Belgian Communities

The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France and for a short stretch by the North Sea. It is one of the founding and core members of the European Union, hosting its headquarters, as well as those of many other major international organizations, such as NATO. Belgium has a population of over ten-and-a-half million people, in an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 square miles).

Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is linguistically divided.

• The Dutch-speaking northern region (orange on the map), Flanders, houses 58% of the population.
• French is the language in the southern region Wallonia (red on the map).
• Another 10% inhabits the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region (orange and red striped), for approximately 85% using French. In this enclave within the Flemish Region however, neither language is the primary one for roughly half of the residents.
• Then there is also the 73,000 inhabitants of its German-speaking Community (green on the map).

Belgium derives its name from the Latin name of the northernmost part of Gaul, Gallia Belgica, named after a group of mostly Celtic tribes, Belgae. Historically, Belgium has been a part of the Low Countries, which included the Netherlands and Luxembourg and used to cover a somewhat larger region than the current Benelux group of states. From the end of the Middle Ages until the seventeenth century, it was a prosperous centre of commerce and culture. From the sixteenth century until the Belgian revolution in 1830, the area at that time called the Southern Netherlands, was the site of many battles between the European powers, and has been dubbed "the battlefield of Europe" and "the cockpit of Europe". Upon its independence Belgium eagerly participated at the Industrial Revolution, bringing relative wealth which further increased during the era of its African colonies.

The South Eastern part of Belgium is known as the Ardennes, which is a very green area with max. altitude of about 694 meters = approx 2000 feet. Cross country skying during wintertime is possible in this part of the country from January till (often) March. Hiking this country-side through the year is wonderfull!

In case of emergency

Only in case of emergency, it means for problems like no more news from your host or physical troubles in Belgium, you can directly contact the Belgian ambassadors by sending a mail at this address: 911csbelgium@gmail.com . PLEASE, indicate your username, phone number, e-mail and the city where we can contact you!

Places to visit

• Antwerpen or Antwerp
• Brugge
• Brussels or Bruxelles
• Charleroi
• Genk
• Gent
• Leuven
• Liege
• Kortrijk
• Namur
• Mons
• Tournai

Belgium in pictures

CouchSurfers

For details, have a look in the cities description.

Here you can find a list of the Belgian Ambassadors

CS Belgium related websites

For some extra functionality the CS-Belgium crew has set up a couple of sites outside the couchsurfing.com domain. (Belgian) Members can add data to those websites by requesting password and login to those sites from Stijn Vernaillen.

The follow sites have been created:

• Pictures: link CS Belgium Flickr Page
• Movies: link CS Belgium Jumpcut Account (closing on June, 22 2009)
• Events (both CS as tourist related): link CS Belgium Eventful.com account

If you have other usefull websites, drop a note at one of the CSBelgium ambassadors.

Getting there and away

Airports

In Belgium

• Brussels International Airport (IATA: BRU) located in Zaventem - Worldwide connections

• Brussels South Charleroi Airport (IATA: CRL) located in Charleroi - European connections & cheap flights.

Please, pay attention that Charleroi Airport is not the same as Brussels International Airport. Check your airport!!!

• Liège Airport (IATA: LGG) located in Liège - Short courrier destinations & cheap flights

• Antwerpen International Airport (IATA: ARN) located in Deurne - Short courrier destinations

• Ostend-Bruges International Airport (IATA: OST) located in Ostend - Short courrier destinations & touroperators

Just around Belgium

Germany:

• Düsseldorf International Airport (DUS)] (1h58 from Brussels by car)
• Köln / Bonn (CGN) (2h from Brussels by car)

Netherlands:

• Eindhoven (EIN) (1h26 from Brussels by car)
• Maastricht / Aachen (MST) (1h13 from Brussels by car)
• Tilburg (easily accessible by train from Antwerpen)

France:

NOTE: There is bus connecting Brussels South Train Station (Gare du Midi) and Charleroi Brussels Airport. For checking timetables please click on Navette to Charleroi Airport

Trains

The trains are widely used in Belgium so you can easily find connections with Europe - SNCB-NMBS Railcompany

Eurostar from London also goes to Brussels, with an option "all belgian stations" including domestic train transfer to any belgian station - Eurostar website

Thalys high speed train goes to Belgium from several towns in France (Paris), Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam...) and Germany (Aachen, Koln...). Thalys also has "all belgian stations" option - Thalys website

By car

Rightlane drive!!! - Check your way on Mappy

Boats

Main harbours are Antwerpen (traffic) and Oostende (Ferry to/from England)

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