Train Travel from Bruges to Paris

Book your tickets on France’s national rail website: https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/.

Go to either the French rail line (SNCF) Or the Belgian one (SNCB). Just input your start and end cities, date and desired start time of travel. The sites will give you a list of options. It appears you will take a regional train to Brussels Midi, then change to the Eurostar, which goes to Paris Nord. Too early yet for July bookings. Take a look at a date next month, on the same day of the week to see what times and prices look like.

The "Thalys" name has been retired. New name: "Eurostar", same as the Paris-London train.

Well, this question is the perfect set up for one. I have been planning to research for my September travels. Taking a train from Bruges/Brussels to Paris, if the station for arrival in Paris is Gare du Nord, can I switch and connect to Gare Montparnasse without purchasing a transfer or other form of ticket? I know I could figure it out but if someone already knows and would share that’s great. Merci.

No, you will need to buy a metro ticket to go from Gare du Nord to Gare du Montparnasse.

As in many cities, Paris has radial train lines that cover various areas of the country from different stations. But as a big city, it has multiple mass transit and taxi means to travel between the rail stations. Some are even walkable, if you have only light luggage.

I have experienced unfortunate ticket-line crowding at Metro (... subway) stations serving busy rail stations at peak hours. So I try to have Metro tickets before that happens. I would add that my reluctance to spring for a taxi has been false economy at times. Tourist time has value.

You may benefit from reading some general hints about train travel in Europe. Changing trains at the same station (I mean Antwerp or Brussels) is neither unusual nor intimidating, once you're used to it. (The link below does have too much material on railpasses, which only suit a few travelers today.)

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains

On your specific question, note that Brussels has three different downtown stations. They all cost the same to get to from Bruges, but (for example) only the Midi/Zuid station has Eurostar trains. Since you are transferring to an International trip, you should make sure which station you want to get off the train from Bruges. The ticket purchase will make this clear, just be sure to READ what the screen is showing you. It might be seen by clicking "Details", or something like that.

Eurostar is faster and more luxurious, but may have restrictions on changing from one train time to the next, and requires seat reservations. Other trains can take much longer, but cost less, and may be more crowded. It's not likely that the train from Bruges will be particularly late getting to Brussels, so you should not worry a lot about that.

I haven't done this trip recently, but you might have a choice between changing in Brussels Midi and in Antwerp Centraal. The Belgian rail website should offer you a lot of choices, and you can click on them to see the stations, timing, and prices.

We just did this train trip from Bruges to Paris in August. We found that buying tickets from the Belgian train site worked best since both legs of the journey begin in Belgium. The Belgian train site is called SNCB. https://www.belgiantrain.be/en

You could take a direct IC regional train from Bruges to Brussels Midi Zuid and then from Brussels Midi Zuid take the Eurostar to Paris Nord. Allow enough time to transfer in Brussels.

Kim thx for clearing up need for metro connection. I have a Navigo Découverte refillable card but I read somewhere it won’t be available to purchase over the summer. Maybe that will change by the time I arrive September .

Thank you organizer8! I'm going from Bruges to Paris, but wanting to end up at the Charles de Gaulle airport and I like the idea of using the Belgium site for the ticket purchase.

On tip if you have to change stations in Paris: The bar on the high speed train sells tickets for the Paris metro. So you can get you your ticket already there, and save you having to deal with ticket machines in Paris.

It is a pity however that SNCF does not make possible what is possible in London: There if your ticket requires you to change stations use of the underground is included.

Yes, melT - the Belgian train site works well from Bruges to Paris CDG airport also. Then you can take the IC and TGV trains which we have also done.