Paris to Brugge by Thalys

First of all, Thalys is the only way to travel by rail direct Paris-Brussels. Brussels Midi station is the only station in Brussels where the Thalys train stops...but it's only a short bus or subway ride from Grande Place, the main tourist site....you can even walk it. When booking on thalys.com, use France as the country in which you pick up your tickets. You enter your name and e-mail address, and take the e-mail confirmation you'll get to a ticket window to get your tickets. They have one-way "promo flash" fares on now for as low as 25 Euro one-way. Once there, take a commuter train to Brugge and back....inexpensive, about an hour, and they run from the three main Brussels stations about twice an hour. Paris Nord station is the main train station for runs to the north, NE and NW of Paris. It's not really located near any of the "tourst" sites, but is only a short Metro ride away from anywhere. See the Paris Metro map at http://www.ratp.info/informer/anglais

Your cheapest route from Paris to Brugge is to take a TGV from Paris to Lille and regional trains from there to Brugge. You won't go through Brussels at all. See the timetables at www.bahn.de. Click on "Internat. Guests" for English. Enter Paris as your departure point, Brugge as your arrival point, and Lille as your via point. After you get summary timetables, click on "Show details for all" to see the connecting points.

If you book the Paris-Lille TGV at www.voyages-sncf.com as soon as possible (up to three months allowed), you may be able to get a PREM'S (discount) fare. Leave France as the default country, do NOT choose cancellation insurance, and print your own ticket. There is no advantage to buying tickets in advance for the regional trains between Lille and Brugge. Buy them at a station in Paris.

(more in next note)

Gare du Nord is located a little ways north of the Seine River not far from the center of Paris. By Metro it's a quick trip to most major tourist sights. Go to www.ratp.fr to download and print a Metro/RER map for central Paris.

Which is a cheaper option? Should my next destination be Brugge or Brussels? Is Thalys and TGV both high speed trains? Any normal trains I can take to get to the places mentioned? I would like to compare the fares.

Going thru Lille is about 3 Euro cheaper, but will take you about three hours, if all the connections are made....via Brussels, you can probably do it in 2 1/2. TGV is just the French name for their high speed rail service. There are no competing "regular" trains since the rails are designed only for the high speed trains like TGV and Thalys. To compare, check out http://www.sncf.fr/indexe.htm for Paris-Brussels and Paris-Lille, and http://www.b-rail.be/main/E for Brussels-Bruges and Lille-Bruges. Click on the "Traveling in Belgium" or "Traveling in Europe" buttons down the left side, as necessary, to see prices as well as timetables.

Norm,

When I did a dummy booking, I found that €25 promo fare at sncf.com. However, I didn't see it listed anywhere on either thalys.com or sncf.com. How and where did you learn about it?

A standard 2nd class single ticket on the Thalys from Paris to Brussels which includes going on to Brugge costs €83. A Smilys return ticket costs €57. It can only be booked as a return (roundtrip) so book an arbitrary return date and throw away the unused portion. It's almost impossible to get unless you book as far in advance as possible (up to 90 days).

A standard 2nd class ticket on the Paris-Lille TGV costs €37. A PREM'S (discount) ticket costs €20. Taking regional trains from Lille to Brugge will cost you €14.40.

So if you can get a PREM'S for Paris-Lille and take regional trains from there to Brugge, your total cost would be only €34.40.

Thalys Paris-Brussels 25 Euro, 17 September-2 December (book by 9 September at http://www.sncf.fr/indexe.htm). Brussels-Bruges 12 Euro. 37 Euro total. Leave Paris 6:25, arrive Bruges 8:55 to enjoy the whole day (or spend a couple of hours in Brussels first).

Tim....got a promotional e-mail (in French) from SNCF. If you go to the French website you'll find them trumpeting all these deals. They're also offering overnight couchettes on various routes for 25 Euro second, 45 Euro first, from 4 September to 5 November (booked by 11 September) on the Corail Lunea trains.