hello--

first-time poster, long-time reader...haha.

my wife and i are flying into cologne, germany in may and then plan to immediately travel to luxembourg for a couple of nights...and then head up to brugge, belgium for a couple of nights...and then try to cross over to bremen, germany for a couple of nights...and then head back to cologne for one last evening.

i have done some preliminary research online but figured this would be a great place to find some great travel advice in regards to the best ways to hop from place to place. cologne-to-luxembourg via train travel is a no-brainer, i think. luxembourg-to-brugge looks pretty do-able by train as well. brugges-to-bremen might be a deal breaker, however....

would anyone here recommend buying the eurail select ticket that would allow us to travel within these 3 countries? does thalys offer something similar? do you think plane travel is a viable option in one or more instances...?

we are looking for the most hassle-free options (read: coming & going on our schedule) as well as the most cost-effective. many thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!

Not Eurail Select but the cheaper Germany-Benelux railpass, good for rail travel in Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Bruges-antwerp 1 h 15 min

antwerp-rotterdam-utrecht about 2 hrs or less

utrecht-amersfoort to join Amsterdam-Berlin rail route -Osnabruck - Bremen

Utrecht-Osnabruck 3.75 hrs

Osnabruck-Bremen 50 mins

about hourly or more trains on each segement

there is an overnight Brussels-hanover train that would take you close to Bremen

If you weren't going to Bremen i don't think pass would be cost-effective, if are i think it would be. Is a flexipass good for 5- to 10-days spread out over a 2-month period. Overnight trains are one night on a pass (Brussels-Bremen one day on a pass.)

These passes i'm pretty sure not sold in Europe as seems to be a creation of RailEurope...not sure. www.raileurope.com, or as i always advise BETS www.budgeteuropetravel.com for better more epxertise service and to talk to someone knowledgeable. www.ricksteves.com also has great info on passes.

Passes are valid on K-D Rhine boats as well.

To get accurate schedules for say Bruges-Bremen go to www.bahn.de, the German rail web site that has schedules for all of Europe. It also gives pricing for Germany trains so you can help get a handle of the efficacy of a pass. An easy way to access it's English schedule page is to go to the home page of BETS (mentioned above) and which has a link to the English schedule page - the home page also gives several tips on how to fully use the Wunderbar Uberfantastic www.bahn.de site!

On the www.bahn.de site you'll notice various prices for different trains - ICEs can cost more than non-ICEs. but the pass is valid on all of them regardless of price differential.

Only to serve as confirmation, but Lux to Brugge is easy. My mom has done it many times.

And the Luxembourg to Brussels train is, for Belgium, very scenic, at least the first part where the rails slice thru the forest Ardennes area.