Charleroi Travel Forum

I am arriving at Charleroi Airport at 0820hrs on Thursday 02.08.07. My hotel is actually in Brussels itself (Renaissance Brussels Hotel)What is the easiest way to get there by public transport and how much is it likely to cost?

There is a local bus that leaves right outside the airport that takes you to the train station in Charleroi. From there, there's hourly or half hourlytrains to Brussels Midi, taking 50 minutes, and a couple of years ago cost around 8 euro. If you are arriving with Ryanair, they have a feeder bus waiting that costs about 12 euro.

The Renaissance Hotel is in rue de Parnasse near Square du Luxembourg and the Luxembourg railway station (Bruxelles-Luxembourg in timetables), well-served by buses but not so well by metro. The nearest metro station is Trône, it would be a 10-minute walk from there or 2 stops on a bus. Your options are:
1) Ryanair coach to Gare du Midi then either bus 27 to Luxembourg or if you prefer, metro line 2 (direction Simonis) to Trône then either walk or take any bus from the stop outside the GB supermarket to the Luxembourg stop - in the square below the "jukebox"-type European Parliament building that you can see from there. I think the coach costs €11 if you buy the ticket from the desk inside Charleroi Airport and the metro will then cost €1.50, this ticket valid for travel on any combination of STIB metro/buses/trams for 60 minutes (but you must put your ticket in the orange machine when changing means of transport, it will mark a transit as long as the 60 minutes is still running). Total cost €12.50.
Note that the Ryanair bus leaves you by the Air France office at the back of Gare du Midi, you have to go into the station and walk the whole length of it to the other side. Follow the signs to "rue couverte" (by the metro entrance) and exit under the railway bridge; turn left, you should see bus 27 at its starting point - but if you look straight ahead, you will see a ticket machine on the furthest platform of the nearby tram station, if you buy your ticket there it will cost €1.50, on the bus it costs €2. Get off the bus at "Luxembourg"; after you pass the royal palace the next stop is Trône then Meeus then Luxembourg, ring the bell when the bus enters the square.
2) Local bus 68 to Charleroi-Sud railway station then train (final destination Essen) to Brussels Gare centrale (Bruxelles-central in timetables), which is the stop after Bruxelles-Midi; then 38 bus direction Héros. The bus will probably cost about €1, the train about €10 and then the bus is as mentioned for the metro. Total cost +/- €13
3) If you want to save yourself €1.50/€2, you can actually reach the Luxembourg railway station, 1 minute's walk from your hotel, by train from Gare du Midi, Gare central or Gare du Nord; take any train to Rixensart, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, etc. as these call, after those 3 stations, at Schuman and Luxembourg. Only you might have to wait 20 or even 30 minutes for a train, depending on what time you arrive.