Day Trip to Paris from Brussels ?

Honestly, If you are going to go to Paris, I would try to do an open jaw plane ticket - in to Amsterdam and out of Paris. Or do you have your flights already?

I also feel you may not change your mind about Paris with just a day trip. It's certainly possible on the Thalys train especially if you are early risers and get going early. Yes, from Brussels would be best if you are overnighting there. I'll add that the last time I transited Paris to Brussels the trains were running late due to either an accident on the line or something electrical and I think I was 2 or 3 hours later than expected getting to Brussels.

I actually used to feel this way about Paris based on my visits in 1973, 1974 and 1976. I COMPLETELY changed my mind after 2 Rick Steves tours - one was the 21 day best of europe where we ended in Paris and the guide had promised us he would make us love Paris (he did!) , the other was the 7-day Best of Paris. I leaned from Rolinka how to successfully navigate Paris both with the Metro and culturally. Now Paris is my favorite destination and I am SO not a city gal, lol.

However it's not required that you enjoy Paris! To each her own!

IF you go for this you'd want to get your ticket as far out as you can for the best price. Download the app and purchase thru that.

I'd think you could do even better than 100 Euros, but I haven't made that trip lately. There might well be an "Any Belgian Station" option that makes it easy (but more time, of course) to go from someplace other than Brussels. (Be sure to check if Thalys is only from Brussels Midi/Zuid station, there are three stations. I'd think it's just as easy to go [i.e. Direct train] from Antwerp, which is a nice place to stay and visit, if you have time.)

I'm not interested in persuading you to go someplace you don't want to go. As you say, "doesn't make sense", especially since you live near a big city. But Paris is close to, my favorite major city of the world. I've been there at least eight times, probably more. I did once to to London for a single overnight from Antwerp, but I had a specific objective, and had been to London several times before. I think you will get much more out of the trip if you spend at least one night in Paris. However, it is a better use of your time to make daytrips to Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, and maybe Leuven. I personally would never base in Bruges, but it has a dismaying reputation as the most romantic city on earth. Wait, I thought that was Paris! I've been to Bruges twice, from Antwerp.

It's not fair, but I find it revealing that you plan to stay in Haarlem to visit Amsterdam. I know Rick likes it, and so do lots of people on this newsboard. But I want to wake up in the place I'm visiting, and get going as soon as I'm out the door. Yes, when I was young, I stayed in some pretty basic Paris, tourist-class hotels, so that I could do that! The standard advice on Trip Advisor NYC is "To see New York, stay in New York." That applies to Amsterdam as well.

To be honest Brussels was not a WOW place. The only thing I enjoyed about it was the magnificent Grand Plaza.
Brugges was fantastic, better go there.

Pam and Tim, I will give Paris a chance, but probably not this trip, but thx for the input. Pam, ever since that massive 2019 French labor strike, which included the airlines, I will never fly into or out of Paris. I had just a brief feeling of "what if we can't leave?", and we were in Strasbourg (using trains.) Thankfully the taxis were working and took us to Germany, which was amazingly close. Of course, it was my fault I didn't know about the strike, and it was posted in advance. But I didn't know one had to monitor the French labor strike notices on a regular basis.
Geo, thx for the love for Bruges !
Again, I appreciate all the info and consider every point you all have taken the time to discuss. Thanks.

Pat, I would advise against a day trip to Paris from Brussels. It seems to me that in a day trip, you get all the worst of Paris with probably very little of the good. You would have to spend too much time making the transition from Gare du Nord to the places where you want to go (and back) meaning spending an inordinate amount of time buying transit tickets and using the metro (or dealing with taxi drivers) and running around seeing sites and very little doing what gives Paris its charm - wandering in a real neighborhood, spending leisurely time at a cafe people-watching, etc.

I feel like it's a recipe for being disappointed with Paris.

Kim, thx, I will leave Paris for when I can actually STAY in Paris.