Train Reservations from Paris to Bruges

Are you planning to try and take a Thalys train? Or a slower TGV? Eitherway, if you buy your reservation at CDG be prepared for a line at the ticket window of about an hour, plus or minus or plus ;-)...so have a few train schedule possibilites in mind.........At this time of year, your options are probably better - some trains run out of Passholder Reservations...And just for fun, are you sure that a railpass (as opposed to buying point-to-point tickets) is your best option? Your Passholder Supplement (AKA 'reservation fee' on Thalys) will be €28 or €46 for 2nd class, depending on your type of Railpass...You could spend €24-60 on an entire ticket, advance purchase. You could book a comfortably-later ticket, and have time for lunch...Just an option. I don't know how many are in your party, and if this plan appeals to you at all...It depends on how much traveling you're doing in Europe...

Since you are on a rail pass, a seat reservation will probably not be necessary at that time of year as trains will be less crowded. You may want to check the specific rail line website regarding seat reservations as to whether they are required or recommended.

If your trip will involve two or more rail excursions within Belgium, and especially if your party consists of two or more people, do not buy a railpass. Please provide more details of your trip, and I´ll explain why.

I'll make this short. We (3 adults) will fly in CDg on Nov.27 and catch a train to Bruges and return several day later. The remaining trip is as follows: Paris to Bayeux, Bayeux to Rouen, Rouen to Paris, Paris to Reims and back on same day. Also we will do a day trip from Bruges to Brussels. I have spent many hours checking point-point prices verses a Railpass. My problem is with reservations.

For rail travel within Belgium, you can buy a 10 trip pass for about € 70 at any train station. The advantage here is that more than one person can use the pass at a time. So for example, three people going back and forth from Bruge to Brussels would count as 6 trips against the 10. And BTW, it is not possible, or necessary, to make a 2nd class reservation on Belgian rail.

You can probably wait until you arrive at CDG, if you don't mind getting to Brussels-Bruges via Lille, and you don't mind waiting in the long lineups at CDG's train station on a Saturday. Be aware, too, that the reservation allotments for passholders are being increasingly limited by national rail companies....you may find you're refused a reservation on a particular train, only to have the person next in line get a ticket on that very same train. If you book a reservation for 4 or 5 hours after your arrival time, it would be highly unlikely you will be that late. Be aware, also that if you want to take the faster TGV to/from Reims, you'll need reservations for that, too. BTW, advance purchase P2P prices on your routes woud total about 160 Euro, or about $205, per person, with all necessary reservations included. The cheapest railpass I can find for 6 travel days is $315...plus reservation costs.