My wife and I will be in Brussels for a few days this August and I%26#39;m thinking about doing a day trip to Leuven and Mechelen (we%26#39;re visiting Bruges, Antwerp and Ghent later in our trip). My questions are:
(1) is it too much to try to fit both Leuven and Mechelen in a day? We are only after a good stroll through the city centre to get a taste of the city atmosphere and see all the major sights... not really into spending too much time inside museums etc.
(2) what is the fastest and cheapest way to travel Brussels-%26gt;Leuven-%26gt;Mechelen-%26gt;Brussels in a day, other than buying 3 single tickets to cover each leg of the journey. Can we buy a return ticket with %26#39;via%26#39; and would it be cheaper?
Thanks!
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1) You can do both if you just want a quick stroll (bearing in mind that Leuven%26#39;s Grote Markt is on the opposite side of town from the railway station) but it so happens that for most times of day the timetable will give you Mechelen to Leuven via Brussels anyway (45 mins)! An exception is the hourly (05 minutes past the hour, e.g. 12:05) train from Leuven to Mechelen, which takes 19 mins. Mechelen to Bruxelles-Central takes about 23 mins.
2) Single prices are as follows (from B-Rail/Sefora):
- Bruxelles-Central (or any other Brussels station) to Leuven: €4.50
- Leuven-Mechelen: €3.80
- Mechelen-Bruxelles-Central: €3.80
VIA Ticket, Bruxelles-Mechelen VIA Leuven: €8.30 - so yes, you would save a bit doing it like this.
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Thanks for your reply.
I must be missing something regarding the train tickets.
With single tickets [Brussels-%26gt;Leuven] and [Leuven-%26gt;Mechelen] it works out at €4.50 + €3.80 = €8.30
The VIA ticket [Brussels-%26gt;Leuven-%26gt;Mechelen] costs €8.30.
So what are the savings? Is there any other advantage of buying a VIA ticket over buying single tickets?
Thanks again!
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Yes you are missing something, which is the TRIP BACK TO BRUSSELS, since you said you wanted a day trip from Brussels, implying that you would be returning there!!
I repeat (according to Sefora, which is Belgian Railways%26#39; fares information system: I don%26#39;t actually work for SNCB!):
- Bruxelles-Leuven: €4.50
- Leuven-Mechelen: €3.80
- Mechelen-Brussels: €3.80
Total if you buy 3 single tickets for this triangular journey = €12.80
Bruxelles-Mechelen VIA Leuven (i.e. Bxl-Leuven-Mechelen-Bxl, in one ticket): €8.30
Saving = €4.50
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Thank you for the explanation.
So this is what I got wrong: my impression was that a VIA ticket only includes a one way journey from the source to the destination, and that the return journey would have to be bought extra!
The description on the SCNB website is rather misleading as it says: %26quot;A %26quot;Via%26quot; ticket is always issued for a single journey.%26quot; Even when you query the price of the journey, you have to select %26quot;SINGLE%26quot; journey otherwise no route is found.
So in my case I understood the cost of the whole journey would be €8.30 for the journey Brussels%26gt;Mechelen VIA Leuven, PLUS the return journey Mechelen%26gt;Brussels.
Cheers!
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Just a few items:
- the rail station in Leuven is exactly 1 km from townhall. In fact it is the Bondgenotenlaan just in front of the station (before war it was called Station street)
- Leuven is to my opinion much nicer as Mechelen. Leuven has the nicest townhall in Belgium and looks as a gothic shrine.
- Worth to visit also takes a walk in the Naamse straat next to the town hall uphill and down again the great beguinage %26quot;Groot Begijnhof%26quot; dating early from the Spanish period in the oldest part. It has been restored by the University of Louvain (Leuven) and is now used for students houses. But walking in it is great.
- there is the Old marketplace and other things see below
- Have a look to the Tourist Office website
www.leuven.be/showpage.asp?iPageID=1704
- Mechelen has a nice marketplace and the church with an impressive Rombouts tower. But still Leuven has more to offer.
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Thanks for the info. Will definitely walk along Naamse Straat and visit the Begijnhof as well as the old market square.
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