An ICE 3 (406) train on a Bruxelles - Frankfurt service

Frankfurt to Bruxelles / Brussels by train

How to take the rail journey from Frankfurt (Main) to the Belgian capital

This is one of Europe's longer railway journeys on which the train will be whizzing along a high speed line

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Routes

From Frankfurt Main Hbf to Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel Zuid

Travel Information

Final Destination: Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel Zuid

All trains also call at: Frankfurt Flughafen/Airport; Koln/Cologne; Aachen and Liege

Most trains also call at: Bruxelles-Nord

7 x trains per day

However, due to ongoing technical problems with the international type of ICE trains used on this route, many of the departures by ICE train are currently experiencing short notice cancellations.

On the majority of dates until mid April, due to maintenance works on the railways around Frankfurt (Main), these trains will be commencing their journeys in the station a Frankfurt Flughafen / Airport, so direct journeys won't be available.
Connecting ICE trains should be departing around 20mins before the usual departure time of these trains.

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

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

On the DB Bahn booking site look for journeys that have:

  • 0 in the Chg. column
  • ICE  (and only ICE) in the Products column.

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.

Though this is a journey on which you can often save money (more than €20), if you're happy to change trains in Koln and avoid these direct services.

Reservations:

Book 1st class ticket journey tickets on DB Bahn and your seat reservation is included - but they're optional when booking 2nd class tickets, or if you will be travelling with a 1st or 2nd class rail pass.

Opting to reserve is particularly recommended if you will be travelling at business hours and/or during the day on Fridays and Sundays.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
DB Bahn from €35.90

DB Bahn Guide

DB is the national railway operator in Germany, so its website can be used for booking journeys by German express trains; the ICE and IC trains and it doesn't charge booking fees.
It also sells tickets for journeys by direct trains on all international routes from Germany regardless of whether DB is operating the train service.

It also sells an extensive range of end-to-end journeys which involve making connections both within Germany and in neighboring countries, but journeys between Germany and Britain cannot be booked on DB.

A key feature of DB website worth keeping mind is that it offers 1st class ticket purchasers complimentary seat reservations on journeys both within and to/from Germany.

Seat reservations for daytime in both 1st and 2nd class can also be booked separately from tickets.

B-Europe from €35.90

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.

Omio from €35.90

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.

Happy rail from €35.90

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

High Speed (total journey)

Good to Know

It can be worthwhile looking up your final destination in Bruxelles/Brussels because Midi/Zuid station lives up to its name with a location that's to the south of the city centre.

If you'll be heading to the areas adjacent to Bruxelles-Central station; or Bruxelles-Schuman station, the journey will be quicker if you make a connection at Bruxelles-Nord station.

Journey description:

This route showcases high speed train travel at it's finest, the journey between Frankfurt Flughafen and Seigburg/Bonn in particular can fuel adrenalin!

For virtually the entire train journey from Koln to Bruxelles the trains, will either be travelling at up to 290 km/h on purpose built high speed lines, or up to 200km/h on section of railway, that has been re-engineered to allow trains to travel faster.

It is a journey of eight distinct phases:

  1. Until Frankfurt Flughafen the train will snake its ways through the city's suburbs
  2. The train will then spend around 40 minutes travelling at more than 270 km/h on the high speed line.
    The video was taking on a train travelling in the opposite direction, but it gives a sense of what a thrill this train ride can be; this is a journey when it's especially obvious that you're travelling on a high speed train!
  1. Between Koln and Aachen the trains travel at up to 200 km/h on a re-engineered stretch of railway.
  2. Then for most of the the 25 min journey between Aachen and Liege the train will travel at up to 290 km/h on a high speed line; this is also the most scenic part of the trip.
  3. Then for around five minutes after departure from Liege, the train will travel fairly slowly on a route which ascends from the city.
  4. Next up is the HS2 Belgian high speed route as far as Leuven, in theory the ICE and Thalys trains can accelerate back up to around 290 km/h on this part of the trip.
  5. From Leuven to just north of Brussel-Nord station the maximum speed is 200 km/h.
  6. For most of the journey between Brussel-Nord and Brussel-Zuid the railway crosses the city centre in a tunnel.
From the high speed line between Koln and Frankfurt From the high speed line between Koln and Frankfurt
From the high speed line between Koln and Frankfurt From the high speed line between Koln and Frankfurt
Between Koln and Liege Between Koln and Liege
Between Liege and Bruxelles Between Liege and Bruxelles

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This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.

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