This page explains how to buy train tickets from Bruges to other European cities at the cheapest prices, buying online direct from the operators, usually with print-at-home tickets. Click here to buy tickets starting in another city. Suggested hotel in Bruges.
I want to go from Bruges to...
Travelling from Ghent? The advice on this page will also help you with journeys from Ghent as the booking process is usually the same.
Before you buy your
tickets...
Take a moment to read these important tips for buying European train tickets. It answers all the usual questions, "Do I need to book in advance or can I just buy at the station?", "Can I stop off?", "Are there Senior fares?" and that old favourite, "Should I buy an $800 railpass or just buy a €35 point-to-point ticket online?". And most important, click here to understand how far ahead you can buy train tickets.
European train travel
FAQ...
Bruges to Brussels for €14.40...
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Belgian domestic InterCity trains link Bruges with Brussels Midi & Brussels Central every half-hour throughout the day, fare €14.40 each way.
The price is fixed and no reservation is necessary or even possible. Just turn up, buy a ticket and hop on the next train, easy!
Tip: You want the half-hourly Bruges to Brussels trains direct via Ghent taking around 1 hour. Don't get on a stopping train to Brussels via Roesalere taking 2h16!
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Standard tickets
Standard fares are valid on any train that day. You can't stop off, buy two separate tickets for that. A round trip is twice the price of a one-way, unless made with a weekend return.
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Weekend return tickets
If making a round trip to Brussels between 19:01 on Friday and the last train on Sunday, you can buy a weekend return for little more than the cost of a one-way, Bruges to Brussels €15.80 return.
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Senior tickets
Anyone aged 65 or over can buy a €6.80 second class or €14.40 first class Senior Ticket for any point-to-point journey in Belgium, travelling on any train at weekends or any train after 09:00 on weekdays. It covers a one-way or same-day round trip between the stations you specify. Available all year round, but not valid most weekends in July & August.
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Stopovers...
You can stop off on the way with normal Belgian train tickets, as long as it's at a station on the direct route and you complete the journey the same day. If in doubt, buy two tickets.
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Rail-Pass...
If you plan to make multiple journeys around Belgium, you can buy a card giving you 10 one-way journeys anywhere in Belgium over the course of one year, for €77 2nd class or €117 in 1st class. That's €7.70 per journey! Buy at any staffed Belgian station. Check this and similar offers at www.belgiantrain.be.
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To check times & prices, and buy a print-at-home ticket online to save time at the ticket office, use the Belgian Railways website www.belgiantrain.be.
Bruges to Ghent, Antwerp & other destinations in Belgium...
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Simply check prices & train times at www.belgiantrain.be, then either buy online to save time at the ticket office, or buy at the station on the day.
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No reservation is necessary for Belgian domestic trains, they cannot sell out and there is no advantage in buying ahead other than saving time buying on the day. It's a turn-up-and-go railway.
Bruges to Amsterdam from €29, see the Bruges to Amsterdam page...
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You can easily travel from Bruges to Amsterdam by train in as little as 2 hours 44 minutes with departures every hour or so and fares from just €30. Train is the safe & comfortable way to go! You'll find full details on the Bruges to Amsterdam page.
Bruges to Paris from €56...
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Every half-hour, a Belgian InterCity train links Bruges (Brugge) with Brussels Midi in 56-64 minutes, then high-speed Thalys trains run from Brussels Midi to Paris Gare du Nord every hour or so in as little as 1h22, see more information about Thalys.
I'd allow at least 20 minutes to change in Brussels.
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Buy Bruges to Paris tickets at www.thetrainline.com. Booking opens up to 4 months ahead.
Tip: Select Brugge (Belgium). You do not want Bruges in France (yes, there's a Bruges in France, south of Bordeaux). Nor do you want Brugge-Sint-Pieters, just plain Brugge.
Tip: In the search results, look for journeys taking around 2h40 with 1 change, with Thalys. Journeys via Kortrijk & Lille take an hour longer, involve an extra change, even though they may be cheaper.
You'll get an open ticket from Bruges to Brussels (no reservation necessary or possible, valid on any half-hourly train that day) plus a reserved seat on a specific Thalys train from Brussels to Paris, all in one transaction. You can print your e-ticket on A4 paper (Letter size paper is fine) or download the SNCB Europe app and show the e-ticket on your phone.
Tip: Feel free to take any Bruges-Brussels train before the one www.thetrainline.com suggests, either to have a more leisurely connection or to spend some time in Brussels between trains. Information about Brussels Midi.
Bruges to London from £50, www.eurostar.com...
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Simply buy a ticket from Any Belgian Station to London at www.eurostar.com and print out your own ticket.
You can also book at www.thetrainline.com, which has the advantage that it will work out the Bruges-Brussels train times for you as well, also with print-at-home tickets.
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Booking opens up to 6 months ahead, book early as Eurostar has airline-style pricing with cheap fares in advance, expensive fares on the day.
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A ticket from Any Belgian Station to London covers a journey from Bruges to London using the regular half-hourly Belgian InterCity (IC) trains from Bruges to Brussels Midi taking around 1 hour, then a Eurostar journey to London St Pancras taking just 2 hours.
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If you get a through ticket from www.eurostar.com, it's valid on any Bruges-Brussels IC train at any time in the 24 hours before your Eurostar leaves Brussels. It is valid in the same class as the Eurostar ticket, so if you buy a 1st class (Standard Premier or Business Premier) ticket on Eurostar, you get 1st class travel on the Belgian IC train. There are no seat reservations on Belgian domestic trains, you just sit where you like.
www.thetrainline.com usually sells you a Flex ticket for Bruges-Brussels, good for any train that day.
