February break

I will be spending a week in Brugge this month, stopping at the Golden Tulip medici. I believe this is %26quot;slightly%26quot; away from centre.

Firstly, how would i get from the train station to the hotel.. I imagine we will be using public transport everyday, so what will be the best ticket to buy and where from?

We also would like a day out to a beach (yes, in winter!) so whats the best option? From reading, i guess train to ostend, and then take the coastal tram (is it in use in winter?!). How long does it take to do the full route, and how much is will it be?

Also, a day shopping would be good - say to Brussels or somewhere? What options are available for that? The rest of the time will be taken with chocolate and beer!!

Thanks

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1) It%26#39;s bang in the centre of town, only 5 minutes walk from the Market Square. If you are arriving with suitcases I would advise you to take a taxi from the station, it%26#39;s only 10 minutes. Otherwise, I suggest you ring the hotel and ask whether any of the buses from the station (1, 15 etc.) pass close by the hotel, or take one of those buses to Markt and walk from there. Here is the map:

holidaycityeurope.com/golden-tulip-brugge/ma…

2) I am not at all sure that you will be using public transport everyday, the best way to get around Brugge is to walk, apart from taking a canal boat. De Lijn (who run the buses) do various multi-trip and day cards, but it would be silly to pay for days when you will not set foot on a bus so work out first exactly what you want to do, perhaps with the help of the Tourist Office.

3) The closest seaside town to Brugge is in fact Zeebrugge, you can get there by bus, I think no. 719 (it is mentioned in response to previous questions in the Brugge forum) and catch the coastal tram from there either North to Knokke or South to, for example, Ostende.

4) If you want to go to Brussels for the day it takes one hour by the fastest trains, and you should get off at Gare centrale which is only 5 minutes walk from the Grand%26#39; Place. For shops, walk through the Galeries St. Hubert and if you want chainstores etc., find rue Neuve which begins at Place de la Monnaie.

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Coastal tram (extract from one of my previous posts):

The coastal tram runs all the way from De Panne (next to the French border) to Knokke (next to the Dutch border), which is the whole length of the Belgian coast.

With a daypass (at 5 euro) you can ride on all buses/trams of De Lijn during 24 hours.

Many coastal villages will be dead this time of the year (unless you%26#39;ll be here in the week of 19-23 Feb, which is carnival holiday in Belgium) but there%26#39;s always something to see in Knokke, Blankenberge, De Haan, Oostende and maybe Koksijde or De Panne.

I checked out the time table of De Lijn. In case you buy the day pass you better take full advantage of it! It%26#39;s easy to get from Brugge to Knokke (seaside) by bus. It%26#39;s line no. 41 (direct) and it takes 45 min. The main stop for line 41 in Brugge is at the station. Get off the bus in Knokke at the train station. This is also where the starting point of the coastal tram is. Then take the coastal tram and ride away.

Note 1: you will have to devaluate your day pass (ticket) every time you enter the bus/tram (it%26#39;s a yellow machine in the bus/tram).

Note 2: buy your day pass at a ticket booth rather than on the bus/tram, the latter costing 6 euro instead of 5 euro.

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Total travel time on the coastal tram from east (Knokke) to west (De Panne) is 2 hrs 48 min.

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thanks for the replys - very helpful.

Ref the day pass, the reason i thought about that is that i could just hop on the buses without thinking about the cost etc! but as you said, if most of the time will be on foot, then the day passes would not be worth it.

if i did buy a daypass to catch the bus, would this pass be vaild on the coastal tram?

also, how much would the train be to brussels?

(public transport where I live in the UK is expensive, and very infrequent, so I like to find out about it before travelling!)

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A dayspass for the bus is also valid for the coastal tram. You can make use of it for the whole 24 hours on all buses of the company De Lijn (which also owns the coastal tram).

Brugge - Brussels return on weekdays is 24 euro. It%26#39;s only 12.80 (return!) on Saturday and Sunday (weekend ticket). Trains run very frequently. Timetables can be found on http://www.b-rail.be/nat/E/

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