The Belgian Rail operator NMBS/SNCB offers a special deal over the Christmas & New Year period - a day return from anywhere in Belgium to anywhere in Belgium for just 10 euro!
The deal is so good that it will often be cheaper than buying a single. And it's also so good that if you're travelling across the Belgian border, it will be cheaper to buy a "Happy Ticket" to the border, and a separate ticket for the onward journey.
For example a single from Charleroi Sud to Calais Ville is normally 42.70
But splitting the journey into a 10 euro "Happy Ticket" from Charleroi Sud to Tournai (near the french border), the remaining trip from Tournai to Calais Ville will cost you 24.70 - a handy 8 euro saving.
And a journey to cross a more distant border could save even more.
The "Happy Ticket" is available for the weekend in mid December, and then all the way from 21st December to the 5th January - full details here
Using the main https://www.belgiantrain.be/en/ website the fare comes up for any applicable journey within Belgium. But using the https://www.b-europe.com/EN website for international train journeys, the "split ticket" fare (unsurprisingly) doesn't appear - so you have to work it out for yourself.
I bought my ticket from an automatic ticket machine in Charleroi Sud station, and the main screen (in english) highlighted "Promotional Fares", and it came up straight away.
A quick search of the internet suggests that it's been going a few years - so hopefully it will be back again next year.
Maybe this map of the Belgian Rail network will inspire some train travel next festive season!
The deal is so good that it will often be cheaper than buying a single. And it's also so good that if you're travelling across the Belgian border, it will be cheaper to buy a "Happy Ticket" to the border, and a separate ticket for the onward journey.
For example a single from Charleroi Sud to Calais Ville is normally 42.70
But splitting the journey into a 10 euro "Happy Ticket" from Charleroi Sud to Tournai (near the french border), the remaining trip from Tournai to Calais Ville will cost you 24.70 - a handy 8 euro saving.
And a journey to cross a more distant border could save even more.
The "Happy Ticket" is available for the weekend in mid December, and then all the way from 21st December to the 5th January - full details here
Using the main https://www.belgiantrain.be/en/ website the fare comes up for any applicable journey within Belgium. But using the https://www.b-europe.com/EN website for international train journeys, the "split ticket" fare (unsurprisingly) doesn't appear - so you have to work it out for yourself.
I bought my ticket from an automatic ticket machine in Charleroi Sud station, and the main screen (in english) highlighted "Promotional Fares", and it came up straight away.
A quick search of the internet suggests that it's been going a few years - so hopefully it will be back again next year.
Maybe this map of the Belgian Rail network will inspire some train travel next festive season!
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