Tips about Belgium
DIVE INTO
On this page, you can find more information about Belgium and tips for students recommended by locals from different cities in Belgium. We sent out a questionnaire to VIVES University and asked students, teachers and staff members about multiple cities and how to best travel in Belgium. Click on the button below to directly jump to the city.
State your favourite city in Belgium and the things you would recommend students to eat/do/see.
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"Kortrijk. If you're a cyclist Kortrijk is a good starting point for difficult (and easier) bike rides with nice views. They give you a nice impression of the Belgian countryside and the life of many in smaller rural towns. If you're for a real challenge you can do 100+ km long routes and explore either the Flemish Ardennes around the city Oudenaarde, or Flanders fields around the historical city Ypres. Both these regions are characterised by steep hills and cobbles. They behold some nice scenery as well as history. The region around Oudenaarde has a very rich history of the cycling sport. The region around Ypres is drenched with the rotten remainings of thousands of soldiers that gave their lies in the great war."
My favorite city is Ghent but I already recommended a lot for Ghent and Bruges is also nice so for Bruges: The Monk (bar where you can play pool); Bangkok Delicious (Thai food); Frituur Patriek (Belgian fries); Minnewaterpark; Concertgebouw (theater); Steenstraat (shopping); Damse vaart by bike; Sport Vlaanderen (sports facility); Choco-story (museum); Belfort (tower) and Pizzeria Aquila.
State your favourite city in Belgium and the things you would recommend students to eat/do/see.
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"Hasselt. You should try to go there during the Christmas Holiday. You have really nice stores and restaurants and I hope the Christmas market is allowed this, because it's really beautiful. And you really nice hotels for a good price (f.ex. Yup Hotel). (I also recommend Maastricht. It's just outside Belgium, but only like 20 minutes by train from Luik/Liège. And that is my all time favorite city.)
If you have been to Antwerp, what would you recommend students to eat/do/see?
(For example: restaurants, bars or museums)
"When you're at the central station and walk towards "The Meir" (shopping street), you'll see a sort of shopping mall on your right side with a cinema and over there you have a really nice Thai restaurant and it's budget friendly. Of course you have The Meir to shop, but try some other streets too, because then you're gonna find some tiny concept stores and vintage stores. There used to be a cereal bar too in Antwerp, but I forgot the name."
"In Antwerp I recommend to go to the Meir of course. But when you reach the end you should walk a little further and then you will arrive in a more cosy, less commercial area of the city centre! You can go to the top of the MAS it’s free to take the escalators to the top of the building and then you have a view of the whole city! Het eilandje is very trendy and fun it’s fun to be there (that’s the area of the MAS). The railway station is one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen. St Anna Tunnel is a cool tunnel, but maybe only to Belgians because we recognize it from music videos or tv. There are also lots of market squares that have a nice vibe. Mooy is a nice place to eat."
"Definitely visit the Antwerp Zoo, it's amazing and also go to the main market place called 'De Meir' its filled with fun restaurants and stores to shop in."
"The ‘grote markt’ is always a good place to go. Also the ‘Sint-Anna tunnel’ is a really cool tunnel to walk. Antwerp is *the* place to go if you want to go shopping."
If you have been to Ghent, what would you recommend students to eat/do/see?
(For example: restaurants, bars or museums)
"I would go to the Korenmarkt (alot of food options), Kouter(food) and intbetween the korenmarkt e, kouter is the shopping lane called veldstraat. You can also go to Zuid from korenmarkt where you find a new and the old library but also a shoppingh centre. Ghent has alot of food places and good restaus, you just have to do a google search."
"At Loods Gent you can lent a kayak for not a lot if money and kayak through the city itself or through a bit of nature! (If you go to the city itself you can see there’s a canal for boats and kayak’s). I’d definitely recommend during summer! There’s also a anime/manga/etc. store named “World’s End” which is in a random, empty ally."
"Ikura Sushi, Hot club (jazzbar), Dok noord (lot's of fun things to do like carting, VR gaming, an inside trampoline park), San Pietro (delicious ice cream), Noir and Punctumtattoo studie (amazing tattoo artists), Gentse Feesten is a really cool event during the summer (in the daytime it's more of a family event but in the evening there are a lot of perfomances), 8Tea5 (bubble tea)"
"Definitely visit the nieuwstraat for a fun shopping adventure and the big/main market place with our famous satue of manneken pis (the peeing boy) there you will also find many small streets filled with beautifull restaurants. And for the daredevils I would recommend molenbeek and de brabantstraat these are streets with many clothing stores with beautifull clothes for a small price but it can also be a very dagerous area at night so i recomend going around the early afternoon."
If you have been to Brussels, what would you recommend students to eat/do/see?
(For example: restaurants, bars or museums)
"Brussels has a lot of things to do. I would go to the expo area and see if there is any interesting show or anything and then visit the 'atomium'. Because Brussels has so many cultures, you can pretty much find multiple different cuisines."
"Definitely visit the nieuwstraat for a fun shopping adventure and the big/main market place with our famous satue of manneken pis (the peeing boy) there you will also find many small streets filled with beautifull restaurants. And for the daredevils I would recommend molenbeek and de brabantstraat these are streets with many clothing stores with beautifull clothes for a small price but it can also be a very dagerous area at night so I recomend going around the early afternoon."
"Dino museum, war museum, car museum, royal galleries, jubel Parc, royal Palace, just eat waffles and chocolate"
What is the easiest way to travel between cities in Belgium?
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Is there a student tranportation card?
"Both NMBS and Delijn have special student subscriptions"
"Yes, you have many discounts for students. I don't know a specific card. We have a student card from the Vives itself. We have discounts at the cinema for example & a number of other things."
"Yes, for train; under 26 you can use a 'go-pass 10', which gives you 10 travels for €53. If you are a student in higher education, your school offers a certificate which gives you access to a school pas. This is only valuable for travels between the train stations of your home and your school. Your school can also offer you a certificate for a bus pass. I'm not sure if the pass can be used in Belgium as a whole, but it certainly works in the district of your school. You can also hire a student bike for a year for a very reasonable price."
"We have a document from Vives that we are officialy students and we can use that to buy very cheap train tickets. I don't know if you can do that, but then I recommend the "Go-Pass -25 years". You pay 53 euros for ten rides and the only thing you need to do is write down the train station of departure and the train station of arrival. (This does not count if you're going to cities like Maastricht, Lille or Brussels Airport.) You can also download the NMBS app which is very accurate and you can also buy your train tickets with it."
During vacations you can buy a go unlimited and go everywhere for one week for 15€ It’s only available during Belgian vacations for example ‘easter break’. If it’s not vacation you can get a go pass and then you pay 52€ for 10 trainrides. Or 12€ for a trip back and forth. These are all available if you are under 25 years old.