Travel to Leuven

By Plane

Brussels airport (BRU) is the international airport closest to Leuven. There is a railway station on the lowest level of the arrival hall. Buy a ticket to Leuven (€ 8.80 in second or € 10.80 in first class) and get on a train to Leuven. There is no need to go to Brussels first. The train to Leuven takes about 15 minutes. On weekdays there are two trains every hour (hh:21 and hh:38), the first train is at 05:21 and the last train is at 23:38. In the weekend there is only one train to Leuven every hour (hh:10), the first train is at 05:10 and the last train at 23:38. The ride time is about a quarter hour. A more expensive option is a taxi, but that will cost around €60.

Some low-cost companies (mainly Ryanair) fly to Brussels South Charleroi Airport. This is located in Charleroi, which is a city to the southwest of Brussels. From there you can take a shuttle bus for € 13 to Brussels South (Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel Zuid) railway station, where you can change to a train to Leuven (direction Liège/Luik). There is also a shuttle bus to Leuven (check airportbus.eu) which does not stop at the railway station but at the Naamsepoort, on the bus line from the city center to the campus. Both options take approximately 1.5 hours in total.

By Train

Leuven is along the train line from Brussels to Liège, Aachen and Köln.

From Brussels to Leuven

• Twice per hour (more during rush hour) there is a direct train (approximately 25 minutes from Brussels North, 35 minutes from Brussels South).
• Every hour there is one local train (40 minutes from Brussels North)

Fast international train connections to Brussels (Brussels South) include:

• Thalys: Paris North (1h25'), Köln HBF (2h30'), Amsterdam (2h40'), Rotterdam (1h40');
• Eurostar: London Waterloo (2h40'), Lille Europe (40').

From Liège to Leuven

• Every hour two direct trains (about 50 minutes).

Remark: Do not mix up Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve! Louvain-la-Neuve is home to the French speaking sister university of Leuven (UCL).

Link: Belgian Railways