BELGIUM TRAVEL TIPS FOR FIRST TIMERS | 20+ Must-Knows Before Visiting Belgium + What NOT to Do!

if you are visiting Belgium for the first time this year make sure you watch this video because in it I'll be sharing all sorts of tips and must notes for first timers hi I'm Christina from happytooner.com and to be honest the first time I visited Belgium I actually didn't like it at all but now I'm older and wiser and I realize that's actually because of mistakes that I personally made I'm not been back several times and can safely say that Belgium is actually a super cool country you just need to know how to navigate it properly let's start with Belgium travel planning tips the first thing you need to know is that Belgium is actually divided into a few different regions so while Belgium is a very small country it has two distinct halves specifically Flanders in the north and willonia in the South Flanders is the Flemish speaking part of Belgium where they speak Flemish which is pretty much Dutch and bologna is the french-speaking part of Belgium where of course they speak French except for this little portion that speaks German so while the official languages of Belgium are Dutch French and German you'll find that it's actually more that the different regions Focus predominantly more on certain languages rather than the entire country speaking all of them at the same time now Brussels the capital is kind of the exception to this Brussels is officially considered bilingual so you can get around with either Flemish or French but based on my personal experience it feels like people there definitely speak more French all that said English is pretty widely spoken Belgium so you don't have to worry too much it's also worth noting that different places in Belgium actually have their French and their Flemish names and oftentimes at bus stations or train stations depending on where you are you will encounter either one or the other and sometimes even more confusing they're not the same as the English names that we know these cities by take Antwerp for instance we know it in English as Antwerp but in Flemish it's actually spelled like this and in French it's on there so it's obviously a little bit different the first time I saw that I actually thought it was a completely different place so that's just something to be mindful of if you are traveling to multiple destinations during your trip make sure you know their name in French and in Flemish so that you know what you're looking for when you're at the train station because it can be really stressful when you're trying to catch a train and you're like I'm not sure if this is going where I needed to the same logic also applies to train stations so for instance in Brussels if you see this train station it's actually the same as this one as well now another tip I have if you're going to Belgium do not spend all your time in Brussels now the reason I say that is a lot of people think that visiting the capital city of Brussels is the main must do in Belgium but in my opinion that's actually not the case I honestly feel like there are way nicer places to visit in Belgium than Brussels now Brussels is a big city with lots of cool attractions and museums but if you're looking for a quaint or Little City Vibe then honestly Bruges Gant or Dinan are a lot more enjoyable in that sense I also really liked going to live in an Antwerp I think both of those are really beautiful cities as well and of course there's lots of nature spots in the Arden if that's what you're looking for now in terms of when to visit Belgium I would recommend going in the shoulder season or off season and the reason for that is just because the main attractions in Belgium in my opinion are the cities and so cities are fun to visit even if the weather isn't amazing so just make sure you pack for the elements correctly and you're going to have a great time no matter what now if you're really struggling to decide when to go to Belgium one tip I have for you is to look up different festivals that take place because one of the coolest things about this country is they have loads of cool festivals and cultural events that you can take part in so now I'm not just talking about Music Fest festivals even though Belgium is home to one of the most famous music festivals in the world Tomorrowland I'm actually talking about cultural events and folk festivals I have recently learned about a ton of cool Belgian cultural traditions because of this one Tick Tock account that I'm absolutely obsessed with it's called Luna discovers Belgium and basically she goes to these different cultural events that take place throughout the year in Belgium and there are so many and they're really really fun now in terms of arriving in Belgium despite being a super small country they actually have five different international airports but if you're coming from outside of Europe odds are you're going to be landing at the Brussels International Airport the one thing I'll say about that is don't let that limit you and make you think you only have to spend your entire trip in Brussels because Belgium is really small so you can easily get from Brussels to pretty much any other city in Belgium within two hours by public transport so don't think that you need to spend all your time in Brussels just because you land there this is why I personally pick one or two base cities depending on how long your trip is and then just doing day trips out to different areas instead of hopping around and changing hotels consistently just because things are really close together so it's very easy to do day trips now on that note I'm a huge advocate for traveling around Belgium by train rather than renting a car and one of the main reasons for that is the Belgian train system is actually blessed with a number of enticing discounts so I'm going to review some of the top ones for you right now for example those under the age of 26 can enjoy super cheap train travel across Belgium through something called The Go pass one which allows you to book a fair anywhere in the country for only 7 euros and 10 cents each way and if you're a little bit older don't worry if you're over 26 another really great deal is something called the