Hey all, My wife and I are traveling to Oktoberfest this year and plan on heading to Belgium for a few days either before or after our time in Germany. I'm wondering what our best train options are between Brussels and Munich? i.e., best rail companies? are there overnight trains, etc.? I've found a lot of really helpful threads on Munich and Germany tips, but can't seem to find good recon on the train travel in either this forum or the Bennelux forum. Anyone have first hand experience?
Most of the quickest routes will be by high-speed trains (ICE in Germany; TGV in Belgium/France) with a change in Frankfurt. My suggestion would be to take a train either way through Koeln and/or Duesseldorf and experience the world-class beer cultures in either -- or, ideally, both -- of those cities between your visits to Brussels and Munich. Visit bahn.de to get some ideas on which trains make that trip.
Just to expand on this excellent suggestion, IMHO downtown Köln is the more romantic and sightseeing-worthy of the two.
Here's the english version of the Bahn site mentioned above: http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml Prosit!!
Thanks guys. I was hoping there'd be an overnight sleeper train to Brussels, but it doesn't look like there is. Looks like we'll just make a few deliberate stops and enjoy more of the countryside!
In the last few years many overnight-train routes were canceled as only a few people are using them... But I just saw: There is a CNL (=City-Night-Line) train from Munich to Cologne: (I just tried October 1st as a day): You leave Munich at 22:50 and arrive in Cologne at 05:43, where you have to change for the ICE Highspeed-connection to Brussels. But a direct train from Munich to Brussels doesn't exist...
Or you can take the same overnighter to Amsterdam, 22.50 - 08.56.... Spend a day (or more) in AMS, then take one of the hourly Inter-City trains to Brussels.... Prosit!
I did this exact trip a few years ago. Started off with Oktoberfest, went overnight to Amsterdam for "fun". Then wound down drinking Cantillon in Brussels.
Sounds like one hell of a good time. Either way, getting around central Europe by train is pretty convenient and comparatively cheap I'd say so you can definitely have some good times doing so. I can't believe I've actually been to neither Brussels, nor Amsterdam.
