Hello everyone,

I’ll be heading off to Belgium in a few weeks.

We are flying into Brussels airport, taking the Express train to the Central Station, and training it to Brugge. We’ll be there for 6 nights, then back to Brussels for the last 2 nights.

I’ve never really had to navigate any train system before, even in the US, let alone Europe. Is their system pretty easy to figure out? Once I get to the train station, is it pretty clear and intuitive to figure out what train I need? Also, what does it mean when a train “calls?”

I’ve done a lot of book and internet research, just wanted to see if there are any helpful tips y’all could give me when conversing with Belgians related to local customs/etiquette etc? Or transportation? Or food, etc? Places to avoid? Anything will help from those who’ve already been there! I have my beer list ready…
Thanks in advance!

Hi - Rick Steves has some great info about taking trains in Europe, you might want to check his website. What I have done is print out train schedules from home for the routes I want to take so I have an idea of what departure times/duration/frequency of the trips I'm going to take. I do this from the French or German rail sites. Will you need to buy your tickets at the station? You will need to validate most tickets, look for the yellow stampers at the beginning of each track. (I didn't have to for my pre-purchased online ticket).

To find out which track you should stand on, look at the big board in front of the tracks. It will give the destinations and track number. Pay attention to it, sometimes the track number changes at the last minute. If you have a reserved seat, the car number is on your ticket. There will be a chart on the track to tell you where that car is located so you know where to stand on the track. The car number is on the train. If you don't have a reserved seat, you will know which class you are traveling (1 or 2). You will see a 1 or 2 by the door to each car. Be sure you get in the appropriate one. You cannot pay for 2nd class and sit in a 1st class car.

Traveling by train is pretty easy once you get used to it. Take at look at ricksteves.com for some more examples and I think he has pictures for examples.

Have fun!

I've never heard of a train "call".

Belgian trains are easy to navigate. Just look at the diplay board in the waiting hall and you can find out which platform your train will be departing from.

"Call" is a British term, meaning intermediate stops. Don't think the Belgians use it. In the UK, you'll hear the PA announcement: "Train to XXX, calling at, A, B, C" with A/B/C being intermediate stops.

Belgians speak excellent English. I've been to Belgium quite a few times and I still cannot Flemish words.

Belgium is a great country to start if Europe is unfamiliar. Firstly, the trains are easy so don't concern yourself. Timetables are everywhere, on big boards coloured yellow if I remember correctly. They tell you which platforms the trains depart from, and there are electronic boards as well backing them up with live information about any delays etc. All the big stations have information kiosks where you can get advice and guidance (in English).

I think what you are asking by "calls" is simply a train stop. So if a train "calls" at Brugge, it stops there.

Local customs - well, you are clearly a polite person with good manners so continue that way and you will get every help from the locals, and you won't embarrass yourself.

Don't try to speak any French in Brugge or north of Brussels. It's not their language and English won't be a problem.

The food is outstanding, the beer is better, but strong. Enjoy it but don't use it as a thirst quencher.

Enjoy your trip.

Frites, Frites and more Frites

Beer, beer and more beer

Belgians have the best frites anywhere - stop by one of the ubiquitous Friteries stands and nab the paper cone full of frites and chose one of the variety of sauces, some exotic to us like Curry sauce, to smother over them

Trappist beers are totally unique but potent

Midi is not that easy to navigate IMHO, with displays for individual platforms rather than one big board in plain view. Also the displays at the bottom of the stairs leading to each platform often have less info re stops (often just the terminus) than those actually on the platform so there can be a fair bit of walking up and down to to find the right train!

BTW, there is an info point for the lost and clueless!

I agree that Rick Steves has a good run down on how to do trains in Europe.

A couple of added notes that may help. First, larger stations have both platforms and sections of platforms. There may be twenty platforms to board trains and the board says your train will depart from 11B. Get to 11 and look up, there are letters above the platform. This can be critical as a conected car at 11 C may be going somewhere else, you might board the wrong car or fail to board the right train. You can double check by looking at the destination on the card at the door of the car (I think RS covers this).

Second, check the times for departures to your next destination before you leave the station. When you are touring, it's good to know whether you need to hurry or have time to kill rather than getting to the station five minutes late and having an hour and half wait for the next train. Also check the days of week for those departures. I once stayed late at dinner talking to a group of people, thinking I could catch a later train. I discovered the later train ran only on weekends.

I've seen claims that Belgium has the world's densest rail system so at least you can get everywhere and bout trains twice an hour to boot. No schedules needed.

Midi has a big board, as well as monitors at several places and monitors at the base of the escalators up to platforms listing all the calling points (stop) on the route.

I much prefer Midi to Centrale, which I find run down, dark and a bit skeevy. Ditto for Nord. And Midi is the closest to Brugge of the three main train stations (trains to Brugge usually have as their final destination Ostende or Knokke/Blankenberge, from Midi, Brugge is the second stop, after Ghent).

Re food, if you are looking for excellent, nontouristy, moderately priced restaurants, one of the best places is along the chaussee de Waterloo from about the 300 block up to where it meets the chaussee Vleurgat. Many neighborhood favorites are there--Toucan, Lettre a Elise, En Face de Parachute, etc.
Take the 91 or 92 trams (direction Stalle or Fort Jaco, respectively, and get off at the Ma Campagne stop, then walk up the chaussee de Waterloo). Or the 93 or 94 trams up the Ave. Louise to the Vleurgat stop, then up Vleurgat until the Chaussee de Waterloo and then walk down the street.

Many of these restaurants offer terrific lunch specials, so if you are watching your budget, have lunch at one of them and then eat lightly for dinner.

In 10 years, I have never "validated" a train ticket in Belgium. Metro/tram/bus tickets, yes, in those little orange machines, but never train tickets.

''and monitors at the base of the escalators up to platforms listing all the calling points (stop) on the route. ''

Not true. The monitors quite often just show the terminus, or larger towns and cities en-route, not the entire stopping schedule, and you then have to go up to the platform to check the full list. The lower monitors also don't always indicate whether the train is an ICE or not.

And there are about a million printed timetables showing the entire years schedule (rather than just the currently valid departures and arrival times) which can lead to confusion.

I think that Belgium has a great rail service with generally easy to navigate stations, but Midi isn't all that.

Ok. It just happened that on every Belgian train I've taken, all the stops were listed. Especially trains for Bruges...it's only the second stop from Midi and the train stop in Ghent has ALWAYS been listed.

And there are about a million printed timetables showing the entire years schedule (rather than just the currently valid departures and arrival times) which can lead to confusion.

Are you referring to the yellow departure boards placed around the station? What's so confusing about that? Many train stations in Europe have something similar...it's very common in city stations in Germany, for example. Even Maidenhead has boards like that in the train station.

Whenever I am in Belgium, I always make a point of ordering Moule Frites because the mussels in Belgian restaurants are meatier and more delicious than in the US. Hope you'll get a chance to try this inexpensive delicacy.