6 June 2010. Train times valid from 13 June to 11
December 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 £39 one-way or£69 return 2nd class or £107
one-way, £189 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
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
11:02
12:02
13:02
15:29
17:29
19:02
20:29
22:02
23:02
00:02
Eurostar (30 minute check-in)
Saturdays
Sundays
Depart London St Pancras
06:59
07:57
08:57
10:57
12:57
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
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
20:32
23:05
12:32
15:32
18:05
19:32
20:32
22:05
23:05
Arrive Bruges
11:29
12:29
13:29
15:29
17:29
21:29
00:02
13:29
16:29
19:02
20:29
21:29
23:02
00:02
f = Runs on Fridays only.
m = Runs on Mondays & Fridays only.
n = Does not run on Fridays. p =
departs 07:59 on Fridays.
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. 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. Remember that 'Bruges' can also be written in
Flemish as
'Brugge', it's the same place.
Short breaks
in Brussels or Bruges by train.
Brussels, Bruges ► London
Mondays-Fridays
Saturdays
Depart Bruges
04:51
05:58
07:31
09:31
12:31
13:58
14:58
15:58
16:58
18:31
18:31
05:23
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 08432 186 186 (+44 1233 617575 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 has
three classes, business first class (branded 'Business
Premier'), leisure first class (branded 'Leisure Select'
until Aug 2010, 'Standard Premier' from Sept 2010), and
Standard class. 'Business Premier' first class has flexible
tickets, access to executive lounges at stations and a 10 minute minimum
check-in. 'Leisure select' first class (to be
rebranded 'Standard Premier' from 1 September 2010) offers
more affordable fares for upmarket leisure travellers, but
no ticket flexibility, a 30-minute minimum check-in and no access
to executive lounges. The seats in both types of 1st class are
identical, with meals & alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks
included. You'll find Eurostar trains
very smooth & quiet, even at 186 mph. All passengers have access to two buffet-bar
cars serving drinks and snacks. Eurostar is all
non-smoking. 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 25 minute stroll from the
famous Grand Place
(Grote Markt) in the city centre, or there are buses, taxis
& 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).
Restaurants
near Brussels Midi or the Grande Place: There are
many cafes & snackbars in or near Brussels Midi station, but
for something a bit more upmarket, try the huge and
modernistic 'Midi Station' restaurant, brasserie & bar (www.midistation.eu)
which does a great steak tartare. It's right opposite the
main exit from Brussels Midi station on the platform 1 side
of the station
(the Eurostar terminal side).
Just off the Grande Place in central Brussels there are vast
numbers of 'tourist trap' restaurants, but try the 'Aux Armes de Bruxelles' (www.armebrux.be),
one of the very few really good traditionally Belgian restaurants in the vicinity
of the Grande Place.
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 and booking a hotel separately.
Visiting the site of the Battle of Waterloo, 1815...
It was 'the closest run thing you
ever saw in your life', according to the Duke of Wellington.
And if he'd lost, perhaps this website would have been
written in French. You can visit the battle
site, climbing the 'Butte de Lion' (the lion monument, built on
a man-made mound in 1823-1826) for a superb view over the whole
battlefield. Next to the Lion is a visitors centre
which explains what happened, a
'panorama' (a circular building built in 1912 which houses a
360 degree panorama painting of the battle) and across the
road is a small wax museum. Open 7 days a week, all
year. There are also tours of the battlefield starting
from the visitors centre. For visitor information, see
www.waterloo1815.be/en/waterloo/.
How to reach
Waterloo...
Take Eurostar to Brussels Midi, then
change onto a local train to either Waterloo
station (the original one!) or the next stop, Braine
l'Alleud, on the line towards Nivelles &
Charleroi. Remember that your Eurostar ticket is valid
to any Belgian station by any suitable connecting train
within 24 hours of arriving in Brussels, so there's no need
to pay for another ticket, it's included. Allow at least 20 minutes outward, at least
50 minutes on your return, to change at Brussels.
Advice on changing
trains at Brussels Midi station. Trains to
Waterloo run every hour from Brussels Midi, Brussels Central &
Brussels Nord, taking around 25 minutes from Midi.
Trains to Braine l'Alleud run half-hourly, with the faster ones
taking just 14 minutes non-stop. You can
check train times at
www.b-rail.be. Waterloo station is 5.3km from the battle
site, a taxi will cost around 19-21 euros each way. There
aren't usually any taxis waiting at the station, so call Taxis Fabrimone on +32
2 354 28 41 or Taxis Waterloo on +32 2 351 26 26.
Braine l'Alleud station is much closer at just 2.7km from the battlefield, you can walk it in 35 minutes or you could take
a taxi.
Map showing walking route from Braine l'Alleud station to
battlefield.
Arrival at Waterloo station,
a few miles to the battle site.
The 'Butte de Lion', built
in 1823-1826 on the site of the allied front line at the
Battle of Waterloo. 226 steps, 41
metres high.
View down
the steps of the Butte de Lion, showing the 1912-built
Panorama building and visitors centre. The British
front line was along the road...
Travelling to Antwerp (Anvers), Liège,
Ghent, Namur,
Dinant, or anywhere else in Belgium?
Eurostar tickets to Brussels
are automatically valid to anystation in
Belgium. So the same £69 return fare will get you
to Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Liege, Namur, or anywhere else in
Belgium. 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 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.
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. There's a ferry from Ramsgate to
Oostende, but for vehicles only.
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:
Summer 2010 edition (June to December 2010)
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 travel without insurance from a
reliable travel 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.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Columbus Direct or
Go Travel Insurance, or go to
Confused.com to run a price comparison on a whole range of
travel insurance providers for your dates of travel, seeing
their policy's features at a glance.
Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed
connection, but European international rail conditions of
carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection
provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next
available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to
the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and
even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and
non-changeable.
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 a pre-paid euro currency MasterCard from Caxton FX...
You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency MasterCard, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' MasterCard.
Find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up over £1,000 in
data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, 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% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. Go-Sim
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
