psychofan

Hi all! My girlfriend and I have plans in place to visit Paris from 1/8 till 1/18. We are thinking about taking a train to Brugge for a night then train to Brussels for 2 nights before heading back to Paris. My question is...how much would tickets cost for those segments and are there specific train stations to depart from? Also, will it be cheaper to purchase the tickets and reservations online here in the U.S. or just purchase them at the station in Paris? Thanks ALL!!!

MorganB

You will leave from Gare du Nord in Paris. It is much cheaper to buy early from www.voyages-sncf.com . Most trains to brugge will have you change in Brussels. You might want to consider 3 nights in brussels with a day trip to Brugge as it is only a short train ride away and avoids moving hotels so much.

PalenqueBob

As fares on the Paris-Brussels thalys trains seem to be sky high, especially without reserving weeks in advance, consider taking the Paris-Lille-Bruges route, which is just as quick, has hourly service on the links (you do have change twice as opposed to once in Brussels on the Thalys - but i think you could save a lot of money on short notice over the expensive Thalys. But check www.voyages-sncf.com and see.
There is also one train some days that goes direct Paris to Bruges, a Thalys train however with same high pricing.

MorganB

Thalys has a promotion right now for 25 euros to Belgium if you start your travel on 1/12 or later. Check the site I mentioned or http://www.thalys.com for details.

psychofan

Thanks MorganB...I took a look at the thalys.com website and it appears that it's only good for residents of France, Belgium, Netherland, and Germany. Does it matter I'm in the States? Anyway to get around it because that looks like a great deal?

MorganB

Just select France as your country and make sure you can pick the tickets up in France. I know you can if you order them through http://www.voyages-sncf.com and you will get the very same low price. Do a search for "morganb sncf" and you will find a step by step guide that I created that explains all the ins and outs of booking. You might even be able to print those tickets at home.

MorganB

PS: I just replied on the booking sncf tickets guide thread so it should be on the first page right now.

psychofan

got the tixs for station pickup! Thanks MORGANB!!!! You're the BEST!!!!!

MorganB

Glad to be of help and have a nice trip!

ben_haines

From Paris to Bruges via Lille you often change twice, as PalenqueBob says, but on some connections just once. The first two such connections are these:
Paris Gare du Nord 0758, Lille Flandres 0900 to 0906, Bruges 1027
Paris Gare du Nord 1058, Lille Flandres 1200 to 1305, Bruges 1427. This is cheaper and quicker than normal Thalys. The fare in France is about 24 euros and in Belgium about 10 euros.

Best wishes

Ben Haines

psychofan

MorganB,

My tickets were for Coach 7 - Seats 23/24 (Paris to Brussels) and Coach 25 - Seats 84/85 (Brussels to Paris). Are these in the nonsmoking section? I don't recall there being an option while ordering the tickets. If not, can I still change it somehow when I pick them up at the station window?

MorganB

Hi again Psychofan:

Thalys and TGV trains are 100% non smoking so no worries.

ChristinaC

Hi dear all,
I m now in Malaysia. My husband & i plan to travel from Den Haag,Netherland to Paris on 21/06. We are thinking of taking train or any coach which is in more economy way. How much would the ticket cost? Estimated figure will do. Please advise. TQ

MorganB

Hi ChristinaC. Are you psychofan with a new name? Anyway, there are Thalys trains from Den Haag HS to Paris nord. On your date the 7 am, 8 am and 2 pm train cost 25 euros on mini fare , travel time is 3h30 mins. You can print the ticket at home.

Just go to http://www.voyages-sncf.com

Click on Train at the top. If you are good in French then just proceed with your booking. If not, then change this part of the URL "LANG=FR" to "LANG=UK". Then hit refresh. Leave the country as France.