Avoid at Night, Brussels

I was shocked to read these comments!
apparently i live in a very dangerous city haha...

seriously, i am a young woman living in saint-gillis, enjoying it very much... i go where i want, when i want, by myself... i take public transport all the time, also at night...

with your mothers advise 'dont go with strangers' and the right attitude you ll be fine girls!

as in every city, take care of your stuff and ok, i admit, the men in the street trying to hit on girls can be very enoying sometimes, but in the end just harmless. i just brush them off or ignore them cause it s my city as well...

about areas like red quarter, train stations, outskirts: like every city not really the places you should go, but i have no idea what you would be looking for there at night...

Brussels is a nice city, but one cannot deny it has some serious issues with safety, especially at night. For men who observe a minimum of caution and are not too unlucky, there shouldn't be any problem, not even for wandering around at night at any location.

For women and girls, even in group, the situation is entirely different. The best tip I can think of is to come by or rent a car and avoid walking around the streets at night, especially alone. Avoid in any event taking the metro at night: it is NOT safe.

Even during day, there are unfortunately lots of places where walking around alone as a girl will probably not be a pleasant experience, although these are probably not the places you will want to go anyway. If you use a car, avoid public transport and walking around in unsafer parts of the city, safety should not really be an issue.

I know more than one girl/woman who moved to Brussels and were not planning on buying a car at all, but thinking of using public transport instead. They all changed their mind.

There's no doubt a lot of crime in Brussels.

For the few years I have lived here I have seen more crime than during my entire life, mostly lived in another EU country.

You need to be careful and not only in specific areas. Criminals know where people with money are and seek them out there. One thing that seems very common is for two young men to drive around on a motorcycle or scooter, then one of them starts walking around while the one on the bike turns in the opposite direction. If you see this, you can count the seconds until the guy walking around will crash a window in a car and steal something. Both times I've seen this there's been a person driving sitting in the car, shocked. Often, they drive with the scooter looking in the windows, then find a handbag on the passenger seat for example, they knock the window, jump up the waiting scooter and then drive away.

I've seen several, especially ladies, being robbed in daylight on crowded streets in popular areas. Have also seen fights, sabotage on cars and more. All going on at day when lots of people are around. Don't even think about what happens at night... Happens in Ixelles, St Gilles and in the other city areas where most people are. There are also numerous break-ins and other problems. You see smashed windows on shop stores etc all the time, all over the city. Grafitti is everywhere. Some areas just look depressing.

Overall I would advice people new to Brussels to be very careful as it seems to be a very unsafe city. Sure, there are lots of police and you can imagine why there is.. But it does not prevent criminals from operating even in the most crowded and 'nice' neighborhoods.

Don't believe people telling you its a safe place. I guess it depends where you are from but in my experience, and I've traveled a lot, its one of the least safe places I've been.

1 more image

Hi

I am living in Brussels for about 11 years now, and actually the easiest way to keep out of trouble, is to stay on the big tourist roads, with many people. There are places in Brussels where you find wast numbers of peoples at every time ...day AND night the only problem scenes are the metro entries and some quarters after 1 am.

To be safe anywhere you are going you should simply never go out alone, and in the middle of the city simply stay in the pubs and avoid getting out of the mass.

With these little precautions Brussels is a living and young vital city in which you have to watch out more for the high prices mugging you than aggressive people. So instead of drinking in a bar young tourist should consider buying alcohol in one of the thousands night shops which can save you a lot of money.

Metro stations with nightlife but also with a small possibility of getting mugged are:
From Arts loi - Gare du Sud (Many Clubs and bars but after the last metro partly dangerous)

For Classic Bars and many People you should consider going to the stations:
Montgomery - Schuman (often very Expensive) or
Arts Loi - De Bruckere (Mid City many clubs and bars wast numbers of people on weekends
night shop flood)

A place I would not easily wander around at night is the area around the South station.
At daytime you only have the stunning smell or should I say stench? of the pee of many men who consider the walls and every corner as a public toilet, but at night it also looks dangerous.
If you need to go to Brussels centrum and you arrive late, you better take the train to Central station or the metro, if you have too much luggage, just take a taxi but don't let them rip you off! That happens.

Please, please, please, any women travelling to Brussels, in particular Gare du Nord, beware!

I arrived after delayed flight at around 11.30 on Sunday evening, tried to get a taxi to hotel Albert on Rue Santa Maria and was told by 2 taxi drivers that it was a 5 minute walk and not feasible for them. I was subsequently "picked up" by a guy whom I asked the way and then taken away from my destination, which I picked up on within 10 mins. He insisted it was fine, but then near a park was told to "look, there's a white rabbit in the park", then hand mauled and eventually raped having been punched and kicked several times. He stole my bag, all my money, passport and visa cards and I spent a dreadful 24 hours working with what I can only say was a superb police force, victim support team and British Consul getting me home and safe.

I urge any women coming in on the later flights to travel into town by taxi, from the airport direct to your hotel.

I found this city very safe, but I'm a kind of person who doesn't like getting into trouble. I walked almost every night in Ixelles, where I lived. Because it's a students area, it's very safe. There is always a lot of people and lights. But I had 2 quite annoying situations (not in Ixelles, of course), so my first tip concerns not using metro on Sunday. There are few people, some little gangs, one little look at them which doesn't suit them and you may get in trouble. And the second one is that it's better to go somewhere by bus in a group. I was very frightened once, travelling by myself at around 2 a.m. and there was some quarrel concerning religions (it's a problem there!). But I was surprised how quickly the bus driver called the police and how quickly they came. Nothing happened to me, but next time I was with a group ;) And the last tip: the best for night life is the city center. Always safe.

it is hard to find any problem in Brussels unless you love to invite problems. Just standard precautions are necessary. I have noticed that few gangs of men standing by the road in late night time which looks very intimidating but nothing happened to me and I found city very safe.