meeting friends arriving at Brussels Airport

We%26#39;ll be coming from Paris on the train and meeting friends arriving at Brussels Airport from Heathrow. Where is the easiest place to meet? Is the %26quot;arrival hall%26quot; the same for all arrivals? What floor is it on ? (I think the trains are in the basement?) How far into the airport will we be able to get without having boarding passes? Any info on trains from Paris to airport, then from airport to Brugge will be appreciated also. I assume we can get tickets at the airport for same day travel...Is it easy to see some of Brussels in a few hours on our way to Brugge? We%26#39;re planning on staying in Brugge for 3nights, then going onto Amsterdam for 5nights. Any suggestions/tips? Thank you!!

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1) The arrivals hall is the same for all arrivals, there is only one place they can come out after customs which is located at the exit from the baggage carrousels. The top level of the airport (level 3) is for departures, the one below that (level 2) for arrivals, both are signposted from the railway station (-1).

2) You cannot get any further into the airport than the public %26quot;airside%26quot; areas, naturally. You will have to wait with all the other meeters and greeters.

3) I presume you mean from Bruxelles-Midi (as that is where you will be arriving from Paris on Thalys) to the airport (if you also want information on trains from Paris to Brussels see www.thalys.com). There are plenty of trains to the airport, e.g. at 12, 35, 48, and 57 minutes past each hour, it takes between 20 and 30 minutes and I believe the ticket costs €2.80 one way. The train stops at gare centrale and gare du nord on the way out to the airport.

4) From Brussels Airport to Brugge you will have to change at Bruxelles-Nord. If you wanted to see anything of Brussels you would have to get off the airport train at Bruxelles-Central instead, leave luggage there, and walk 5 minutes down the hill to the Grand%26#39; Place. Then when you are ready you can go back to Gare centrale and take the train to Brugge (one hour, on trains to coastal destinations like Oostende, Knokke, Blankenberge; there are several trains an hour). If you break your journey like this instead of taking the next normal connection, either don%26#39;t buy a ticket to Brugge from the airport, buy it only to Brussels or specify when you buy your ticket at the airport that you want to go to Brugge VIA Brussels, meaning that you want to break your journey for a short time; if you don%26#39;t do this, and do not take a normal connection for Brugge, you could have to pay again on the second train, but if your ticket says VIA, you can break your journey for up to 24 hours.

5) From Brugge to Amsterdam you will change trains at Antwerpen-Berchem. As I presume you will have seen from previous questions you can check the train timetable on http://www.b-rail.be/int/E/.

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Thank you SO MUCH qaminari!!

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