Belgium
Medieval canal cities an hour apart, the best chocolate and beer in Europe, and three official languages inside a country you can cross in two hours.
Small country,
three languages, no filler
Belgium is the European country most often passed through and least often stopped in, which is a mistake. It is small enough to cross by train in about two hours, and in that space it holds four genuinely different cities: Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp, none of them more than an hour apart.
It is also two countries in one. Flanders in the north speaks Dutch, Wallonia in the south speaks French, a small eastern community speaks German, and Brussels is officially bilingual. The linguistic border is real and you will notice it — road signs change, and so does the food.
Bruges is the postcard, a medieval trading city preserved almost intact because it fell asleep economically for four hundred years. Ghent is what Bruges would be with a university and fewer coach parties. Antwerp is a fashion and diamond city with a station that looks like a cathedral — and a diamond quarter where Indian families have been central to the trade for decades, which makes it quietly familiar ground.
When is your Belgium?
A mild, damp maritime climate with no real extremes. Rain is possible in any month, which matters less here than elsewhere because so much of what you have come for — museums, churches, cafés, chocolate shops — is indoors.
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Belgium visa — what you need to know
Belgium is in the Schengen area and Indian passport holders need a Schengen visa. Belgium runs its own online form system rather than a generic one, and it applies a deadline to that form which catches applicants out more than anything else in the process.
Belgium's system is called VisaOnWeb: you create an account, complete the form online, print it and bring it to a visa application centre. The electronic form remains valid for 30 days from creation — and if you have not attended a centre within that window to confirm the application, it is deleted and you start again. Do not fill the form in early and then hunt for an appointment. Secure the appointment first, or at least confirm one is available within the month, and only then create the form.
Applications are submitted at a VFS Global visa application centre. Only holders of official passports, family members of EU citizens, and VIPs with an appointment from the Embassy or Consulate may lodge directly at the mission. For everyone else the visa application centre is the only route, and written queries go to the Embassy's visa mailbox rather than by phone.
Belgium publishes both figures, which is unusually transparent. The short-stay C visa is €90, reduced to €45 for children aged six to twelve and free for children under six; the long-stay D visa is €250. On top of that, applicants submitting at the Belgian visa application centre are charged a service fee of ₹2,750 including taxes. All fees are non-refundable, so a refused or withdrawn application does not return either amount. Final visa decisions remain with the relevant authorities.
You need overseas medical insurance covering at least €30,000 or the equivalent, valid across all Schengen countries — and Belgium is specific that the policy must state validity dates covering your arrival and departure. A policy that is merely "annual" without dates that clearly bracket the trip is a common reason for a file being returned. Check the dates on the certificate, not just the sum insured.
All applicants appear in person to give fingerprints and a photograph, except children under twelve, who are exempt. The data is held for 59 months in the Visa Information System, so if you have given prints for a Schengen visa within that period you may not need to give them again — worth checking before assuming a second trip to the centre is necessary.
For all Belgium journeys we design, we prepare your complete visa documentation package — the forms, the supporting documents, the sequence of submission. Our visa specialists help travellers prepare complete applications with careful document guidance. Final visa decisions always remain with the relevant authorities.
Travel Belgium intelligently
Belgium is easy, cheap to move around and hard to get wrong — with one exception before you travel, and one while you are there.
Belgium travel FAQ
The questions Indian travellers ask most often before booking Belgium.
A country for every
kind of traveller
Belgium is compact enough that one base and a rail pass covers almost all of it — which is exactly how it should be travelled.
Canals, the Markt with its belfry, the Groeningemuseum's Flemish Primitives, and lanes that empty completely once the day coaches leave.
A castle in the middle of town, Saint Bavo's Cathedral with the Ghent Altarpiece, and a student population that keeps it lively rather than preserved.
The Grand Place, art nouveau by Horta, the Atomium, comic-strip murals across the centre, and the institutions of the European Union.
The world's diamond capital, Rubens' house and cathedral paintings, a serious fashion scene, and a railway station regularly called one of the most beautiful anywhere.
The First World War battlefields around Ypres, the Menin Gate and the cemeteries and memorials of the Western Front.
Forested hills and river valleys in the French-speaking south, with Dinant on the Meuse, castles, caves and quiet walking.
Trappist abbey beers, spontaneously fermented lambics found nowhere else, and a chocolate tradition that invented the filled praline.
Castles, canal boats, chocolate workshops and comic-strip trails, with train journeys short enough that nobody gets restless.
Bruges and Ghent out of season, canal-side rooms, long dinners and a chocolate tasting or two — understated rather than showy.
Tell us whether you want the canal cities, the battlefields, the Ardennes or simply the food, and our travel designers will shape the route around it.
How far in advance
should you book?
Belgium is one of the easier European countries to book late — the constraint is the visa form's 30-day clock, not availability.
Check VFS availability before you touch the form, because the form expires 30 days after you create it.
Register, complete it online, print and sign it, and gather the documents and dated insurance.
Submit at VFS with biometrics, unless the applicant is under twelve or prints are on file.
Pick one base — Brussels, Bruges or Ghent — and day-trip the rest by train.
What to pack
for Belgium
Mild, damp and changeable. Nothing extreme, but you will get rained on at some point and you will walk on cobbles every day.
Take shoes with a proper sole. Bruges and Ghent are cobbled throughout and often wet, and both cities are best covered entirely on foot.