If I buy a walk up ticket from Bruges to Brussels, and want to get off the train in Ghent for a few hours (it's a stop on the way for all of them), that's permitted, right? That is, the ticket is valid for a route for a day, right, not for a specific train? Thanks.

I think you'll need to buy 2 separate tickets - 1 from Bruges to Ghent, then 1 from Ghent to Brussels. Just ask at the ticket window.

[When I was in Belgium and wanted to do a daytrip (r/t) from Brussels to Bruges, I asked if I could get off in Ghent for a few hours with just the Brussels-Bruges ticket. They said no, and that I needed 2 separate tickets.]

But anyway, your ticket will be valid for any train on that day.

BTW, grsing, if you're remotely interested in Flemish art, you can do a search with my name (type "yk" in search box above and also highlight "Belgium", then click on Search). You'll find my 2 trip reports - one in May 2005 and one in Jan 2006 - where I went to Belgium, and some Netherlands, and some London.

Hi g,

2 separate tickets will be about the same price as 1 through ticket.

European trains charge by the km (almost).

OK, good to know (I can see that my experience with the British train system has not been typical of the rest of Europe, which is a good thing, anyway).

Of course, you can always pretend to be the innocent tourist who didn't know. Then, if you get caught, you can hope to just buy a new ticket and not a fine But as ira said, 2 separate tickets will not cost much more than 1 ticket for the whole trip. I do advise you to stop in Ghent though! Take any tram starting with 1 to get to the center of town.

It's only about a euro more for 2, so I'll definitely just do that, no point in risking a fine over a euro.

Two separate train tickets is not the same price as one ticket Brugge-Brussel! You will pay the overhead cost twice. Belgian trains don't charge by the km, they charge by zone.

grsing,
If want to get off in Gent, just ask for a "via" ticket and tell the clerk that you want to interrupt your journey in Gent. This way you will pay the overhead cost only once and you may legally get off in Gent. Of course, these are only short rides and it won't save you a lot but I'd rather use those 2 euros for a coffee or a glass of wine!

Ditto to what Myriam says. I've bought a few "via" tickets, including those for the Brussels-Brugge run.