Air & Train Transportation b/t Brussels and Brugge
 

Hi!<BR><BR>My husband and I are arriving into Brussels via air on Sept 10 at 5:20pm. We are considering Brugge as our base and therefore are thinking of taking the train directly from Brussels to Brugge. Our questions:<BR><BR>1. Is the above scenario recommended or should we spend our first night in Brussels then take the train to Brugge the next morning?<BR><BR>2. I checked out the Rail Europe website and it appears there are early evening and late trains from Brussels to Brugge. <BR><BR>3. If we are arriving into Brussels airport, how close is and how best to get to the Bruxelles Midi train station? I assume this is the train station we want?<BR><BR>4. We also have a flight from Brussels to Rome on Sept 14 at 10:10am. Should we come back to Brussels the night before or are we ok to stay in Brugge then take the train to Brussels to catch our flight? I guess this question depends somewhat on #3 above. <BR><BR>5. Lastly (unrelated to the air/train question) - does anyone know whether a Visa is required for travel to Poland; Hungard; Czech Republic; Austria? We currently hold U.S. passports. I suppose I could ask a travel agent as well but they are so "sales-man-like".<BR><BR>Thank you kindly for your feedback.<BR><BR>p.s. I have found the Fodors forum to be extremely useful. There is such a plethora of information out on the web that one can be overwhelmed with the choices. However, since coming to this forum, I've found the majority of comments to be very insightful and helpful. It has certainly helped me plan our whirlwind Europe trip!

By Train <BR>By train, Brussels Airport is less than twenty minutes from the city centre. From 06:00 till nearly midnight, the Airport City Express links the airport with Brussels South, Central and North four times an hour. A one-way ticket costs 3,70 ? first class and 2,40 ? second class. <BR><BR>The train station is located in the basement (level -1) of the terminal building itself. <BR><BR>Timetable information for the Airport City Express is available on the Belgian Railways (SNCB/NMBS) website; enter Zaventem Airport as the departure or destination station. <BR><BR>Other trains to/from Brussels Airport <BR><BR>As well as the shuttle service to and from Brussels, there are now direct links with the west and south of Belgium: <BR><BR>Gent - Wetteren - Aalst - Denderleeuw - Brussels - Brussels Airport <BR>De Panne - Diksmuide - Lichtervelde - Deinze - Gent - Brussels - Brussels Airport <BR>Qu&eacute;vy/Qui&eacute;vrain - Mons - Braine-le-Comte - Halle - Brussels - Schaerbeek - Brussels Airport <BR>Timetable information for the whole of Belgium (and international trains) is available in Dutch, English, French and German on the Belgian Railways website. The easiest way to find the right station is to enter "Zaventem Airport" (or Luchthaven Zaventem / Zaventem A&eacute;roport) in the search field. <BR><BR> <BR>For visa info go to:<BR>http://travel.state.gov/foreignentryreqs.html

You can definitely make it to Brugge the night you get in. The trains are right in the Brussels airport, and it's a 20 minute ride downtown. I forget which station connects to the Brugge trains, but the ticket window at the airport will help you and will sell you a ticket through to Brugge. Once you get to Brussels (midi I think), it's an easy transfer to the Brugge train, and then only about a 50 minute ride to Brugge. You should be there by 8pm or so. The trains from Brussels to Brugge are very frequent. As for going back to Brussels for your 10am flight, you can probably make that too--trains leave Brugge as early as 6am. It's pretty easy to go from Brugge to the airport.

All the three stations in the centre of Brussel connect with train to Brugge: Nord (15 minutes from airport), Central (20) and Midi/Zuid (25).

In answer to your last question, no a visa is not necessary for visits to the countries you mentioned. Your US passport is all that is needed.