Train Times to Brussels, Belgium
From Paris, London, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Lille, Cologne, Aachen
Use the European rail network for a city break holiday - buy international train tickets to Bruxelles Midi or Centraal Station from France, England, Netherlands & Germany
Major hub on the European rail network
As one of the major hubs on the European rail network, the Belgian capital Brussels is an excellent city to visit by train. Whilst cheap flights do go there, it is often cheaper, quicker and more environmentally friendly to use train services for a Brussels city break holiday.
Booking train tickets to Brussels online
Before booking train tickets to Brussels – which are almost invariably cheaper to buy online – it is worth paying attention to a couple of matters. The first is the fact that Brussels is bilingual, with Flemish and French used almost interchangeably when describing major landmarks in information guides and booklets. Hence, for the main train station, Bruxelles Central and Brussel Centraal are the same place.
Bruxelles Midi Station for Eurostar, TGV and THALYS high speed trains
The second important thing to bear in mind is that not all international trains arrive at Bruxelles Central (to use the French spelling). In particular, the fast trains from France and the UK arrive at Bruxelles Midi instead. Bruxelles Midi station is a little further out, and a change of train, or utilising a bus/ taxi is required to get closer to the centre of Brussels. This applies to the Eurostar service from London, the THALYS high speed trains from Paris and the French TGV route from Lille. Trains from German cities such as Cologne often arrive at another station altogether – Bruxelles Nord.
International rail journey times to Brussels
The following international rail journey times are the quickest direct services to the Belgian capital. There are also slower and indirect routes.
Train travel times to Brussels from northern France
- Train travel time from Paris, France to Brussels, Belgium: 1 hour 22 minutes (Paris Gare du Nord – Bruxelles Midi on the THALYS High Speed service)
- Train travel time from Lille, France to Brussels, Belgium: 0 hours 36 minutes (Lille Europe – Bruxelles Midi on the TGV)
- Train travel time from Strasbourg, France to Brussels: 5 hours 09 minutes (to Bruxelles Central)
Other international train times to Brussels, from Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the UK
- Train travel time from London, England to Brussels, Belgium: 2 hours 34 minutes (London Waterloo International – Bruxelles Midi on the Eurostar)
- Train travel time from Luxembourg Ville, Luxembourg to Brussels, Belgium: 2 hours 37 minutes
- Train travel time from Amsterdam, The Netherlands to Brussels, Belgium: 2 hours 50 minutes (Amsterdam Centraal – Brussel Centraal Station)
- Train travel time from Rotterdam, The Netherlands to Brussels, Belgium: 1 hour 45 minutes.
- Train travel time from Maastricht, The Netherlands to Brussels, Belgium: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Train travel time from Cologne, Germany to Brussels, Belgium: 2 hours 10 minutes (Koln hauptbahnhof – Bruxelles Nord)
- Train travel time from Aachen, Germany to Brussels, Belgium: 1 hour 33 minutes (Aachen hbf – Bruxelles Nord)
