We will spend just one night in Brugge and wonder which is better way to travel. We'd like to spend a full two days in Brugge and are concerned the train may cause us to cut the visit short. Any help appreciated on hotel in $150 or less range, restaurants for lunch and dinner, etc. Thank you.

You want to spend two full days, but only one night in Bruges? And you also have to get to, and from Paris in that time?

Train or car, you aren't going to have two full days in Bruges, try to stretch it to two nights.

Would suggest Eurostar to Brussels, then transfer to local train to Brugge. The two trains arrive/leave within a few tracks of each other. At 300KPH, the train will cut into your time much less than the car.

The train ride is about 2 1/2 hours. You can switch trains in Brussels or Lille. The URL for the rail system is:
http://www.voyages-sncf.com

You can save money by buying the Paris to Lille portion of the trip on the internet. Look for the post by MorganB on how to do this, it gives all the details. I did this trip about 6 months ago and I bought the France portion of the trip online and then got the Lille to Bruges at the train station once I was in Paris.

I stayed at the Hotel 't Zand, on the pedestrian zone. Easy walk to all the sights and lots of good restaurants. I loved the hotel. I was totally renovated last year and was very nice. We paid 60E for single rooms.
http://www.hotel-boudewijn1.be

Have fun! Bruges was a great place to visit.

Thank you for the valuable tips. Sounds like the train is the ticket, and that hotel looks very good. Any more thoughts on food and hotels appreciated.