Belgium Travel Answers

The sncf site will not let you book more than 3 months in advance, unless the first part of a return ticket is within those 3 months.

yep it could be that as pfsmalo said, too early for booking. Or the holiday hundrum made a mess of the sites, try again. and ask for e ticket ,location belgium. cheers

There is absolutely no need to book Brussel - Luxemburg in advance. The price for a ticket from Brussel to Luxemburg is the same, whether you buy it a year or a minute before departure... Just buy it at the station once you are there. Price is 36,20 in 2nd class, and the ticket is valid on any train on the route.

yes its true there is no need, but for peace of mind if the poster wants to buy ahead then might need to try the site and come back a bit later. Its a choice.

Hmmmn, I believe that what K_V_B meant was that there is no point in buying the ticket in advance, as there are no reserved seats on these InterCity trains between Brussels Midi and Luxembourg. That is, the train can't sell out, so there is no reason not to wait until you get to Brussels to get the ticket. Please note the conditions for this ticket: "Travel Conditions: no specific travel conditions. ATTENTION: homeprint tickets have a validity of 1 day! Exchange Conditions: No exchange possible Refund Conditions: Refund before the 1st day of validity: EUR 5 fee/refund from the 1st day of validity: EUR 15 fee Digital Homeprint" tickets can only be refunded in their original point of sales (i.e. not at the train stations) Special information: Ticket valid for any conventional train on the requested route during the whole validity period of the ticket (for homeprinted tickets, the validity period is limited to the requested travel date). Not valid on high-speed trains, except for ICE trains." (from the b-europe.com website) Note that if I read this correctly, that had you been able to buy the ticket and printed it at home, that the ticket would have been good only on the original date that you requested...but suppose that once you got to Brussels, you decided to change the date of your trip to Luxembourg...nope, can't do it with a homeprinted ticket...much better to wait until you get to Brussels and have finalized your plans on when you're going to Luxembiurg, then buy the ticket... Bill

!i know Mccalpin (sp) thats what I answered. if the OP wants peace of mind why not

!i know Mccalpin (sp) thats what I answered. if the OP wants peace of mind why not

Well, part of the problem is "book". Did the OP intend to imply "reserve a place"? If so, K_V_B is perfectly correct that there is no point in doing this in advance because you can't reserve a place. I don't know what the OP meant, but we have seen many people here not realize that no seat reservations are even possible for a large number of trains in Europe - they get all worked up about not being able to buy tickets in advance when it turns out that there is no benefit to do so... And when I read the fine print at the b-europe.com website, I now see a downside to buying in advance...if the OP had printed a ticket at home, then it would cost 15 euro to change the ticket (if desired) once he/she got to Belgium...so not only is there no upside, there's an actual downside to buying in advance(!). If the OP needed a reservation, then you can make an argument for buying in advance; if the OP will be very rushed at the station and have trouble buying a last minute ticket, then you can make an argument for buying in advance; if the OP wants a discount fare that won't be available at the station, then you can make an argument for buying in advance...but I just don't see any reason to do it in this case... Bill

if he/she buys it at voyages-sncf, and use the e-ticket option with pickup in FRance he wont have any surcharges at all, I do it all the time here, and folks from abroad who follow this too. They even send you e ticket by email. Then again, that is his choice. I ,also, stated is no need to book in advance. Cheers

@gwened: Train travel in Belgium is different than in France. The Brussel - Luxemburg train is of a service comparable to a TER in France. Would you buy a TER ticket in advance? If you were going Strassbourg - Basel on a TER train, would you book in advance? As far as I know you can't reserve seats on TER trains. Neither can you on any domestic Belgian train. And the trains to Luxemburg are considered domestic. If the OP wants "peace of mind" then I can give that: Only if something happens that prevents the trains from running on the day he or she wants to travel will it not be possible to go from Brussel to Luxemburg by train. Otherwhise you will with 100% certainty be able to buy a ticket at the station and treval. The Brussel Luxemburg trains run every hour. They don't require reservations, which aren't even possible. They don't require booking in advance. They are "buy ticket and hop on" type of trains, that will take as many people as you can fit on them. Heck, even trains that do require advanced booking can be bought on the spot. I've once bought a ticket for a Rotterdam - Brussel Thalys when the train was already standing at the platform. The international ticket desk at Rotterdam CS at that time did face platform 1, where that train left from, and I just pointed outside and said: "That one", paid, and still made it on board... :-)

yes i know the Thalys is the one I use the most on my runs there. I know the difference. I stand corrected on the booking. You are right as always on trains. For some reason I was thinking peace of mind= booking ahead. Yes same as the TER here,no need to buy And yes even the TGV can buy same day if have time to wait for next train as the one you want is full. Actually for five euros you can change and go on the next one yourself. I do it at montparnasse when time is of the essence

I stand corrected on mccalpin too I think he was trying to tell me the same thing. Lol!!! those trains...

Thanks for all the advices. I will take note of them and hope to do as you say.