babkagal

Hi all,

I am going to Amsterdam next month, and I would like to take an overnight trip to Belgium while I am there.

I will leave Amsterdam early morning, and go to Brussels for the day. After staying in Brussels overnight, I would like to go to Bruges the next morning/afternoon, and return to Amsterdam that evening.

1. How long is the train ride from Amsterdam to Brussels? I don't want to take the Thalys (too expensive). How much is a ticket?

2. How long is the train ride from Brussels to Bruges? How much is a ticket?

3. How long is the train ride from Bruges back to Amsterdam? Should I buy a return ticket from Brussels or go back a different way? How much would it cost?

4. Are there lockers in the Brussels and Bruges train stations while I visit Bruges for the day?

Thank you so much for your assistance!

PalenQ

1- 3 hrs via hourly IC trains

2- 50 mins

3- 3.5 hrs; change in Antwerp - cheaper to go this way than back via Brussels - believe you would not get discount return ticket to Brussels from amsterdam but you can check at www.ns.nl - Dutch railways official site

4- Yes but this could always change; currently are i believe

5- check www.ns.nl for train schedules and fares for trains in Holland; www.b-rail.com for Belgian railways official site. (Hope i have this right - close if not)

PalenQ

The Smilys round trip fare Amsterdam-Brussels, if you can get it, could be cheaper than adding up fares for Bruges-Amsterdam and Amsterdam-Brussels-Bruges

www.thalys.com for Smilys fares - heavily discounted online fares but hard to book

and Thalys 25 euro bargain one-way fare may be less than the IC fare Amsterdam-Brussels

hetismij

One way ticket on the IC Amsterdam- Brussel is €34.80, return is €69.60.
Single from Brugge to AMsterdam is €42.20

PalenQ

I believe the Thalys SMILYS fare would be around 35 euros for Amsterdam-Brussels and back

Sallygirl42

Yes, and I think that a ticket from Brussels to Brugge would be under 10€ each way (it's 6.30€ from Brussels to Antwerp). So it might be easier and cheaper to just train it back to Brussels after Brugge, since the trip is only an hour or so.

PalenQ

SMILYS fares however can be very hard to actually get

danon

you may wish to take a bus from Brussels to Bruges ( an hour)

BTilke

Smilys tix aren't always hard to find, esp. if you're willing to be a little flexible with departure times. In December, I found Smilys tickets between Paris and Brussels still available just a week before my travel dates. I got my first choice of times, too.
However, if babkagal plans to travel over school break or holiday periods, then the Smilys fares are probably long gone.

Lorna_Riggs

Booking the ticket from AMS to Bruges was not easy. I tried booking online, including sites that were supposedly english-friendly (oeb, others). I put the whole itinerary in, and another itinerary kept popping up (from paris to Lyons?? which I wasn't even going to be near), then I would get re-routed to another page which was in dutch. ery hard to navigate and still could not see prices, etc much less get to the itineray I wanted! I am pretty savvy about booking online stuff but this was ridiculous. So- we thought we'd book once in Amsterdam-- so we made the trek several days prior to when we wanted to travel (thankfully!). It took several mishaps to get in the right line (it is international travel since you are going from one country to another)-- so we finally got in the right line with a numbereed ticket... 45 min later we were able to arrange the ticket we wanted (Intercity, 190 euros roundtrip for 2, not cheap.. Thayls was more expensive) HOWEVER-- upon paying, the train station will only take credit cards with a Chip and a PIN which we were not aware of and do not have. Any of our 7 credit cards would not work for the purchase. They said we would have to pay cash.. well we had some euros but had not enough (had brought only 100 or so with, the rest in hotel safety deposit box). Only alternative was to get out of line, turn around, and get some US dollars changed (at a poor rate), get back in line,and pay. All in all very frustrating and time consuming. Be warned about the chip and PIN needed in the Netherlands (I have not had this issue anywhere else unless this is a relly new trend). The trip itself was fine, we changed once in Antwerp - but it is a very long day to go and return same day so be prepared for that, and leave AMS early. You do have very short times to change trains there so be mindful of that. Bruges is beautiful and worth it--! We talked ot others who had similar issues booking the train tickets. Would love to knoww an easier way. Just glad we went several days ahead of time to get the tix or we never would have made it.