Hello, we are flying from Prague to Charleroi airport & were curious as to how easy it is to get from this airport to Bruges by train. Also, do you recommend renting a car? We would like to possibly go from Bruges to Amsterdam. Would a train be a better option or a car? Any information you have would be helpful. Thank you, Jennifer
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
You can't get from Chaleroi airport by train. You can take a 20 minute bus ride from the airport to Chaleroi Süd (south) train station. From there you can get to any other train station in Belgium.
Posted by
Elmwood, IL, USA
368 posts
I would recommend going to Thayls.com. You will have to go from Brugge on Thalys (limited from Brugge) or the IC ( intercity) to Brussels Midi. There are a number of trains daily Brussels-Amsterdam. The prices are also on the web. For Belgium Thalys requires a login and password which is easy to do ( not required in France or Netherlands). Make sure at the top of the web page your country is Belgium. I used my hotel in Brugge as my address. I printed out the tickets at home. Look at Brusssels to Rottendam if prices are too high Brussels to Amsterdam. You can get an IC train from Rotterdam to Amsterdam. Buying tickets in Netherlands at the train stations city to city is done in cash. Thalys also has on the bottom of the home page travel help so if you are going to Delft they can give you train connections. I booked Brussels to Paris- Paris to Rotterdan then returning Amsterdam to Paris all from home.
I looked into renting a car and car rental would have been the same plus the gas and hassle factor of driving. I get all the insurance because I would be without liability renting in Europe. Have a great time.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5850 posts
Jennifer, I recently traveled from Bruges to Amsterdam. It took about 4 hours and the one-way ticket was under 45 EUR (I bought it on the day of the trip). I took the IC train; it doesn't take any longer, doesn't require a reservation, and it was a lot cheaper than the Thalys. The train station recommended a connection through Brussels, but I took the route Bruges - Ghent - Antwerp - Amsterdam despite the very tight connection in Antwerp because it got me to Amsterdam faster; I did have to hustle in Antwerp, but made the train without an issue.
I'd highly recommend the train for Bruges and Amsterdam. You won't need a car in either Bruges or Amsterdam.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
For your proposed itinerary, no, I would not recommend a rental car. With the exception of the Charleroi airport, you can reach all of your destinations easily by rail. Traffic in most of Belgium outside of the cities isn't bad, but it is awful around Brussels. And the Netherlands (specifically in Nord and Zuid Holland) is one of few places in Europe where traffic seems to be congested everywhere, not just in the cities (probably because all the main cities are so close to each other).