jcarson
Traveller
4 comments
Posted 9 years ago
Hi
I will be visiting from Australia in October and wish to get to the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery at Poperinge and then travel on to Brussels. My travel plans will get me to Lille late in the day (by Eurostar) and the plan is to set out early the next day to visit this cemetery and then go on to Brussels.
The major issue is that I will be travelling with a suitcase and believe that I will need to leave it at the Kortrijk Train Station in a locker before travelling on to Poperinge. How long should this connection be? The change time in Kortrijk is about 20 minutes is this going to be long enough to locate the lockers, pay and find the proper platform? Is there any restrictions on travelling with a suitcase on Belgium trains?
Is there any other options that I may have as Poperinge does not have luggage lockers.
Finally what tickets should I be looking at purchasing with Lille - Kortrijk - Poperinge - Kortrijk - Brussels.
Thanks to anyone that can help me
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
There is indeed no storage facility at the station in Poperinge. You may contact the local tourism office if there is any possibility to store luggage at other places.
20 minutes would be fine to put your luggage in the lockers at Kortrijk.
Full fare tickets for Lille - Poperinge are available at [u]https://rail.shop/beurope/[/u] and are 17,40€.
You could save a few €€ by splitting the journey and buy separate tickets for Lille - Kortrijk and Kortrijk - Lille for instance but the difference is not really much so I would not bother.
Domestic tickets within Belgium are available at [u]https://rail.shop/sncb[/u], the trip Poperinge - Brussels is 18,80€.
If you dont mind getting up early and walking a bit you could also think about this route:
Lille Flandres 0719 - 0745 Comines (F)
Walk across the border to the Belgium part of the town, about 3km
Comines (B) 0832 - 0849 Poperinge (next train one hour later)
Poperinge 1611 - 1628 Comines (B)
Comines (F) 1715 - 1740 Lille Flandres
Lille Flandres 1808 - 1839 Tournai
Tournai 1844 - 1949 Brussels
Flo 8)
ntrain
Traveller
123 comments
NMBS=B-rail often does even cheaper special deals-check their site a week or so before travel. It works just like the MET or Sydney trains: buy just before travel, no reservations, trains run at least hourly anywhere.
You might consider sleeping in Kortrijk-its just 35/40 mins after Lille and leave luggage in HTL to visit Pop. It will be a lot cheaper to buy separate Lille-Kortrijk and from there domestic to Pop. IF you happen to be >65, you can use the senior ticket- just 6 eur/single anywhere in BE. BUT you cannot break the trip on that-in that case have to buy 2.
generally you need exact coins to use the lockers-its mostly 4/5/6 eur/day, may depend on size too.
jcarson
Traveller
4 comments
Thank you for the information. It has been more than helpful.
I have considered going on to Kortrijk (and even to Poperinge) and staying the night there. However, I will have travelled from Aberdeen - Edinburgh (car) Edinburgh - London (plane) London - Lille (train)... (I think I qualify for Planes, Trains & Automobiles ;p) on that day and while the train journey is short from Lille to Kortrijk, I don't want to push it too much. Luckily I can cancel my accommodation booking in Lille without issues for a little while yet should I change my mind.... as it really is probably the better option.
I will also ensure that I carry the correct Euro for the lockers as I thought that may be an issue.
Again thanks
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hm..when are you going to arrive in Lille? Maybe in time to get the evening connection to Comines and then straight on to Poperinge?
jcarson
Traveller
4 comments
Thanks again, your help has been invaluable.
I plan on getting to Lille about 7.30pm (this allows a reasonable amount of time between connections to cater for delays and other unforeseen issues) Sorry I have left all my info at home so cannot be more precise.
The only little issue I have with the Comines link is the walk carrying a suitcase (walk not an issue, 20kg (give or take a few kgs) suitcase is) and the fact that I am a solo female traveller that will be struggling with language issues as well, especially if there are no English translations anywhere :) ) (the unfortunate thing about Oz is that you are not exposed to anything but English unless other languages are in your background or you choose to).
I have, I think, decided to carry onto Kortrijk on that day and book into a hotel very close to the train station. I think that this will take the pressure off, make it easier with the luggage, and I may be able to enjoy Kortrijk which looks a very lovely city as well as Poperinge.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
OK - you would arrive too late anyway, the two afternoon/evening departures from Lille to Comines are at 1624 and 1750.
Kortirijk is certainly a good option to stay overnight. :)
ntrain
Traveller
123 comments
There are hourly BUses from Lille to Comines (FR side at borderpost) until about 21/22.00 from where its just 3/400 mtrs walk to the BE station. Check transpole.fr for more info. these are in fact citybuses for the Lille area and cost less as 2 eur/single. That train cost a lot more.
IF you happen to come as you describe, you can shortcut via the trains Calais-Duinkerken (Dunkerque in FR), then hourly bus to DE PANNE in BE (DK-bus.fr) and from there in summer an hourly bus (deLIJN.be) to IEPER, a very nice historic place to spend the night and also well-known by old ex Brit-soldiers for the WW1 graves.
jcarson
Traveller
4 comments
In relation to the trip from Kortrijk to Brussels it appears that the closest station to my hotel (Hotel A La Grande Cloche, 10 Place Rouppe) is Bruxelles-Chappelle. I have seen some references that this station is now closed. It appears that I can catch the L177x to this stop, can you confirm.
Am I better off catching a taxi from Bruxelles-Midi or can I continue on to Bruxelles-Chapelle (or is it really Bruxelles-Kapellekerk)?
Again thanks for your assistance.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
There are hourly trains on weekdays only from Bruxelles Midi/Zuid to Chapelle/Kapellekerk (station names are bilingual in Brussels). They leave at :03 every hour from 06:03 to 18:03 and take just two minutes.
Flo 8)