Gare du Midi

We are coming into Gare du Midi. We love to walk and would like to walk from the station to the Grand Place. Is there a safety issue that I need to be concerned about in the station area? Wanted to go up Av de Stalingrad through Pl. Rouppe and on up. It looks like it is only a mile. Silly to ride if we can take in the sights safely. Thank you.

|||

The station itself has much the same reputation as many large mainline stations (Gare du Nord in Paris, Termini in Rome), but if you don%26#39;t have bags to look after and distract you, you should not have much of a problem.

The distance to the Grand%26#39; Place is certainly walkable but it%26#39;s by no means an attractive walk (area is somewhat run-down) so don%26#39;t expect to be taking in any %26quot;sights%26quot;. The worst part is along the railway lines before you actually get to Av de Stalingrad, which smells. Once beyond that, it is just uninteresting, at least until after the Art Academy when you will be in the St. Jacques area, and almost at the Grand%26#39; Place.

|||

Thank you for the feedback. Sounds like we would be better to just hop in a cab and save the walking for the more scenic areas.

|||

I don%26#39;t know where you are coming into Gare du Midi from but all tickets to %26quot;Brussels%26quot; are valid to any railway station in Brussels, even if your train terminates at Gare du Midi e.g. Eurostar, Thalys (Intercities continue to Gare centrale and Gare du Nord).

There is therefore the option of continuing your journey, on the same ticket, one stop on a local train to Gare centrale, from where it is only 5 minutes downhill to the Grand%26#39; Place. There must be a train in that direction every 5-10 minutes or so, including all those going to the airport.

If you would be using public transport to go elsewhere during your stay, you could also go down to the metro level at Gare du Midi and buy tickets from the machines/STIB ticket office for city buses/trams/metros. Then take the underground tram (e.g. no. 3) a few stops to Bourse, which is virtually next to the GP. Cost is €1.50 for an individual ticket, €11 for a 10-trip ticket (which can be used by more than one person) and there are also day and multi-day tickets. You stamp the tickets in the orange machine before getting on the tram, which starts each person%26#39;s journey running, you can travel on the same ticket (%26quot;stamping%26quot;) for 60 minutes.

|||

-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-

This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.

To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.

Removed on: 12:18 pm, August 30, 2009