9 November 2009. Train times valid from 13 December 2009
to June 2010.
Booking tips:
- Use this
form to book direct with
www.eurostar.com, with no booking fees & all the cheap
fares shown. You simply
print out your own ticket, or collect it at the station. Booking opens
120 days before departure.
- St Pancras
is Eurostar's London station. You can also buy through tickets from 130 UK towns & cities.
- This form
is set up for journeys starting in the UK, to book a
journey starting in Belgium,
click here.
- Business
Premier & Leisure Select = 1st class with drinks &
meals included. Standard = 2nd class.
Eurostar is the
high-speed passenger train from London (St Pancras
International station) to
central Brussels via the Channel Tunnel. There are
departures throughout the day, taking as little as 1 hour 51
minutes now that the whole UK high speed line
has opened from London to the Channel Tunnel. Eurostar trains travel at up to 186
mph (300 km/h) on the high speed lines. From central
London to central Brussels, Eurostar is faster than flying,
as well as more comfortable, more convenient and more reliable.
You
can check Eurostar times & fares and buy tickets at
www.eurostar.com.
Fares start at £35 one-way or£59 return 2nd class or £99
one-way, £175 return 1st class
(non-refundable, non-changeable). This
fare is automatically valid to any Belgian station, for example Bruges or
Antwerp, not just
Brussels. There are no Eurostar services on Christmas
Day.
London ►
Brussels & Bruges (from 13 December 2009)
Eurostar (30 minute check-in)
Mondays-Fridays
Depart London St Pancras
06:20
07:30 n
08:27
11:04
12:57
14:34 f
16:04
17:27
18:35
19:34
Arrive Brussels Midi/Zuid
09:44
10:28 n
11:33
14:05
16:03
17:33 f
19:03
20:33
21:33
22:33
Change trains in
Brussels onto the half-hourly InterCity train to
Bruges, included in your Eurostar ticket.
Depart Brussels Midi/Zuid
10:05
11:05
12:05
14:32
16:32
18:05
19:32
21:05
22:05
23:05
Arrive Bruges
11:04
12:04
13:04
15:27
17:27
19:04
20:27
22:04
23:04
00:02
Eurostar (30 minute check-in)
Saturdays
Sundays
Depart London St Pancras
06:59
07:57
08:57
10:57
12:57
14:34
17:04
19:34
08:57
11:57
14:34
16:04
16:57
18:25
19:34
Arrive Brussels Midi/Zuid
10:03
11:03
12:03
14:05
16:03
17:33
20:03
22:33
12:03
15:03
17:33
19:03
20:03
21:30
22:33
Change trains in
Brussels onto the half-hourly InterCity train to
Bruges, no reservation required, included in your
Eurostar ticket.
Depart Brussels Midi/Zuid
10:32
11:32
12:32
14:32
16:32
18:05
20:32
23:05
12:32
15:32
18:05
19:32
20:32
22:05
23:05
Arrive Bruges
11:27
12:27
13:27
15:27
17:27
19:04
21:27
00:02
13:27
16:27
19:04
20:27
21:27
23:04
00:04
f = Runs on Fridays only.
m = Runs on Mondays & Fridays only.
n = Does not run on Fridays. p =
departs 07:59 on Fridays.
For connections to other destinations in Belgium, simply use
www.b-rail.be
to find train times.
Heading to Bruges? A Eurostar ticket to
Brussels is valid to any station in Belgium, using any
suitable connecting train (including Belgian InterCity
trains but excluding international Thalys and ICE trains)
within 24 hours of your Eurostar arrival in Brussels, and on
the return, within 24 hours of your Eurostar departure from
Brussels. So feel free to stop off for a few hours in
Brussels. These times simply show the most direct
connection to and from Bruges.
Brussels
& Bruges ► London (from 13 December
2009)
Mondays-Fridays
Saturdays
Depart Bruges
04:53
05:58
07:58
09:31
12:31
13:58
14:58
15:58
16:58
18:31
18:31
05:24
05:58
07:31
09:31
11:58
15:58
17:58
Arrive Brussels Midi/Zuid
05:55
06:55
08:28
10:28
13:28
14:55
15:55
16:55
17:55
19:28
19:28
06:28
06:55
08:28
10:28
12:55
16:55
18:55
Change trains in Brussels
- remember the 30 minute Eurostar check-in!
Stop off in Brussels if you like.
Depart Brussels Midi/Zuid
06:59 n
08:05 p
09:29
11:29
14:29
15:59 f
16:59
17:59
18:59
20:17 n
20:29 f
06:59
07:59
09:29
11:29
13:59
17:59
19:59
Arrive London St Pancras
07:55 n
08:56
10:26
12:33
15:26
17:03
f
18:05
19:03
19:56
21:33 n
21:33 f
07:55
08:56
10:26
12:33
15:03
19:03
21:03
Sundays
Depart Bruges
06:58
09:31
11:58
12:58
14:58
15:58
16:58
18:31
Arrive Brussels Midi/Zuid
07:55
10:28
12:55
13:55
15:55
16:55
17:55
19:28
Change trains in Brussels
- remember the 30 minute Eurostar check-in!
