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THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

Old Oct 26th 2002, 8:09 pm
  #1  
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Default THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

I'm going from Amsterdam to Paris and would like to make an afternoon stopover in Brussels. Do all the THALYS trains stop in Brussels or are some direct to Paris? Also, does the Gare Midi in Brussels have luggage storage lockers or room? Is it possible to buy an Amst. to Paris ticket, get off for a few hours and catch a later Thalys to Paris, or do I have to buy 2 tickets (Amst.-Brussels, Brussels-Paris)?

Thanks for any help!
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Old Oct 26th 2002, 9:49 pm
  #2  
Greg Byshenk
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Default Re: THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

Stacy Shinsel wrote:

    > I'm going from Amsterdam to Paris and would like to make an afternoon
    > stopover in Brussels. Do all the THALYS trains stop in Brussels or are
    > some direct to Paris? Also, does the Gare Midi in Brussels have luggage
    > storage lockers or room? Is it possible to buy an Amst. to Paris ticket,
    > get off for a few hours and catch a later Thalys to Paris, or do I have
    > to buy 2 tickets (Amst.-Brussels, Brussels-Paris)?

All of the Thalys trains from Amsterdam to Paris make a stop at
Brussels Midi (for about 10 minutes) and then continue on to Paris.

Thalys trains are entirely reserved-seat. So, if you plan to stop
off in Brussels, then your journey would continue on a different
train, which suggests that you will need a separate ticket. I don't
know what the pricing rules are in such a case. That is, the prices
for two entirely separate tickets Amsterdam-Brussels and Brussels-
Paris are somewhat more (EUR 20-50, depending on the type of ticket)
than is a ticket Amsterdam-Paris -- but I don't know what the rules
are for a broken journey. But, unlike with standard trains, you
_cannot_ simply buy a through ticket, get off in Brussels, and then
continue your journey on a later train (because seat reservations are
for a particular seat on a particular train).

As for luggage storage, the last time I noticed, there were indeed
lockers at Brussels Midi -- but it has been over a year since I
looked, and things could now be different.


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Old Oct 26th 2002, 9:56 pm
  #3  
Bert Kraaijpoel
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Default Re: THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

Stacy Shinsel wrote:

    >I'm going from Amsterdam to Paris and would like to make an afternoon
    >stopover in Brussels. Do all the THALYS trains stop in Brussels or are
    >some direct to Paris? Also, does the Gare Midi in Brussels have luggage
    >storage lockers or room? Is it possible to buy an Amst. to Paris ticket,
    >get off for a few hours and catch a later Thalys to Paris, or do I have
    >to buy 2 tickets (Amst.-Brussels, Brussels-Paris)?
    >Thanks for any help!
    >--
    >Posted via http://britishexpats.com
All Thalys trains stop at Brussels.
Brussels South (Bruxelles Midi) is quite a modern train station. It has
luggage lockers. If you travel by Thalys seat reservation is compulsory.
I have to guess now, but I do not see any reason why you should not be
able to have a seat reservation Amsterdam to Brussel-Midi first and a
couple of hours later Brussels-Midi toParis.

have a nice journey

Bert Kraaijpoel

(change .ned into .nl)
 
Old Oct 26th 2002, 10:23 pm
  #4  
Andrew
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Default Re: THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

Stacy Shinsel wrote:

    : I'm going from Amsterdam to Paris and would like to make an afternoon
    : stopover in Brussels. Do all the THALYS trains stop in Brussels or are
    : some direct to Paris? Also, does the Gare Midi in Brussels have luggage
    : storage lockers or room? Is it possible to buy an Amst. to Paris ticket,
    : get off for a few hours and catch a later Thalys to Paris, or do I have
    : to buy 2 tickets (Amst.-Brussels, Brussels-Paris)?

I went the other direction in September. But I took Thalys only from
Paris to Brussels (Midi), then took the InterCity (IC) train from
Brussels to Amsterdam. They leave once an hour most of the day.
True, the IC train is nowhere near as nice as the Thalys train, but it
was fine.

Thalys vs IC: The IC train is a bit cheaper. I've also been told
that the tracks from Brussels to Amsterdam are not rated for
super high-speed travel anyway (is this true?) so Thalys wouldn't save
you much timve vs. the IC - perhaps a few more stops?

My stopover in Brussels worked out very well by the way - no
problems. It's easy to get from Midi to Central station in Brussels,
too. Look at the readerboards, hop on any train going between the
stations. Quick and supposedly free.

There are storage lockers at Midi (as of September 2002), however you
must have EXACT change. Not too little OR too much! I think the
large lockers are 3.30 EUR. If you have 3 EIR and two 20 cent pieces,
the locker will not give you change, and it will spit the coins back
out - it will not accept even 10 cents too much! And good luck
finding change at the train station! Took me almost 20 minutes til I
found a kind traveler with spare change. The stores would not give me
change unless I bought something, and the bathroom attendant nearby
did not have small coins (so she claimed). Anyway, take lots of loose
change if you want to use the lockers.

Midi also has a manned luggage storage room near the lockers, for like
2 EUR a bag - not sure how late it is open, but you could always do
that. Just ask them. I felt more comfortable leaving my stuff in
lockers, personally.

Andrew
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Old Oct 27th 2002, 12:35 am
  #5  
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Default

Thanks so much for the info!

I have another question: Can I make reservations for the Thalys on the internet or do I have to wait until I'm in the Netherlands to make them?

