Photo: Theedi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
🇧🇪 Bélgica
Bruselas
Brussels is the EU capital: multicultural, well connected and with a good café scene, though grey and bureaucratic.
Score breakdown
Cost of living
6.0Medium-high
Weight 25%
Internet & work
8.0Good fibre
Weight 15%
Safety
7.0Safe
Weight 15%
Nomad community
8.0Very international
Weight 15%
Weather
4.0Grey and rainy
Weight 10%
Paperwork & visa
7.0Standard Schengen
Weight 20%
What it really costs
Prices checked on the ground by Zabelers. Each line shows when it was last verified.
Coffee
3,5 €
Saint-Gilles
2026-09 · Numbeo
Lunch menu
15 €
Centre
2026-09 · Numbeo
Shared flat room
650 €/mes
Ixelles
2026-09 · Immoweb
Where to live
Ixelles
MedioGood for: Multicultural, students and cafés
The catch: Noisy on weekends
Saint-Gilles
MedioGood for: Bohemian and art nouveau
The catch: Prices rising
Etterbeek
MedioGood for: Quiet and close to the EU quarter
The catch: Less nightlife
Where to work
Coworkings
- Silversquare250 €/mes
Large professional network
Cafés with wifi
- MOK3,5 € café
Specialty and good wifi
Time zone: UTC+1/+2: perfect for Europe
What living here is really like
Editorial synthesis of public experiences
Europe's most international city for networking
- Best part:
- Public accounts agree: with EU institutions, NGOs and startups, networking is easy and social life very diverse.
- Worst part:
- Ixelles afterworks are the meeting point.
Sources: r/brussels
Editorial synthesis of public experiences
The weather is the price to pay
- Best part:
- Winter residents mention rain and darkness as the hardest part; spring and summer compensate with terraces and festivals.
- Worst part:
- Plan winter escapes south.
Sources: Nomad List — Brussels
Day to day
- Internet
- 100 Mbps–1 Gbps fibre in most areas
- Safety
- Generally safe; caution in some night areas
- Healthcare
- Excellent public healthcare with mutuelle
- SIM / eSIM
- SIM with 20 GB for ~€15 (Proximus, Orange)
- Best season
- May–September; grey rainy winter
- Community
- Huge international community from EU institutions
Living here legally
Tax
High rates (25–50%); resident at 183 days
Flights & connections
European hub; cheap flights across Europe (€30–80)
Lisbon vs. similar cities
Transparency
Last checked: 2026-09-24
Official sources
Prices are checked against the dated sources shown. Editorial experience summaries cite their public sources; verified Zabeler accounts are identified separately. Official procedures always take precedence.