Housing in Brussels

Dear All,

I am looking at the studios/rooms availability in Brussels and found very nice places in Schaerbeek. However, surfing on the web I can find very bad review about this quartier....Does anyone have a suggestion about this?
Would you say to avoid Schaerbeek?

Many thanks!

ELV wrote:Dear All,

I am looking at the studios/rooms availability in Brussels and found very nice places in Schaerbeek. However, surfing on the web I can find very bad review about this quartier....Does anyone have a suggestion about this?
Would you say to avoid Schaerbeek?

Many thanks!

I'm an incoming trainee for the March 2018 session who hasn't yet arrived in Brussels and has only ever spent a weekend of his life there, so take whatever I'm about to say with a grain of salt. But the Brussels Capital Region is made up of 19 different municipalities, of which Schaerbeek is just one - and a rather large one at that, meaning that it really depends on where you're looking specifically. Right behind and around the Gare du Nord seems to be the worst and scruffiest looking part of the neighbourhood; the reviews you read probably refer to that area.

Personally, I was looking for flats mostly in Saint Gilles / Ixelles, but I ended up finding something really good near Place Meiser, which is still in Schaerbeek, but rather distant from Gare du Nord and only about 2 km from Schuman. The neighbourhood around there looks just fine. My advice would be to use Google Street View to take a look at the area around whatever flat you're interested in.

Thanks a lot for your suggestion! I have never been to Brussels so anything helps. Thanks for your thoughts about Gare du Nord..I am based in ERC (place Rogier) whihc is not far from Gare du Nord...I gotta be careful when I go to work!
many thanks