PalenQ

traveling so much in France on trains - you are the rare person who may find a France Railpass a good deal (or may not but do the math) - allows you to chose which trains to take once there - can hop most non-TGV trains at will - like Strasbourg to Brussels or Paris to Amboise via Blois - to Reims. Versaialles is a short RER ride of several euros so just buy that ticket alone if have a pass.

Paris to Lille by TGV then regional train to Bruges is just as quick as going via Brussels on the more expensive Thalys train (though a few tickets if you want to book them months in advance may be cheaper that way with the ABS Fare - Any Belgian Station fare that allows you to take any train from Brussels to Bruges within 24 hours of your Thalys train revival.

With the pass you have to pay a small seat reservation fee for TGVs - easily gotten once there on your routes IME

The pass is a better deal in first class when compared to first-class fares and there are significant benefits to first class - especially on non-TGV trains that can be SRO in 2nd class whilst first class is often half empty.

Great info on French trains - www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com - latter is expert on discounted tickets.

PalenQ

The Louvre is a castle. In Paris there is the Château de Vincennes. There are also Pierrefonds and Fontainebleau and a castle in Auvers-sur-Oise.>

tsk tsk - Louvre is a palace - Palais de Louvre - Versailles though called a chateau is also a palace - a castle in most folks minds if a chateau-fort or fortified castle built for defense more than sweet dreamy looks - thus Vincennes is a castle as it looks like a fort - Auvers is not the castle of your dreams either. Fontainebleu is palace - so do you want to see a castle - a fortified thing or a pleasure dome - the Loire Valley has a few real castles - Amboise chateau being one and Loches the perfect fortified castle but Chenonceau, Chambord, Azay-le-Rideau and most are palaces - built for pleasure not defensive reasons.

Both are nice but there are really no great castles in Paris or its immediate area IME.

PalenQ

Loire Valley to Bruges - the quickest way is to take a French TGV from St-Pierre-des-Corps (a short train ride from Amboise) to Lille and then go on from there to Bruges. But there are just a few of these trains but if conducive to your schedule must easier than changing trains in Paris - one direct SPC-Lille TGV leaves most days at 10:00 am from SPC and takes just under 5 hours all told to get to Bruges.

alexandrak

I hadn't even thought of flying from Strasbourg>Brussels. That may be the solution to our biggest problem.

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions. I think we may eliminate the Loire Valley and see Versailles and Pierrefonds as our "castles" (or palaces or whatever they are - we're not that particular). We may add two days on to the entire stay in Paris for a total of 6 nights, then go straight to Dijon for 3 nights, by train, then to Strasbourg for 3 nights, by train, and then fly to Bruges, for 3 nights. We'll spend our last night in Brussels and fly out the next morning.

I already feel more relaxed!

pariswat

I see indeed flights, some with very different prices.
I welected two dates - one returns 76 € one way (in feb) one 500+ € in march...
Never took them.

Don't know from Strasbourg, but from Zaventem (Bruxelles airport BRU) it is about 30 min max to be in center of Bxl.

Have fun !

bilboburgler

Strasbourg to Bruges will work out about the same amount of time but far cheaper by train due to the delays built into the airport.

PalenQ

Surprising to me that I could find on www.bahn.de/en only one direct train Strasbourg to Brussels - connecting two of the main EU 'capitals'or centres - along with Luxembourg. I guess the guys on EU expense accounts fly?

Plenty of connections via Luxembourg changing there though it seems about the same going back to Paris (Marne la Valley change) and then to Brussels because those are high-speed trains.

thursdaysd

The thing to know about Strasbourg is that it is home to the European parliament several times a year. Accommodation and transport will undoubtedly be higher when parliament is in session. When I've visited I've checked to make sure it is NOT in session.

alexandrak

Do you really think train and flights will be the same length of travel time? I am seeing 55 minutes for flights versus 6 hours for trains with at least two connections. Surely flying would make more sense? I tried a few random dates to see and they were well under 100 Euros for one way.

Just checked out the parliament but no info on that yet. There are so many things to consider... and I guess that will affect me in Brussels, also.

nytraveler

A 55 minute flight is about the same as a 5 hour train trip - considering that with the flights you have to trek to and fro the airport as well as allow time (not sure how much at the moment with recent security concerns) for checking luggage and getting through security.

Be aware that some of the budget airlines have VERY strict check-in times (often 2 hours before flight time) and if you check in is even 5 minutes late you are considered no shows and your seats may be sold to others. Several also have VERY restrictive check in and even checked luggage rules - check those out before buying any tickets.

Tulips

Not necessarily, nytraveler. Depends entirely on the airport and airline. This is Brussels Airlines, not a budget airline. Check-in an hour in advance should be ok. From Brussels Airport it's a short train ride to the centre of town. Hour to check-in, a one hour flight, half an hour max to get out of airport with checked luggage, then quick train to Brussel.

Strasbourg is probably a small airport - haven't been there. As an example, I fly to London from Antwerp Airport and check in half an hour before the flight, even with checked luggage.

Tulips

Alexandra, you will probably see that parliament is in town if hotels are expensive and difficult to book.

pariswat

Times of travel :

I've written that I did the trip 3 weeks ago - by train, took me about 5 hours from station to station. (it is 5 hours via Marne la Vallée, 4 h 30 via Paris).
I was 10 min in advance at the station.

If you take a flight you have 1 hour of flying time, you must be there one hour in advance, you have to go to the aiport (no idea) and you have to go from BRU to center - I said about 30 min. Let us guestimate 30 min to go to airport

So you compare 4 h 30 - say 5 hours by train to 3 hours when flying. If you care about ecology, train consumes 8 kgm of CO2, flying consumes 110 kgms of CO2.

Costs : the same as some dates (70 €), I tried in jan, got 140 € per train, 620 € by plane.

Trains : SNCF - look at capitainetrain.com
Flighrs : Brussels airlines.

mvg.

PalenQ

The Strasbourg-Luxembourg-Brussels route is rather scenic as it goes thru the Ardennes region of hills and forests and is just as quick and if not advance purchasing discounted tickets more low walk-up fares but still probably can get discounts from the SNCF site I think. I'd rather change trains in Luxembourg - a chance to take a few-hour look at this gorgeous city, bisected by a deep gorge. Put bags in station locker and walk to the nearby town centre.

PalenQ

There is also a France-Benelux Railpass you may consider, especially if going the Strasbourg-Luxembourg-Brussels-Bruges route and from there to somewhere in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and France,all covered by the pass. As usual first class a better deal with the pass when compared to first-class fares and again those many regional trains you'll be taking IME can always be too uncomfy crowded in 2nd class - especially at rush hours.