Train from Brussels to Amsterdam and Cologne

[Bletchleyite]

"Not the best part of town"?

It's an utter abject dump.

 

[AlexNL]

One flaw with booking Edinburgh direct from Eurostar website is it won’t let me book up until January.

That's probably due to the National Rail booking window. Eurostar can't sell National Rail trains before the booking period has opened, for Advance tickets I think this is 12 weeks in advance?

 

[Gadget88]

Yes it won’t let me book any weekend tickets on East coast site but does show early bird offers during the week so seems that’s the only way to book it. Some of the trains are sold out already.

 

[MarcVD]

I

"Not the best part of town"?

It's an utter abject dump.

Quite similar to what you can find around London termini, in my humble opinion.

There is an Ibis hotel just in front of the station, high track numbers side.

 

[AlexNL]

Yes it won’t let me book any weekend tickets on East coast site but does show early bird offers during the week so seems that’s the only way to book it. Some of the trains are sold out already.

I've had a go at it on the Eurostar website and I can't find any tickets either, for some reason.

www.Loco2.com does give me through tickets from Edinburgh to Brussels ("ticket with CIV protection"), maybe you can try that site? I've been able to find CIV tickets for Edinburgh - Brussels and back, mid January, starting from £128 in standard class.

 

[Gadget88]

Thanks never knew that but already booked now got Cologne a bit cheaper than Amsterdam. I plan on a longer trip to Amsterdam once the direct Euro star service is up in running. I looked at Messe/Deutz station to reach the other side of the water in Cologne since I hate heights and bridges I believe it’s only one stop.

Also will see how I get on with Bruge but later on the year I plan on another trip to visit Ghent and maybe Antwerp.

 

[Gadget88]

In terms of the area I found Gare du Nord to be the same bit further from the centre and a tad run down. I managed to find a 4 star hotel in midi though. Won’t be spending long in Brussels as I did a trip there earlier this year.

 

[AlexNL]

From Köln Messe/Deutz to Köln Hbf is one stop, indeed.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The immediate environs of the Gare du Midi in Brussels are fine, but I wouldn't advise venturing away from it on foot. I've stayed in the Park Inn on the east side of the station on several occasions en-route to 'somewhere in Europe'. It's a bit 'corporate' but the staff are friendly enough and it serves a decent breakfast. For dinner take the pre-Metro (3/4) from Midi to Bourse - stop for the Grand Place area - plenty of bars and restaurants to choose from.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Quite similar to what you can find around London termini, in my humble opinion.

Other than possibly Kings Cross before it was tidied up, I have to disagree. It is more like somewhere like Shadwell 20 years ago, quite unpleasant and unsafe feeling.

 

[Bletchleyite]

In terms of the area I found Gare du Nord to be the same bit further from the centre and a tad run down. I managed to find a 4 star hotel in midi though. Won’t be spending long in Brussels as I did a trip there earlier this year.

Yes, the area around Gare du Nord is almost as scummy, and the station itself is a dump. I think we do quite well in the UK for station environs by comparison.

 

[Groningen]

Yes, the area around Gare du Nord is almost as scummy, and the station itself is a dump.

The train has to arrive somewhere.

 

[radamfi]

Clearly, some areas of Brussels "look" run down, including the areas around Brussel-Zuid/Bruxelles-Midi and Brussel-Noord/Bruxelles-Nord. By contrast, previously "rough" areas of inner London have been gentrified, for example Kings Cross. But is Brussels statistically dangerous compared to London? Anglo-Saxon eyes may see the window prostitution at Noord/Nord and think it is a no-go area, but is that really the case? Despite the ongoing social cleansing in London, some parts are still noted for gang violence.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The train has to arrive somewhere.

It does, but no excuse in a well off European country for that dump.

 

[duesselmartin]

Most Belgian passengers would use Central/Centraal I assume.

 

[Quakkerillo]

Zuid/South/Midi has about 59k/day, Central 53k/day, North 49k/day passengers, together all the busiest stations in Belgium.
North is very popular due to its office area around it, as well as Flemish government buildings. Also anyone working in the Northern half of Brussels.
Central is mostly for people who actually go to the city centre, and national government buildings, various parliaments and EU.
South is mostly for people in Southern Brussels, as well as many from parts of the city centre, the Northwest (due to Metro line 6), and people needing international transport.
Central also loses quite some passengers to the European/Governmental areas to Bruxelles-Luxembourg and Bruxelles-Schuman stations on the Brussels North-Luxembourg line.

Yes, North is a bit run-down, but it's in a way like Euston station, with an added Eastern side of prostitution and the Rue de Brabant which is the Moroccan shopping street. Not dangerous, but not pretty. The Western side is definitely nicer, but it's a very windy boring tower office area. The station is actually getting a pretty good modernisation at the moment, and the ticketing area and southern concourse being (near) finished.
South is much more modern and nice, as long as you don't use the southern corridor which is just an empty hallway. The area around it is okay on the North-Western side; the rest is boring residential with many migrant areas with houses that don't look so well-maintained.
Central is the busiest, but also the most dark and claustrophobic station of all on the platforms, and during rush hour it can be absolutely chaotic busy. It's much better situated, especially for those who wish to visit the city, although the corridor between the station and the metro station isn't pretty either, often being used by homeless to sleep, beg, and in winter also for food distribution to them, which is a weird 'welcome to Brussels'.

So to finish off for those who want to visit Brussels City with my personal advice: Use Brussels Central if you want to start in the middle of the action, or you don't have much time. Use South/Midi if you've got a little more time and go by Eurostar (follow the Rue du Midi into town via Manneken Pis). And use Bruxelles-Schuman to visit the European buildings and walk via Brussels-Luxembourg to the palace and Brussels Central.