standard multi-rail pass which basically gives you 10 trips to use over the course of a year and these trips can be transferred to other people within your party so it's really handy if you're traveling in a group but that's not all the sncb has a ton of different deals that you can take advantage of so if you plan your day trips or side trips for a weekend you can actually save 50 off your round-trip ticket with a weekend ticket which is valid on trips that leave after 7 pm on Fridays and then return before Sundays or you can take advantage of their Discovery tickets which offer you 50 off your train tickets so long as you purchase an admission ticket for one of these attractions that's on their list and they also have a Bravo ticket as well that gets you 50 off train tickets if you're traveling to a specific concert festival or cultural event now another reason to take trains in Belgium is they actually have some really beautiful train stations there there's actually two stations in particular that frequently make the list of most beautiful train stations in the world the first one is Antwerp which looks like this it's absolutely stunning and the second one is in liege and if you watch Marvel movies like I do you might recognize it as xandar from the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie of course before you get way too dazzled by the beautiful train stations and Aesthetics and great deals I do need to say that Belgian trains can sometimes be very confusing big cities often have multiple train stations and if you're not careful you might actually get them mixed up and show up at the wrong station and miss your train which is something I personally did once and I feel really stupid admitting that Brussels for instance has three stations North Central and midi all of which are known by both their Flemish and their French names so as you can see it can be a bit confusing so make sure when you're booking your tickets you're actually booking the station closest to where you need to go all right now let's move on to the tasty stuff oftentimes when people talk about Belgium they'll talk about the beer they the chocolate the waffles the fries but there's actually a lot of tips and must knows about these different things that I feel like most guides don't cover so I'm going to do that right now first of all when it comes to flit remember they are not french fries they are Belgian fries now apparently the reason we know them as french fries in North America is because American soldiers during World War One thought they were in France literally they they were in Belgium but they thought they were in France because people were speaking French and so they called them french fries and that Legacy has stuck by even today so don't make that mistake when you're in Belgium they are not french fries now the defining characteristic of these Belgian fries is they're deep fried twice in animal fat so if you're vegetarian or vegan just know that this usual safe food for you is not actually vegetarian in Belgium that said There usually are veggie friendly options somewhere in this so just make sure you do your research so you know which ones you can safely eat at of course there's no shortage of amazing places to try fries when you're in Belgium but the most satisfying way is definitely from a takeout sort of situation where they'll give it to you in a paper cone with a nice little dipping sauce and on that note sauce is absolutely non-negotiable in this situation and I'm not just talking about ketchup because you can have ketchup anywhere May make sure you get some kind of sauce that is not what you typically get because that's what you're here in Belgium for right now let's talk about chocolate when you go to Belgium they're chocolate shops everywhere but one really important thing to know about these chocolate shops is oftentimes you can go in and actually just buy one or two so you don't have to commit to a full box this way you can actually DIY your own chocolate tour wherever you go in Belgium now another thing is when you're going to different cities look out for Unique chocolate products in each place that you visit because I've personally noticed a lot of cities will pay homage to something famous from their city in chocolate form so in antwer for instance you can buy chocolate diamonds because that city is really famous for its Diamond trade so yes make sure to keep an eye out when you're in chocolate shops to see if there's anything unique to that City specifically alright now time to discuss waffles my personal favorite topic okay so everybody knows that Belgian waffles are amazing what not a lot of people know though is that there's two main types of Belgian waffles first off there's the rectangular Brussels style waffle which looks like this and then there's the roundish liege style waffle that looks like this take note that these are very different Russell style waffles are fluffier and they're usually served with toppings like whipped cream and fruit whereas leash style waffles are a lot denser they're sweeter they have these little Pearls of caramelized sugar inside that are amazing and they're best enjoyed plain without any toppings this is an important distinction because often when you're in a touristy place you'll notice that they'll have all sorts of display waffles that have tons of toppings kind of just to be eye-catching and to get tours over there but with liege waffles if you put toppings on it it's just such a waste because they're really delicious on their own so just keep in mind that when they're roundish like this they're best enjoyed playing and when they're rectangular that's when you can go crazy with the different toppings on that note you could kind of use that as a gauge to see whether or not the place you're going to is an authentic waffle place or if it's more geared towards tourists so if you see displays like this that have liege waffles that are topped with a bunch of whipped cream and fruits you probably have an idea that it's not going to be the most authentic another clear sign is when they have their menu in a bunch of different languages or when they say things like best price now let's move on to beer true story I hated beer