Rail Pass

At the end of our river cruise we plan on takeing a train from Prague to Brussels spend a few days then on to Paris for 4 more nights. I see there is a flexipass available for about $345 which is 3 countries 5 days. When in Brussels we want to take side trips to Bruge and Amsterdam. Do you think the flexipass is the best way? If we get the flexipass does that cover the high speed train (TGV) from Brussels to Paris. Any info would be appreciated. thanks Cameron

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I have no idea what this flexipass is or whether it covers the Thalys to Paris (typically you would have to pay a supplement for high-speed trains as these are reservation only and the pass would not include the cost of seat reservations), you will have to go back to the website you found it on and read the conditions for yourself. But I suspect you are talking about something offered by Eurorail which is an agency and not a train operator. I would strongly suggest you check the cost of individual point-to-point tickets with the train operators concerned because you usually have to do an awful lot of train travel in each of the countries covered to make a multi-country pass pay. Some info on these below:

1. Brussels to Brugge RETURN costs €24 on weekdays and €12.80 at weekends, per adult.

2. Brussels to Amsterdam RETURN depends on what type of train you want to take but on the InterCity train (which is no slower than Thalys on that route) it costs +/- €68.80, per adult. As Belgian Railways%26#39; website does not show fares for international travel (unless possibly you are actually trying to buy online) I got this fare from the Dutch Railways site www.ns.nl but that part of the site seems to be available only in Dutch. So I am not sure this will be the exact price for your date of travel or specific train, but it is not out of line with what I know people have paid recently.

3. Brussels to Paris you can only do by Thalys, you can check what this would cost for your date of travel on www.thalys.com. It isn%26#39;t clear to me whether you would be returning to Brussels or not, if not you can%26#39;t qualify for the cheapest fare called Smilys which is about €59. The full normal fare (called Librys) is €78. Note that you must buy this ticket in advance, I would suggest as soon as you arrive in Brussels if you don%26#39;t buy it from the Thalys website for pick-up at Bruxelles-Midi.

So, in my opinion you would be likely to pay €172 per adult for these 3 journeys; even if it were to be €200 I think 3 separate tickets are almost certainly better value than the pass you are talking about.

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Agree on all points with qaminari.

I%26#39;ve done a simulation booking to know the fare Brussels - Amsterdam. A super day return would cost 43.80 euro on weekdays or 41.40 euro on weekends.

IMO a pass whatever is useless in the Benelux as distances are too short.

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Im sorry its called a select pass. Its when you know the dates you%26#39;ll be travelling. Fflexpass is when you want to get on and off at any date. That price also includes trip from Prague to Brussels. We are only travelling one way from Brussels to Paris where we fly back to LA. Appreciate the info. By the way I got the info at Railsaver.com. Thanks again..Cameron

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