I have successfully bought tickets for my Amsterdam/Paris and Bruges/Paris legs of my trip, thanks to information from wonderful Fodorite posters, but now face a dilemma. Was unable to purchase tickets for the Amsterdam/Bruges portion on the SNCF website, no seats left on train ( for mid-July!). However, I found schedules on the Belgian train site, but unable to procure reservations from here. Any suggestions? Thinking I can do it while I'm there or should I find a way now? Thanks for your help!

Andrea,<BR>That's surprising - a software glitch perhaps? Try again tomorrow.<BR><BR>Anyway, you will ALWAYS get a train, although you might have to change in Brussels. There is hourly Thalys high speed service on the Paris Brussels line.<BR><BR>You can't use the belgian site, as your travel originates in France.<BR><BR>Hope this helps,<BR>Andre

No seats? Very unlikely. Try again. Change the time of day?<BR>Note: You will have to change train in Brussels.<BR><BR>

DUH! Maybe I should have read your post a little better! Sorry about that...<BR><BR>I unwittingly answered your question in the last part of my post - SNCF is the French railways' site - only for trips originating in France.<BR><BR>You DON'T need reservations for the Amsterdam/Bruges trip (in fact I don't think it's possible). You simply buy your ticket at the station and take the hourly train toward Brussels (leaves at :23 past the hour) and change in Antwerp. Total journey time is 3.5 hours.<BR><BR>Schedule & ticket info at the Dutch railways' site:<BR>www.ns.nl<BR><BR>Andre

Andre: <BR><BR>You CAN make reservations for trips outside of France on the SNCF site.<BR>Try it at sncf.fr<BR>Put Amsterdam and Bruges. You will get trains for Amsterdam-Brussels-Bruges.

Louis:<BR><BR>By golly, you're right! BUT they only show connections via Brussels on Thalys (which SNCF owns part of). In this case however, it's slower (4-5 hours), less frequent, more expensive and you need a reservation.<BR><BR>So I stand by my second post <BR><BR>Andre

Andrea,<BR>There are two possibilities to train from Amsterdam to Brugge: Thalys high speed train or regular Intercity.<BR>If you travel on Thalys you DO NEED a reservation! In both cases you will have to change trains at Antwerpen-Berchem or Brussel-Zuid (Bruxelles Midi), then take a connection to Brugge. <BR>Tickets for Thalys are much more expensive than for usual trains and travel time is almost the same. You don't need a reservation on the Intercity train. Trains can be very crowded though!<BR>Intercity trains run very frequently, at .23 and .56 on weekdays. NOTE: for the trains leaving at .56 you will have to change both in Antwerpen-Berchem and in Gent Sint Pieters. <BR>Take a look at the Dutch Railways website for further information (also available in English). In case you want to use the trainplanner, fill in Amsterdam Centraal in the upper case and Brugge in the lower case. http://www.ns.nl/international/index.cgi

Thank you so much for your input! I will be traveling from Amsterdam to Brugge on a Sunday. Will check the Dutch rail site. Boy, the internet sure has made travel planning easier...and with help from experienced travelers, even better.

I am on a train tomorrow from Bruges to amsterdam and just bought the ticket here yesterday. no reserved seats and not even a reserved train time, just get on any train.

I'll be traveling from Amsterdam to Brugge next week. Can anyone tell me how much the train will cost? I've checked the Netherlands train website and found the times but not the cost. Any help would be appreciated!