Bruxelles / Brussels to Paris by train

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

Step on board the most frequent service of high speed trains between two European capital cities.

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Routes

From Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel Zuid to Paris Gare Du Nord/Paris Nord

Travel Information

Final Destination: Paris Nord

These Thalys trains are non-stop between Bruxelles/Brussels and Paris.

Between 08:30 and 20:30 trains typically depart a minimum of once per hour daily, though there is a gap, on every day except Friday, between 15:05 and 17:05
There are no Sunday departures before 08:43 and no departures on Saturdays after 20:16

Pre-boarding security checks are now carried out at Bruxelles Midi/Zuid, so aim to be at the station a minimum of 15 - 20 mins before your train is due to depart.
The train will depart on time and won't necessarily hang back if you haven't yet passed through security.

1 - 2 x trains per hour

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 3 months ahead of the travel date

Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey.

Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.
Use the ‘earlier trains’ and ‘later trains’ buttons to search for the cheapest ticket prices.

Rail Pass Users:

If you will be travelling with an InterRail or Eurail pass, you will have to pay a comparatively expensive reservation fee prior to the boarding these Thalys trains.

You can save money by following this routing below - if you can book the €10 fee on the TGV from Paris to Lille.
(1) taking an IC train from Bruxelles to Kortrijk
(2) taking an IC train from Kortrijk to Lille
(3) taking a TGV from Lille to Paris - if available the reservation fee will be €10s in 1st or 2nd class.

You can avoid the rail pass reservations completely if you follow this route - which is more easillly accomplished on a Mon-Friday, but it will take you more than 8 hours to complete the trip.
(1) taking an IC train from Bruxelles to Kortrijk
(2) taking an IC train from Kortrijk to Lille
(3) taking a TER train from Lille to Amiens
(4) taking an IC or TER train from Aminens to Paris.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
B-Europe from €29

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 €29

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

Trainline from €29

Trainline Guide

Omio from €29

Omio Guide

Omio is an online ticket agency which offers tickets for rail journeys in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain.

The three key advantages of using Omio are

  • it offers prices in multiple currencies
  • it usually offers price comparison with other modes of travel including flights and buses
  • when visiting Europe, you can book journeys in multiple countries in one transaction.

The disadvantage of booking with Omio is that it often adds a booking fee to the final price; therefore when it does so without offering a price advantage, SMTJ doesn't tend to offer Omio as a booking option.

Save A Train from €29

Save A Train Guide

Happy rail from €29

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.

Trainline from €29

Trainline Guide

On this journey

Journey Features

High Speed (total journey)

Aside from travelling for most of the trip at more than 280 km/h, it isn't a particularly thrilling train journey from Bruxelles/Brussels to Paris.
For virtually the entire journey, the train will be travelling across a flat landscape dominated by farm land.

Take the stress out of your journey Everything planned to your specification, so sit back and relax… Try Concierge
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