I’m getting the impression that the neighborhood around the Brussels Midi Train Station is a bit rough. There seem to be hotels, but I’m reading hotel reviews and turning up comments about there not being restaurants nearby and that walking from there to Grand Place is possibly sketchy. I’m not getting the impression of a thriving neighborhood.
Anyone here familiar with that neighborhood and could give me a first hand account?
We’ll be leaving Brussels on the Eurostar which makes that neighborhood attractive but we’ll also be in Brussels for a few days and want a walkable place to stay that doesn’t feel sketchy after dark. Chances are good I’ll find something near Grand PLace unless one of you can attest that Midi is awesome.
The Midi area is kinda grotty. Busy during the day, but not much to recommend it for travelers. You’ll probably like staying near Grand Place better. The trains are so efficient that having to hop over from the Central to the Midi station to catch the Eurostar shouldn’t be any trouble at all.
When we went to Brussels, we stayed near the De Brouckere station (the NH Atlanta on Boulevard Adolphe Max), and caught trains to and from Zuid/Midi, Centraal/Central and Noord/Nord by taking the subways to get to the other stations.
If anything, the neighborhood near Noord was the sketchiest, with a red-light district right there beside the station and the tracks. As we came into the station and had slowed down, I looked out the window, and right there, 30 feet away was some woman’s bare ass in a window. Nice.
Midi station area is a bit ghetto, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s dangerous. Keep your wits about you and don’t take back streets during the night, much like Paris.
With that being said, I personally would not stay around Midi and would definitely recommend going up to Centrale station. Tickets to and from Midi are good to and from Centrale as well and only takes a few minutes, although you’ll have to transfer.
As Saturn Dreams said, Centrale is nicer than Midi. (Nord is really grotty; don’t stay round there.) Nowhere in Brussels is very far from anywhere, though - it’s not a very big city, and public transport is good, if a little more confusing than in Paris or London.
Somewhere around the metro/tram stops Louise, Stephanie, Sablons, Montgomery (though I think this can be a bit dead in the evenings and weekends) or the Grand Place is unlikely to be sketchy - but honestly, I don’t think many places in Brussels are actually dangerous, even at night, some are just less wealthy than others. (I haven’t looked into this in any detail, so could be wrong, but I can’t off the top of my head think of anywhere that I’d feel actually unsafe…)
I have lived in Brussels since 1992 and have never had any problems here. On the whole, the city is pretty safe. That said, well, some areas are not as safe as others. It doesn’t mean that you are going to get mugged for sure if you go through them but it is better to avoid them.
The areas around both North and Midi Stations are among these places where I only go if I have to. North is defintiely the worst of the two. Central Station, as has already been said, is the safest of the three and really close to the Grand -Place.
Thanks everyone. I am gathering that while it’s not an actual dangerous neighborhood it’s not exactly the most exciting place to stay as a tourist. We’ll end up near Grand Place I’m sure.
