Shanqx

Hi guys,
I'll be travelling to Brussels next summer, Aug 2017.
I'm looking for your advice on the best way, or options, to take the train.

Price of the ticket?
We have 2 adults, one 8 year old and one infant (2 year). We've never used train before. How much does a ticket cost? Does it make sense (cheaper) to rent a car?

Location/Sequence?
I have 8 days in Brussels, where I land and take off. Some suggested upon landing (around 7:15AM), I can get on the train directly from the airport to Bruges. Sounds like a good idea. what do you think?

What would be the best sequence to visit all 3 cities? Is there any direct train between Bruges (Ghent) and Paris? By looking at the map Ghent is located in between Brussels and Bruges. If we want to add one more stop there, half day, or spend at night there. Is it convenient to go with no or low additional cost on ticket?

Much appreciated!

ajeleonard

Bruges then Brussels then Paris

Buy the Thalys between Brussels and Paris in advance, others on the day as no cost benefit

farci

Even with a couple of wee ones a car makes no sense in the three cities you mention due to parking restrictions. Trains in that area are frequent and swift with good facililities for families onboard. All three cities have good public transport facilities when you get there.

Check out deals for long-distance travel on the SNCB Travel Planner. Each city also has a public transport web portal.

Bruges and Paris are best for tourist 'wow'. Brussels is a little less family-friendly but still a lot to do. I'm sure one of my Belgian colleagues will be along shortly to stick up for his capital city

stut

I echo others' sentiments - train is by far the easiest and fastest way to do this, unless you want to stop in towns and villages on the way. Even then, driving and parking in Paris is not for the faint-hearted, the bizarre tunnels of Brussels are extremely tricky to navigate, and you'll struggle to find parking near central Bruges.

Thalys run the trains between Brussels and Paris - it's a high-speed service taking 1h22, running at least every hour. Pricing is like airlines - you book in advance on a specific service if you want a cheap ticket. Book via thalys.com. The direct trains to/from Bruges have been withdrawn, but you can book through tickets via the Thalys website, changing in Brussels South (Midi/Zuid).

Trains from Brussels to Bruges are frequent - 3 fast ones an hour - and stop in Ghent as well, which is also a city worth exploring. They end up in Ostend too if you fancy a paddle and some frites met mayo. They're cheap and there's no need to pre-book. There are also direct services from Brussels Airport to Bruges if you need them.

A few notes on stations and language...

Belgium, as you probably know, is multilingual. Brussels is a bilingual region, but Bruges and Ghent are Dutch-speaking. So along your journey, you'll see the same cities and station names in different languages.

Bruges (English) - Bruges (French) - Brugge (Dutch)
Ghent (English) - Gand (French) - Gent (Dutch)
Brussels (English) - Bruxelles (French) - Brussel (Dutch)
Paris (English) - Paris (French) - Parijs (Dutch)

In Bruges, there are multiple stations, but you want the one simply called Brugge/Bruges. NOT Sint Pieters.

To add to the confusion, the main station in Ghent is Gent-Sint-Pieters/Gand-Saint-Pierre.

The main station in Brussels is Brussels South, aka Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid. Almost all domestic trains continue to Central/Centraal and Nord/Noord as well, which are generally more convenient for the city, just not the long-distance trains (including Thalys).

Hope this helps!

Shanqx

Got it!

I checked Thalys' schedule the other day and I was really impressed on it's frequency and speed. The family package (2 adult tickets, 1 kids ticket, apparently infant under 2 doesn't require one) is about 75 ‎€ for comfort 1 and 145 ‎€ for comfort 2. We'll probably take the cheaper options because it's a such short travel.

Can I get off Ghent and spend half day there and continue to Bruges using the same ticket/transfer with no additional charge?

This definitely helps! You are very thorough. Time to learn some Dutch.

:D!

This was confusing when I first went there 10 years ago, but it makes sense once you understand that Midi is not middle but midday = English meridional, a literary way to say south (as the sun is south at midday in the northern hemisphere), and the diphthong "ui" in Dutch is pronounced like "ow" in English, so Zuid is not "zoo-idd" but sounds very similar to South.

stut

Couple of things to note...

The fares are capacity-controlled, so that may go up the longer you leave it. Book as soon as you're able to commit.

Thalys trains are reservation-compulsory. So if an infant under 2 doesn't have an allocated seat, there's a risk that the 4th seat round your table will be occupied by a stranger. Or it could be empty. No way of telling in advance!

If you've got those the right way round, and it's cheaper in comfort 1 than 2, then go for it! 1 is 1st class...

Yes, but you need to buy a 'VIA' ticket to make this legal. This costs €15.60 instead of the normal €14.30 for an adult ticket.

It's polite to do so, of course, but you'll find English widely spoken in Flanders (and generally preferred to French).

Shanqx

Sorry I think I have them mixed up. It should be the other way around. Too good to be true, isn't it. They haven't released any ticket for Aug yet. The price I got was from Jan 2017, the furthest I could search.



Excellent! Thanks for the info. It's very affordable.



Absolutely! show your respect to their culture

Shanqx

Good to know!

The way I'm looking at it is that Zuid "zoo-idd" is more closely pronounced as French "Sud"..that's how I comprehended the first time.

It's just me..

stut

The booking window for rail tickets varies across Europe, but 3 months is about standard. It allows for engineering works to be planned as required (so you're not sold a ticket for a train that can't run).

Dutch pronunciation can be very difficult for an outsider, particularly certain diphthongs, which also have a number of regional variations. The sounds for 'aa', 'ee', 'ei', 'ey', 'ij', 'oo', 'ou' and 'ui' may only be very subtly different to a non-native speaker (and Flemish Dutch does have its own particularities). You'll also enjoy the phlegm-rattling single 'g' sound. So don't worry if you end up speaking English. It's used across the linguistic communities anyway.

Gagravarr

Another option to throw out there is to take a TGV from Brussels to Lille, spend a few hours (to a few days!) in Lille, then TGV onwards to Paris. Lille has some lovely flemish architecture (being French is a relatively recent change!), some good museums, nice food (especially in the old town) and a small free zoo that ought to be popular with the little kids. Left luggage at the station

farci

A bit OT but I lived in Brussels for some time in a street where one side belonged to a Flemish language commune (neighbourhood) and the other a French language commune. Street signs, utility bills and other correspondence were provided according to the linguistic preference of each community even although they lived in the same Rue/straat!

My mother tongue is English and I am fluent in French. Because of my sojourn in Brussels, and my Scottish accent, French people often ask me if I am Dutch?

Zo is het leven!

Shanqx

now you have me intrigued, it's only 34min train from Brussels Midi^