Is train the best way to go? What is the name of the train?

We just took the train from Brugge to Amsterdam. It was great. We travelled 1st class as it was only a little more expensive. It is faster to go through Antwerp. Go yo www.raileurope.com for tickets.

Please <b>don't</b> go to RailEurope. It is a US company which sells marked-up rail tickets. You can buy tickets directly from Thalys.com. What you need is a nonstop from Amsterdam to Brussels (midi) station, then connect a local train from Midi to Brugge. You can actually buy a Thalys ticket that goes to Brussels-Midi (ABS). ABS= Any Belgium Station, so that's actually good for the trip from Brussels to Brugge.

I walked up to the NS International line at Amsterdam Central Station and bought my ticket on the spot. NS is also quicker and cheaper than Thalys. You change at Antwerpen.

http://www.ns.nl

Intercity trains leave Amsterdam hourly for Brussels via Antwerpen; change at Antwerpen for Brugge.
There are no seat reservations on these trains: just buy a ticket at the station and get on the next train.

yk I'm trying to learn something about buying train tickets. Did you do a fare comparison using Raileurope vs the Thalys site? I must be missing something because I don't see a significant difference.

I bought tickets from Brugges to Dijon via Raileurope and the price seemed competitive.

Just now, I checked the Thalys site for the trip from Brugges to Paris Nord and compared it to the Raileurope fare and the Raileurope fare seems to be cheaper if you pick a mid-morning train.

I'm not trying to be argumentative here. I'm just trying to learn. I have been following discussion about train tickets and I see opinion that generally runs like this: &quot;Don't buy from Raileuope because they are expensive. But good luck using the web sites that allow you to circumvent a US based train ticket service.&quot;

Hi SS,

Because the USD/E rate is in such flux, it is often possible to find rates at RailEurope = or &lt; than the national rail sites.

However, RE does charge to mail you your tickets, which SNCF (for example) doesn't.

For Bruges to Paris via Lille Flandres - much cheaper than taking the THALYS - the price at www.voyages-sncf.com is 35E ($55). RE wants $56 + $18 S&amp;H.

Hi sshephard -

I tried a dummy booking for Amsterdam - Brugge on both Thalys.com and on RailEurope.com.

For an AM departure on May 16th (1 month from today) on second class:

Thalys's Ams-Brussels Midi ABS (good for Brugge) is &euro; 49 for a Librys fare.

RailEurope is asking $110 for the same trains.

Also, for Thalys, if one purchases far in advance, one can potentially get a Smily or a Mini fare which gives further discounts. Those discounts are not offered by RailEurope.

RailEurope is a company that makes money by selling european train tickets at a marked up price. Sometimes they mark up a little, someitmes they mark up a lot.