Bruxelles / Brussels to Marseille by train

How to take a rail journey from Brussels/Bruxelles to Marseille

You don't have to make a cross Paris transfer when travelling from Brussels/Bruxelles to Marseille by train.
Direct TGV trains make use of the high speed route that was constructed to the east of the French capital so that they can travel at more than 250 km/h for virtually the entire journey between the cities.

Connections are available in Marseille for Cote d'Azur destinations including Antibes, Cannes and Nice; these towns and cities are no longer served by direct trains from Bruxelles.

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Routes

From Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel Zuid to Marseille-Saint-Charles

Travel Information

You can avoid having to make the transfer across Paris from the Gare Du Nord to the Gare De Lyon by taking these direct trains from Bruxelles to Marseille

Final Destination: Marseille

All trains also call at: Aeroport CDG; Marne La Vallée; Lyon and Avignon TGV

Aim to be at Bruxelles Midi/Zuid station a minimum of 15 - 20 mins before your train is due to depart.
You may have to pass through security checks before boarding these trains and queues can build up at busy times.

Mon-Fri: 2 x trains per day
Saturday: 3 x trains
Sunday: 2 x trains

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 3 months ahead of the travel date

When making an online booking, check that you’re looking at booking info for the direct trains.

These trains are usually scheduled to depart from Bruxelles-Midi station at:
06:35 daily
13:17 daily
16:17 Saturdays only
So target these departure times when looking up this journey.

Using rail passes:

If you're planning to use a valid Eurail or InterRail pass to make this journey, more information is available on our guide to using rail passes on trains from Belgium.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
B-Europe from €59

B-Europe Guide

B-Europe is the website provided by Belgium's national railway operator for the sale of international rail journeys from and to Belgium.
Therefore tickets can be booked for the following international train services to/from Belgium

  • Eurostar
  • IC trains to France, Luxembourg and The Netherlands
  • ICE trains to Germany
  • Thalys trains to Germany, The Netherlands and Paris
  • TGV trains to destination in France other than Paris
    B-Europe offers a 'Best Fares' policy for journey by these trains.

It also sells international end-to-end journeys solely by train, with connections outside of Belgium, if you will be heading to popular destinations in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

Users of Eurail and InterRail passes can also book seat reservations on the Eurostar and Thalys services without paying booking fees.

SNCF Connect from €59

SNCF Connect Guide

SNCF is the national rail operator in France and not so long ago it recently simplified both the range of tickets and the term and conditions of using them.
Therefore the cheapest tickets also become more flexible too.

Other improvements included a simple integration of travelling with bicycles and rail pass users being able to book reservations for national journeys, without paying booking fees.

And it also recently launched SNCF Connect as replacement for its Oui.SNCF booking service.
You can set up a low price alert to let you know when the cheapest price is available for a future journey.

Something else to look out for is that simplest way of travelling with tickets is to use the SNCF Connect App, as booked tickets can therefore be stored on your mobile device, which can then be shown to the train conductors as proof of purchase.

SNCF Connect on Google Play

SNCF Connect in the App (Apple) store

SNCF also operates RailEurope, which is in effect a dedicated online booking service for making bookings from outside of Europe.
If you reside outside of Europe you may discover that SNCF Connect rejects phone numbers or card numbers, but RailEurope won't do so.
Though RailEurope will add booking fees when making a purchase

Save A Train from €59

Save A Train Guide

Happy rail from €59

Happy rail Guide

Happy Rail is a Netherlands rail ticket agency which sells tickets for both national and international journeys within a range of countries including Belgium France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.

HappyRail doesn't charge booking fees in the conventional sense, but if you're not Dutch you can expect to pay additional transaction fees, which will be added to the total cost.
That's because the most common form of online payment used in The Netherlands is 'iDEAL' and HappyRail doesn't charge a transaction fee for 'iDEAL' payments, but only Dutch residents can sign up to 'iDEAL'.
Other forms of payment include Visa debit cards will incur a fee.

On this journey

Journey Features

Scenic - NoHigh Speed (total journey)

Good to Know

The first departure of the day is faster, because the other trains divert off the direct route to call at Lille Europe station; where they reverse direction

From the high speed line between Lyon and Avignon From the high speed line between Lyon and Avignon
Seen from the right of the TGV train between Lyon and Marseille Seen from the right of the TGV train between Lyon and Marseille

Step on board for one of longest European train journeys, on which you will be travelling at more than 275 km/h on high speed lines, for virtually the entire train trip!

The train will move on to a high speed line around 10 mins after it has departed and won't leave it until around 5 mins before the train arrives in Marseille.
This video was captured north of Lyon;

And it is the speed which gives this journey its only wow factor, though if you can stay awake, the views from the window become more scenic the further the train travels south.

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