Stop off in Brussels if you like.
If you are only
going from London to Brussels, Bruges or anywhere else in Belgium,
the best and cheapest way to book Eurostar is online at
www.eurostar.com (or use the form on the right). Tickets will be sent to
any UK address, or you can choose to pick up tickets at the
station before departure, useful if you
live outside Europe or are travelling at short notice. You can also book by calling
Eurostar on 0870 5 186
186 (+870 5 186 186 from outside the UK).
Tips on
choosing a specific Eurostar seat.
If you
are going beyond Belgium and want to book Eurostar together
with other European trains, you should book both the
Eurostar and the onward train journey
together through a specialist European ticketing agency.
For a list of agencies,
see the Europe page.
Eurostar trains
are very smooth and quiet, even at 186 mph. 1st class
fares include an airline-style meal and complimentary
drinks. All passengers have access to two buffet-bar
cars serving drinks and snacks. Eurostar is all
non-smoking. Since September 2005, there are two categories
of first class on Eurostar, 'business' first class with
flexible tickets, access to executive lounges in London,
Paris & Brussels and a 15 minute minimum check-in, and
'leisure select' 1st class, with much cheaper fares but no
flexibility, a 30-minute minimum check-in and no access to
lounges. For more information about Eurostar and the
Eurostar journey, including tips on how to choose the best
seats, see the Eurostar
page. There is a virtual tour of 1st and 2nd class
seats on
www.eurostar.com.
A
Eurostar at St Pancras International...
Eurostar
1st class...
Eurostar
2nd class...
Arriving at Brussels Midi
station...
Eurostar arrives at platforms 1 &
2 at Brussels Midi station (Bruxelles Midi in French,
Brussel Zuid in Flemish, Brussels South in English, it's the same place).
Brussels Midi is any easy 20-25 minute stroll from the
famous Grand Place
(Grote Markt) in the city centre, or there are buses, taxis and metro
available. You can get a free tourist map from the
tourist information kiosk in the middle of Brussels Midi
station concourse near the exit from the Eurostar terminal.
To walk to the city centre, leave the station from the main
doors on the Eurostar terminal (platform 1/2) side of the
station, turn right, walk along the side of the
station/tracks for a few minutes and then turn left along
the Rue Stalingrad to central Brussels.
Left luggage
facilities are available if you need them, open 24 hours.
When returning to London, remember the 30 minute Eurostar
check-in.
Click here for a map of Brussels.
Bus, tram &
metro information for Brussels (English button top
right).
Short breaks to Brussels or
Bruges...
The historic city of Bruges makes a truly excellent short
break destination from the UK - better, in my opinion,
than Brussels.
You can find short breaks to Bruges or Brussels combining Eurostar
and hotel at
www.eurostar.com and
www.lastminute.com, and this is often cheaper than
buying train tickets an booking a hotel separately.
Travelling to
Bruges (Brugge), Ghent, Antwerp (Anvers), Liège, Namur,
Dinant, Waterloo?
Eurostar tickets to Brussels
are automatically valid to anystation in
Belgium. So the same £59 return fare will get you
to Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Liege, Namur, or anywhere else in
Belgium. It will even get you to Waterloo (the
original Waterloo south of Brussels,
site of the 1815
battle and well worth visiting!). You can use any reasonable connecting train
service from Brussels to your final destination in Belgium
as long as you complete the journey within 24 hours of the
Eurostar arriving in Brussels. Trains generally run
hourly or half-hourly between Brussels and all main Belgian
cities, no reservation necessary, you just hop on.
You can use the online timetable at
www.bahn.de or
www.nmbs.be
to check exact train times. Allow at least 25 minutes
in Brussels to make a connection on the outward journey, and
45 minutes (preferably a bit more) on the return to allow
for the necessary 30-minute Eurostar check-in.
Similarly, on the return journey you can leave any time
within 24 hours of the departure of your Eurostar from
Brussels back to London. Tickets are not valid on
high-speed Thalys or Germany ICE trains, only the normal
Belgian domestic trains including Belgian InterCity trains.
Bruges (Brugge
in Flemish) is an ideal place for a short break.
Air-conditioned InterCity trains like the one shown below
link Brussels Midi with Bruges every 30 minutes, journey
time 56 minutes. Reservation unnecessary, you just
turn up and hop on. When boarding a train for Bruges
in Brussels, it can help to know that the departure
indicators will show either 'Oostende', 'Knokke' or 'Blankenberge'
as the final destination of your train, the indicators don't
always show 'Bruges' as this is just an intermediate calling
point.
