Trains from London to Brussels

Those who still believe that flying is the quickest and cheapest way to travel have clearly never taken the Eurostar. For this journey, I took one of their high-speed trains that have been connecting London to Paris and Brussels for more than 20 years. The train departed from London St Pancras International at 08:54 and reached Bruxelles-Midi at 12:02 (Belgian time). With Eurostar, you can travel between the two European capitals in about 2h, and you don’t need to change anywhere. Remember that Brussels is one hour ahead of London, so don’t forget to set your watches!

Departing from London St Pancras International

I arrived at London St Pancras station about an hour before departure, as the check-in closes 30 minutes before. To get there, I took the Thameslink that connects southern London to King’s Cross-St Pancras station (bound for Luton airport). The Eurostar terminal is right in the middle of the station and is well sign-posted.

I had to go through three security checks – it took me about 15 minutes as the station wasn’t very crowded. First of all, I scanned my e-ticket, then I walked through the metal detector and finally had my passport checked (if you don’t have a passport, you can also travel with your European ID card).

There are two different areas where travel documents are checked: ID cards are checked on the left-hand side while passports at the right-hand side.

Before travelling, I double-checked on the Eurostar website if it was possible to carry liquids on the train and to my surprise, I found out that it was, unlike on planes. You can also carry two pieces of luggage (max dimensions of 85 cm x 85 cm) – there are no limitations to weight.

After going through security, I found myself in a wide hall with 3 bars, a WHSmith and free toilet facilities. Just like at the airport, there’s a boarding gate that opens about 20 minutes before the departure time. When the gate is open, the platform is announced both in English and French and is also shown on the information screens.

All Eurostar seats are assigned so you’ll have to find your carriage – the number of the carriage is near the train entrances. Make sure you go to the right carriage. I thought my seat was in carriage 5, but I only realised that I was in the wrong carriage when the legitimate owner came to claim his seat!

The train itself

In Second Class, seats are wide and comfortable, have a reclining table and a magazine holder. Between the seats (or sometimes under the armrests) there’s a power socket with both the UK and European pins. Each carriage offers plenty of space for luggage, so my trip was quite comfortable. The toilets are in the middle of every carriage and also include baby changing facilities.

As the train is quite fast and travels through many curves, you need some balancing skills to walk up and down the train, especially if you want to go to the restaurant carriage to get something to eat or drink.

During my journey, I got the chance to have a chat with a nice British lady who was going to southern France – she got off at the first train stop, Lille Europe.

At first sight, the Eurotunnel just looks like any other mountain tunnel, but you’ll soon feel a little drop in temperature in the carriage. The tunnel is 50 km long, and its deepest part is 75 metres below the sea level. You won’t see another train in the tunnel as there are two separate tunnels, one for each direction. Once you get out of the tunnel, the train crosses northern France and stops at Lille before proceeding towards Belgium.

Arriving at Bruxelles-Midi

Bruxelles-Midi is one of the three main train stations of Brussels and the most used in Belgium.  The station has a terminal dedicated to Eurostar trains, so as soon as you arrive at the station, just go down the escalators and leave the terminal and you’ll find yourself in the central station. There are entrances on both sides of the station which lead to a wide hall with bars and cafés and a huge live departure board. Toilet facilities are available and cost €0.50. From the station, you can easily access the underground or walk to the city centre in about 20 minutes.

Why take the train from London to Brussels?

It’s not always true that the plane is the best option to travel in Europe. I chose to take the train from London to Brussels for the following reasons:

• You save time: airports are usually outside of the city, so you need more time to get to the city centre. You also have to be at the airport at least two hours before departure and delays are likely to happen and ruin your journey. On the other hand, train stations are in the heart of the city centre, and the check-in doesn’t take that long.
• Luggage allowance is great: you can take many more pieces of luggage on the train than on the plane, and you can also carry liquids.
• Trains are eco-friendly – travelling by train between London, Paris and Brussels greatly reduces the size of your carbon footprint when compared to air travel.
• You can enjoy the scenery from your window seat!

Origin: London St Pancras International

Destination: Bruxelles-Midi

Train: Eurostar

Travel time: 2h 08m

About Greta

Greta is one of our trusted, hand-picked travel writers. The information for this article was recorded first-hand, based on her own genuine experience of the journey.