Best way to travel to Brussels??

Hi --

I am planning on visiting Belgium in January. I want to see Brussels and Bruges. Trying to find good package deals -- one with flight and hotel. I am looking for the most economical way to travel there and don%26#39;t want to have a 10-hour layover in another city. So I have a few questions (I don%26#39;t expect one person to answer all of these):

1) Should I fly into another city (Paris, London, Amsterdam) and rent a car to drive to Brussels? Or fly into these cities and take a train to Brussels?

2) Is there a certain time during the week I could fly out to get a better rate?

3) Can you recommend any Web sites that offer travel deals?

4) Would it be better to book a flight by itself and then find a hotel on its own?

I appreciate any feedback on my questions. Thanks so much in advance.

|||

For package deals including flight from your country, you would need to look in your own country - you seem to have given your place of residence as Belgium, and I have no clue where you would be travelling from!

1) It would of course be best to fly into Brussels itself (BRU). If you fly to another city, I would not advise you to rent a car - especially in the UK, unless you would be driving back, as you can%26#39;t leave a RHD car on the continent. Best choice among those mentioned would in my opinion be Schiphol (Amsterdam) as you can then take an InterCity train from below the airport to Antwerp and change there for Brugge, and return by direct InterCity train from Brussels (avoiding Thalys as you would have to reserve this in advance). Next best would be Paris CDG, from which you can catch a TGV to Brussels - although there aren%26#39;t that many a day; and another possibility is Frankfurt. I would not advise going to London if you don%26#39;t want to stopover, as there are no direct trains here from any London airport as there are from Schiphol, CDG and Frankfurt.

2) As far as airfares are concerned, you don%26#39;t say where you are flying from, and you are surely in a better position to research the cost from wherever that is than anyone in Belgium. However, for a scheduled flight the cost usually depends on the airline, how far in advance you book, and type of fare concerned, rather than the day of the week or time of the flight. Where hotels are concerned, however, note that many Brussels hotels have lower rates at weekends, as many people come here for business and official meetings during the week.

|||

I would think that a car would be a liability in Brussels itself since you%26#39;d have to find parking, so if you do fly into another city, I%26#39;d definitely take the train to Brussels. The central train station is close to the center of the old city, so very convinient.

When we were in Brussels last month, we found good rates on hotel rooms through Expedia - we booked both Le Meridien and Royal Windsor for about US$100/night each. (We had flights in and out of Brussels so we were there at the begining and end of our trip - hence the need for 2 hotel reservations).

I don%26#39;t know about doing a flight and hotel package as I have never done one - when it would have worked out, I always found better deals going with seperate reservations.

|||

Thank you for your response. We will be flying out of Philadelphia. After contacting a travel agent, we were quoted at $1100/person (U.S. $) for January 11-18 for hotel and flight from Philadelphia flying into Brussels. Does this sound reasonable?

Again, thanks so much.

|||

To determine if the price is reasonable, see what you can do on your own. Check flights for your dates, check hotel rates for comparable hotels. See how it comes out. Also, make sure the hotel your travel agent has chosen as part of the package is actually someplace you want to stay - not out by the airport or something.