Rail Travel in Belgium

I am planning a trip this Autumn to Belgium from the UK. My intention is to tour by rail. I am aware of the Rail Pass that allows 10 journeys, though I think I may only make about 4-5.

Is it worth buying the pass?

Can the pass be used at weekends (one part of the Belgian railways website seemed to exclude this)?

Should I buy the pass on arrival or is there any advantage in purchasing in advance?

Thanks in anticipation for any assistance: doubtless I may have more questions in due course on other topics!

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The Rail pass can be used on weekends, no problem with that.

Do you travel alone or with someone? As a Rail pass can be used by several people making the same trip(s) together. So if you would make 5 journeys with 2, then you would use all of the 10 trips.

You can also try to sell the remainder of the Rail pass if you have some trips left unused.

If you would make only seven trips and cannot find a buyer for the remainder, it is not worth buying the Rail pass. But check online what you would pay if you would buy single tickets.

Each trip on a Rail pass is one-way only.

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Many thanks.

Not sure yet if I will be travelling on my own, but I suspect that I will be. Point taken about sharing the pass. Most likely routing is Zeebrugge - Ghent - Antwerp - Brussels - Zeebrugge, so maybe only 4 discrete journeys.

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I don%26#39;t know where you think you see on the SNCB website that the Rail Pass (10-trip card) can%26#39;t be used at weekends, there is absolutely no such indication on here b-rail.be/nat/E/tarifs/passes/rail/index.php.

But for someone taking return trips at weekends the point of buying this pass would be reduced, since the price for RETURN tickets is so much lower at weekends. In your case, of course, all your journeys are single so you couldn%26#39;t benefit from that unless you were arriving in Zeebrugge on a Saturday or Sunday and returning also on a Saturday or Sunday (when you could buy a return ticket Zeebrugge-Ghent and just buy a single from Brussels to Ghent for the return).

However, there is no point whatsoever in buying a pass when you are only making 4 trips. Zeebrugge - Ghent - Antwerp - Brussels - Zeebrugge costs €7.70 + 8.60 + 6.60 + 14.80 = a lot less than €73!

Furthermore, as far as I know you can%26#39;t buy the rail pass in advance, but even if you could, it would make no difference whatsoever to the price - it is only premium, international trains like Eurostar, Thalys, TGV and ICE that have a fare structure like airlines, where date of purchase can make a difference. Domestic fares within Belgium are exactly the same price whether you buy your ticket on the day of travel or beforehand, in person or online.

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Thanks a lot for your very informative posting; much appreciated. As and when I have any other queries, I%26#39;ll use the Forum again.