Shipping to Belgium: How to Address Your Packages Correctly

Freshly baked waffles, pralines, and fries with mayonnaise (never ketchup, if the Belgians have their way). Belgium is small, cozy, and full of quirks. In an area smaller than North Rhine-Westphalia, around 11.5 million people live in three language communities that have been amiably debating for decades which language is the more beautiful.

And what about french fries? The Belgians invented them. At least, that's how they see it. Since 2017, french fry culture has been an official national cultural heritage. If you say „French fries“ here, you won’t make any friends.

But Belgium has more to offer than just charm. The e-commerce market is projected to reach around Estimated at 22.7 billion U.S. dollars. More than 60 percent of all online orders in Belgium are across borders.

But before you send your first packages to Belgium, it’s worth taking a closer look at the addresses. The three official languages alone mean that street names are spelled completely differently depending on the region. On top of that, there’s a separate system for apartment numbers.

Here's how Belgian addresses are structured

Belgian addresses are structured from top to bottom. The person's name is at the top, the country at the bottom, with the street and ZIP code in between.

Line 1: Recipient

First and last name for individuals; company name for businesses.

Line 2: Street and house number

Front or rear tire types?

In Flanders (the Dutch-speaking north), the road type is listed at the end of the name:

In Wallonia (the French-speaking south), it's the other way around. The road type is listed first:

In Brussels, both versions coexist because the city is officially bilingual.

The house number follows immediately after the street name, without a comma. For multi-family homes or apartments in Belgium, the so-called "bus number" follows (more on this shortly under "Address Specifics").

Example: Flanders: Kerkstraat 42, apt. 3 (apt. = apartment number, the apartment designation)

The Case of Wallonia: Rue de la Loi 16, bte 5 (bte = boîte, the French equivalent of a bus number)

Line 3: Postal code and city

The Belgian ZIP code has four digits and appears immediately before the city name, without a country prefix or hyphen. So it's simply: 1000 Bruxelles.

But please note: bpost recommends writing the place name in the language of the respective region. In Flanders, use Dutch; in Wallonia, use French. Although automatic sorting is based on the ZIP code, using the correct language version helps avoid processing delays. Brussels accepts both versions.

Example: 1000 Bruxelles or 1000 Brussel (both are correct for Brussels)

Line 4: Country

For international shipping, the last line reads „BELGIUM“ or „BELGIEN“ in all capital letters.

Address examples at a glance

Here are a few typical formats.

Home address (Flanders):

Home address (Wallonia):

Business address:

Address with bus number:

So much for the structure. But what do the four-digit numbers in line 3 mean?

The Belgian ZIP Code System

Belgium has used four-digit postal codes since 1969. Approximately 1,200 postal codes cover the entire country. By comparison, Germany uses five digits and has over 8,000 postal codes.

A glance at the first digit is enough to roughly identify the region:

Good to know: In 1995, the province of Brabant was divided into Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant, and the Brussels-Capital Region. However, the ZIP codes were not adjusted. As a result, three different regions now share the same ZIP code prefix in the 1xxx range.

So the ZIP code and city aren't a problem as long as the four digits are correct. It's a different story when it comes to streets and house numbers.

Address Formatting in Belgium

Belgium has a few quirks in its addressing system that you won't find in any other European country. And those are exactly what make the difference between „package delivered“ and „package still in transit.“.

How Bus Numbers Work in Belgium

In Germany, the apartment number is rarely included in the address. In Belgium, it’s different: there’s a specific term for this—the „bus number.“ The name is derived from the Dutch word “bus” (mailbox). However, it doesn’t refer to the mailbox itself, but rather to the number of the specific residential unit within a building.

The bus number is assigned by the respective Community, such as in new construction or renovations. Since there is no statewide system, the formats vary from municipality to municipality.

The official spelling according to bpost:

• Dutch: bus (e.g., Kerkstraat 42, apt. 3)
• French: bte (e.g., Rue de la Loi 16, apt. 5)
• German/English: box (e.g., 8 Main Street, Box 2)

According to [source], the bus number is bpost on the same line as the house number, with „bus,“ „bte,“ or „box“ inserted between them. For example: Kerkstraat 42 bus 3.

In practice, however, many Belgians shorten it or omit the word entirely.
Instead of „bus,“ they prefer to write a slash (42/3) or just the letter b (42 b 3). According to bpost, neither of these is officially correct, but they’re still done regularly. Customers also sometimes modify the abbreviation “bte,” which is why you’ll occasionally find the full version “boîte” in your orders.

Belgian house numbers lack a uniform standard

Formats such as „5A,“ „21/3,„ or “43-45” also exist in Germany. In Belgium, however, the variety is on a whole different level. In Wallonia alone, there are over 70 different house number formats, and nationwide, more than 400 different bus number formats (ITdaily, 2024). So if a Belgian address looks unusual at first glance, it's not a typo. That's just Belgium.

Belgian street names do not follow a consistent pattern

Not every street in Belgium has a recognizable suffix such as „-straat“ or „Rue.“ About three percent of street names consist of a single word, without any suffix at all. „Dries,“ for example, is a complete street name, not a partial entry.

In Brussels, every street has two official names: one in Dutch and one in French. „Wetstraat“ and „Rue de la Loi“ are the same street. Both spellings are correct.

Parcel delivery companies in Belgium

When shipping to Belgium, the service provider often changes during the last mile. bpost As the national postal service, it is the most common delivery provider, even for shipments sent via DHL or other package delivery services.

Packaging Stations and Package Shops in Belgium

Belgium is currently expanding its network of package lockers and pickup points on a massive scale. bpost alone operates over 2,500 package lockers (bbox) and more than 3,600 pickup points (CEP Research, 2026). In addition, there are the pickup networks operated by DPD, GLS, and PostNL.

This is because Belgian customers use these pickup locations regularly. Shipping platforms such as Sendcloud We offer a checkout widget that lets your customers select the nearest pickup location directly on a map.

Your next step

Are you already shipping to Belgium, or are you planning to? If so, keep these points in mind:

Keep track of bus numbers. Belgium uses its own system for designating residential units. „bus,“ „bte,“ or „box“ after the house number are part of the address. When Belgian customers provide this information, the address should be transmitted in full to the package delivery service.

Don't be too strict when evaluating house numbers. „5A,“ „21/3,„ or "43-45" are valid formats in Belgium. Anyone using an address validation tool should check whether it processes Belgian house numbers correctly, rather than rejecting them as invalid.

Place names in the correct language. Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia, and both in Brussels. Although bpost sorts mail by ZIP code, specifying the correct language version speeds up automatic processing.

You can read how address validation works across national borders in our article International address verification explained in compact form.

Do you ship to other countries as well? If so, feel free to check out our posts on Shipping to Denmark and to the Shipping to Spain to.

endereco: Address validation for international shipping

Other countries, other address formats. Our Address validation checks customer addresses in real time, directly when they are entered in the checkout. Typing errors, missing zip codes, incorrect place names: Corrections are made before the order goes out. For over 200 countries worldwide.

Want to know how this would work for your store? Get in touch with us.