Elaine001

I will be travelling with a friend in End April to May for 15 days. Flight arrive and depart in Amsterdam. I need advice on travelling by Rail to Brugges- Brussels- Luxembourg and one place in Germany if we have time for that, and then back to Amsterdam.All advices are appreciated.

lavandula

Check out European time tables on www.bahn.com (German website); Belgian domestic trains on www.b-rail.be , trains Brussels to Luxembourg on www.b-europe.com (Belgian Rail's international website), and likewise for Brussels to Germany. On b-europe if you search Luxembourg as a destination be careful that you select Luxembourg the country (with the abbreviation 'L' in brackets), and not Bruxelles-Luxembourg, which is one of the stations in Brussels itself.

From Belgium easy destinations in Germany are Cologne and Aachen; from Luxembourg, Trier is an attractive destination.

Good luck!

Lavandula

Man_in_seat_61

Amsterdam - Bruges by hourly InterCity train with 1 change at Antwerp: Check prices at www.b-europe.com, it's fixede-price so you can buy on the day. If you want the high-speed Thalys trains Ams-Antwerp, then the fare varies like air fares, reservation compulsory, but I'd stick with the IC option.

Bruges-Brussels €13, buy at the station. You can check times and fares at www.belgianrail.be, they run every 30 minutes.

Brussels-Luxembourg runs every hour, fares at www.b-europe.com but again it's fixed-price, no reservation necessary or possible, so you can buy on the day.

Luxembourg (or Belgium) to Germany use www.bahn.de/en (German Railways).

PalenQ

If you want full flexibility to hop any train anytime in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and all of Germany check out the Benelux-Germany railpass which allows just that with very few exceptions on trains you do not have to take. Versus full fare tickets could be a bargain. But if you want to do a string of discounted tickets that would be cheaper but many have restrictions like being train specific and non changeable or refundable.

For lots of great info on Benelux-german trains check out yes Man in Seat 61's commercial site - www.seat61.com - and www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Bamaman

I'd suggest you visit Cologne for a German destination. The Duomo is absolutely incredible, and it's a very lively city.

PalenQ

I also suggest Cologne as a day trip - easy day trip from Amsterdam via ICE fast train - the great Dom right by the train station is worth the trip and Cologne is a pleasant if not old looking city due to war damage - a lively pedestrian zone right by the Dom, one of the world's largest Gothic cathedrals.

PalenQ

Amsterdam - Bruges by hourly InterCity train with 1 change at Antwerp: Check prices at www.b-europe.com, it's fixede-price so you can buy on the day>

Another faster angle is to take the high-speed Thalys train Amsterdam to Antwerp Centraal if you can get one of the ridiculously cheap way in advance fares and then from Antwerp be sure you book a ABS fare - an All Belgian Station Fare that I believe you can pay a few euros for in conjunction with a Thalys ticket - perhaps I am wrong but that is my understand and would yield a quicker journey by about an hour and perhaps cheaper.

PalenQ

check www.b-rail.com - Belgian Railways site to see if they have a day pass that would take you to the Luxembourg border - previous Belgian posters have talked about some kind of day pass you could use on any train anytime (except Thalys) - it is only a few euros from the Luxembourg border to Luxembourg City.

I would go from Luxembourg to nearby Trier for a German city in many ways more interesting in what it offers for tourists than Cologne.

Elaine001

Thank you all for your suggestions.Appreciate it a lot. Will do my searches on the suggested website.

PalenQ

Please report back with what you find out - so many do not and we'd be interested in what the real deal was!

Cheers