Travel to Leuven
By plane: The most convenient airport to fly to is
Brussels International Airport:
it has direct connections to more than 150 destinations in Europe and to
more than 40 destinations overseas.
It is at a 15 minutes train ride from Leuven (see "travel by train").
The airport of Charleroi (Brussels South Charleroi Airport), at about 120 minutes
travel from Leuven, is served by several low-cost carriers and
may be an economical alternative.
Visa: For traveling from outside Europe you might have to
apply for a visa in advance. If you need a special confirmation of your registration please contact
ilas2016.registration@cs.kuleuven.be.
By train: There are regular trains traveling directly from Brussels and
Brussels Airport to Leuven. The travel time is about half an hour from Brussels and 15
minutes from the airport. Leuven also has direct train connections to Antwerp, Ghent,
Liège and Bruges, and excellent connections to Paris, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and
Cologne (all less than 2 to 3 hours away). For consulting up-to-date train timetables,
please refer to the official
NMBS web page. Be
sure you take the train to Leuven, and not to Louvain-la-Neuve: while the French name for Leuven is
indeed Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve is an hour away.
The Leuven train station is directly connected to the city centre via the Bondgenotenlaan (Allies Avenue),
one of Leuven’s main streets. The walk from the station to the city centre is approximately 10 minutes.
By car: Leuven is at the junction of the E40 highway (Brussel - Leuven - Liège - Aachen - Köln) and the E314 highway (Leuven - Hasselt - Genk - Maastricht - Aachen).
On foot:
Leuven is relatively small and its car-free center makes it a pleasure to walk from place to place.
Exploring the city on foot is a wonderful and healthy way to take in Leuven’s charm.
