kathyandrick2

I am just starting to plan. Must decide between driving between the 2 cities or taking the train. I have found the driving to be almost 5 hours and 266 miles. Can anyone give me an idea of time for train travel, number of stops or train changes and approximate cost? Any comments on which you would do?

northie

I travelled with 2 friends to Strasbourg from Brussels a few years ago when I was living in belgium. Travelling by train is ideal -we had plenty of time for a long weekend in Strasbourg. Went from brussels through Luxembourg and was an easy trip. Can't remember the time but am sure it was well under 5 hours. We booked at our local Belgium station-no changes just straight thru.

greg

You can find it out yourself at:

reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

www.voyages-sncf.com

The SNCF one gives you a prices as well.

The train mentioned by the above poster is the slow train going thru Luxembourg with no need to change the train, but the number of trains per day is limited.

The more frequent route is thru Paris. The Thalys from Brussels arrives at Paris Gare du Nord and the TGV to Strasbourg leaves from Paris Gare d'Est just few blocks away. What I look for is the Smoove discount fare for Thalys (Brussels-Paris) if they offer it and the PREM discount fare for TGV (Paris-Strasbourg) by booking early.

The train takes about 5hrs either way. The slow train route is probably cheaper.

Which way would I take? It depends on what I intend to do in between. For a pure transportation question, I would take trains. Car means I can drive and look around. Train means I can catch up on my journal, look around, read about the destination, eat meals with wine (can't do that in a car), talk to other travelers across the table or in the same compartment, or take a nap.

TimS

The Belgian Rail site shows a standard 2nd class fare of 67-71 EUR on direct Bruxelles-Strasbourg EuroCity trains.

The cheapest Smoove fare for Bruxelles-Paris on a Thalys train plus the cheapest Prem's fare on a Paris-Strasbourg TGV would be around 47 EUR. The standard 2nd class fare for that route would be 155.50 EUR.

TimS

Adding to my previous post. If you pick up a car in one country (Belgium) and drop it off in another (France), you will pay a stiff international drop-off fee.

Take the train.

nytraveler

If you go to bahn.de you can search for all your schedule options - although obviously not prices. there are a couple of non stops from Brussels Central station at 5 hours and a bunch more with stops or changes that are 5.5 hours and up.

I think a more important question is what you would do with the car. If you want to rent it for several days to see sights around Brussels or Strasbourg (the trip down the wine road to Colmar is especially charming) then a car makes sense. If you're just going from X to y a train will be as fast and cost less for one or two people.

Man_in_seat_61

They are really two different concepts:

You want to get from A to B: Go to the station, hop on a train, you're there.

You want to explore the countryside, meandering from A to B via C, D, E and F: Hire a car, doing all that paperwork and hassle and sdigning your life away if you damage it, but then enjoying the freedom to drive down all the little by-roads for a couple of days.

In Europe, we don't hire a car just to get from A to B, there's a good public transport system, cars and city centres simply don't mix, car hire paperwork and liability is a pain, it's soooooo much simpler just to get on a train.

The Belgian rail website, www.b-rail.be, will sell you a ticket, you simply print it out. Or buy at the station, the trains are never full.

greg

Interestingly, for the majority of my U.S. acquaintances who travel to Europe, the driving is the objective of the their trips. It is not the city, the mountains, the lakes, the museums, the palaces, the food, learning about the culture, etc. While I cannot relate to driving all day as the reason for going to Europe, I respect that others have different value metrics.