Brussels

Is Brussels safe?

Mostly, yes, but it asks for more care than most Western European capitals. Brussels has very few road deaths, decent air and good hospitals. Its weak points are theft and robbery, which police record at high rates, and a drug trade that has turned parts of Anderlecht, Molenbeek and the area around Gare du Midi into scenes of regular shootings.

Eurostat counts 34 intentional homicides in the Brussels-Capital Region in 2024, about 2.7 per 100,000 people, and 42 in 2023. That is about twice the national rate in France and twice the rate in Amsterdam. Most of it does not touch visitors, but it is the reason we score Brussels 79, level with Paris and below most capitals in this part of Europe.

Stations, trains and the metro

Most visitors arrive by Eurostar or high-speed train at Gare du Midi (Brussel-Zuid), and that is exactly where the UK Foreign Office tells them to be most careful. It names Gare du Midi and Gare du Nord, international trains to Paris and Amsterdam, and busy areas of central Brussels including Schuman, the EU quarter. Thieves, pickpockets and muggers work these places, and there have been violent robberies.

The numbers back this up. Police recorded 58,806 thefts in the region in 2024 and 5,601 robberies, about 440 per 100,000 people. Recording rules differ between countries, but that robbery rate is more than twice the rate in Frankfurt and far above Warsaw.

What helps:

• Keep luggage with you on high-speed trains. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says bags have been stolen from the racks at the end of carriages just before the doors close.
• Walk straight from the platform to your taxi, tram or hotel at Midi and Nord. Do not stop to check your phone on the forecourt.
• Expect to see open drug use in some train and metro stations. Keep moving and do not engage.
• If you drive, keep bags off the seats. Thieves on motorbikes smash windows at traffic lights.
• Only use licensed taxis, never one that stops to offer a ride.

Around the Grand-Place, Rue Neuve and the Manneken Pis, the risk is ordinary pickpocketing in crowds.

Drug gangs and shootings

The violence that makes headlines is between drug gangs. Federal police counted 101 shootings in Brussels in 2025, which killed 8 people and injured 43, BX1 reported; the prosecutor's own count was 102. A wave that summer hit mainly Anderlecht, Molenbeek, Schaerbeek, Evere and the area around Gare du Midi, though the prosecutor said not every shooting was linked to drugs. In August 2026 a new run of shootings hit Saint-Gilles, Anderlecht and Forest on consecutive days, and by the end of that month the prosecutor had counted 69 for the year.

On the evening of 12 October 2026 a shooting reached the EU quarter: a person was shot dead in the entrance hall of an apartment building on Rue Wiertz, next to the European Parliament, and the prosecutor opened a murder inquiry. Later that night a plain-clothes police officer was shot dead in Jette while tracking a car stolen in an armed carjacking; drugs were found in the car. The prosecutor said the two cases were not linked. A month earlier the region had added the streets around Rue Gray, near Flagey in Ixelles, to its list of 19 drug hotspots with extra police checks.

Visitors rarely see any of this. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says the risk mostly affects those involved in drug crime, but that there is always a risk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In practice, most of the districts involved are residential areas west and south-west of the centre that few tourists visit at night. If you stay near Gare du Midi, eat and drink in the centre or in Saint-Gilles around the Parvis rather than wandering the streets behind the station late.

Terrorism and demonstrations

Belgium's terror threat level stands at 3 on a four-point scale, "serious". In October 2023 a gunman killed two Swedish football fans in central Brussels, and the city still remembers the 2016 bombings at the airport and Maelbeek metro station. Expect soldiers or armed police at stations and EU buildings.

Demonstrations and strikes are frequent, especially around Schuman and the main stations, and can stop trains and the metro at short notice. Most are peaceful, but some have turned violent, as have crowds after big football matches. Check transport news before travel days.

Walking at night

In the European Commission's 2023 survey of city residents, 60% of people in Brussels said they feel safe walking alone at night in the city, about the same as in London and Berlin, and 76% in their own area. The centre is busy late, especially around the Grand-Place, Place Saint-Géry and the Sablon. The problems are concentrated around the two big stations and some metro stops.

Solo women generally move around the centre, Ixelles and the EU quarter without trouble. Late at night, take a taxi or ride-hailing car from the stations rather than walking.

Roads, air and weather

Traffic is not a real danger. Eurostat counts 11 road deaths in the Brussels region in 2024 and 65 over the five years to 2024, about 1 per 100,000 people a year. Trams, cyclists and e-scooters are the hazard to watch at crossings.

IQAir measured annual PM2.5PM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary of 8.9 µg/m³ in 2024, above the WHO guideline but low for a capital. Tap water is safe and hospital care is good; EU visitors should bring an EHIC. Natural hazards are minor: summer cloudbursts that flood streets and road tunnels, winter storms and the odd heatwave.

How we scored it

Traffic safety (91) and natural hazards (91) are Brussels' strongest factors, with health and environment (87) close behind. Theft and scams (62) is the weakest, for high theft and robbery rates at the stations. Walking at night (69) follows the EU's 2023 survey, minus 2 points for the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary's warnings about violent robbery at the main stations. Violent crime (80) reflects a homicide rateHomicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary about twice that of Amsterdam and regular drug-gang shootings.