Andrew, I'm also in Portland..actually out by Tanasbourne area.
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Old Oct 27th 2002, 1:12 am
  #6  
Peter McGurk
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Default Re: THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

"Andrew" wrote in message
news:zcasdddhjaxcdd4640305980-
[email protected]
...

    > Thalys vs IC: The IC train is a bit cheaper. I've also been told
    > that the tracks from Brussels to Amsterdam are not rated for
    > super high-speed travel anyway (is this true?) so Thalys wouldn't save
    > you much timve vs. the IC - perhaps a few more stops?

This is correct. Hopefully one day the high-speed line will run all the way
to AMS, but at the moment Thalys trains north of Brussels travel at "normal"
speeds. To give you an idea of the difference in journey time between
Thalys and IC:

(information from http://reiseau-
skunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/e
, a German
site which has excellent rail information for all of Europe):

Amsterdam Centraal - Brussels-Midi: on Thalys, 2h36m, on IC, 2h51m - so only
a 15 minute difference. The IC trains run every hour at xx23 from 0623
until 2023 daily. The fare as far as Brussels varies but a weekend return
in 2nd class is about ?30. You can get fares information for Thalys at
www.thalys.com

HTH

Peter
 
Old Oct 27th 2002, 4:44 am
  #7  
Margaret Mikulska
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Default Re: THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

Stacy Shinsel wrote:
    > I'm going from Amsterdam to Paris and would like to make an afternoon
    > stopover in Brussels. Do all the THALYS trains stop in Brussels or are
    > some direct to Paris?

They stop in Brussels. At least some (don't know exactly, but there is
a Thalys section at the train station B-Midi/Zuid).

    > Also, does the Gare Midi in Brussels have luggage
    > storage lockers or room?

Last year there was a room there with a real human taking your luggage
and money. The guy had a good laugh at me, because I dug out some 100
BFr bills which, as it turned out, had not been a valid currency for
quite a few years then.

Some years ago, lockers disappeared from many train stations and
airports because of the possibility of bombs being "stored" there. I
haven't noticed lockers last year at B-Midi.

-Margaret

--

mikulska at silvertone dot princeton dot edu
 
Old Oct 27th 2002, 4:53 am
  #8  
Margaret Mikulska
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Default Re: THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

Stacy Shinsel wrote:
    > Thanks so much for the info!
    > I have another question: Can I make reservations for the Thalys on the
    > internet or do I have to wait until I'm in the Netherlands to make them?

Why don't you check their website??? (OK, it says you can, but why are
people so reluctant to check the basic info by themselves???)

-MM

--

mikulska at silvertone dot princeton dot edu
 
Old Oct 27th 2002, 5:15 am
  #9  
Andrew
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Default Re: THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

Margaret Mikulska wrote:
    : Some years ago, lockers disappeared from many train stations and
    : airports because of the possibility of bombs being "stored" there. I
    : haven't noticed lockers last year at B-Midi.

There were lockers at Midi in September, 2002 - I used one.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA
http://www.bizave.com/photos/ <----
Andrew's Photography
----> http://www.moviepundit.com/ <----
Andrew's Movie Website
************************************************** *****************


To respond by EMAIL, please DO NOT hit "reply". Email address
scrambled for security. Instead, please visit the web page:

http://www.bizave.com/cgi-bin/contact.cgi/subject=Re:%20Re:%20T-
HALYS%20%20Amsterdam-Paris%20run...../newsgroup=rec.travel.europe/messageid=axczcasd-
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Old Oct 27th 2002, 5:28 am
  #10  
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Margaret,

Actually, I do most of my own bookings using the websites, but I figured I'd find out from people who had actually used the site. I've had a couple experiences booking things with the internet and then finding I had no reservation recorded when I arrived even though I had email confirmation. Once burned, twice shy, as the saying goes.
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Old Oct 27th 2002, 3:17 pm
  #11  
Andrew
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Default Re: THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

Stacy Shinsel wrote:

    : Thanks so much for the info!

    : I have another question: Can I make reservations for the Thalys on the
    : internet or do I have to wait until I'm in the Netherlands to make them?

    : Andrew, I'm also in Portland..actually out by Tanasbourne area.

Stacy, I'm forming a travel group in Portland - to talk about travel
experiences, help each other plan future trips, or even find travel
partners. If you want to find out more, email me via the web link at
the bottom of this post.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA
http://www.bizave.com/photos/ <----
Andrew's Photography
----> http://www.moviepundit.com/ <----
Andrew's Movie Website
************************************************** *****************


To respond by EMAIL, please DO NOT hit "reply". Email address
scrambled for security. Instead, please visit the web page:

http://www.bizave.com/cgi-bin/contact.cgi/subject=Re:%2-
0Re:%20THALYS%20%20Amsterdam-Paris%20run...../newsgroup=rec.travel.europe/messageid=-
[email protected]

 
Old Oct 27th 2002, 10:41 pm
  #12  
Mike
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Default Re: THALYS Amsterdam-Paris run.....

just buy a ticket to Brussells, and then get another ticket from
Brussels to Paris. It is easy as that. There is a train going to
Brussells every 25-45 minutes from Amsterdam.

Stacy Shinsel wrote:
    > I'm going from Amsterdam to Paris and would like to make an afternoon
    > stopover in Brussels. Do all the THALYS trains stop in Brussels or are
    > some direct to Paris? Also, does the Gare Midi in Brussels have luggage
    > storage lockers or room? Is it possible to buy an Amst. to Paris ticket,
    > get off for a few hours and catch a later Thalys to Paris, or do I have
    > to buy 2 tickets (Amst.-Brussels, Brussels-Paris)?
    > Thanks for any help!
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com
 

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