Bastogne Travel Forum

I will be traveling to Brussels on June 13. I would like to make a day trip to Bastogne.

Question? I assume that rail service is available. How long would a round trip take and at what expense.

Check www.nmbs.be:
-Single way takes 2h55 (change trains in Libramont).

Normal return price is 35.40 EUR, but it seems you can use "A Day In The Ardennes"-ticket which only costs 13.60 EUR (must return on the same day).

Have a great trip,
Mark

Thanks for the information. Are the trains "easy" to travel on? I only speak/read English and Spanish. I want to visit WWII sites while there. Is it practical to leave Brussels in the morning, travel to Bastogne, and perhaps hit the military museum in Luxemborg, then head back to Brussels the same night?

Michael

The trains are very easy to travel on, and the b-rail site is easy to use, but Bastogne is not all that easy to get to or around rapidly by public transport, see http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/bastogne.shtml. Although it doesn't seem to be true that you have to get a bus from Libramont, as b-rail shows trains to Bastogne-Sud from Libramont. As you would have to change at Libramont in both directions, Bastogne to Luxembourg takes 2 hours and Luxembourg to Brussels, 3 hours, so unless you start really early in the morning and return to Brussels really late at night, you would be pushing it to do both Bastogne and Luxembourg in one day and you wouldn't have much time in either. You can put what you want into http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/query.exe/en?L=b-rail& but a possible programme could be (on a weekday):
Dep. Bruxelles Central/Brussel Centraal 07:40; Arr. Libramont 09:44
Dep. Libramont 09:50; Arr. Bastogne Sud 10:23
I asked the system for a 4-hour stopover, don't know if this is enough for you. Dep. Bastogne-Sud 14:28; Arr. Libramont 15:05
Dep. Libramont 15:46; Arr. Luxembourg 16:36
The station isn't far from the centre of town so you could go and see the "casemates" before possibly returning on the last train:
Dep. Luxembourg 20.24; Arr. Bxl Gare du Midi 23.24
BUT, upon checking the closing time of the military museum (18.00), I find it isn't even in Luxembourg (Ville), it's in DIEKIRCH, so NO, I don't see how you can do Bastogne and Diekirch in one day by train, you'd do better to stay overnight in Luxembourg and you can do Diekirch and return to Brussels the next day.
http://www.nat-military-museum.lu/pageshtml/museumprofile.html#5

There is a military museum and monument in Bastogne as well but it is outside of the centre. Not sure how the public transport is to get there.