moon4fun

Hi All,

It is our first trip to Europe, I had book the flight to AMS, then plan to take the train (rail) from the following hotel :

From : Hotel Pulitzer, a Luxury Collection Hotel
Prinsengracht 315-331 Amsterdam,1016 GZ Netherlands
To: Holiday Inn Brussels - Schuman

and then I also need to take train from Brussels to Paris, to the following hotel

From: Holiday Inn Brussels - Schuman
Breydelstraat 20-24 Brussels , 1040 Belgium
To:
Le Meridien Etoile
81 Boulevard Gouvion Saint-Cyr,75848 Cedex 17 Paris, 75017 France

Not sure which train station I should choice. I was looking at this website for train -> http://www.ns.nl/en/travellers/home

Any advice,
Thanks
Lee

BAAZ

Take the Thalys train from Amsterdam Centraal to Brussels Midi (south) - it's the only main station at which the train stops.

Then, depending on how much luggage you have, you can go by metro to Schuman station (take line 2 or 6 to Arts-Loi and change to line 1 or 5, to minimise walking distance), or take a taxi.

To go to Paris, take a Thalys train from Brussels Midi (again) to Paris Gare du Nord (again, you don't have a choice of station).

Then, depending on how much luggage you have, you can go by metro to Porte Maillot station (take line 4 to Chatelet and change to line 1 - don't take the RER line as you end up walking for miles and miles) and the Meridien is above the metro station. If you take a taxi, remember that the taxi queues at Gare du Nord can be very long.

stut

True, but LeCab (see thread in the France forum) have a designated pick-up point at Gare du Nord, and work pretty well.

The metro alternative is Line 2 direct from La Chapelle to Porte Maillot, but I'd only recommend this if you really want to stretch your legs after the train journey and have light luggage (La Chapelle metro station is linked to the Gare du Nord B/D RER lines by a long, long tunnel past the dubious-looking part of the station, finishing with a long staircase to an elevated platform. The advantage is that the connection is direct and the elevated section of the metro is rather fun. The disadvantage is obvious).

moon4fun

Thank you so much both (BAAZ and stut).

We each had a carryon suit case, 20 - 21 inch. Will the Metro allows suit case on board ?

Thanks again.
Lee

moon4fun

We switch to different hotel in Paris to The Westin Paris - Vendôme

Do I still taking the same train Brussels Midi (again) to Paris Gare du Nord ?
How far away from the stats to my hotel in Paris?

Thanks
Lee

stut

There's only one station in Paris that serves Brussels, so yes, the same train to the same station.

The hotel is ~3km away from the station, so an easy taxi ride. There is no direct metro, although it is possible to walk to nearby Poissonniere station and head to Opéra from there. There is also a direct bus (42) from the rather grungy Gare du Nord bus station to the nearby Capucines-Caumartin stop.

DENROC

Definitely take taxi from Gare du Nord to Westin

irishguy28

As opposed to checking them into the luggage hold?

moon4fun

From Amsterdam to Brussels, there's a choice of two train services, one high-speed, the other more flexible but slower.. Both can easily be booked at the Belgian Railways website.www.b-europe.com...

Option 1, high-speed.Thalys trains.link Amsterdam Centraal with Brussels Midi in just 1 hour 49 minutes at up to 300 km/h (186 mph)

Option 2, you can take conventional non-high-speed trains from Amsterdam Centraal to Brussels Midi, taking around 3½ hours with one change at Den Haag

We were thinking taking the option 2. Is there any sight seeing in 31/2 hours train ride ?

Thanks everyone advice.
Lee

stut

There's not really much more to see on the slow train compared to the fast one - there's more comings and goings, more stations and more people-watching, and it's good if you fancy a break in Den Haag or Antwerp.

But otherwise, the scenery is similar. Pleasant and very flat.

jacknyoc

Agreed...

My wife and I thought we'd take the slower train from Bru to Ams last spring. We thought the same...we'd see some of the countryside. It went too fast to see much of the scenery, but not fast enough to get us to Ams as quickly as we would have liked. I would opt for the fast train next time.

moon4fun

Thank you for your suggestion. We will skip the slow train.

We had 4 full day in AMS. and another 4 days in BRU.

Should we buy InterCity pass while we in AMS and BRU.

It is our first trip to Europe. Try to figure out how to spend that 4 day in AMS and 4 day in BRU.

We are going to do day trip to Brugs...

Thanks!
Lee

stut

Do you have any particular destinations in mind?

Travel within the Netherlands and Belgium is very cheap, so unless you plan on covering long distances, I'd suggest just buying tickets as and when you need them.

For 4 days in Amsterdam, you can easily occupy yourself within the city itself, but there's plenty outings you can do as well - Den Haag for the museums, Utrecht for the old-university-town niceness (and Dick Bruna huis!), Volendam and Marken for waterside prettiness, Alkmaar for the cheese market... If you enjoy cycling at all, it's a wonderful city to be in, and has plenty out-of-town cycling routes you can do, to explore the coast, the inland see or the Green Heart, very easily.

Brussels has less to offer in terms of sightseeing - although I could spend days eating and drinking there - so heading out is probably more attractive. Definitely go to Bruges, but also consider Ghent. Ostend is another possibility (Ostend, Bruges and Ghent are all on the same railway line) if you fancy some fresh mosselen met frietjes by the seaside.

To give you examples, a (one-way, walk-up) ticket from Amsterdam to Utrecht is €7.20, and from Brussels to Bruges €14.10. There are various offers as well - weekend return tickets, day-out packages, etc. See www.ns.nl and www.b-rail.be for details.

Once you are decided on the Thalys days/times, book the ticket! Thalys pricing is like airline pricing - you get a discount for non-changeable tickets, and the cheap ticket quotas run out as you get closer to the date of travel. Tickets can be booked directly on www.thalys.com or www.nshispeed.nl - don't bother with RailEurope.

moon4fun

Thanks Stut, we do want to visit the Anne Frank House.

Start checking the train on NS hispeed booking. Looking at this one... I see Transfer. Do we need to get out of train for connection ?

Route Platform Train
D 09:25 Amsterdam Centraal 15b
Full Fare 2nd class
ICD - 924
A 10:06 Rotterdam Centraal 3
Transfers(2) Information
D 10:08 Rotterdam Centraal 4
Full Fare 2nd class
IC - 1217
Roosendaal(Gr)Information
A 12:08 Bruxelles-Midi 20

jacknyoc

this looks to require a change in Rotterdam. you should be able to find some trains between Ams and Bru that don't require a change. Be aware that Bru Midi is not in the middle of Bru...that would be the prior station (Centraal). Depending on where you are staying or visiting, that would require back-tracking by train for one station or taking a cab or bus.

To your earlier question about things to see, you can add Delft to the list (about 50 minutes or by train...and convenient to Den Haag)...as well as Haarlem (only 15-20 minutes by train from Ams). We really enjoyed Haarlem. Don't miss the Corrie Ten Boom Museum, if you're interested in the Anne Frank WW 2 history. Very impressive and more personalized experience.

We rented a car for the day from Sixt (adjacent to Ams Centraal Station) and visited the tulip fields south of Haarlem, Haarlem itself and the windmills north of Ams. It was easy getting around and allowed us to see what we wanted when we wanted to. It wasn't that difficult getting around. Very enjoyable.