Visit to Brussels and Bruges from Paris

If Brussels is the first city you're visiting, can I ask why you aren't flying into Brussels? It seems like it would make more sense to fly into there and spend a couple of days in that area, and then take the train to Paris.

I went to Bruges for a day trip and a few hours there was enough time for me to see everything I was interested in (the Memling Museum, Church of Our Lady with Michelangelo's "Madonna and Child", a canal boat tour, the Markt, and some window-shopping).

We already booked our round trip flight to Paris and later decided to spend a couple of days for a side trip. Mont St Michel was the first choice but after some research it felt like a lot of work. Brussels seems like an easy option at this time. I'm also opening to other suggestions.

Thanks!

Bruges is an hour by train from Brussels, so two hours round trip plus a day of sightseeing then a 2 hour train ride to Paris maybe a lot to cram in. Bruges deserves more of your time and energy than that I think. I know the high speed trains between Brussels and Paris are quite frequent, but I'm a planner and you could probably get a better price the sooner you buy the tickets (like right now on raileurope.com). I would hate for you to get to the train station and can't find enough seats together with your friends/family or discover the time you want to leave/get there isn't available.

Brussels and Bruges are worthy destinations. Bruges lives up to its reputation and Brussels is underrated. The train between Brussels and Paris is expensive, I think you can save some money by booking in advance. We bought our tickets between Brussels and Paris the day of travel and I remember thinking "wow, that was expensive".

Jamie, here comes another opinion. I looked at the train schedule from CDG to Brussels: 10.46, 12.43, 15.58. Even if your flight is early, you can't expect to get through passport control, collect your luggage and get to the train station in time for the 10.46. Worst case - there is a big delay and you miss the 12.43, and are stuck at CDG waiting a couple of hours for the next train. Then you arrive in Brussels, need to get to the hotel and dump your luggage. You have now been in transit for HOW many hours? And it's already 3 pm - not much time left to see Brussels. Day 2, pack up, check out, get to train station, check luggage, and an hour's ride to Bruges. I didn't even look at the train schedule, but my estimate - even if you are up at 7 am, you won't be in Bruges until well after 10 am. Unless you are frequent travelers, you don't know how much rest you are likely to get on the flight and how quickly you will get over the jetlag. I would head straight for Paris, a hotel and a shower. I would not spend 2 of 9 days in (and around) Paris for a brief look at Belgium.

I'm not familiar with service directly from CDG to Brussels, but Thalys trains leave hourly from Gare du Nord. Intercity trains from Brussels to Brugge leave about every half hour, sometimes even more frequently.

Thank you for everyone's input! Chani, I did some similar calculation like you suggested. Direct train from CDG to Brussels Midi are few, one is at 12:35pm and the next one is at 16:03pm. In between there are a few trains that transfer at Lille which I'm not sure we should bother with. Btw, where did you get the train schedule? I checked at tgv-europe.com and set the country of collecting tickets as U.K. If I set it to U.S., the website goes to raileurope.com and then tells me the departure city of CDG is not recognized. We plan to return to Paris from Brussels around 4-5pm on the 2nd day. I was thinking if there's not much time for Bruges, at least we're able to see some of Brussels, i.e. Grand Place, Manneken Pis, both are within walking distance from our hotel. If we have time we may check out a couple of other landmarks in the area. We're also open to the possibility of staying at Brussels for 2 nights if necessary. We already reserved an apartment for the following 7 days at Paris. Therefore we're contemplating with the idea of taking a side trip for 1-2 days. It seems like most people visit Brussels during transition, and to make a separate trip for 1-2 days sounds like a hassle?

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I have done Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, and Paris, and I enjoyed all of them. However, I had just left Amsterdam on my way to Paris.So, I spend the night in Brussels and relaxed and looked around. Then the next day went to Bruges to stay and look around. Then went to the next stop and stayed in Ghent. Between the two cities, I enjoyed Ghent very much, because it really was a normal city where alot of Belgium people visit and relax. Bruges is a must see, at least once, but is more touristy. Then sepnt about 2 or 3 days in Paris before heading to Freiburg, Germany on my way to Italy. Paris can be alot of fun, I had plenty of time to see the main attractions, The lourve, Mont Marte (Sacred Coeur Church), the Orsay Museum, the Eiffel Tower, Rue Cler and the Champs Elysee during my time in Paris. A Thalys was used from Amsterdam to Brussels and then the TGV from Brussels to Gare DEst. Take care and have a GREAT TIME. Jerry

I was going from Amsterdam to Brussels and the train was stuck on the track for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. There was a fire on a train that was on the track at a station in Brussels and of course this delayed the train I was on. So you will need to plan extra time in case there is a problem when traveling. If you do plan to see Bruges from Brussels, I would plan to leave early as possible and spend the day in Bruges and then return to Brussels. Once you leave Brussels to return to Paris you can spend the rest of your stay. Depending on the time of travel, it would be wise to make your train reservations as soon as you can on arrival for the days your want to go to Brussels and return to Paris. Sometimes, it can really be crowded.