🇧🇪
Brussels
Belgium
Multilingual capital of Europe with great rail connections.
🇩🇰
Copenhagen
Denmark
Scandinavian design, bikes and one of Europe's best quality of life.
Estimated monthly student budget
🇧🇪 Brussels
€1,000–1,300 / month
Estimated monthly student budget
🇩🇰 Copenhagen
€1,400–1,800 / month
Best for
🇧🇪 Brussels
- Students interested in EU politics or international careers
- Those who plan to travel widely across Europe
- People who enjoy multilingual environments
Best for
🇩🇰 Copenhagen
- Students who value high quality of life
- Those interested in design and sustainability
- People looking for top-tier universities
Category profile
How each city tends to feel across the things students care about — different, not better or worse.
Expensive
Cost of Living
Very Expensive
High
Nightlife
High
Fair
Weather
Fair
Excellent
Travel Opportunities
High
Active
Student Life
Very Active
Manageable
Housing
Very Tight
Strong
University Reputation
Top-Tier
Student insights
🇧🇪 Brussels
- Extremely international
- Excellent rail connections to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne
- Strong professional and internship opportunities
Student insights
🇩🇰 Copenhagen
- Excellent quality of life
- World-class universities
- Very bike-friendly and well-organised
Student voice — 🇧🇪 Brussels
“Brussels is amazing if you care about EU careers.”
Student voice — 🇩🇰 Copenhagen
“Best quality of life I've ever experienced.”
🇧🇪 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
🇩🇰 Copenhagen
Pros
- Excellent quality of life
- World-class universities
- Very bike-friendly and well-organised
- Strong design and sustainability culture
- English universally spoken
Cons
- Very high cost of living
- Extremely competitive housing market
- Long, dark winters
- Locals can feel reserved
- Less spontaneous nightlife than southern Europe
Have you studied in one of these cities?
Share your experience and help future students make better Erasmus decisions.