Getting around Belgium: transport and apps

Trains

• SNCB (NMBS in Dutch) runs everything and Belgium is small: Brussels to Bruges is about an hour, Brussels to Antwerp about forty minutes, Brussels to Liege under an hour.
• Fares rose on 1 February 2026 in line with the consumer price index, so older printed figures are slightly low.
• You rarely need to book ahead. Domestic tickets are not yield-priced the way Eurostar is; turn up and travel.
• Weekend return tickets are substantially discounted, which is worth knowing if your trip spans a Saturday.
• Validate nothing - Belgian domestic tickets are checked on board, not at a gate.

The three bus networks

Belgium's regions run their own operators and their tickets do not interchange:

• De Lijn in Flanders - Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven.
• TEC in Wallonia - Liege, Namur, Charleroi, Mons.
• STIB/MIVB in Brussels.
• Brupass is the exception and is the thing to buy in Brussels: it covers STIB plus the De Lijn, TEC and SNCB stops inside the city.

Trams

• The Kusttram along the coast is the longest tram line in the world, running the length of the Belgian coast from De Panne to Knokke. It is a genuine means of transport rather than a novelty.
• Ghent and Antwerp have extensive tram networks and they are the sensible way around both cities.

Cycling

• Flanders is flat and comprehensively signposted, with a numbered node network that makes route-finding trivial.
• Bike hire is available at most stations. Blue-bike operates from railway stations nationally.
• Wallonia is hilly and a different proposition entirely.