Brussels Travel Forum

Hi!

I'm going inter-railing in June and I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on getting to Brussels from Paris by train?

Much appreciated!

T

The fastest most comfortable way is to take the Thalys from Paris Gare Nord. Prices vary depending on when you book, your age and how flexible you want the ticket to be. Splurge on First Class if you can. The service, food etc is great. Trip takes 1hr 20mins.

The private train known as Thalys will get you there most quickly. Trains normally depart at 25 and 55 past the hour from the Gare du Nord, arriving in Bruxelles-Midi (South) station just under 90 minutes later.

I have no experience with Inter-Rail or Euro-Domino, but I know you only get a partial discount with Eurail on this train. Also, seat reservation is mandatory. I recommend you do some research at the Inter-Rail website (http://www.interrailnet.com) to see what your options are.

Enjoy your trip!

Mark

Thanks for this, much appreciated- as for the partial discount, that surprises me, I must look into each of the services I need to take more closely...just to make sure I won't have any extra costs!

Thanks again xo

Just for your information, Thalys trains are not private : they are co-operated buy SNCF (french national railways, SNCB :belgian national railways and Deutche bahn : german national railways).
And yes, it's the faster solution.

Actually Thalys is not only the best, but the ONLY train solution! There are no other trains than the high-speed, reservation only, Thalys between Brussels and Paris, and while it used to be possible avoid using TGVs (trains à grande vitesse = high speed trains) by going via Lille, I understand that there are now no non-TGV trains between Paris and Lille either, so this doesn't work any more.
The point about "partial discount" presumably arises because a Eurail pass (please do not make the mistake of thinking there is such a thing as a Eurail train operator, there isn't: only national rail companies and consortia thereof, such as Thalys, Eurostar) only covers "normal", non-TGV, non-supplement (e.g. sleeper) trains. You will therefore have to pay a supplement for the Thalys seat reservation (or buy a separate Thalys ticket, when seat reservation will be included, see www.thalys.com), and I would advise you to buy this from French Railways at a station in Paris for about €3 since I have seen that the Eurail, Eurorail etc. agencies charge about 20 USD.
Alternatively, consider going by Eurolines coach, it takes 4 hours from either La Défense or Galiéni in Paris to the Gare du Nord in Brussels (btw Thalys arrives at Gare du Midi) and is very cheap if booked at least a month in advance: http://www.eurolines.fr/Pages/FR/webV2/home.jsp.
Of course, Thalys takes only 1h22 so you have to trade speed/price.

First, about the status of Thalys: While the trains are OPERATED by a consortium of French, Belgian, German and Dutch Rail, it is actually an independent entity. From the Thalys website:

-----
Thalys International is a company with a European focus based in Brussels.


Trading name :
THALYS INTERNATIONAL

Statute :
Belgian limited liability cooperative

Registered office :
Place Stéphanie, 20 BE - 1050 Bruxelles

Registration/VAT nos. :
RPM Brussels (Banque Carrefour des Entreprises)
Company no. VAT BE 0455.370.557.
-----

Second, sorry I was writing a bit cryptically; I meant that Eurailpass/Select Pass does not completely cover travel on Thalys. You can, however, purchase tickets at a discounted "Passholder Fare." I'm not sure if the same is the case with Inter-Rail or Euro Domino, or if they're completely valid on Thalys. I am aware there is no such rail system as "Eurail."

Excellent, thanks. We're re-considering exactly where to go currently, we've possibly decided on too wide a space to cover- who knows where we'll end up now- back to the drawing board!

With an interrail pass you don't have to pay a "supplement" for the use of TGV's in France, nor for the Thalys service between Paris and Brussels. You do have to reserve a seat however, for which you will have to pay a fee. The fee for normal TGV's is 4 euro for off peak trains, but can be up to 27 euro for peak hour trains.
On the Thalys service to Brussels the reservation fee is 12 Euro.
One can ofcourse choose to consider the high reservation fee a supplement, but the companies themselves don't see it that way.

Interesting information there, I wouldn't mind paying a reservation fee provided it wasn't on every stop of course... I'm starting to realise this is more complicated than one would think haha- very excited though

Hi arty_girl,
because I work for the Belgian Railways this is my cup of tee!
Thalys is NOT the only way to get from Paris to Brussels. There are still regular trains but in the best occasion you'll have to change 3 times and the trip will take 4,5 hours, the worst will be 5 changes and 5,5 hours. These possibilities are only possible 3 to 4 times a day (I don't know by heart).
The 'supplement' is the same as the 'reservation'.
From Paris to Lille there are only high speed trains. Supplements cost from 1,5€ to 9€ depending on the hour your journey starts. In France they have Red and Blue time-periods. The red ones are the peak hours and the most expensive. From Lille to Brussels you also have to buy a supplement that costs another 3€. The supplement for Thalys is 13€. Interrail or Eurrail doesn't make a difference. For every high speed train you'll have to pay a supplement (reservation included). If you're travelling in high season, which starts in june, you're best option is to buy reservations in advance because there are only a limited number of seats with Pass fare (as we call this).

Regarding "Thalys is NOT the only way to get from Paris to Brussels.": it is the only DIRECT train, and since even going via Lille (+ Ghent, in order to avoid Eurostar) you have to take a TGV, there is no longer any non-TGV option - unless perhaps you could work out a really roundabout route via Luxembourg/Germany...
There is only a 'supplement' for the 'reservation' if you have a railpass, if you buy a point-to-point Thalys/TGV ticket, the seat reservation is included in the price.

There are indeed rounabout routes. But as I mentionned you'll have to change a a few times and it takes much longer to get there.
Another cheaper possibility is to take the TGV from Brussels to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport (3€ reservation fee) and then take the RER B to Paris Nord. The complete trip will take a bitt less than 2 hours.
The ticket for the RER from CDG to Paris Nord is included in your Interrail-Pass, you just have to collect it in the CDG terminal 1 at the ticket desk.
For the return you have to pay the RER ticket (6,40€ if you're younger than 26).
For the return the last DIRECT TGV from CDG to Brussels is 18:48, but you could go via Lille Europe allthough you would only win 30 minutes.
It's not ideal but it could be an option if you really wanted to go and see Paris. It also depends on how many days you'd like to stay in Paris.

Thanks for this everyone :) xo