I have already studied Seat61.com for this answer. I have ordered the RS Belgium book, but it has not arrived yet. So - I thought I'd ask here to see your opinions till my book arrives.
We will be flying into the Brussels airport & taking a train straight to Bruges. I've read some different things and just want to confirm.
One place says to wait & just get our train tickets to Bruges at the airport. Seat61 says buying them ahead online will save time. What is best - does it matter?
Also - is 1st class an option? How do we book this? Is it an option when we arrive? We will be a party of 6 so we want to be sure that we will have 6 seats. We will be in Belgium & Holland for 3 weeks, so we will have luggage. Will there be luggage storage on the train? Seems most of these trains are IC w/minimal storage. We are very used to trains in Germany & Italy, but never Belgium. Storage has never been an issue in Germany & Italy on trains - but seems there are minimal racks on these IC trains.
How do you get luggage up the stairs on these double decker trains? Or do you just leave luggage downstairs?
Also - we will be in Bruges 2 nights and then return to Brussels. Do we buy 2 ONE WAY tickets, or RoundTrip tickets?
Thank You --