Getting to Pairi Daiza from Brussels: Train, Car or Day Tour

Yes, Pairi Daiza works as a day trip from Brussels. It lies in Brugelette, between Mons and Ath in Belgium, about an hour's drive away; by train, Brussels-Midi to Cambron-Casteau via Jurbise takes about 1 hour 20 minutes, followed by a 20-minute walk. Without a car, take the train, and buy your park ticket online first: it comes with a code for 40% off your return fare.

Getting there

From Brussels you have three ways to reach the park, and the right one depends mostly on whether you have a car.

Featured location Pairi Daiza Brugelette, Belgium More than 7,000 animals of 800 species are kept across 80 hectares, laid out in themed zones called Worlds. It is one of eight parks in Europe showing giant pandas, and full EAZA membership underpins its ex-situ work through European endangered species breeding programmes.

By train: a change and a walk

Your station is Cambron-Casteau, on the Mons-Ath line. The park's own estimate for the journey from Brussels-Midi is about 1 hour 20 minutes, changing at Jurbise. From the station it is 1.2 km to the park entrance, about 20 minutes on a marked footpath. There is no shuttle, so wear shoes you can walk in.

On Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, one train an hour in each direction on the Quévy-Mons-Ath-Grammont line stops at Cambron-Casteau. In the summer holidays that weekend service gains three direct return trains from Brussels, running via Halle, Braine-le-Comte and Soignies and timed to the park's opening and closing hours, and SNCB announced extra weekend trains to the park for summer 2026. On other days, plan on the change.

Cambron-Casteau is an unstaffed halt, so sort out your train ticket before you leave. Buy your park ticket first: entrance tickets bought on Pairi Daiza's website include a Unique SNCB Code, which gets you 40% off the return journey on the SNCB website. Children under 12 ride free with SNCB, up to four per paying adult, and SNCB also points visitors to its weekend ticket, at 30% off.

The station is due to change. Fewer than 3% of Pairi Daiza's visitors arrive by train, and works to rebuild Cambron-Casteau were due to start in summer 2026, with the new layout coming into service in 2028. Pairi Daiza will then have a second, southern entrance less than 150 metres from a new passage under the tracks.

If you would rather step off the train at the gate, Antwerp Zoo, the oldest animal park in Belgium, sits next to Antwerp Central Station, and its tie-up with the Belgian railways takes up to 40% off the journey there.

By car: about an hour

Pairi Daiza puts the drive from Brussels at about an hour. Coming from Brussels, it recommends exit 26 (Enghien); for your satnav, enter Le Domaine 1, 7940 Brugelette. If you approach on the E429, the park asks you to stop following your satnav or Waze at the village of Gages and to follow the municipality's signs instead, on the way there and on the way back.

Parking costs €13 for the whole day, as of September 2026. You can pay at the park entrance, at the automatic kiosks as you leave, or online. If you are flying in, the park is about a 50-minute drive from Brussels Airport.

By coach tour

A coach tour spares you the change of train and the walk from the station, and coaches bringing groups get a dedicated parking spot at the park free of charge. Before you book one, check whether the park ticket is included, and weigh the price against doing it yourself: an adult online ticket from €43 plus a train fare cut by 40%. Check, too, how many hours the tour gives you inside: the summer direct trains are timed to the park's full opening day.

What not to miss

The park covers 80 hectares, so pick your priorities before you arrive.

Start with Edenya, Pairi Daiza's tenth world and new in 2026. It sits under four hectares of glass, a 17-metre waterfall springs from its rock, and its animals include the jaguar and the manatee. It needs its own ticket and a booked entry time.

The pandas have changed. The male giant panda, Xing Hui, who arrived in 2014 and fathered the three cubs born in Belgium, stays at Pairi Daiza, but the female, Hao Hao, returned to China for medical treatment in December 2025. Elsewhere, Wikipedia records the largest herd of Asian elephants in a European zoo here, alongside Bengal tigers, orangutans and Komodo dragons.

Tickets and saving money

As of September 2026, adults aged 12-64 pay from €43 online, up to €52 depending on the day of the week and the season. Children aged 3-11 pay €37-46, and children under 3 enter both the park and Edenya free. Every ticket costs €5 more at the ticket office, and Edenya adds its €7.

If you might come back within the year, an adult membership card costs €132 and covers 12 months from the date of purchase, which is less than three adult day tickets at the top price.

If a single day feels rushed, consider a night at the Pairi Daiza Resort instead of a day trip. A stay includes park access from your arrival day to your departure day, entry from 9:00, one hour before day visitors, and Edenya without a booked time slot, even outside the park's opening hours.

Best time to visit

The park's 2026 season runs from 7 February 2026 to 31 January 2027, and day visitors are let in from 10:00. By train, summer weekends are the easiest time to go, because that is when the direct trains from Brussels run.

Ticket prices change with the day of the week and the season, so compare dates on the park's calendar when you book. If your dates are flexible, avoid the school holidays in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation: 19 to 30 October 2026 and 21 December 2026 to 1 January 2027.

With kids and accessibility

The train suits families: children under 12 ride SNCB trains free, up to four per paying adult, and under-3s get into the park free. Pushchairs and carts can be rented for €8 a day each, with a €10 deposit, and picnics are allowed, in both covered and uncovered areas.

Wheelchairs are lent free, subject to availability, if you reserve one at least three days ahead, and all the toilets in the park are accessible. For anyone with limited mobility, the 1.2 km walk from Cambron-Casteau makes the car the simpler choice.