Traveling from Paris to Bruges To Amsterdam via Thalys

"Can I only purchase one way tickets if I am not returning to to the original location? I was hoping to buy the two tickets together (Paris to Bruges, then Bruges to Amsterdam) rather than making two separate transactions."

I'm not sure why you don't want to make two separate transactions; if you aren't able to put the tickets into a shopping cart but must check out right away, then you will have to buy the second set of tickets separately.

"when reserving Thalys tickets in advance, could they be exchangeable or refundable?"

The terms of the ticket are indicated; if you pay more, you can get a ticket that is exchangeable or refundable. The cheapest tickets definitely are not; if you don't use them, they become scrap paper.

"I am under the impression that upon reserving and purchasing tickets in advance, your ticket is reserving a specific train, which makes sense.. but if we purchase tickets at the station we are free to choose whichever train we like?"

On the Thalys, you always buy a ticket a ticket for a specific train. Whether you buy on the day or in advance, whether you buy on line or in person, you are ticketed for a specific seat on a specific train. Unless the ticket is refundable or exchangeable, you are then committed to that train. So, you can always choose - up to the time you buy the ticket. But you cannot get on a train you are not ticketed for; if you change your mind, you must change your ticket before boarding.

"Will train tickets be more expensive when purchasing for the same day at the station?"

OH BOY WILL THEY! To see, look at prices for tomorrow and compare with buying 90 days out.

"Also, Thalys does not go to Bruges. They have stops in Brussels and Ghent. I can select Bruges as my destination, so I assume that a connecting train will take us from Brussels/Ghent to Bruges.. Will we be using the same ticket to board our train to Bruges?"

Yes.

"Will the train to Bruges be at the same station that Thalys lets us off?

Yes. The Thalys stops at Brussels South (called Brussel Zuid in Flemish and Bruxelles-Midi in French); this is its only Brussels stop. There, you can get a train which terminates in Knokke, Blankeberge, or Oostende; all of these will stop in Bruges.

"Lastly, are tickets printable?"

Yes; no need for mailing (thank goodness).

Thank you for all of the helpful info, Harold. I am hoping that tickets from Bruges to Amsterdam will be roughly the same as Paris to Bruges. I am able to view trains from Paris to Bruges for the month of August, but not for Bruges to Amsterdam. Any idea why this is?

I was just at this site: https://www.b-europe.com/EN
I plugged in August 16 and got a whole list of available trains for that date, including one at 7:33 am with a single change at Brussels Midi to the Thalys to Amsterdam Centraal, arriving at 10:42 am for 36 EUR Non-Flex (nonrefudabble or changeable) ticket.

From Brussels to Brugge the train is run by IC, not Thayles. You can buy both Thayles and IC tickets on the website Sam mentioned on one transaction.

Also the website Rome2rio shows Bruges to Amsterdam via Antwerp on IC, then Thayles to Amsterdam but transfer in Brussels should also work.

Enjoy the trip!

Thanks for all of the info, Sam, Beth and Harold! So we had a bit of a change of plans, we want to spend some time in Brussels before Brugges, just 5-7 hours or so. I don't see an option on any high speed train website to select a later time for the connecting IC train from Brussels to Brugges. If we purchase both tickets together on Thalys.com, do we have to catch the second train at the time listed to board? Is it flexible if we wanted to catch a different train? If not, we would have to purchase our thalys ticket and our IC train ticket separate. Do we even need to purchase the tickets for the IC train in advance? Should we just buy at the station, Or can the train fill up quickly? Would it be cheaper to purchase in advance? We looked into IC trains from Brussels to Brugges and it doesn't seem that we can buy them until a month in advance. Also, we are planning to catch a bus tour in Brussels and would like to drop our luggage somewhere. Does anyone know if the train station offer day lockers? Thanks again for any responses!

To try to prevent later confusion can I mention that IC (Intercity) is a grade of train service not a train operator. The train will have a great big "B" on the outside and will be operated by SNCB - the Belgian National Railway. It won't have any Intercity branding on the outside, just the yellow departure boards and screens will prefix the train number with "IC".

Thalys is a separate company and is clearly branded Thalys on the outside, inside, and on signs (sometimes abbreviated to THA)