WalkablyIs Brussels (Bruxelles) walkable?
This page covers greater Brussels: 1.3 million people, including Bruxelles - Brussel and Anderlecht.
In Brussels, the walk to health care is the strong point: 3 minutes for the typical building, much better than most of Europe. Its weakest point against Europe is the walk to public transport, and even that is 2 minutes for the typical building, better than most of Europe. Walking is easiest in Pentagone - Vijfhoek (score 91) and hardest in Sint-Martens-Bodegem in Dilbeek (score 39): a gap of 52 points.
The walk to eight daily needs
The typical walk is the middle value: half of the buildings in Brussels have a shorter walk, and half have a longer one. The words compare it with every place where people live in the 20 countries on the map, so the same minutes get the same word everywhere.
| Need | Typical walk | Compared with Europe | Buildings with one within 20 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groceries | 3 min | Much better than most | 99% |
| Food and drink | 3 min | Much better than most | 100% |
| Shops | 3 min | Much better than most | 100% |
| Health | 3 min | Much better than most | 98% |
| School | 4 min | Much better than most | 98% |
| Parks | 2 min | Much better than most | 99% |
| Culture | 5 min | Much better than most | 96% |
| Public transport | 2 min | Better than most | 100% |
Compared with the rest of the country
The map is cut into six-sided cells 55 m across, and every cell that a street passes through gets a score: we call these street cells. We sort all 1,833,331 street cells in Belgium from hardest to easiest to walk, then cut the list into five equal groups, called fifths. In Brussels, 76% of the street cells are in the most walkable fifth, more than the 20% of an average place.
| Fifth of the street cells in Belgium | Bar | Brussels |
|---|---|---|
| Most walkable fifth | 76% | |
| Second fifth | 14% | |
| Middle fifth | 4% | |
| Fourth fifth | 3% | |
| Least walkable fifth | 2% |
The city at a glance
On the map, click any street to see its score and the walk to each need.
The most and least walkable areas
Each street cell takes the name of the nearest neighbourhood, village or town on OpenStreetMap, up to 1.5 km away. We rank the 50 areas where people live: each has at least 200 street cells and 500 buildings, and at least a quarter as many buildings per street cell as Brussels as a whole, so ports, hill parks and farmland drop out. Click a name to open it on the map.
Most walkable
| Area | Typical score | In the top fifth |
|---|---|---|
| 91 | 100% | |
| 88 | 100% | |
| 87 | 100% | |
| 87 | 100% | |
| 86 | 99% |
Least walkable
| Area | Typical score | In the top fifth |
|---|---|---|
| 39 | under 1% | |
| 40 | 23% | |
| 42 | 18% | |
| 44 | 36% | |
| 45 | 24% |
Cities like Brussels
These three cities come closest to Brussels in number of people and typical score, from any of the 20 countries. Brussels scores higher than 2 of them and lower than 1.
| City | Country | People | Typical score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valencia | Spain | 1.5 million | 77 |
| Turin | Italy | 853,000 | 78 |
| Seville | Spain | 687,000 | 81 |
What this page covers
This page uses the area Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, calls greater Brussels: the city and the towns that have grown into it. Besides Brussels itself, it takes in Bruxelles - Brussel, Anderlecht, Auderghem - Oudergem, Berchem-Sainte-Agathe - Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Dilbeek, Etterbeek and smaller places. About 1.3 million people live there (2025 figure). Inside it we scored 29,505 street cells with 318,927 buildings in them.
Every number here comes from the same scores as the map. The score runs from 0 to 100. The walk to eight daily needs on real streets makes up 60% of it, and how pleasant the streets are makes up 40%. The comparison with Europe counts every place by its buildings, 163,668,724 buildings in all. How the score works.