Bus From Charereloi Airport/

[Davypops]

Hi all, is there a cheap bus from Charleroi Airport, Brussels - into Brussels. There's an expensive Shuttle at Eu. 22 return. Is there a normal 'bus'. The airport website doesn't show one. Thanks. David.

[jno]

doesn't look like it, but there's a bus to the train station

http://visitbrussels.be/bitc/BE_en/content/508/getting-to-brussels.do

It's quite a long way from town, about 40 miles.

[mushroom25]

as jno says, take the local bus to charleroi sud station, every 30mn, journey 25mn, fare EUR3.00
Then take the train to Bruxelles Midi/Brussel Zuid, fare EUR 9.00.

[DTCwordfan]

Charleroi used to be a bit of black hole in that when you went into the city, you never seemed to be able to escape, going round and round in circles.

As to transport, Charleroi train station is right by the airport and there are direct trains to Brussels, even further away from Gatwick is to Victoria.

There are a few train station stop in Brussels do you know which you are going to? Gare du Nord, Gare du Sud/Midi and Centrale, also Louviere as well.

The shuttle bus is the easiest way to get to Brussels from Charleroi airport. The shuttles arrive in Gare du Midi (Zuidstation in Flemish), and from there you can take a metro or an underground tram to most of the places in the city. The metro map can be found for example here:
http://www.bxel.net/metro-de-bruxelles/plan-du-metro.html

There have been changes in the metro network lately, so be sure to check the latest version of it, the one with metro lines with numbers 1-6.

One word of warning: if you arrive late in the evening, remember that the public transportation runs only till around midnight. There are some nightbuses, though, but the network of them is not very complete.

nyway, my advice would be to avoid wandering by foot around the station areas at night time, as that might not be the safest thing to do...you may want to taxi and stay locally overnight.

[mushroom25]

TEC bus 365a runs from charleroi to central brussels. however they're not very frequent and the journey time is getting on for 2 hours.
http://www.infotec.be/index.aspx?PageId=631734022642174032

[Buenchico]

I've used Charleroi airport and, as others have suggested, I found it easiest to take the bus to the train station and then go on to Brussels by rail.

The travel planner on the website of the local bus company shows 'bus+train' as the only option. (i.e. there's no 'bus+bus' way of doing it):
http://www.infotec.be/index.aspx?PageId=633023143392127686

Charleroi Airport is about 30 miles from central Brussels so €22 isn't particularly expensive for a return fare.

[Buenchico]

Perhaps I should have read Mushroom25's post first!

However I suspect that the TEC website found the only reasonable travel options at the time I entered. Anyway, bus and train fares in Belgium are broadly similar.

[mushroom25]

you're right chris - in order to get the "bus only" option, I had to use the "bus+tram" tab at the RHS of the timetable search. You also need to know that Charleroi airport is located at Gosselies.

:-)

[Davypops]

Hey, thank you all...The best seems bus to station then train, thanks because I'm hopeless at getting the best deals - thanks again.