Train help please! Bruges, Belguim to Rouen, Frande

April 2024 is ages away. Trains do not need to be booked this far in advance.

Brugge to Lille and then Lille to Rouen is certainly an option. There are a couple of direct Lille - Rouen trains.

For example you can leave at 8:16, change in Kortrijk and Lille, and be in Rouen at 13:38

Tip: Go to www.b-europe.com and enter your search there. Click on "additional search options" and then select "no high speed trains". You will see all the options involving normal trains. Since these are regional trains however you do not need (and probably can't even) book these now. You can safely wait till a few days before travel, or even get these at the station in Brugge.

Note that there are currently often works on this route, and so on some days part of it is by bus. But currently schedules have only been published as far as mid january.

Other people may have better solutions or better websites. Because i have a little recent experience with Belgium trains, I looked there. If you go to the SNCB Belgium international rail website and put in Bruges to Rouen you will find at least two trains with only 2 transfers that don't go through Paris. One is a TGV and one is just an IC. It looks like all the Eurostars go through Paris. Some of the non-Eurostar that don's go through Paris have 3 transfers but at least 2 of them have 2 transfers and not Paris.. Hope this helps.

just wondering

Is the reason you want to avoid Paris is the change from Gare du Nord to Gare St Lazare?

Otherwise it is the fastest and most reliable route.

An alternative proposal might be ... you are having to change trains in Lille anyway. Instead of trundling around the north on a slow train, or into Paris on a fast train and a change of stations, have you considered going upstairs at Lille Europe station and collecting your car there? Then a straightforward drive to Normandy from Lille, perhaps stopping at Rouen on the way? 2 and a half hours drive, or thereabouts. Perhaps a brief stop in Amiens or Arras? Even though you are not Canadian (apparently, or I suppose even Canadians can retire to Florida) you might stop at Vimy Ridge on the way...

All in all that might perhaps be easier and more fun.

That route I suggested is all limited access Autoroute, and there are tolls...

There's nothing you can do to make Bruges be adjacent to Rouen or the Normandy Beaches. The destinations do not pair well.

You should consider other factors besides going through Paris. (As another asked, what's so bad about that?) You will have to handle your luggage yourselves, every time you change trains. And less direct trains are likely to have inferior luggage racks for large cases. It may also be impossible to reserve seats for some segments of your journey. There's nothing wrong with seats in local trains, but it won't be as comfortable as a modern, high-speed train. I have certainly stood in the aisle on many local, unreserved trains in the Brussels to Bruges area. (And they have only tiny luggage racks, over the seats.) They can get quite crowded at rush hour and during school travel hours. And like planes, trains do not always make their connection times.

You're entitled to ask ONLY the question you want answered. But you may be missing other good advice you could get here. How are you getting to Bruges? Where are you driving the car in France?

Keep in mind which trains you book. There are 2 stations in Lille. Lille Flandre and Lille Europe. They're pretty close too each other (10-15 minutes by foot) but make sure to check where your train is departing/leaving. You wouldn't be the first one who is in the wrong station :-).

Thanks to everyone on your good advice. I have already rented the car thru Hertz in Rouen. We will not have a car in Belgium just doing trains. We will have a car for 2 weeks in France and we end up in Alsace Region. Good to know there is not much room for luggage on the slow trains. I will check out the websites mentioned again. So the slow trains do not need to be reserved in advance? just the eurostar?
Thanks

By chance, this video came out today of the Dieppe to Rouen train then the Rouen to Paris train. But this unit from Dieppe is typical of my experience on the regional routes out of Rouen. As you will notice it has plenty of luggage capacity contrary to what was written above- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJguj7sIjg0
By the way I can remember when the trains at Dieppe used to run down to the harbour. You stepped straight off the ferry from Newhaven onto the train, which whisked you straight into Paris.

I still remember the boat trains in Dieppe as well, but in my case I saw them from a yacht, moored in the harbour. Recently was in Dieppe again after 30 years. How the place has changed.
I grew up in Belgium, and we used boat+train to get to the UK as well.

Regarding space on the "slow" trains: I would not worry to much about that. Those trains are not that heavily loaded. The Lille to Rouen one will probably be a Corail rake, with plenty of luggage space. On the Belgian trains there are overhead bins, and you can put luggage underneath, and in between, the seats.

One reason to take the slow trains, avoiding Paris is that they end up much cheaper, and that for not that much longer travel time.

In my experience a more elongated rolling duffel is however more suited for train travel than a squat spinner. They fit better in the overhead bins, and are also easier to drag in and out of trains, over steps etc...

I would go through Paris, only since I am more comfortable doing that and I know the drill.

If you do end up doing that, you will arrive in Gare du Nord and then need to get to Gare St Lazare to catch the train for Rouen.

Very straight forward since right outside of Nord is a bus station serving many lines.

No need to rely on the Metro from Nord to St Lazare, navigating the two stations and all that. I take bus #26 to St Lazare...direct, nowhere as crowded as the Metro.

This trip I took bus # 26 to get to St Lazare where I boarded the regional train for Rouen to do the day trip

Nord to st. Lazare I would take the RER, not the bus or the metro. This is the most recent of Paris' RER lines, so the stations are modern, large, and have escalators and elevators.