 

[TheSeeker]

I am always first to defend Brussels having lived here in various communes since 1998. After renting several different apartments we bought a house in Molenbeek which was, at the time one of the few remaining areas of the city that were affordable. I love(d) everything about the city and revelled in living in a place with decent public transport, good culture, amazing food, reasonable prices but with a relaxed friendly atmosphere and none of the pretensions of London or Paris. Brussels is so small that I bump into people all the time, old neighbours, ex-collegues, friends who've lost contact.

If it has any at all Brussels has a very different kind of gentrification compared to London. It starts out like London, people with no money trying to do something about their local environment but it never gets to the later stages where a richer middle class move in and then the property developers. The middle classes remain solidly in their enclaves, and the Belgian middles classes generally won't even live in the city. Property development to turn a profit is almost frowned upon. From my experience I thought I would be able to single handedly gentrify my part of Molenbeek, near to Beekkant Metro station but one small family can only do so much. Our street was a great mix of Spanish, Belgian (indigenous and new arrivals), Polish, Brazilian, Bulgarians, Romanians and in general we got on ok. There was graffiti, fly tipping, helicopter over at night but no worse than any capital.

All was well until we decided to have children, the classic situation. Our local nursery in Molenbeek was fine but then we found the primary school was pretty awful, poorly funded, badly equipped with a demoralised staff. I suppose a better parent would have joined the board of governors and done something about it but when there was a "terrorist" stabbing in Beekkant station 200 meters from our house (remember the man who came from Paris on the Thalys?) we decided to move out of the city and find something elsewhere. A small commuter town. It's not perfect either but a lot quieter and we can afford a garden.

Maybe this is middle age talking but I have to admit that when I go into the city now for a concert or a work meeting I can't remember it being so dirty before and people just standing around doing nothing. Probably I just didn't notice all that when I was younger.

Back on topic, the interesting thing is the Midi area has always been an area of higher crime, even before the railway arrived. I assume they just bought up land in the cheapest, most geographically convenient part of the city. Amazingly it also has a lower life expectancy compared to neighbouring communes.

 

[Groningen]

I do not care how a station or its surrounding are/is. If i need to be there, than i be there. There are several cities (stations) in Europe where i only changed trains. For example Brussel Noord from the Netherlands to Luxembourg. Or Paris Nord to Paris Gare de Lyon. Not seen much of capitol cities.

 

[MarcVD]

For dinner take the pre-Metro (3/4) from Midi to Bourse - stop for the Grand Place area - plenty of bars and restaurants to choose from.

Mots restaurants in that area are tourist traps.

 

[MarcVD]

I managed to find a 4 star hotel in midi though.

Pullman. Should be quite an expensive night, though. Ibis on the other side of the street, much more reasonnable...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Pullman. Should be quite an expensive night, though. Ibis on the other side of the street, much more reasonnable...

I find Ibis a generally safe and decent value default when looking for hotels in mainland Europe, a bit like Premier Inn in the UK. (I know there are UK Ibis-es, but they seem a bit overpriced compared with the other similar hotels in the UK).

 

[johnnychips]

Mots restaurants in that area are tourist traps.

‘T Kelderke on the south side of the Grande Place is excellent. My Brussels friend said it was the only ‘proper’ restaurant he would eat at round there. Then there are many idiot-proof not-too-dear kebab style places on ‘Pita Street’, whose Sunday name is, I think, Kaasmarkt.

 

[Gadget88]

Is it best go from midi or the city centre to Bruge? I will have this dilemma when I go in a few months..

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I find Ibis a generally safe and decent value default when looking for hotels in mainland Europe, a bit like Premier Inn in the UK. (I know there are UK Ibis-es, but they seem a bit overpriced compared with the other similar hotels in the UK).

Friends who stayed at the Ibis for work reasons (Not long once they found somewhere else) , referred to it as "the suicide Ibis" ...(as you felt like it after staying there) - not been there myself.

 

[duesselmartin]

The same train stops at Nord, Cenrtral and Midi, towards Oostende.

 

[30907]

Friends who stayed at the Ibis for work reasons (Not long once they found somewhere else) , referred to it as "the suicide Ibis" ...(as you felt like it after staying there) - not been there myself.

Standard, fairly modern Ibis, perfectly fine for an overnight stop (earlier this year)

 

[johnnychips]

Is it best go from midi or the city centre to Bruge? I will have this dilemma when I go in a few months..

It doesn’t matter: you will probably get a seat from either. There are two fast trains an hour from Brussels to Bruges, but they are not evenly spaced during the hour. Check times on the NMBS/SNCB or even DB websites or apps to avoid an unexpected wait.

 

[SHD]

Yes, the area around Gare du Nord is almost as scummy, and the station itself is a dump. I think we do quite well in the UK for station environs by comparison.

One of the most beautiful stations in France, on par with European counterparts, with a massive canopy still retaining its original cast-iron pillars, and a monumental facade famous for its statues (one feminine figure for each major city that had [in the late XIXth century] a direct connection from/to the station, including London, Warsaw, Köln, and Moscow) and you call it a dump...

But as we say, des goûts et des couleurs...

 

[eastwestdivide]

...

But as we say, des goûts et des couleurs...

... on ne discute pas
(or literally, "tastes and colours, we don't discuss" = there's no accounting for taste)
If we didn't discuss personal preferences, tastes and colours, that would cut the posts on this forum by a good half!

 

[duesselmartin]

Paris has a number of c amazing Stations. Gare du Nord,l'Est, Austerlitz, Gare de Lyon.
And to stay in topic, the platform roof of both Cologne and Amsterdam are amazing too.