Railway Passes - Where should we purchase them?

What do you think the Europeans do, come over here to buy their rail tickets? Of course you can buy them at stations over there. But to get the best prices, buy your tickets online in advance from the railroads' official websites. The fastest trains from Brussels to Paris are run by Thalys (www.thalys.com). Check out their websites for some advance purchase round trip deals.

Patty, if you're only making a couple of trips, buying P-P tickets is a better idea. You can buy those at the Rail stations in whichever city you're located, either from staffed ticket booths or from automated ticket machines. *ONE IMPORTANT POINT to note is that many (all?) ticket machines in France will ONLY accept the "chip & PIN" credit cards or Euro cash. You can use the older magnetic stripe credit cards at the ticket booths. If you DO decide to buy Railpasses, NOTE that these DO NOT include reservation fees which are compulsory on some trains (usually the fast trains such as the TGV and Thalys). You'll have to pay those separately "out of pocket". To answer your initial question, you can purchase Railpasses from this website (click the Railpasses tab at the top) or from Rail Europe. ETBD is the largest vendor of Railpasses in the U.S. AFAIK. Happy travels!

And to piggy-back onto Ken's advice, IF you need railpasses, buy them from ETBD - you get goodies!!! (click on the "Railpasses" tab above for the specifics). BUT, if you're only making the 2 trips you've mentioned, and you're willing to commit ASAP to purchasing tickets, you could buy the Brussels-Paris extremely cheaply with an advance purchase. (And even the Paris-Brussels leg, but I'd be prepared to eat the cost of that ticket in case the airplane is very late arriving in Paris - make that leg at least 3-4 hours after you're suppposed to land). It will take you around 1 hour, +/-, to stand in line at the airport to buy your ticket or retrieve your tickets (if purchaed online); I'd go on to Gare du Nord because the line there will be shorter...probably...(Gare du Nord is where your train from Paris to Brussels will leave from if you take Thalys, and I suggest you take the Thalys train) You will still need to stand in line at the airport if you're buying RER tickets - this line moves MUCH faster, though, than the 'Grandes Lignes' ('big' trains) line...

Patty, to "piggyback" onto Eileen's advice..... Regarding purchase of RER tickets at CDG, you may or may not have to stand in line. The automated ticket machines at CDG will accept "chip & PIN" credit cards as well as Euro coins. As I recall, there are change machines in the same area as the ticket machines, but my memory is a bit "foggy" on that point. Those without the newer credit cards or Euro cash will have to queue at the ticket office. Cheers!

Yes, Patty, if you have Euro already upon landing (or hit the ATM at the airport) you can perhaps get enough change from the change machine [if it's working - it's been out-of-order for each of my 6 trips in the last 8 years... :-(]. Then, you'll need €8,40 in coins for each person...Oy! Ken, most Americans don't have access to chip-and-pin cards, unless they work for the UN...So, we get to enjoy watching Europeans (and some Canadians) using the automatic ticket machines while we sweat like pigs in that awful line...

@Lee: Stop being so rude & smart-ass. No one's forcing you to reply to people's questions.

@Joan, YOU stop being such a tight ass. It's a simple observation. Of course you can get tickets over there. If not people over there would have to come over here to get tickets.

Here is more info: http://www.seat61.com/Railpass.htm#reservations%20or%20pay%20supplements