🇧🇪
Brussels
Belgium
Multilingual capital of Europe with great rail connections.
🇫🇷
Toulouse
France
The pink city — French southwest with a major student population.
Estimated monthly student budget
🇧🇪 Brussels
€1,000–1,300 / month
Estimated monthly student budget
🇫🇷 Toulouse
€900–1,200 / 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
🇫🇷 Toulouse
- Students who want to improve their French
- Those looking for a warm southern French city
- People interested in aerospace or engineering
Category profile
How each city tends to feel across the things students care about — different, not better or worse.
🇧🇪 Brussels
🇫🇷 Toulouse
Expensive
Cost of Living
Moderate
High
Nightlife
High
Fair
Weather
Very Good
Excellent
Travel Opportunities
High
Active
Student Life
Outstanding
Manageable
Housing
Manageable
Strong
University Reputation
Strong
Student insights
🇧🇪 Brussels
- Extremely international
- Excellent rail connections to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne
- Strong professional and internship opportunities
Student insights
🇫🇷 Toulouse
- Warm southern French climate
- Huge student population
- Strong universities, especially in engineering
Student voice — 🇧🇪 Brussels
“Brussels is amazing if you care about EU careers.”
Student voice — 🇫🇷 Toulouse
“Toulouse made me actually use my French.”
🇧🇪 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
🇫🇷 Toulouse
Pros
- Warm southern French climate
- Huge student population
- Strong universities, especially in engineering
- Lively bar and music scene
- Beautiful pink-brick architecture
Cons
- French language barrier in daily life
- Housing tightens at the start of the year
- Hot summers
- Smaller international community than Paris
- Public transport less extensive than larger metros
Have you studied in one of these cities?
Share your experience and help future students make better Erasmus decisions.