by the surrounding countries, but also by many others. This is also emphasized by many foreigners coming to this country to make a living here, for instance by starting a restaurant. You can find all types of restaurants:

• French/Belgian: A traditional Belgian restaurant serves the kind of food you will also find in the best French restaurants. Of course there are local differences: at the coast (in France as well as in Belgium) you have a better chance to find some good seafood, like mussels, turbot, sole or the famous Nord sea shrimps. In the southern woods of the Ardennes (remember the battle of the Bulge?), you are better off choosing game or local fish like trout.

• English/German/Dutch: You won't find them in Belgium.

• American: There are McDonald's or look-alikes in every town. The belgian variant is called "Quick". You may also find a local booth serving sausages, hot dogs or hamburgers. Try it: the meat tastes the same, but the bread is much better. And what about real American restaurants? See the previous chapter.

• Mexican: Only in the cities and rather costly for medium quality.

• Chinese: They have a long tradition of restaurants in Belgium. Rather cheap, but for an acceptable level of quality. Choose chicken or pork. Not beef and certainly not fish.

• Greek/Spanish/Italian: Like all over the world, nice, rather cheap, with a good atmosphere and typical music (Greek: Choose meat, especially lamb) (Spanish: Choose paella and tapas) (Italian: Choose anything).

• Japanese/Thai: You usually only find them in the cities and they are rather expensive. But they give you great quality.

• Arabic/Turkish/Moroccan: Rather cheap, with a variety of local dishes, especially with lamb, no fish or pork or beef.

• And many, many others! Belgium offers a wide selection of international restaurants.

• Belgian "french fries" (from the verb to french). These are called frieten (meaning "fries" in Flemish) or frites (meaning "fries" in French), and they are world-renowned. Belgium proudly claims the title of inventor of the french fry. Whether or not this is true, they certainly have perfected it.

• Belgian waffles (gaufres in French and waffels in Dutch). There are two types of waffles in Belgium, a light and airy variety that Americans are more familiar with, parisiennes or a heavier variety with a gooey center known as de Lieges. They can be found at stands on the streets of the cities. Try them.

General rules:

• Belgium is a country which understands what eating is all about, and can be a real gastronomic paradise. You can have a decent meal in about every tavern, from small snacks to a complete dinner. Just pop into one of those and enjoy it. You really are going to ask, why isn't this possible in other countries?

• If you want to eat really well for not too much money, ask the local people or the hotel manager (that is, supposing he does not have a brother restaurant-manager) to give some advice for a good restaurant.

• There is a price for everything: expensive food like lobster or turbot will always cost a lot of money at any restaurant. But you can also find some local and simple dishes, rather cheap and still very tasty (e.g. sausages, potatoes and spinach).

Drink

Imagine you've only been drinking red and yellow lemonade with a bit of alcohol thrown in all your life, and then suddenly you are introduced to the best varieties of wine available. This is what it can be like for people from countries like the US or other ones which mostly have industrial production blond lagers on offer, who then come to Belgium and are introduced to what is arguably the richest beer culture on the planet.

Like other European countries in medieval times, beers were brewed in a huge variety of ways with many different ingredients, apart from the standard water, malted barley, hops and yeast many herbs and spices were used. This activity was often done by monestaries, each developing its particular sort. For some reason uniquely in Belgium many of these monestaries survived almost into modern times, and the process was handed over to a local commercial brewer if the monestary closed. These brewers would often augment the recipe and process slightly to soften the taste to make it more marketable but the variety survived in this way. These beers are called Abbey beers and there are hundreds and hundreds with a range of complex tastes unimaginable until you've tried them.

Less than 10 of the original monestaries still make beer, this according to traditional methods going back to the middle ages. These monestaries make Trappist beers and in order to carry this badge of honour the monestary has to abide to strict rules regarding only using the best natural ingredients and only traditional, non-mechanised brewing processes. These amazingly rich and complex beers are truly artisanal products in that sense, and can confidently be considered the best in the world.

Belgium offers an incredible diversity of beers. The most well known mass-produced ones are Stella Artois, Duvel (literally: the Devil, beware, 8.5%!), Leffe, Jupiler (plain standard beer), Hoegaarden (white beer). The names given to some beers are pretty imaginative: eg Verboden Vrucht (Forbidden Fruit), Judas, Delirium Tremens. Warmly recommended are also Kriek (sweet cherry beer) and, for the christmas season, Stille Nacht (Silent night).

• About the famous beer: the 'geuze' - As geuzeblendery 'The 3 Fonteinen' has a long tradition.

Sleep

Belgium has many fine hotels, but the best are located in Antwerp, Brussels and the Ardennes region of Belgium.

Learn

The level of Belgian education and universities rank among the highest of the world. The other side of the medal is that Belgian students have to study for long periods.

Economy

Having one of the highest labour taxes in Europe, Belgium is struggling to reposition itself as a high-tech country. In that struggle, Flanders is quite ahead of Wallonia, in contrast to the previous decades, where Wallonia's steel industry was the main export of Belgium.

Highly skilled people will have the most chance to find work, and knowing multiple languages (Dutch, French, English and/or German) is almost a standard requirement. Interim offices providing temporary jobs are flourishing in a search to avoid the high labour taxes.

The upside of the high taxes is that Belgium has a very good social security system, with compulsory health insurance, unemployment wages and pension for all citizens.

Stay safe

Except for certain neighbourhoods in Charleroi, Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium is a safe country. Being aggressive or even unhelpful towards strangers is very unnatural for Belgians in general. One exception: when driving a car, don't annoy other drivers with more expensive cars.

Also be aware of a mild form of resentment towards Muslims and North African ethnicities.

Always use your common sense, of course. Don't walk in empty streets in the middle of the night, showing off your expensive equipment or jewelry.

Stay healthy

In the winter, like most other countries, only influenza will cause you an considerable inconvenience. No inoculations are needed to enter or leave Belgium.

Respect

The Belgian attitude towards life is one of humility, and not being proud of what's given to you. A real Belgian patriot is very hard to find.

A few sensitive points:

• Belgium has a Catholic history, and is not as open minded as e.g. the Netherlands, but foreigners are easily forgiven for their wrongdoings. But with most of the people it is not a problem to comment on religious topics as most people are not religious. Also there can be some differences between the North and the South, Flanders tends to be more open-minded.
• Most Belgians do not like to discuss their wages or their political preferences.
• Depending on who you talk to, talking about right-wing politics may spark heated discussions.
• Also be careful about commenting on Flemish identity, it could cause some trouble.
• Language is a very contentious issue, and is the subject of endless political wrangling. Although many people in Flanders do understand French, you may wish to avoid approaching people in French unless you speak no other language; English is preferable. On the other hand, Flemish is not widely understood in French-speaking Wallonia.

Contact

Belgium has a modern telephone system with nationwide cellular telephone coverage, and multiple internet access points in all cities, free in most libraries. Also in multiple gas stations, NMBS train stations and diners on the highways there is wireless internet access available.

This is a usable article. It has information for getting in as well as some complete entries for restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but please plunge forward and help it grow!