Train from Schiphol to Bruges--Need to book ahead?

Is there a reason why you would fly into Amsterdam rather than Brussels, if Bruges is your destination? Perhaps there is a significant difference in price? Usually the only advantage in advance tickets for long distance trains is a price saving. But that saving comes with restrictions. Should your flight be delayed and you miss that train, you would need to book another ticket. So the usual advice is to buy the train ticket on arrival, even though the price may be higher.

I'd fly into Brussels and take the train to Ghent or Bruges, staying 2 nights in Ghent or Bruges. Both deserve a visit.

What you can do is go on www.nsinternational.com and look for prices for today, and for a date a month from now. That will give you an idea of price differences (if any) between booked on the day, and in advance. With each ticket you also will see the conditions.

You will see that a full-flex ticket for the IC service has free train choice. So if you buy that, you can take any IC train on the day on the route, at your own discretion. Booking that in advance has the advantage that you do not have to go and look for a ticket office on arrival in Schiphol, and can just proceed directly to the train.

One remark: There are big changes afoot on that route for next year. The IC service is going to be sped up significantly, but schedules have not been published yet, so will need to wait a bit.

CJean/KD--I checked flying to Brussels, but not only is it somewhat more expensive, it means a layover somewhere, so flying directly to Amsterdam saves both time and money for us.

Wengen K--thanks for the link and the heads-up about changes in schedules. I can see there is a price difference and that some trains may sell out.

I may need to do some more thinking about this, possibly going back to Plan B.

Thanks all.

There are currently two services on that cross the border:
- Eurostar, run by, well, Eurosar
- IC, operated jointly by the NS (Dutch Railways) and NMBS (Belgian Railways).

Eurostar has compulsory reservation, high walk up prices, and because they only sell tickets for a train as long as there are seats available some trains may sell out. They run Amsterdam - Schiphol - Rotterdam - Antwerpen - Brussel - Paris, and their main market is actual to/from Paris. Majority owned by SNCF, but I believe NMBS has a share too. Operates as a ground level airline. Fastest service. Has on board catering.

I you take the Eurostar you will have to change to a domestic IC in Antwerpen or Brussel to get to Brugge.

Then there is the "IC-Brussel" which is basically a domestic IC that has been extended across the border. Is more like a commuter train. No reservations, so free seating, so tickets do not "sell out" but trains can be crowded. Those trains currently run Amsterdam - Schiphol - Rotterdam - Breda - Antwerpen - Mechelen - Brussels Airport - Brussel. (Yes, you can get from Schiphol Airport to Brussels Airport by train...). These trains are also used by domestic travellers, as they are just an extended commuter service basically. Belgium and the Netherlands are small countries and their railways are local mass transit.

So to compare with the US: Imagine on NY - Philadelphia that NJ Transit and Septa ran a joint through commuter service parallel to Amtrak. That's the situation on Amsterdam - Brussel.

Now the the change that is afoot for next year:
- The "IC-Brussel" is gettig new trains. Finally. (The current ones are in their fourth decade...) Those trains are faster, and the new schedule has them skipping some stops. They will leave from Amsterdam Zuid, not Centraal (and will in fact run to/from Lelystad) and stop at Schiphol, Rotterdam, Antwerpen and Brussel. So they will skip Breda, and the higher speed means that the service will cut 40 minutes of a Amsterdam - Brussel trip compared the current schedule. We will have to sit and wait to know what that means for an Amsterdam - Brugge trip. If this train is significantly earlier in Antwerpen than currently it may offer a good connection with the once an hour direct Antwerpen - Brugge train, giving as good, one change, trip.

• The big change however is that there is going to be another train. So there are going to be more trains across the border. So there is going to be a second train, currently slated to use (older but still good) NMBS stock, and that train will do Rotterdam - Breda - Noorderkempen - Antwerpen - Mechelen - Brussels Airport - Brussel. So this service takes over all the stops the new, accelerated version of the IC-Brussel skips.

I still haven't seen exact schedules yet though. There is a lot of change planned for next year in The Netherlands. Usually I say to people to look at this years train schedules, and assume next year will be similar. In the Netherlands that is not going to be the case. Especially a lot of IC services are moving from Amsterdam Centraal to Zuid. And some lines are getting a service level that people using an average US subway would be jealous of...

WengenK--Thanks for such a detailed explanation. Now I have a better idea of what I'm looking for/at as far as taking the train from Amsterdam to Bruges. We have a much smaller parallel system here in southern California with Metrolink providing the trains that stop at every station, and Amtrak rolling through my local station, and many others, without stopping.

FWIW, the escalators down to the trains are in the main terminal hall after you exit the air concorses. The area is ringed with places to sit and eat as well.

I admit that I have not been there in ten years, but no one in the Antwerp station is limited to a once-an-hour train to Bruges. There should be five or more local trains per hour. These can be double-decker, economical commuter cars, without long-distance luggage racks, and are often crowded at rush hour and school time. But they are very frequent, and unreserved. IF the "hourly direct train" is more comfortable (?), it might be worth waiting for.

It is important to understand that you will always have to change, usually in Antwerp or Brussels (3 stations), to get to and from Bruges. There are some trains (like Eurostar) that only stop at Brussels Midi/Zuid, but the local trains to Bruges stop there as well as Brussels Centraal.

Thanks for the further information. We may end up flying into Brussels after all, and taking a direct train to Bruges. After seeing that the fast trains generally require booking ahead (too "risky" for me) and the trains we don't need to book ahead involve a number of changes (which slows things down), it may be wise to take the simplest route even if it costs a bit more.