Advice for travel in Belgium

[Thames99]

I'm going to Belgium soon staying in Charleroi. So I'll need return travel from Bruxelles Midi and will then be doing a day trip to Mons and another to Namur. I'll also be doing a few bus journeys and possibly going on the metro.

I can't find any information on day passes or regional tickets - do these exist?

I am over 65 so can get a reduction for that and, even for a few days, Train+ (4 Euros/ month for over 65s) seems worthwhile for an additional reduction. Do you agree with this? I think I can buy the Train+ ticket and Senior tickets from machines or booking offices and I'm not forced to do everything online.

Thanks for any advice or experience you have.

 

[rvdborgt]

I'm going to Belgium soon staying in Charleroi. So I'll need return travel from Bruxelles Midi and will then be doing a day trip to Mons and another to Namur. I'll also be doing a few bus journeys and possibly going on the metro.

I can't find any information on day passes or regional tickets - do these exist?

There are a few multimodal day passes and tickets available for a few cities. Other than that, there are no regional tickets or day passes for the train. The TEC fare system will change on 1/2, which is also soon. They also have day passes for TEC only.

I am over 65 so can get a reduction for that and, even for a few days, Train+ (4 Euros/ month for over 65s) seems worthwhile for an additional reduction. Do you agree with this? I think I can buy the Train+ ticket and Senior tickets from machines or booking offices and I'm not forced to do everything online.

You can indeed just go to any ticket office or ticket machine to buy Train+ or any ticket.
You can check the fares with/without Train+ online, but you can amortise a 1-month Train+ very soon, sometimes already with just one journey.

 

[StephenHunter]

There's a lot of graffiti on the trains.

 

[dutchflyer]

1. you only mention BUSes for the Wallonie=french speaking area, this is TEC (with a multitude of local contractors-which you will not notice), just check their site letec.be for Daytickets. As you are senior and IF you want to do the trouble: UNtill 1/2 and ONLY on a personal MoBiB chipcard, a yearly is 12€, plus another 6 for that card (bring a passp foto and ID-foto will be scanned, at ANY TEC office) NOT valid on the Axxx airport buss to CRL (RYan)airport. Thats less as 2 daytickets, but makes more trouble.
2. its daft easy to set up an account on belgiantrain and then add a 1 month Train+, (can be set on that MoBiB too-but that will have you make it out first on NMBS/SNCB-window. For seniors it then brings the MAX single fare to just 5,50, ONLY for trips starting OFFpeak. Seniors (anywhere from this world) get 40% discount anyway-any time. Note that NO break of journey and quickest trip is possible on trainfares!
For just 2-3 days the savings by setting up that card etc. will be allinall less as 5€-decide yourself if thats worth the trouble+time
PAYMent on TEC-BUSes is still for now cash € only! The flemish deLIJN and BRUssels MIVB also take bank/creditcards

 

[rvdborgt]

2. its daft easy to set up an account on belgiantrain and then add a 1 month Train+, (can be set on that MoBiB too-but that will have you make it out first on NMBS/SNCB-window. For seniors it then brings the MAX single fare to just 5,50, ONLY for trips starting OFFpeak. Seniors (anywhere from this world) get 40% discount anyway-any time.

For seniors with Train+, the maximum fare is always €5.50. It's just that you'll reach the maximum sooner when you start a journey during rush hour.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Jan 2026 ==

1. you only mention BUSes for the Wallonie=french speaking area, this is TEC (with a multitude of local contractors-which you will not notice), just check their site letec.be for Daytickets. As you are senior and IF you want to do the trouble: UNtill 1/2 and ONLY on a personal MoBiB chipcard, a yearly is 12€, plus another 6 for that card (bring a passp foto and ID-foto will be scanned, at ANY TEC office) NOT valid on the Axxx airport buss to CRL (RYan)airport.

TEC subscriptions ARE valid on the lines to Charleroi airport:

https://www.letec.be/View/Connection_with_Brussels_South_Charleroi_Airport/459

This includes the €12 65+ subscription.

 

[Thames99]

Thanks all. I think I'm now clear on the trains side of travelling.

A day pass for Charleroi will be useful as it is valid for 24 hours presumably from the first touch in. Does the 7.80 Euro price include the card or is that extra? I have a de Lijn card somewhere - if I can find that I think I could load a day ticket onto that according to the letec.be site.

I'll be travelling after 1st February and I've found a press release on their site which mentions the removal of zones and the day ticket seems cheaper at 6 Euros, or am I misreading this? Perhaps titres indexés refers to a reduced fare ...

