Our family of 4 will be going to London for a week in April. For one of our day trips we would like to go to another country and I think we would like to visit Bruges instead of Brussels. (We are staying in Paris for a few days after visiting London). What is the best way to get there? I see that you can go by way of the Eurostar directly to Brussels but then what? I think you take another train to Bruges but how far and how long does it take? Or is it best to just fly over? What's the best recommendation? Thanks.

It is easier to visit Bruges from Paris instead from London.

How far is it from Paris and how long does it take?

Its not a day trip from London - would take 3.5 - 4 hours each way from London on the Eurostar with a change in Brussels.

Why not do a day trip to Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, stonehenge/salisbury etc while in London...

You can do it via Lille, which will shorten the journey, but will likely coat more as the free onward travel in Belgium usually necessitates travel via Brussels....

or cost more even ( don't you just love predictive text!)

It is a fairly long way for a day trip. I think flying would take longer, as you need to be at the airport much earlier than you do for the Eurostar. You could get the first Eurostar out of St Pancras and the last Eurostar back from Brussels, check out times and see how much time you would have in Brugge itself. Check the tube will be running early enough to reach St Pancras in the morning, unless you want to book a car service. Also, you can easily walk from the train station in Brugge to the centre, roughly 20 minutes walk.

This is from a thread I posted in 2009 -

The Eurostar goes from London St Pancras station to Brussels Midi station. That takes a little less than 2 hours. From there you catch another train, from the same station, to Brugge. That takes another hour. They run often and you don't need to prebook that part. The Eurostar ticket covers your fare to anywhere in Belgium. So you can travel to Brussels then hop on another train to anywhere in Belgium and use the same ticket, no extra cost.

The cost of Eurostar depends very much on when you book. If you book as soon as tickets become available (I think 4 months in advance) they will be the cheapest, about 30 pounds each way.

We are visiting Brugge later this year and I wondered if going via Lille would be better. I worked out that it would take longer, as the train from Lille to Brugge was quite slow - and I think it involved a change of trains as well. Also you'd have to pay for that sector, but if you travel WITHIN Belgium, the onward journey to Brugge is included in your Eurostar ticket. So it's cheaper to go via Brussels.

Kay

For almost all planning purposes, assume you need to change at Brussels-midi whether you're starting in London or Paris. It NEVER makes time-management sense to fly from central London or Paris to Bruges (though it can be cheaper, and flying's handier from much of London or Paris outer suburbia)

The train's roughly 90 mins from Paris to Brussels-midi, and roughly 120 mins from London. From (and back to) London, you need to add at least another 30 mins, since you need to check in and go through security and passport control (none of which is necessary on the Paris-Brussels train). London has the added complication as a point or origin that the hour time change forces most people to start a daytrip earlier than many find comfortable if they're supposed to be on holiday.

Few sane people find anything particularly odd about a day that starts and ends with painless three-hour journeys: many of my neighbours do pretty much that every single working day. You can see plenty of Bruges in the time left after and before travelling, but there's no doubt that you get two hours' more sightseeing time if you start off from Paris.

Under some circumstances, changing trains in Lille rather than Brussels might be handier from London or from Paris (though this MIGHT involve changing stations). If you don't book ahead far enough, the Paris-Brussels train might be more expensive.www.bahn.de will help you check timings for certain: the Eurostar site gives better details on advance booking discounts

As the poster who's made more day trips to Belgium from the UK than anyone else on this board (not to mention dozens of day trip to Paris from Brussels), I don't particularly recommend it.

Yes, it's doable. I've done day trips that required more time in transit than this would. But still...Bruges is enjoyed best with an overnight. The city is magic at night after the daytrippers have gone.

FYI, it's just under 60 minutes from Brussels to Bruges whether you come in via Eurostar from London or Thalys from Paris. You arrive in the Gare du Midi (in the high speed train wing), walk a few minutes over to the "regular" part of the train station, pick up one of the IC trains (two per hour) and Bruges is the second stop (first is Ghent).

Doing a day trip from Paris is, of course, easier and you can simply hop on the Thalys two minutes before it leaves rather than arriving more than 30 minutes ahead of time to catch a Eurostar (and going through security checks, filling out forms etc - and don't forget that if you're traveling at a busy time like the Easter school holiday period, you should plan at least 45 minutes). Which means you can spend more time exploring the city.

FWIW, if you do opt for a day trip, Thursday is usually the best day. The museum are open, the week-enders haven't yet shown up.

Also, check the fares closely. Many times I've found that the discount first class seats on Eurostar were just slightly more expensive than second class. Depends on how far ahead you buy your tickets and whether you're traveling during periods where there will be a lot of group travel. Groups usually go second class.

Don't fly. As we used to live near Heathrow, my husband would occasionally do week-end flights from/to Brussels if he got an especially cheap flight or used miles, but overall, the train was a better and more reliable experience.

Finally, as you get near your travel dates, keep your ears open about strike action that could affect Eurostar/Thalys/TGV trains. The chances are good that your travel won't be hit by a strike, but if you are, it's not fun.

Thank you to everyone who provided such good information. We like the idea of maybe leaving London a day earlier than planned and going over to Paris. We most likely will be going the Paris to Bruges route instead of London to Bruges. We have been to London before a few times and thought it would be fun to see a few different countries while we were there just as a quick day trip. I saw some unbelievable airfares to different cities in Europe originating in London and thought we would take advantage of those if it worked out.

Hi Jhstubbs, just a friendly warning in case you haven't flown with the cheapie airlines - the advertised airfare is not what you will end up paying. There are many add-ons, some of which are difficult to avoid such as paying for using a credit card. You also have to pay to check in with some of the cheap airlines and luggage is extra too. Try a dummy run through (obviously don't put your credit card details in) and see how much the fare rises. It can be a vastly different fare at the end!

Kay

your best bet is to fly out of London City..take the DLR to LCY ....contrary to another poster...there are some very low not cheap but low fares to Schipol BA has begun direct from LCY to AMS.....or perhaps go to Dublin via AerLingus out of Heathrow..take tube to Heathrow...bum around Dublin fly back...
These suggestions are only if you are dead set on flying someplace...with a group of 4 the logistics of getting to an airport..London City is your best bet..Heathrow next via tube..plus the return to airport from whereever you go and flying back in just a day really is unrealistic...
Even the best option of flying London City to AMS really begs for an overnight to really enjoy the effort of seeing Amsterdam....
Lots of folk do the day trip to Paris via Eurostar...that is an option and it does put you right in the city as opposed to and airport miles from the action such as CDG..
The majority of folk on here do think it would be wiser and best to day trip to Bath..or Windsor ..Stonehenge..etc. from London if you must "daytrip" out..
A week in London can be easily spend WITHIN London itself and you would not see everything that London has to offer....
personally I would stay put and really immerse yourselves in London.

If you want to visit Belgium; fly LCY to Antwerp. You'll be in town within 15 minutes of landing. Flying back to London from Antwerp, you can check in 30 minutes before departure. It's a very small airport, takes no time at all to get in and out of.
I suppose you could fly to Antwerp, taxi to Berchem staton (5 minutes away) and train to Brugge.

Go to Wales for a day -- it's another country (viz. England) and won't take as dang long as flying or training to Belgium and you won't lose an hour en route from a time change.