Please sign in to post.

Belgium travel - Travel pass?

Hi All,
As some of you probably (hopefully) know I plan to travel to a few countries. My flight's on Sunday and I'm more or less settled on how I want to spend my time. I just wanted to know if there was a pass that would make travel between and within Brussels and Antwerp cheaper.

Here's the link where you can see my entire plan
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnrLPwp6tHypdDRLeWFsT1VmLU1QMFUxS0RQcWZ0SHc&usp=drive_web#gid=19

Please take a look only at the Belgium section, I'll make similar posts on the other forums for the other countries.

Thnx
Arvind

Posted by
12040 posts

How many people are on the trip with you? How many locations do you plan to visit within Belgium?

Belgian rail sells a 10 domestic trip pass for about €60 (last time I checked). More than one person can use the pass at a time, so let's say two people make a round trip from Brussels to Antwerpen. That would use 4 of the 10 trips. This pass probably isn't worth it if you're only making one trip within Belgium, but it might be if you plan more than that. You can purchase it at the ticket counter at any train station in the country.

Posted by
7181 posts

You have only two days in Belgium, and although you might use a pass to the last station before the border, leaving the country, it makes navigation more complicated. Forget the Belgium passes. Because your are in Belgium for the weekend, I think your single-tickets will be at a discount anyway. The problem could be a line at the ticket window because of reduced weekend staffing. You'll probably be unsuccessful at the vending machine, but possibly if you have chip and PIN. (Make sure you have Monday attractions that are actually open on Monday.)

Posted by
12040 posts

"You'll probably be unsuccessful at the vending machine, but possibly if you have chip and PIN. (Make sure you have Monday attractions that are actually open on Monday.)" For some odd reason, the vending machines at the stations only accept a certain type of credit card... I forget which one, but I think it's Eurocard. I even have an IC-enabled Visa and Maestrocard, and I can't use them.

Posted by
137 posts

Thanks Tim, Tom. Yeah, I'm just there for a couple of days 24th and 25th. I'll just stick to buying individual tickets then. Its just 1 trip that I plan to make to Antwerp and back.

Posted by
201 posts

Tom - two of us will be in Belgium in September and I anticipate 6 times we will be taking the train. Do you know what the pass is called for me to look up. I haven't been able to find it.

Posted by
7181 posts

http://www.belgianrail.be/en/travel-tickets/passes-cards.aspx

Depending on your age, student status, quantity of riders, and nationality, be sure to read about ALL possibilities. Note that short trips may be cheaper with individual tickets. One benefit of the 10-trip ticket is that if the ticket sale line is hopeless, you can use two lines on the pass even if it doesn't save you money, but you don't want to miss the train. You need to study the fares in advance to save the most.