Train Travel

Michael, The rail trips from Amsterdam to Brugge and Paris are all relatively short and easy. For the trip to Brugge, you'll possibly have to change trains in Brussels. Could you provide some details on where you might like to visit in "the Alps"? That will have some bearing on which route to take from Paris. Have a look at the websites for the Glacier Express, Bernina Express or Golden Pass line trains to see which of these might appeal to you. I wouldn't bother with "overnight travel" for any of the routes, especially Amsterdam-Brugges-Paris, as they're all short trips. Travel from Paris to "the Alps" is also fairly quick if using the TGV which travels at speeds up to 300 kMH. For example, the trip from Gare du Lyon (Paris) to Lausanne is as short as 3H:39M via TGV (reservations compulsory). Whether to use a Railpass will depend on a number of factors. You'll need to do some "number crunching" by comparing the cost of P-P tickets with that of a Pass, keeping in mind that Railpasses do not include the reservation fees that are compulsory on some trains. You'll have to pay "out of pocket" for those. If you haven't travelled in Europe before, I'd recommend pre-reading Europe Through The Back Door. You may also find it helpful to download the PDF Rail Guide (look for the "Go Green" link towards the bottom). Good luck with your planning!

From Amsterdam to Bruges simply take the regular inter-city train (you need to change trains in Antwerp). There are departures every hour, no advance reservations required, fares are about 35 euros. To Switzerland from Paris simply take the high-speed TGV trains, there are departures to all the big cities: Geneva, Basel, Bern, and Zurich. For these trains you get the lowest fares by booking in advance at http://rail.ch How much time did you want to spend in Switzerland? The most popular region of the Swiss Alps is the Berner Oberland: Interlaken, Lauterburnnen, Wengen, Murren, Gimmelwald, Grindelwald. Most visitors like to base themselves in the one of these villages for about three days and explore the Alps via hiking, mountain trains, and cable cars. For Switzerland one of the Swiss Passes are very useful, they typically cover all forms for transport between town, villages, and cities, entry into most all museums, and big discounts on the high mountain trains/cable cars...click the "railpasses" tab above for all the details and pick up a copy of Rick's Switzerland guidebook. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUD5a0y7Q3E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ru9JguLrY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xbYCZNmY5k

Just to note that there are a small number of Brugge-Paris through trains that don't require a change in Brussels, but you need to be either an early riser or able to check into your Paris place in the evening. There's a Mon-Sat train leaving Brugge at 0625, and an evening train onSat at 1805 or Sun at 1705. All take about 2 1/2 hours.