Biking
You will find that in Leuven a lot of people will bike around town. There is quite a nice infrastructure for bikes (bike paths, bridges, and on way car streets leaving more space for bikes) and many of the cars are used to bikers on the road. But there are still some good things to know before you take the roads.
Via this link you can see the different possibilities for renting a bike. It is also common to get second hand bikes from Facebook market place or the second hand website tweedehands.
Where to get your bike repaired:
An important note is to ALWAYS lock your bike, and make sure to lock it to something immovable. You can a list of bike parkings in the center here.
Was your bike removed? That means that you parked it in the wrong place and there is a possible fine to be paid upon retrieval. You can find more info on what to do here.
Getting your bike tagged is a great idea. If it is stolen or lost, the tag will help the police return your bike to you. You can get your bike tagged at the fietscentral. It is highly recommended and free!
If your bike was stolen you can report this to the police online.
Bike sharing is also a great option! There are a few providers, make sure to check if you need a subscription or not.
- Blue bikes (at many stations in Belgium)
Cargoroo (sharing of e-cargo bikes)
Cycling school is also a good way to get to know the rules of the road. As a cyclist you also need to follow the road code. Below you can find some of the most common road signs and what they mean, but this is only the tip of the iceberg ;)
Public transportation
Bus
The bus system is very extensive in Leuven and the region. Because Leuven is in the Flemish region, the bus service is called De Lijn. This is the service for the whole of Flanders. Be aware that the French speaking and Brussels regions are not far from Leuven, so you may see a STIB bus (Brussels) or a TEC bus (Wallonia), these are the buses local to those areas, but will sometimes still serve neighboring areas. You cannot use a De Lijn bus ticket on STIB or TEC buses.
Helpful links to navigate the Flemish bus system, De Lijn:
- To navigate the bus times and stops you can use google maps or the De Lijn app.
- Tickets cannot be purchased in cash on the bus, more info on purchasing tickets and prices can be found here, for bus subscriptions you can go here. Long story short you can get tickets on the app, at a De Lijn counter, or pay by card at the contactless card reader on the bus. Tickets are valid for 1 hour.
- There are 2 continuous bus lines that follow the inner and outer ring. On Friday and Saturday evening there are free night buses - these bus lines start with the letter "N"
Train
In Belgium there is one train system is called SNCB (in French) or NMBS (in Dutch). Taking the train is very convenient and can get you all around the country. You can get subscription cards and normal tickets either on the app, the website, at a blue machine at the station, or at the desk at the train station.
Tips for train tickets:
- The weekend ticket gets you 50% off your return trip on the same day, during the weekends
- Standard multi-pass is a great option if you occasionally travel to other cities further away in Belgium. With this pass you have 10 trips and can travel anywhere in Belgium for around 10€ per trip.
Tram & Metro
You can travel by tram in:
- Brussels (STIB)
- Antwerp (De Lijn)
- Ghent (De Lijn)
Charleroi (TEC)
There is only a metro in Brussels.
Driving
Driving licences
First thing to take into account if you would like to drive in Leuven/Belgium is whether you need to exchange/register your driver's license to a Belgian one. After 185 days of living in Belgium, registration is required for EU licenses and exchanging is required if you are a non-EU licenses (if possible). Unfortunately not all non-EU citizenships can exchange their license to a Belgian one. If your country is not recognized then you must take the driving exams from the start in order to obtain a Belgian license.
- Here you can find the list to see if your non-EU country is recognized, meaning that you can do an exchange (list only in Dutch and French)
- Here you can find more info about how to do the registration or exchanging in Leuven
- For more info on taking the Belgian driving license exams
Parking in Leuven
Parking is generally paying everywhere in Leuven. In some places is free for certain amounts of times or during certain time periods. Get an overview of parking in the city-center here.
If you live in Leuven and have a car you can get a digital parking permit for residents. More info here.
If you are parking in a blue zone, then you will need to use the blue parking disc. You set the time to the hour your are parking and then you have 2 hours from that time to leave your car (be aware that there are exceptions to this in some places).
Street parking is €2.50 per hour, but the duration and paying times change per zone. You can pay for parking via one of the 4 available apps, via text message, or at a parking meter (which there are now less of because of the many online options). Find all the info about paying for parking here (in Dutch).
Parking is free on Sundays, national holidays & July 11.
Car-sharing
In Leuven there are a few options for car-sharing. The process differs per company or organization, but you can get the full overview of what is on offer in Leuven here. In Leuven there is car-sharing with neighbors and with external organizations. You can read about the options and choose what fits your needs best.
Importing you car to Flanders
If you are bringing your car to Belgium, then you can find more information about the importing process and changing your license plate here. For information about bringing cars from an EU country to Belgium, there is more info on the website of the Flemish government.
Get to know the rules of the road!
Getting to know the road code is step 1! Even before you start driving, it is safest to inform yourself on the driving rules in Belgium. You can find more information about the road code in Belgium via this link.
For information about traffic, you can go here.
In Leuven specifically there is a circulation plan in order to keep the cars our of the city center and have more space for pedestrians and bikers. Because of this driving in the city center isn't the easiest. More info about the circulation plan here (in Dutch).