Grilles tarifaires 2026 des titres indexés de LETEC​

TITRES UNITAIRES - Tarifs à partir de février 2026

Type de titre	Unitaire	Unitaire	Multi
Niveau de service	1 voyage	1 jour	Multi6
CLASSIC	2,8 €	6,0 €	13,4 €
EXPRESS	5,5 €	11,0 €	26,4 €

​

 

[AlastairFraser]

Thanks all. I think I'm now clear on the trains side of travelling.

A day pass for Charleroi will be useful as it is valid for 24 hours presumably from the first touch in. Does the 7.80 Euro price include the card or is that extra? I have a de Lijn card somewhere - if I can find that I think I could load a day ticket onto that according to the letec.be site.

I'll be travelling after 1st February and I've found a press release on their site which mentions the removal of zones and the day ticket seems cheaper at 6 Euros, or am I misreading this? Perhaps titres indexés refers to a reduced fare ...

Grilles tarifaires 2026 des titres indexés de LETEC​

TITRES UNITAIRES - Tarifs à partir de février 2026

Type de titre	Unitaire	Unitaire	Multi
Niveau de service	1 voyage	1 jour	Multi6
CLASSIC	2,8 €	6,0 €	13,4 €
EXPRESS	5,5 €	11,0 €	26,4 €

​

As far as I remember, the classic day ticket will be valid on everything in Wallonia apart from the A1/A2/A3 airport buses and longer distance express buses (e.g Charleroi to Beaumont - map available here: https://www.letec.be/View/Express_lines/3714), so that should work for you.

 

[Birkonian]

Easiest way to buy train tickets is the SNCB app. There is an English option. Travelling in Flanders, again download thier app for bus and tram ticket. Both apps are very easy to use.

 

[Thames99]

Thanks again for the advice. The SNCB app I found excellent and very straightforward to use, partly I suppose because of the simplicity of peak/off peak fares. It also shows the number of coaches in the train which lets you wait in less crowded spots on the platform if it is a longer train.

TEC buses I found more of a challenge. As stated, to buy odd tickets is cash only and drivers often had (apparently) no change, even for a 5 Euro note and a 3.30 fare. A three day card was good value at just over 10 euros. What did surprise me was that buses, even newish ones, in Charleroi and Mons lacked next stop screens or announcements. This meant studying Google maps rather than looking out the window. I also failed to find maps of the networks except online.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Thanks again for the advice. The SNCB app I found excellent and very straightforward to use, partly I suppose because of the simplicity of peak/off peak fares. It also shows the number of coaches in the train which lets you wait in less crowded spots on the platform if it is a longer train.

TEC buses I found more of a challenge. As stated, to buy odd tickets is cash only and drivers often had (apparently) no change, even for a 5 Euro note and a 3.30 fare. A three day card was good value at just over 10 euros. What did surprise me was that buses, even newish ones, in Charleroi and Mons lacked next stop screens or announcements. This meant studying Google maps rather than looking out the window. I also failed to find maps of the networks except online.

I'm glad your trip worked out.
I think De Lijn (the Flemish regional operator) has a better grasp on ticketing to be fair -
a 7.50 euro day ticket is available from many self service machines.
The TEC network buses do feel a bit unloved in some areas, I think they focus on the trams/metro as their crown jewel and operate the rest out of necessity in some areas, although there are significant investment plans for a few routes.

 

[rvdborgt]

I think De Lijn (the Flemish regional operator) has a better grasp on ticketing to be fair -
a 7.50 euro day ticket is available from many self service machines.

It's €9 now.

 

[AlastairFraser]

It's €9 now.

Ah sorry, I must be slightly out of date. Still great value for that size of network!

 

[Mag_seven]

Ah sorry, I must be slightly out of date. Still great value for that size of network!

Reopened for an update from @James H

 

[James H]

A quick tip for anyone travelling to Belgium in the next month: buy your Train+ subscription today and it'll only cost 3 euros instead of the usual 6, as part of a Mobility Week promotion.

Just bought them for my wife and me, saving us roughly £2.50 each.

 

[Shrewbly]

Thanks for the tip, James. I was intending to buy two Train+ subscriptions later this week, so bought them yesterday - perfect timing.

 

[James H]

Does anyone know if any third party retailers sell Train+ discounted tickets?

I have some Trainpal discount codes valid in Europe and whilst they support many loyalty/railcard schemes Train+ doesn't seem to be among them

 

[rvdborgt]

Does anyone know if any third party retailers sell Train+ discounted tickets?

I don't know any. Not even NS sell tickets with Train+ discount.