Where To Stay

Information on accommodations can be obtained from the tourist office in New York or from local tourist offices, such as the Brussels Tourist Information Office on the Grand'Place. Pensions and bed-and-breakfasts range from $25 to $70 per person; medium-priced hotels range from $80 to $120. Many hotels in Brussels and other major cities offer discounts on weekends year-round and all week during July and August.

Transportation

Arriving & Departing: The terminal at Brussels' Zaventhem International Airport can accommodate up to 21 million passengers. The airport is 17 minutes by shuttle train from downtown Brussels. Departures are every 20 minutes: the fare is about $4 first class; $3 second class.

Brussels is directly linked to London via high-speed Eurostar trains through the Channel Tunnel. There are five round trips daily; the running time has been reduced to two hours and 45 minutes . Another high-speed train, the Thalys, makes the trip from Brussels to Paris in just one hour and 25 minutes.

Ferry service operates from Ostend and Zeebrugge to English ports.

Getting Around: Trains can take visitors from Brussels to most of Belgium's points of interest in an hour or less; the heart of the Ardennes is less than two hours away.

The Belgian Tourrail Pass, available at rail stations, can be used on any five days during a 17-day period. A first-class pass costs about $90; second-class, about $66. A 50-percent discount card for all domestic rail travel for one month costs about $17.

For information on the Benelux Tourrail pass, see by rail.

Holidays

New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday and Monday (Mar. 30 and 31), Labor Day (May 1), Ascension Day (May 8), Whitsunday and Whitmonday (May 18 and 19), Independence Day (July 21), Assumption (Aug. 15), All Saints Day (Nov. 1), Armistice Day (Nov. 11), Christmas.

Money Matters

Banking hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (4 p.m. on Friday). The Belgian franc is divided into 100 centimes. $1 = 32 BEF as of Dec. 2, 1996.

Free Literature

• BELGIUM, THE KEY TO EUROPE. General information on sightseeing, sports, cuisine.
• HOTELS; BUDGET HOLIDAYS.

Also available are brochures on Brussels and other cities.

Belgian Tourist Office
780 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Tel: (212) 758-8130

Come see our web page at: http://www.visitbelgium.com

Or e-mail us at: belinfo@nyxfer.blythe.org