Train to Gent

Hi,

We are arriving in Brussels-Midi from Amsterdam on Aug 4th. We would like to go to Gent/Ghent the same day. We are flying out of Brussels on the 6th.

Are there trains from Brussels-Midi to Ghent frequently? Is half a day enough to travel to Ghent and back?

Please advise

thanks

Sam

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Hello Sam,

There are frequent trains from Brussels to Ghent: at least two every hour.

Half a day seems very short to visit the city properly, especially since you lose some time to get from the railway station to the city centre: a long walk, but the best option is to take tram nr 1 in the direction %26#39;Wondelgem%26#39; or %26#39;Evergem%26#39; and get off at the Castle of the Counts (Gravensteen).

Have fun!

Kathleen

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Thanks for you quick reply!

We are arriving on a THALYS train from Amsterdam. Would we still need to buy a tkt to travel to Ghent?

thanks again!

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I know there is a special tariff which gives you the freedom to travel to any Belgian railway station without having to buy an extra ticket.

Better check with the Thalys desk in Amsterdam.

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I think there is some misunderstanding. As far as I know the so-called ABS (Any Belgian Station) option exists only for EUROSTAR, not Thalys. Therefore you will need a ticket covering the Brussels (or Antwerp - you don%26#39;t need to come via Brussels) - Brugge section, but in practice you will simply buy a ticket covering you for the whole journey. Incidentally I don%26#39;t know why you would take Thalys anyway, unless it so happens that the time of departure suits you better: InterCity trains as more frequent, are no slower (given absence of high speed track between Amsterdam and Brussels) and don%26#39;t need to be booked in advance since not only are seat reservations not obligatory as they are on Thalys, they may not even be possible. So you can buy from the station just before travel, or the day before if you want to save time.

If you do book in advance, you will find no ABS option on Thalys website, but you may well find Brugge as a specific destination you can select. I seem to remember it wasn%26#39;t possible to purchase from the Dutch Railways site, www.ns.nl, at least not in English.

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Hello Gaminari,

It abs-option does exist for Thalys. I%26#39;ve just spent some more time looking for the information in English. This is where you can find it: thalys.com/be/…any-belgian-station

It is a %26#39;business%26#39; option though, so I suppose it doesn%26#39;t apply to the cheaper tickets.

Regards

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