If you happen to disembark at either Brussels North or Brussels South stations you are in for a might long walk to get to the center of town. Brussels North and Brussels South are the main stations.

Rail traffic from the south and west enters Brussels through South Station and then funnels up to the north. Traffic from the north and east hits North Station and then heads toward South Station.

It’s not widely known, but there is a Brussels Central station. It’s located underground between North and South Stations. If you disembark there it’s a relatively short walk to the Grote Markt.

It might take you a while to walk to the touristy center but I don’t think I’d have wanted to skip walking through these run down areas. True, often areas around big train stations are not that nice but I think they show the real Brussels. The “capital of the EU” is a total disgrace. Cleanliness is far below central European average (and the towns and cities we visited in the Balkans were in fact much cleaner) and Internationality... is almost non-existent.

Though having a couple of languages of it’s own, I still don’t think it’d be unfair to expect a city which hosts international institutions and vies to be considered a mayor international capital to provide it’s international visitors with at least SOME signs and information in the lingua franca of the day, English. At least around the main train stations and the old center..

So I say, get out at the south station and cross east before heading towards town… Walk around a bit and get a nice look at it..