Hi,

We are a family of three (husband, wife and an 8-year old) arriving to Brussels International Airport from Philadelphia.

What is the easiest and most economical way to get from Brussels Airport to:

a) Luxembourg City
b) Brugge

Thank you in advance.
Vincent.

Put your routes/dates/times into http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/

and all will become clear. You will have to change in Brussels for each route. Belgian trains are frequent and reliable and easy. Enjoy the country.

Hmmm, I hoped there was direct train or bus service from BRU Airport to Brugge and Luxembourg City. Now I see we would have to go through downtown Brussels.

Thank you for your response.

Look at http://www.loughrigg.org/b-rail/full2.gif

Just about every route goes through the main Brussels stations. All you have to do is change platforms, possibly.

You can take a train ftom Brussels airport to Ghent, then switch to a train to Bruges, you will avoid downtown Brussels.

RE: Brugge...

Just be sure to choose these stations on the website:

Bruxelles-Nat-Aeroport [B]

and

Brugge

Since there are several variations on both Brussels and Brugge that can be entered, the app will probably prompt you (in pink/red) to confirm which variation.

[If you pick the wrong airport option, it may assume you are in the airport proper and not the rail station in the airport. Then it will include the walking time to the station -- but still show you the correct trains. The wrong Brugge station might be to an out-of-town station.]

Your results should show 2 trains (1 connection) and a total trip time of 1:25 to 1:30 or so -- longer during rush hour.

My wife and I are also going to Brussels this spring (from PHL, too!!) and here is an example of our train options (connecting in Brussels Nord). I assume you are flying USAir 750 and arriving at 8:00 am, so these times are appropriate.

IR3631-IC1530 8:52-9:03 9:23-10:29
IR3731-IC531 9:36-9:51 9:56-11:02
IR3531-IC1531 10:04-10:15 10:23-11:29
IR3732-IC532 10:36-10:51 10:56-12:02
IR3532-IC1532 11:04-11:15 11:23-12:29
IR3733-IC533 11:36-11:51 11:56-13:02


SS

One more thing...you can buy your tickets up to 31 days in advance online at:

https://buy.b-rail.be/eTicketing/ETi...come.do?lang=3

You get a PDF file ticket to print out and take with you to the train.

[NOTE: I haven't done this yet for the Belgian Railways -- will do so in about two weeks -- but have had success previously with the Thalys and the Italian systems...I assume it's pretty much the same, though it took several attempts to get my credit card to clear witht he Thalys.]

SS

We're going from the airport to Bruges. Is it better to change trains in Ghent rather than in downtown Brussels?

Update...

I've bought my BRU-airport-to-Brugge (day 1 of my upcoming trip) and my Brussels-Nord-to-BRU-airport (last day) tickets online without any problems. Saved and printed out two copies the PDF tickets.

The Brugge tix were via Brussels-Nord (the default), which, from what I hear, is fine.

My only recommendation is to give your credit card company a heads-up about the impending oversears transactions, or they may deny them. I have a specific card (Capital One, with no surcharge) that I have always used for overseas purchases, so there was no problem.

SS