Final Destination: Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid
All trains also call at: Schiphol Airport; Rotterdam; Antwerpen; Mechelen; Brussels Airport, Bruxelles Nord.
These Intercity trains from Amsterdam to Bruxelles are slower* than the alternative high speed trains
*Those alternative Thalys trains are quicker for two reasons:
(1) These Intercity trains use the Dutch high speed line, but they don't travel at high speed - in contrast the Thalys trains are more than 100 km/h faster.
(2) These InterCity trains divert off of the direct route to call at Breda - where they also REVERSE direction.
But here are four reasons why taking the Intercity can be an option worth considering:
(1) When the most heavily discounted tickets for the faster trains have sold out - these Intercity trains become the (much) cheaper option.
If you want to book last minute tickets at the station, you can save more than €20 by taking these trains.
(2) Advance tickets, will be date, but not train specific so you can hop on any train on your travel date.
(3) If you will be travelling with a rail pass, you can avoid the comparatively expensive rail pass resservation fees, that are charged on the alternative Thalys trains.
(4) These trains make additional station calls in Bruxelles.
Heading to Bruxelles/Brussels city centre:
Note that these InterCity Brussels trains call at Bruxelles-Central station - the most convenient station for the city centre, hence it being the default destination station for this journey summary.
These InterCity trains also call at Bruxelles-Nord station - particularly useful if your final destination is on the Bruxelles 'pre-Metro' tram lines 3 or 4.
If you'll be heading to Bruxelles-Nord and take the high speed trains, your end-to-end journey will only be around 25 mins faster - and it won't be direct.
However, the alternative Thalys trains DO NOT CALL AT BRUXELLES-CENTRAL or Bruxelles-Nord.
The only station in the city that they call at is Bruxelles-Midi - which is the station in Bruxelles that these InterCity trains terminate at.
Choosing An InterCity departure:
*Note that this Intercity Brussels service no longer departs from Amsterdam hourly.
3 x trains per day now commence their journeys at Den Haag.
In most hours these Intercity Brussels services depart from Amsterdam Centraal at 22mins past the hour, but there are no departures at 10:25, 14:25 and 18:25.
If you want/need to depart Amsterdam by these Intercity trains at around these times, you will need to make a straightforward connection in Rotterdam.
