Housing in Brussels

Hey everyone!

Congrats to all who managed to get selected! I was thinking we should create a topic about housing in Brussels as I am starting to look for a place to live! I am mauling over the European Trainees Residence but I've read several reviews about its location in Brussels (Gare du Nord) and apparently it's not the safest... Anyone has better insight into what this residence is like?

Also, which area are you guys looking into? I am thinking Ixelles/Etterbeek and probably downtown too!

Really excited about this!!

Hi CMD,

Congratulations on the offer! What websites have you been using to look for rooms? So far I have only been checking expatriates.com, however I have no clue which areas are considered good/safe and which not....

CMD wrote: I am mauling over the European Trainees Residence but I've read several reviews about its location in Brussels (Gare du Nord) and apparently it's not the safest... Anyone has better insight into what this residence is like?

Also, which area are you guys looking into? I am thinking Ixelles/Etterbeek and probably downtown too!

From what I know of Brussels, Ixelles/Etterbeek are the best (affordable) areas for EU Trainees.

The European Trainee Residence area is not the best, but it is not as bad as Gare du Nord, which is like 15 minutes away. I lived at the residence for one month and did not feel totally comfortable in the area, but I never had any troubles. The area is mostly "dead" in the evening, like big parts of the Euroquarter, which always causes some risks.

The only areas I was told to avoid at any costs are Molenbeek and Anderlecht, but they aren't really near the EU institutions anyway.

I found an old EU trainee guide online, some advice about accomodation on pages 40-43: Link

On Page 43 it says "Some people say that Molenbeek, St. Josse and parts of Schaarbeek, or anything in the Northwest of Brussels are not good neighbourhoods. It's up to you if you want to rent an apartment in these areas - quite a lot of stagiaires do. Residential areas like Woluwe Saint
Pierre, Woluwe-Saint Lambert and Uccle are regarded as more affluent districts. Many stagiaires live in Ixelles and Etterbeek due to their close proximity to EC offices."

Hello everyone!

First of all congratz to all who finally received the offer!

I stumbled upon this FB-page: Bxl à Louer. There are quite a lot of offers (and equally ppl who are looking for a room).

I also heard that Ixelles & Eterbeeck are quite nice so I hope to find sth there... who knows

Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing you guys soon!

Ina91 wrote:Hi CMD,

Congratulations on the offer! What websites have you been using to look for rooms? So far I have only been checking expatriates.com, however I have no clue which areas are considered good/safe and which not....

Hey Ina91,
So far I'm mainly doing some recon on FB groups such as "flat board for EU stagiaires". I'm still trying to figure out the layout of the city and what areas are/are not walkable to the EC.

Montesian, Thanks for the info it's very useful, I'm defo considering the ETR more seriously now that I know its not exactly at Gare du Nord.