Travel plans from Brussels to Gouda

Use this site to book :
https://www.nsinternational.com/en

or download the ap and book
https://www.nsinternational.com/en/nsinternationalapp

It's a pretty basic and simple trip. You might be able to reduce connections or time by spending money on premium trains, but why bother for such a short trip. It is true that many of the extremely frequent local trains in these two countries do not have long-distance style luggage racks, because they are almost like busses or subways for local life. They can be as crowded at school times as at rush hours. But they are efficient and cheap.

Have you ever taken a train in Europe? Do you use public transportation in the US, ever? Take a look at our host's train hints, blue menu top left, Travel Tips.

Do not be afraid of connections and changes. The trains are so frequent that it doesn't matter if you miss a train or something, except maybe after midnight. (Frequency, not safety. Train travel is safe in these countries. Worst thing I ever saw was a bunch of tipsy sweet, very young bridesmaids with beauty contest-like sashes, walking all through the train, the night before the wedding.)

Thank you! We have traveled by train in Netherlands but mostly direct routes, not between countries and transferring. There seem to be a lot of different sites, it got overwhelming.

The best site to learn about the ins and outs of train travel in Europe is this one: www.seat61.com

There are a few differences between countries to be aware of. Belgium does not have the "tap your CC and go" system for all public transit that The Netherlands does. (Although they are working on something...)

For tickets from places in Belgium to places in The Netherlands you can go to either the Belgian railways' website www.b-europe.com, or the Dutch railways' site: www.nsinternational.com.

Both sell tickets for the same trains, but sometimes one is a few euros cheaper than the other.

There are two operators running cross border trains across the Belgian - Dutch border. One is Eurostar, which runs high speed trains, and the other service is an IC that is operated jointly by the Belgian and Dutch national railways. Eurostar will be slightly faster, and has reserved seating, so you will have a guaranteed seat. And booked in advance it is good value.

The websites listed above will show you both, so you can compare prices, and book what suits you.

Great info, thank you!