Birthday gift trip - city chosen sounds dangerous!

[Lyrixs21]

It was my birthday yesterday, and my partner booked a surprise trip for the two of us plus our 3 year old to go to Brussels on the Eurostar for two nights next weekend (4th July).

Neither of us have been to Brussels before, or indeed Belgium, so I excitedly started to do some research last night once he told me what the surprise was. As I delved into searches about Brussels, once thing kept coming up - how unsafe it is! I didn't go looking for information on safety, but it just seems to be a constant feature of discussions on the city. It's not a city I know anything about (bar always thinking it sounds a bit boring) but my main takeaways from my extensive research last night is that it is unsafe (shootings, drugs, petty crime) has a level 3 terrorist threat currently ('Serious') and is just generally dirty, unsavoury, and boring.

I now don't want to go after reading all that, and particularly don't want to bring my three year old and put her in any danger. I'm a little surprised my partner booked it in one sense, as it's very hard to find anything positive online about it!

Do I:

• Tell him what I've read online and how I feel and that I'd prefer not to go? This seems a little rude given he has spent time and money researching things and booking it for my birthday, and I know I'll end up feeling bad.

• Or, do I go, put up with it, but potentially not enjoy it because I'm worrying about safety and feel anxious and on edge? Based on what I'm reading I'm really not keen. I have found since we've had our daughter I am more concerned about safety generally but I expect that's normal?!

He did mention he looked at Amsterdam but that the hotels were crazy expensive another option for me might be to offer to pay for the hotel in Amsterdam and we change the Eurostar to go there? That way, we are still going and still going to experience the Eurostar and have the weekend away, but without me fretting and not really wanting to be there!

Any thoughts welcome.

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Really? I much prefer Ghent to Bruges. Small and convenient old town and lots of lovely bars and restaurants.

Semantics. Whatever it’s called, it’s grotty.

the UK is a level 3, would you visit the uk if you read this, but you live in the UK how afraid are you? Brussels is a very safe city no different to anywhere else in Europe.

National threat level
The threat to the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) from terrorism is substantial.

Not concerned about terrorism in the UK. Never been an incident in any of the towns or cities we've lived in. Concerned about dodgy characters robbing us. Lots of dodgy characters at the bus terminus (or whatever it’s called) in Brussels. Had to firmly engage with two people on a single bus trip as they tried to elicit money.

Brussels is fine. It’s a beautiful city and is prefer it to Paris, it’s cleaner and feels safer. I wouldn’t worry at all. I thought you were going to say he was taking you to Kabul or Terran from the title of this thread… it’s Brussels! Belgium is one of the friendliest countries I’ve ever visited and you’ll love it I’m sure.

Ghent is very nice, agreed! And Happy Belated, mine was yesterday too, we worry too much by nature, enjoy and have a great time with your family!

Brussels is a better choice for a 3 year old than Amsterdam. It feels safer there too IMHO. Amsterdam also heaving in the summer months which is not pleasant with small children in tow. Go to Brussels and have a lovely time!

Nope. What I'm saying is there isn't one bus station. So I'm suggesting you might mean the Gare du Nord area as it's where the red light area is and is a bit dodgy.

I have been to Brussels and I have had zero issues! Any city looks dangerous if you focus on crime statistics and London sounds horrendous if you concentrate on stuff about drugs pick pockets etc. its a modern clean city and I would not hesitate to go. I have been to far more dangerous spots over the years and came away unscathed. Do not let fear stop you

I just googled how many stabbings in Brussels per year....and in it's worst year was only 64 stabbings.

To put in perspective London in 2023 they had 14,000 stabbings in a year!

You literally are so much safer in Brussels than you are in London!!

Indeed! Safety pin in the zip as a further deterrent. Stations are swarming with pick pockets everywhere. One tried with me in Italy this year. Everything of value was in a security belt under my clothes. She had a right go in my Radley backpack on a crowded train. Had a face on when she jumped off with nothing! I also use a little coin purse which holds a credit card and a bit of cash. Slips into my bra. I've perfected getting it in and out fairly discretely! Lol

Isn’t Gare du Nord Paris? Didn’t know there’s one in Brussels, too. Didn't notice what the bus station was called, tbh. Just remembered how unsafe it felt to us (as did the bus journey as opposed to those in Paris and Amsterdam, Munich, etc)

@12stars DD15 is into food as is DS16, as most teens are! They also love Tintin so wondered if it's worth making the trip out of Brussels for the museum. DS likes cycling in particular as does DH. They probably wouldn't want to go to any art museums as we are going to many of those during other parts of the holiday.

I just wondered what other countries say about visiting us. On the left of the screenshot is the UK advice about safety and security when visiting Belgium.

On the right is what the US government website says about visiting the UK.

I think it might be more difficult to find a country to visit that doesn't have a terrorism warning right now!

Food is great in Brussels! Lots of lovely restaurants. There's a whole street near the Grand Place of Gyros places which is great for lunch. Lots of places do Belgian favourites like moules frites.

I've never been to the Tintin museum as it wasn't there when I lived there but LLN isn't far to get to. There's also the comic strip museum in Brussels.

What you’ve found online could describe any major city in the UK.

With much affection... Belgium is lovely but so safe it's dull. I live in a small town in the UK where we had a drive by shooting. Everywhere in the world has those stories. Brussels is friendly and beautiful and clean. London by comparison is horrible.

Advice: Signs are often in French and Dutch that don't match. Make sure you have a map that matches what you're absorbing. No point knowing the name of the street your hotel is on in French if your map isn't. Drink fruit beer. Don't eat mussels if there isn't an R in the month. Everyone will happily sell them to you but they are not good to eat and can be full of baby crabs. Eat frites with mayonnaise. Visit a fry shop if you can.

If you think Brussels is dull, you haven’t visited it properly.

Tell him you've been reading up about Brussels in prep for the trip because you don't know much about it. Tell him, specifically, what you have read/heard that concerns you, and if it seems relevant remind him that there's a small child coming along. Let him tell you what he envisions for the trip, and any specifics he has planned, as it sounds like he'll have had time to do research and make this choice. Then decide if you want to go or not.

All of that said, I like Brussels and consider it safe for tourists, but I think that it's a place where you have to do some advance research to have a great trip. It may be that he has booked Brussels because it's a short flight and (relatively) cheap hotel, but you can still have a great holiday. Remember that it's the administrative centre for the EU, and also the capital of a country which formerly had a pretty vast empire, and so it is quite cosmopolitan and diverse.

If you find you're still in the planning phase, look at Tootbus (like a hop on hop off tourist bus service; they have activities and even special audioguides for children of different ages. Grand Place, Parc du Cinquantenaire, and Atomium/Mini‑Europe and the whole area around it are very child-friendly. Also consider Parc de Bruxelles and/or Leopold Park (both have playgrounds and puppet shows for small children) and maybe even Choco‑Story - may be too much for a 2yo, but take a look and decide if it appeals.

I agree.

Also the idea of only eating mussels when there's an R in the month predates refrigeration. They wouldn't serve them if people kept getting sick.

Advice: Signs are often in French and Dutch that don't match
Not sure what this means - they do match! They're the french and Flemish names for the same place! In Brussels most people will use french.

I didn't say Brussels was dull. I said it was safe to the point of dullness. Perhaps you failed to notice that on first reading?

How boring to have absolutely no sense of adventure.

Brussels is really lovely and not at all dangerous - much safer than most European cities. I'm sure there are less safe areas but I've never found any of them.