Is it possible to travel between Zurich airport & Bruges in a day?

“ The flight from Zurich lands in Brussels at 2:05 pm. Then we would need to take a train into town to catch another train to Bruges. But...is it possible to accomplish all this travel in one day?

I’m a bit puzzled as to why you question why it wouldn’t be possible. Belgium is a small country. Have you checked out the website of the national railway company of Belgium? https://www.belgiantrain.be/en
If you do, you will see that it only takes 1.5 hour to train from Brussels Airport to Bruges. If you take the hourly direct train, you don’t even need to change trains.

“After Bruges, we need to make our way back to London to visit friends before flying home. Again, same question, is this possible in a day--traveling from Bruges by train to Brussels, switching trains and traveling on to London?”

Again, please check the train schedules. For international train travel from Belgium, please refer to https://www.b-europe.com/EN
This journey can be done in a little less than 4 hours.

Sounds like my question was dumb to you, but as I just realized that we need to shorten our trip and I am in panic mode (must change our plane tickets soon, as we are flying on Companion Fare tickets with BA) I was trying to get a quick, general answer to this question. Thank you for providing it. I will go ahead and change our plane tickets now and then I will definitely put the time into figuring out train schedules now that I know it is possible to travel so quickly between the cities involved.

Deb

Taking the train from Zurich to Bruges will take 7 to 8 hours with multiple connections. It's highly unlikely that at you can do this the same day you land, especially given arrival at 14:05.

I suggest you take a look at the Deutsche Bahn Website or app to understand options. Better to break up the journey. Or can you switch arrival airport to say Brussels, Amsterdam, or even Paris? These are a lot closer i.e. convenient to Bruges than Zürich.

Taking the train from Zurich to Bruges will take 7 to 8 hours with
multiple connections. It's highly unlikely that at you can do this the
same day you land, especially given arrival at 14:05.

Perhaps in haste, the OP somewhat mis-titled the subject. From the body of her post, it sounds like she is flying from Zurich airport to Brussels airport, landing in Brussels at 2:05pm. Then, she will take train from Brussels to Bruges (she isn't taking train from Zurich to Bruges).

I interpreted the question the way Dutch_traveler did. I basically ignored the question posed in the title and rather considered the question posed in the body of the post.

@Moin; I think you misread the question. the OP is flying from Zurich to Brussels. That flight arrives at Brussels Airport at 2:05 pm

@Deb; I never meant to imply your question was dumb. If that’s how it came across then I apologize.

Muriel, you are correct. I wrote my question hastily. Here's our itinerary:

Fly Pdx to Zurich
Train to Wengen
Train back to Bern to visit dear friends
Train from Bern to Zurich for flight to Brussels
Train from Brussels to Bruges
Train back to Brussels and on to London to visit friends
Fly LHR to Pdx

Main point of trip is to go back to Wengen for another visit. It is SUCH a magical place! But, I want to include Bruges in this itinerary and as I explained, I need to shorten our trip a bit. Our flight from Zurich would land at 2:05 pm and I'd like to take the train on to Bruges, so we can explore it for a few days. I realize we need to go into Brussels to one of the various train stations to do so and I will do my research on this topic--just needed a quick Yes or No whether it was possible to make it to Bruges in one day from Zurich based on my travel plans.

“ Our flight from Zurich would land at 2:05 pm and I'd like to take the train on to Bruges, so we can explore it for a few days. I realize we need to go into Brussels to one of the various train stations to do so and I will do my research on this topic”

As I tried to explain to you in my earlier answer, you don’t need to go into Brussels to catch the train to Bruges. Brussels Airport has a proper train station. Every hour a direct train leaves from the train station at Brussels Airport directly to Bruges.

@Dutch_Traveler - thank you for your response. I understand now about there being a train station at the Brussels airport at which we can catch a train to Bruges and that we can accomplish this leg of the trip in one day. Thank you for your assistance.

Deb

about the fare from the airport to Bruges. Are both of you by any chance seniors? If so there are super fares available...

Train is at floor -1. Buy your tickets in advance and print them, it will safe you time. The gates to the trainstation don't work too well with digital tickets.

If you don't buy a standard ticket, make sure that the "airport supplement" is in your fare. The website of the NMBS is also in English and explains it pretty well.

Hey thanks, Nigel & TSTTSN, both tidbits of info are useful. Yep, we are seniors so we will be looking for that 'special' fare. BTW, Nigel, you helped us in the past on an earlier trip to Europe--nice to see you are still around!

Deb