There
have been no ferries at all from Dover to Oostende for some
years now.
It used to be possible to travel by
train+SeaCat from London via Dover & Calais
to Oostende, Bruges, Ghent and Brussels, with through
tickets available. Sadly,
Hoverspeed stopped operating on the Dover-Calais
route in November 2005, and it is no longer possible
to travel this way.
Through tickets from over 130 UK towns
& cities to Brussels or anywhere in Belgium...
Eurostar offer through tickets
from over 130 UK towns & cities to Brussels or any Belgian station -
use the booking form above to see
which UK stations have through tickets to Brussels or any Belgian station by Eurostar
& to book online.
Devon &
Cornwall to Brussels by sleeper + Eurostar...
You can take
the overnight 'Night Riviera' sleeper train from Cornwall,
Plymouth, Newton Abbott or Exeter to London Paddington, take
the Underground to St Pancras, then hop on a Eurostar to
Brussels -
see here for details.
Scotland to
Brussels by sleeper + Eurostar...
You can take
the overnight Caledonian Sleeper from Inverness, Aberdeen,
Edinburgh,, Glasgow and many other Scottish town and cities
to London Euston, walk to St Pancras, then hop on a Eurostar
to Brussels -
see here for details.
Scotland to
Belgium by cruise ferry...
Norfolkline (www.norfolkline-ferries.co.uk)
starts a new Rosyth (near Edinburgh) to Zeebrugge service
from Spring 2009. Sailing at 17:00 on Tuesdays, Thursdays,
Saturdays, arriving Zeebrugge at 13:00 next day. Take
a taxi to Zeebrugge station then a half-hourly train to
Bruges & Brussels, you can check train times & fares at www.b-rail.be.Returning, it sails from Zeebrugge at 18:00 on
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, arriving Rosyth at 14:00 next
day. Book online at
www.norfolkline-ferries.co.ukor
call 0844 499 0007. It promises to be a good
quality service, but a test booking for May came up with a
£5 foot passenger fare plus £255 for a cabin,
which was so not-on-this-planet I checked it by phone
with them. They have now introduced a £55 one-way,
£110 return fare with a reclining seat rather than a cabin,
but that's not great for sleeping in. So you may still want to take a train south
to Hull and go from there daily!
North of
England to Belgium by cruise ferry ...
You can travel from Hull to Belgium
by overnight cruise ferry, with or without a car. P&O
have a daily
ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge, departing 19:00 and
arriving 08:30 - see
www.poferries.com
or call 0870 2424 999. For onward train connections from
Zeebrugge to Brussels, Cologne or Paris, simply use
http://bahn.hafas.de. Arriving in Zeebrugge at
08:30 you should reach Brussels by 10:50 (change at Bruges)
and Paris by 14:04 (change at Bruges and Brussels).
The Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
2009 edition (June to December 2009)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
You
should take a good guidebook.
For the independent traveller, I think this means either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide. I
personally prefer the layout of the Lonely Planet, but others prefer
the Rough Guide. Both guidebooks provide the same excellent
level of practical information and historical background.
You won't regret buying one..!
Find a hotel in Brussels, Bruges or anywhere else in
Europe...
It's
easy to book hotels online to go with your train tickets, just
use the form below. This links to
www.hotelscombined.com, which is a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites for you
(including Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms, Opodo, Venere and many
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates. Set
up in 2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place
to start for booking any hotel online in any country,
worldwide. It saves me hours going round in circles on
umpteen different hotel sites!
www.venere.com
has a wide selection of hotels and a well-presented website.
The price you see is the price you pay, no hidden extras, and
you simply pay the hotel when you get there.
hotels in Brussels,
hotels in Bruges.
www.laterooms.com negotiates discounts for hotel rooms
booked within 3 months of travel, which makes it ideal for
train travellers booking train travel within the normal 90
days advance booking period.
www.tripadvisor.com
is the place to find
independent travellers' reviews of all the main hotels.
Backpacker hostels...
www.hostelbookers.com: If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget about backpacker hostels. Hostelbookers
offers online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in
backpacker hostels in Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck and most
other European cities at rock-bottom prices.
Travel insurance & health card
Get travel insurance..
Never go abroad without travel insurance from a
reliable insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
I've used
Direct Line myself and on one occasion, successfully
claimed back the cost of non-refundable Eurostar & trainhotel
tickets to Spain when we cancelled the trip because my mother
fell ill.
Feedback from
using insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome!
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, but if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85%. It
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
You
should take a good guidebook.
For the independent traveller, I think this means either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide. I
personally prefer the layout of the Lonely Planet, but others prefer
the Rough Guide. Both guidebooks provide the same excellent
level of practical information and historical background.
You won't regret buying one..!
www.venere.com
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, see
If you live in the USA or Canada, see
