🇨🇿
Brno
Czech Republic
Affordable Czech student capital with a strong community.
🇧🇪
Brussels
Belgium
Multilingual capital of Europe with great rail connections.
Estimated monthly student budget
🇨🇿 Brno
€650–950 / month
Estimated monthly student budget
🇧🇪 Brussels
€1,000–1,300 / month
Best for
🇨🇿 Brno
- Students with a tight budget
- Those who want a strong student community
- People who enjoy travelling around Central Europe
Best for
🇧🇪 Brussels
- Students interested in EU politics or international careers
- Those who plan to travel widely across Europe
- People who enjoy multilingual environments
Category profile
How each city tends to feel across the things students care about — different, not better or worse.
🇨🇿 Brno
🇧🇪 Brussels
Very Affordable
Cost of Living
Expensive
High
Nightlife
High
Fair
Weather
Fair
Excellent
Travel Opportunities
Excellent
Outstanding
Student Life
Active
Comfortable
Housing
Manageable
Strong
University Reputation
Strong
Student insights
🇨🇿 Brno
- Very low cost of living
- Strong, tightly-knit Erasmus community
- Multiple universities concentrated in one city
Student insights
🇧🇪 Brussels
- Extremely international
- Excellent rail connections to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne
- Strong professional and internship opportunities
Student voice — 🇨🇿 Brno
“Brno is Prague's chill little sibling.”
Student voice — 🇧🇪 Brussels
“Brussels is amazing if you care about EU careers.”
🇨🇿 Brno
Pros
- Very low cost of living
- Strong, tightly-knit Erasmus community
- Multiple universities concentrated in one city
- Great Central European travel base
- Friendly, welcoming atmosphere
Cons
- Cold winters
- Smaller than Prague — fewer flights and tourists
- Czech language barrier outside university
- Less famous globally as an Erasmus destination
- Limited beach or Mediterranean lifestyle
🇧🇪 Brussels
Pros
- Extremely international
- Excellent rail connections to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne
- Strong professional and internship opportunities
- Wide cultural offer
- Multilingual environment
Cons
- Grey, rainy climate
- Fragmented student community across neighbourhoods
- Cost of living relatively high
- Less iconic atmosphere than Ghent or Bruges
- Bureaucracy across language regions
Have you studied in one of these cities?
Share your experience and help future students make better Erasmus decisions.