bdesaul

I am looking at trains from Bruges to Paris this May. The Thalys runs direct but it leaves at 6:26 AM only once per day.

There is a more local train from Bruges to Lille Flandres Station which arrives at 1 PM.
We would then have to walk across the underground passageway over to Lille Europe station to catch the TGV train to Paris and that leaves a 1:30 or so.

So is 28 Minutes enough connection time to get off the train, cross over and get onto TGV train? I have never been to this Lille Flandres/Europe stations.

Or does anyone have a better solution to travel from Bruges to Paris?

joannyc

Have you looked at Bruges to Brussels to Paris?

GeoffHamer

There are trains every hour from Brugge to Lille, usually with a change at Kortrijk. These are local trains and cannot be reserved - tickets are valid on any train. Trains from Lille to Paris are also hourly. Myself, I'd allow time for lunch in Lille - there's a row of restaurants opposite Lille Flandres station.
The walk between the two Lille stations is along the ground, not underground, and takes less than ten minutes. It's well signposted. You can also use the metro.

bdesaul

Yesterday I did find the Bruge to Brussels connections which look much better.

However what is the best website for the local trains from Brugge to Lille that Geoffhamer mentions as I haven't been able to find that yet.

kerouac

There is just a big esplanade to walk across from Lille-Flandres to Lille-Europe, about 500 meters. You can do it in 5 minutes.

TimS

Use the timetables on the German Rail site, www.bahn.de, for Brugge-Lille or for your whole route (Brugge-Lille-Paris). Click on the drop-down flag menu for English. After you get summary timetables, click on the arrow to the left of each departure time to see the connecting points.