🇧🇪
Brussels
Belgium
Multilingual capital of Europe with great rail connections.
🇪🇸
Madrid
Spain
Spain's capital — museums, parks and endless nights.
Estimated monthly student budget
🇧🇪 Brussels
€1,000–1,300 / month
Estimated monthly student budget
🇪🇸 Madrid
€1,050–1,400 / 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
🇪🇸 Madrid
- Students looking for a large international city
- Those who want to travel frequently around Europe
- People interested in academic and professional opportunities
Category profile
How each city tends to feel across the things students care about — different, not better or worse.
Expensive
Cost of Living
Expensive
High
Nightlife
Very High
Fair
Weather
Very Good
Excellent
Travel Opportunities
Excellent
Active
Student Life
Very Active
Manageable
Housing
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
🇪🇸 Madrid
- Exceptional nightlife
- Outstanding national and international connections
- Highly prestigious universities
Student voice — 🇧🇪 Brussels
“Brussels is amazing if you care about EU careers.”
Student voice — 🇪🇸 Madrid
“Madrid is a city that never sleeps.”
🇧🇪 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
🇪🇸 Madrid
Pros
- Exceptional nightlife
- Outstanding national and international connections
- Highly prestigious universities
- Wide cultural and leisure offer
- Great networking and career opportunities
Cons
- Very expensive rent
- High cost of living by Spanish standards
- Large, sometimes overwhelming city
- Longer daily commutes than in mid-sized cities
- Less sense of student community than in more compact destinations
Have you studied in one of these cities?
Share your experience and help future students make better Erasmus decisions.