Every train to and from Brussels Airport carries a compulsory supplement that roughly doubles the fare. And "Brussels South Charleroi" is about 50 km from Brussels.
Brussels Airport (BRU), Zaventem
- The station is under the terminal and the train reaches Brussels-Central in about 17 minutes, with departures every ten to fifteen minutes. As an airport link it is genuinely excellent.
- Every ticket carries the Diabolo fee. SNCB adds a compulsory supplement to every rail journey to or from Brussels Airport, on top of the ordinary fare, to pay for the dedicated tunnel. It is not optional, it is not a first-class extra, and it applies to season tickets and rail passes too.
- The practical effect is that a 17-minute ride costs more than an hour's journey elsewhere in Belgium. Nothing is wrong with your ticket machine.
- Check the current supplement on SNCB's own page before you budget - it has been raised repeatedly and the figures circulating in guides disagree with each other.
- The airport bus is cheaper, but not on an ordinary ticket. STIB's airport line (bus 12 on weekday daytimes, 21 evenings and weekends) runs to Schuman and the EU quarter - and leaving the airport you need an Airport2City ticket, EUR 7.90 contactless or on a MOBIB card, EUR 8.40 on paper. An ordinary STIB ticket is only valid in the other direction, towards the airport.
- So it saves a few euro over the train, not a fraction of it, and it takes considerably longer. Your Airport2City ticket then covers metro, tram and bus connections for an hour after you validate it.
Brussels South Charleroi Airport (CRL) is not in Brussels
- It is about 50 km south of Brussels, in Wallonia. Ryanair and Wizz Air sell it as Brussels.
- The Flibco shuttle runs to Brussels-Midi, the city's main international station, roughly every 20 to 30 minutes through the day.
- Reckon on an hour for the transfer, and buy online rather than at the desk.
- Brussels-Midi is where the Eurostar and the Thalys go from, so the shuttle drops you somewhere genuinely useful if you are travelling on.
Getting into town from Brussels-Midi or Central
- Brussels transport is STIB, one integrated system of metro, tram and bus.
- A single journey on Brupass is EUR 2.70; buying through the GO app costs EUR 2.30, and paying the driver in cash EUR 2.60.
- Brupass XL at EUR 3.60 extends beyond the city boundary, which is what you need for some suburban destinations.
- A MOBIB card costs EUR 6 and is the reusable card that season tickets and multi-journey fares load onto - worth it only if you are staying a while.
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