Bruges to Cologne, Frankfurt, Berlin, Germany from €27.90, www.bahn.de...
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Belgian domestic trains link Bruges with Brussels Midi in 58-64 minutes twice an hour through the day. High-speed trains then link Brussels Midi with Cologne Hbf every hour or two in 1h50 - some are French & Belgian-owned Thalys trains and others are German-run ICE trains that continue to Frankfurt (Main) Hbf. Change in Cologne or Frankfurt for destinations all over Germany.
I'd stick with ICE as you can then buy a through ticket from Bruges or anywhere in Belgium to anywhere in Germany, which makes it both cheaper and more secure than using Thalys (because you get passenger rights in the event of a delay & missed connection with a through ticket that you don't get if you have 3 separate tickets that you'd get if you used Thalys).
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Buy tickets from Bruges to anywhere in Germany from €27.90 using the German Railways www.bahn.de.
You print your own ticket or can show it on your laptop or phone. I recommend registering when prompted, so you can log on at any time and check or reprint tickets.
If you want to see journeys involving Thalys as well as ICE, use www.thetrainline.com,.
Bruges to all other countries...
Take a Belgian InterCity train from Bruges to Brussels and change there. See the International trains from Brussels page.
Find
hotels in Bruges & other cities
Recommended hotel in Bruges: Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce...
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If you can afford it and for somewhere really special, go for the Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce, a luxurious and romantic boutique-style hotel in a fabulous location on the canal and within easy walking distance of all the sights. My own stay here was a delight, and Mrs 61 was particularly impressed to be sharing the breakfast room with the lead guitarist from Pink Floyd...
Recommended hotel...
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In Bruges, if you can afford it and for somewhere really special, try the Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce, a luxurious and romantic boutique-style hotel in a fabulous location on the canal and within easy walking distance of all the sights.
Other hotel sites worth trying...
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www.tripadvisor.com is the place to find independent travellers' reviews of all the main hotels.
Backpacker hostels...
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www.hostelworld.com: If you're on a tight budget, don't forget about backpacker hostels. Hostelworld offers online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in backpacker hostels in most cities at rock-bottom prices.
Travel insurance & VPN
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Always take out travel insurance...
Never travel overseas without travel insurance from a reliable insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover cancellation and loss of cash and belongings, up to a sensible limit. 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 with Staysure.co.uk myself. Here are some suggested insurers. Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these links.
www.staysure.co.uk
offers enhanced Covid-19 protection & gets 4.7 out of 5 on
Trustpilot.
www.columbusdirect.com
is also a well-know brand.
If you live in the USA try
Travel Guard USA.
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Get an eSIM with mobile data package
Don't rely on WiFi, download an eSIM with a mobile data package for the country you're visiting and stay connected. Most newer mobile phones can download a virtual SIM card so you don't need to buy a physical SIM, including iPhone 11 & later, see device compatibility list. Maya.net is a reliable eSIM data retailer with a 4.5 out of 5 Trustpilot rating and a range of packages including unlimited data.
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Get a Curve card for foreign travel
Most banks give you a poor exchange rate, then add a foreign transaction fee on top. A Curve MasterCard means no foreign transaction fees and gives you the mid-market exchange rate, at least up to a certain limit, £500 per month at time of writing. The money you spend on your Curve card goes straight onto one of your existing debit or credit cards.
How it works: 1. Download the Curve app for iPhone or Android. 2. Enter your details & they'll send you a Curve MasterCard - they send to the UK and most European addresses. 3. Link your existing credit & debit cards to the app, you can link up to two cards with the free version of Curve, I link my normal debit card and my normal credit card. 4. Now use the Curve MasterCard to buy things online or in person or take cash from ATMs, exactly like a normal MasterCard. Curve does the currency conversion and puts the balance in your own currency onto whichever debit or credit card is currently selected in the Curve app. You can even change your mind about which card it goes onto, within 14 days of the transaction.
I have a Curve Blue card myself, it means I can buy a coffee on a foreign station on a card without being stung by fees and lousy exchange rates, just by tapping the Curve card on their card reader. The money goes through Curve to my normal debit card and is taken directly from my account (in fact I have the Curve card set up as payment card on Apple Pay on my iPhone, so can double-click my phone, let it do Face ID then tap the reader with the phone - even easier than digging a card out). I get a little commission if you sign up to Curve, but I recommend it here because I think it's great. See details, download the app and get a Curve card, they'll give you £5 cashback through that link.
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Get a VPN for safe browsing. VPNs & why you need one explained
When you're travelling you often use free WiFi in public places which may not be secure. A VPN encrypts your connection so it's always secure, even on unsecured WiFi. It also means you can select the geographic location of the IP address you browse with, to get around geoblocking which a surprising number of websites apply. See VPNs & why you need one explained. ExpressVPN is a best buy with a 4.7 out of 5 Trustpilot ranking which I use myself - I've signed up as an ExpressVPN affiliate, and if you go with expressvpn.com using the links on this page, you should see a special deal, 3 months free with an annual subscription. I get a small commission to help support this site.
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Always carry an Anker powerbank
Tickets, reservations, vaccination records and Interrail or Eurail passes are often held digitally on your mobile phone, so it's vital to keep it charged. I always carry an Anker powerbank which can recharge my phone several times over if I can't get to a power outlet. Buy from Amazon.co.uk or from Buy from Amazon.com.