until I tried it in Belgium it's honestly so different and incredible but there's a few things that you need to know first off take note that Belgian beers can be a lot stronger than you used to so indulge accordingly number two note that they take their glassware very seriously and oftentimes depending on the beer you order it'll come in its own special glass this is important and also very fun third note that Belgian beers are diverse and complex I won't go into detail about the different styles of beer because that's going to take forever but one important thing to note that unlike in Germany where there's a purity law that says you can only have four ingredients in your beer in Belgium they've always been given free reign to kind of experiment and do whatever they want this is why there's literally a beer for every type of person in Belgium you kind of have to just experiment and try it of course Beyond just the snacky food and drink items that we just covered I do need to give a shout out to proper Belgian dishes as well because Belgian Cuisine is actually really delicious and there's a few must tries that I personally love that I really recommend you try at some point during your trip so the first one is volova and it's like this creamy meat stew that is served in a crispy pastry it's really really good there's also cabinet flemand which is a Flemish stew and it's this meat stew that's made with beer as well and it's super good and of course mussels with fries is another very popular Belgian dish and it's really cute because you can say you had mussels and Brussels alright now let's wipe the drool off our faces and get to some tips for when you actually arrive in Belgium the first one is to be sure to carry coins for the bathroom I've noticed the public bathrooms in Belgium aren't actually that common and when you do find them oftentimes you'll have to pay so it's usually something like 50 cents to a Euro I actually discovered this very angry Reddit thread where some people complain that even in movie theaters in Belgium sometimes you have to pay for the bathroom which to me is just unheard of but yeah just know that you should carry on coins just in case you need to use the bathroom and also get in the habit of using bathrooms before you leave museums or restaurants another reason to carry around coins is a lot of the time museums will not allow you to have bigger bags I've noticed in Brussels especially they were stricter with this than anywhere else I've been so if you have a backpack oftentimes they'll ask you to put it in a locker and a lot of the time these lockers actually they require a one Euro coin as a deposit so just make sure you always have a one year coin just in case so that you're able to use the lockers otherwise it's just really awkward like where are you gonna get a one Euro coin from on the topic of museums be sure to look out for free museum days so in Brussels for instance a lot of the museums in the city are actually free on the first Wednesday and the first Sunday of every month antrope has similar thing where it's the last Wednesday of every month there's quite a few free museums and liege also has some free museums on the first Sunday so this is just a standard thing that they do in a lot of cities so before your trip just have a quick look to see if any of the free days align with your schedule and then you can plan accordingly of course if there are no free days during your visit not all hope is lost there's still some ways to stay as big on major museums and attractions and one way is definitely through purchasing a city card so if you plan on visiting a lot of paid attractions during your time in Belgium a lot of cities will have a city card or a city pass that includes a bunch of attractions for one set price oftentimes this can save you a lot of money if you were planning to visit a bunch of attractions I've personally used the Brussels card in the past and thought it was really really good value just because Brussels has so many cool museums and when you have this card because it's all included you feel like more inclined to check out more hidden Gems or museums that you wouldn't have otherwise paid for and so it's quite a fun way to discover places that are a bit more off the beaten path now one thing to be wary of though when you're planning your day is Google Maps I found that for some reason in Belgium the Google Maps opening hours don't tend to be accurate and I don't know if it's just bad luck but I feel like on every single trip that I've taken specifically to Brussels there's always been an instance when I've been duped by the opening hours on Google Maps like I'll show up to a place and it's closed when it says it should be open so just keep that in mind whenever possible look on the official websites of places instead of relying on what's on Google Maps the last thing I'll say is that belgians have a very unique sense of humor and for an example of that look no further than the fact that their number one tourist attraction is this little statue of a peeing boy that they dress up in different costumes and if that's not enough they actually have a little statue of a peeing girl and a peeing dog as well that not a lot of people know about there's also a hotel in the country that's shaped like a giant intestine all that to say come to Belgium for the waffles the beer and the chocolate but stay for the quirky sense of humor and stories there are so many funny random stories that are attached to Belgian traction so I definitely recommend more than normal for you to do some research and kind of look into the places that you're visiting because I guarantee you're going to find at least one funny story about that place and of course when you have these stories in mind it just makes visiting places a lot more fun alright I hope you found that video helpful and as usual if you want more practical travel videos just like this one be sure to like And subscribe for more I'll see you guys next week thanks for watching bye

Channel: Happy to Wander

Views: 97,585

Keywords: Belgium, Belgium Travel, Europe Travel, Belgium Travel Tips

Id: FNNFXgIhV58

Length: 12min 59sec (779 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 06 2023