Brussels · Backpacking

Large hostel-hotel on the canal at Quai du Hainaut 33 in Molenbeek, with en-suite mixed and female dorms of six and ten beds; linen, towels and lockers are included. Its own site puts Bruxelles-Central about 14 minutes away by train.

A contactless single on metro, tram and bus is €2.40 and the same card is capped at €8.50 a day once you have made four journeys, so there is no day pass worth buying. Brupass digital tickets are €2.70 for one journey or €18.90 for ten if you need the wider zone.

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts, the Magritte Museum and the Fin-de-Siècle Museum are free from 1pm on the first Wednesday of every month, as is the Institute of Natural Sciences. A different set, including the Maison du Roi and the Fashion and Lace Museum, is free on the first Sunday.

SNCB withdrew the Standard Multi, Youth Multi and Local Multi 10-journey cards on 15 October 2025, so the old trick of splitting a card between travellers no longer works — price single tickets or the Train+ range instead. Ghent is roughly half an hour from Bruxelles-Midi and Bruges about an hour.

The fixed numbers you can check: capped all-day transport €8.50, Institute of Natural Sciences €15, Atomium €17, Mini-Europe €20 booked online, Train World €15. A dorm bed at one of the big central hostels starts around €55 in season, so €80–100 a day is realistic unless you time your visit to a free-museum Wednesday; food is the swing factor between a friterie and a sit-down meal.