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Thalys vs. NSInternational

Posted by on

If you are looking to travel by Thalys to Brussels or Amsterdam, I suggest the Netherlands site. https://www.nsinternational.com/en/traintickets-v3/#/preferences/FRPNO/NLASC?utm_medium=ns.nl&utm_source=planner
Why?

1- you can sign up for email notices when your preferred travel date is available for booking. The sooner the cheaper!

2- NS only requires inputting traveler's names vs. name, email and phone # on Thalys, which means a tedious drop-down to get to the US +1.

Don't forget the sooner you book the cheaper the fare.
Thanks to an email I received this morning, we are good to go for late August. Based on research I was hoping that bookings would be open later this month or even later. It was a surprise that our date was now available, but had I not signed up thru the NSI site, we could have been spending more for our fare by booking later.

Posted by
33820 posts

that's good information, Bee Jay.

If you post it in the Netherlands forum too, then people looking there would see it. (this is in the France Forum)

For the maximum of saving money (at the expense of a little speed) there is also the NS International train which has an all the time relatively low fare which doesn't change.... more stops though.

Posted by
1587 posts

My guess is that since the OP posted in the forum about France, this is about the Thalys from Paris to Brussels or Amsterdam. Not about taking the Thalys between Brussels and Amsterdam.
The alternative mentioned by Nigel is only valid between Brussels and Amsterdam, not between Paris and Brussels.

Posted by
7852 posts

Although between Paris and Brussels several times a day you can use an SNCF regional train to Mauberge, then a Belgian regional train to Charleroi changing there to Brussels. It takes 3 hours longer, but may cost less as it is a fixed fare (unlike Thalys dynamic fares), and needs no advance booking or seat reservations, so is much more friendly to eurail pass holders.
So you can still go all the way from Paris to Amsterdam without pre booking, if you want to.
I've taken that route before.

Posted by
7300 posts

Although between Paris and Brussels several times a day you can use an SNCF regional train to Maubeuge, then a Belgian regional train to Charleroi changing there to Brussels. It takes 3 hours longer, but may cost less as it is a fixed fare (unlike Thalys dynamic fares), and needs no advance booking or seat reservations, so is much more friendly to eurail pass holders.
So you can still go all the way from Paris to Amsterdam without pre booking, if you want to. I've taken that route before.

It does work, but it is very, very slow (4.5 hours - slower than the bus...).
I have a few friends in Brussels: when they need a cheaper non-Thalys route at the last minute, they change trains in Lille. It takes about 2.5-3 hours total. Anything longer than that might not be worth it.

Posted by
234 posts

Sorry that my font is so big. IDK why that happened.
Just a note to encourage booking as soon as you know your date of travel. The pricing for standard on the train we booked increased 13 euro the next day.

Posted by
33820 posts

Sorry that my font is so big. IDK why that happened.

take out the hash or number symbol (#) before the numbers you 1 and 2 and it will go back to normal.

You have asked markdown language which formats the forums to give headline size.

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