brussells to amsterdam

pclancy

any idea how i would find prices/info on getting the train from brussells to amsterdam?

therecklessone

I *think* I paid about £40 (pre-Euro) from Amsterdam to Paris, stopping in Brussels, one-way in the summer of 2001. Took 3 hours to Brussels, but its a comfortable train.

Was a French rail company, can't for the life of me remember their name though.

therecklessone

Rail company = Thalys

http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm

That might help.

pclancy

Cheers but no joy there, only for US/UK and a few other countries and cant find pricing info really. Have got flights from dublin to brussells with ryanair for €60 return which will do nicely but im not having as much luck looking up trains. :mad:

Sajan

Hey. I did that last year and the train was €27 one way. So expect about €40 return. And its about 3 hours.

Obscure

Try SNCF (French rail company) they seem to have train times for train from Brussels to Amsterdam

http://www.sncf.fr/

koneko

And trains from Amsterdam to Brussels:

http://www.ns.nl (though they don't list prices for international trains).

Gabbo

Yeah I did that a couple of years back, we bought our tickets at the train station in brussells, can't remember the exact price I think it was between €40-€50 return.

Time Man

I take it your going Ryanair? If so when you get the bus from the airport to the city it drops you beside a metro station, you take the metro a couple of stops to the Central Station, once you are here you just look at the board or go to information. Trains depart quite frequent for Amsterdam, every 90 mins or so. The price a few years ago was about €40 return.

pclancy

Cool that sounds great! SNCF's website is very good and covers the whole journey inlcuding the train from the airport to brussells and then the train up to amsterdam. Doesnt give prices but makes it very easy to plan the route properly.

Thanks for all the tips! Any more advice/cool things to do/see in brussells/amsterdam?:cool:

Time Man

If it's Ryanair they don't fly into Brussells but outside it.

Gabbo

Yeah be careful if you are around the red light district, a lot of coke dealers there and very eager to sell it one guy literally tried to put it in my pocket I ended up having to throw him on the ground and run!!

Time Man

The bums are pretty persistent, they try to scare you as much as possible. One dude followed me and a mate and approached us three times. Wrecks the head a bit when you're stoned

Gabbo

Yeah true they are a lot more persistent than the ones in dublin.

willpak

I've never gone direct to A'dam from Brussels, but when I've been to Den Bosch (one hour from A'dam) I had to switch trains at Rosendhal. I'm not sure if you'll have to, I'd recommend checking. I'm off to A'dam in two weeks! No Brussels - A'dam for me, flying direct to Schiphol, much handier. Re: Dealers/Homeless - If you can speak another language, Irish would be perfect, they tend to leave you alone. They look for the English or German speaking tourists, anyone else is too much bother. Get in practice though, as too much "smoking" might effect your performance

Kobie

Are you really getting Ryanair to Belgium in order to get to Amsterdam? Surely for the 35/40 quid each way + a half days travel you'd be better off flying Aer Lingus to Schipol? You could be stoned out of your mind within 30 mins of hitting the tarmac.

As for the dealers, just don't say a single word to them. Don't even look at them - just raise a hand as if to say 'No' & keep walking. And keep your maps/cameras out of sight. Never had any problems with them & I live there.

BTW if you're flying in this weekend there's work on some rail lines south of Utrecht, so there may be bus transfers if you're coming up from the south - don't worry though, they'll tell you what to do on the train.

Enjoy.

willpak

Originally posted by Kobie
As for the dealers, just don't say a single word to them. Don't even look at them - just raise a hand as if to say 'No' & keep walking. And keep your maps/cameras out of sight. Never had any problems with them & I live there.

That works with most of them (I should have pointed that out) but some can be very insistant (that's putting it nicely) and if they can't understand you, they move on to someone else, well, that's the idea, anyway.

Kobie, you say you live in A'dam, could you answer a question for me? Do you know how close Cult Video (Amstel 47) is to Artis Zoo? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kobie

Never been, but have a look at Mappy for a map & directions:


0 m 0H00 Artis Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

Carry on the Plantage Kerklaan [140m]
140 m 0H02 Turn right on the Plantage Muidergracht [180m]
320 m 0H04 Turn left on the Plantage Parklaan [62m]
380 m 0H05 Turn right on the Nieuwe Keizersgracht [190m]
580 m 0H08 Turn right on the Weesperstraat (S112) [110m]
700 m 0H10 Carry on the Jonas Daniel Meijerplein (S112) [36m]
720 m M.S. Vaz Diasbrug
730 m 0H11 Turn left on the Nieuwe Herengracht [190m]
930 m 0H13 Turn right on the Amstel [7m]

940 m 0H14 47 Amstel Amsterdão (The Netherlands)

willpak

Cheers for the quick reply, Kobie. I'll print out your directions, but I think I'll pop into Easons on the way home from work and pick up a map, as I have a hard time following on-line maps, I find it hard to get my bearings.

Thanks again!

Kobie

I got a map in Easons a while back - it's a little pop up map that fits into you pocket & shows 2 views of the city. The had them on a turnstile thingy over at the travel books section for about 20 different cities. Very handy. about 4-5 euros.

willpak

Thanks, Kobie, you're a true gent!

PunyHuman

I'd be careful getting the train back from Amsterdam, bearing in mind that they are actually on time - to the minute. A friend and I got on the wrong train back to Brussels. I think it was going to Berlin or somewhere. Makes a good story now but, at the time, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

Regarding recommendations, you have to rent a little motor-boat (at Muntplein) and putter around the canals, smoking freely. Don't bother with the big white tour boats. Just be careful navigating or you might end up in the Amstel dodging 50,000- ton cargo vessels.

nads

This should be like a sticky thread entitled:

'HOW TO GET TO AMSTERDAM VIA ALTERNATE ROUTES AS TO THROW OFF FRIENDS AND CO-WORKERS THAT YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOUR FREAK ON AT ROCK BOTTOM PRICES'

pclancy

indeed it should.