pougal

I am going to Brugge for about a week and need help getting from Brussels
Airport to Brugge.
Its probably easy if you know what youre doing , however, I dont !

Any info would be great, also any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks to all the Fodorites

thursdaysd

Go here: http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml

Brussels airport to Bruges. Hour and a half. One easy change, probably no reason to buy a ticket ahead of time. For more info on train travel in Europe go here: seat61.com

Andrew

Start here:

http://www.belgianrail.be/en/Default.aspx

You'll probably have to change once in Brussels itself. You can buy tickets at the station - I'm pretty sure there's a staffed ticket window at the airport station. The agent at the ticket window will probably speak English; Brussels gets lots of international travelers. 2nd class is probably just fine unless it's a very busy time, then 2nd class trains can be full.

Belgian trains are generally nice.

pougal

Thankyou for your help.

I am abit confused as I checked the trains from Brussels Centrum (Central) rail station to the airport and one site NMBS/SNCF takes 45 minutes and the Bahn line takes 15minutes.

Also you acn take the Bahn line to Brussels, is it that they go to different stations?

elberko

You only need to look at the official Belgian site Andrew gave you above.

~Liz

Andrew

Enter "Brussels Airport" as the "From" and "Bruges" as the "To" on the Belgian website. Should be about an hour and half total including the change in Brussels.

pougal

Thankyou for the info, I have found that using the Bahn to get from Brugge to Brussels midi station
is verydirect then from Brussels midi to the airport is also easy.

PalenQ

Just buy your thru ticket to Bruges at Zaventem Airport - last I knew there was a ticket window inside Customs so you can do it whilst waiting for your bags - and the train station is very close to the exit.

At rush hours those trains to Bruges can be packed in 2nd class - if you have a lot of bags consider paying the relatively extra for first class - lots of empty seats and lots more room for luggage IME.

For lots on Belgian and European trains check not only www.seat61.com but also www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

there are no seat reservations possible I believe on those trains - you change on some links only at Midi station (a k a Zuid or South) but on others you can change at Gare du Nord and if so I would advise doing this as many people may swarm on at Central Station (a relatively minor station despite its name) and Midi - the main station in Brussels. So change at Nord if possible and bahn.de/en tells you this.

elberko

I think you are getting confused because people are sending you to the German Rail site (bahn is German for train).That site WILL show you trains all over Europe, but for a trip entirely within Belgium, it makes sense to use the Belgian site. The 2 sites are NOT different trains--you are being shown the exact same trains.

PalenQ

I use www.bahn.de/en because it for me is the easiest to use.

Andrew

I use the bahn.de site all the time for general reference for all European trains, but I've also found it's not always accurate for non-German trains. In 2012, I found it had outdated information on Poland's train schedule. Because of construction, the Polish train network was (probably still is) in regular flux, and schedules changed regularly. It wasn't just minor differences; it changed which cities had direct train connections vs. not, things like that.

Because Belgium has a good train website, why not send people there? That's most likely to be the most accurate.

travlsolo2

I just tried both train websites, and IMHO, the bahn.de site is much easier to use for clear and easy-to-understand information. I've used it for all my European train information over the past 13 years of travel. I do, however, always doublecheck train numbers and track numbers and departure times when I'm in each city.

elberko

The problem is that the OP ended up confused, thinking the different sites were different trains.

PalenQ

Obviously bahn.de gets their schedule info from the various national railway operators so obviously would have the same schedules as the Belgian site would.

elberko

Obvious to YOU...maybe not to the newbies you are always standing up for, and Andrew cited an instance where bahn.de did NOT have updated info.

PalenQ

Still for general purposes www.bahn.de/en is often cited by me and many others as their preferred choice of a pan-European scheduling site that is easy to use. I am not as familiar with the Belgian site. Personally I am amazed at never, myself, finding any conflict with national rail sites from bahn.de/en but obviously there are some.

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

PalenQ

I am abit confused as I checked the trains from Brussels Centrum (Central) rail station to the airport and one site NMBS/SNCF takes 45 minutes and the Bahn line takes 15minutes>

Well bahn.de does say 17-18 minutes on most links Central station to the airport but does give one link that takes 38 minutes - are you saying all trains Gare Central to Zaventem take much longer than that - I think bahn.de may be correct in this.

Or is 17-18 minutes not 'updated info' and these trains take much longer - 38 minutes?