There aren't any direct trains from Bruxelles/Brussels to Berlin (they're near the top of SMTJ's European travel wish list), but it's usually a straightforward journey, most of which is on high speed lines.
There aren't any sleeper trains available on this route.
There are no direct trains between Bruxelles/Brussels and Berlin but the simplest journey options involve only 1 x change of train at Koln Hbf station.
Making this connection in Koln is not absolutely guaranteed, but a typical transfer between trains is around 33mins, which should ensure a stress-free connection.
And IF the train from Bruxelles/Brussels does arrive in Koln/Cologne particularly late, tickets will be valid on the next train on to Berlin.
Between Bruxelles and Koln/Cologne:
ICE and Thalys trains share the service of direct trains between Bruxelles and Koln/Cologne.
This doesn't particularly affect the journey time and connections, but it matters when booking tickets.
DB generally offers the cheapest tickets on this route on this route, BUT it only sells tickets for journeys that involve taking an ICE train between Bruxelles/Brussels and Koln/Cologne; and NOT the connections which involve departing from Bruxelles by Thalys train.
up to 8 x connections per day
Change trains in: Koln/Cologne
There are no direct trains from Bruxelles/Brussels to Berlin.
When travelling from Bruxelles/Brussels to Berlin by train, some journey options involve taking an ICE train between Bruxelles and Koln/Cologne, while others involve taking a Thalys train between the two cities.
The ticketing terms and conditions vary depending on the trains you will be travelling by.
(1) ICE train + ICE train:
Bookings open:** 6 months ahead of the travel date (usually)
Book 1st class ticket journey tickets for the ICE trains and your seat reservation is included - but they're optional when booking 2nd class tickets, or if you will be travelling with a 1st or 2nd class rail pass.
DB will have the cheapest tickets and price mattch with the other agents for the journeys which involve taking an ICE train from Bruxelles.
Rail pass users should take the ICE trains.
(2) Thalys train + ICE train:
Bookings open: 4 months ahead of the travel date (usually)
Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for the Thalys trains, but rail pass users will need to be pay a reservation fee prior to boarding.
DB does not sell tickets for the Thalys trains,but journey options involving both ICE AND Thalys departures from Bruxelles can be compared B-Europe.
General booking advice for ALL journey options:
It can also be worth comparing the prices across the agents, particularly if you want to take a specific trains, as there can be variations in price.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
---|---|---|
DB | from €39.90 | |
B-Europe | from €39.90 | |
Omio | from €40 | |
SaveATrain | from €39.90 | |
Happyrail | from €39.90 |
Final Destination: Frankfurt (Main) – the ICE trains
Final Destination: Essen/Dortmund/Koln – the Thalys trains
Most of ICE trains also call at: Bruxelles-Nord
Note that the Thalys trains do not call at Bruxelles-Nord.
Neither the ICE or Thalys trains call at Bruxelles-Central.
A choice of train services:
The service of high speed trains between Brussels/Bruxelles and Cologne/Koln is split between
ICE and Thalys trains.
The timetable is arranged so that either one of these types of trains departs in each hour.
What type of train service you will be travelling by generally makes little different to the cost of tickets, the popularity of each specific departure has a bigger impact on prices.
Though DB offers limited numbers of Super Saver Europa tickets on the ICE trains, but not for the Thalys trains.
The tickets for the ICE trains are made available two months ahead of the Thalys trains, so the very cheapest tickets for the ICE trains can have sold out before the Thalys tickets have been placed on sale.
The ICE trains travel at the same speed as the Thalys trains; most of the ICE trains are around 4 mins slower than the Thalys trains due to their additional station call at Bruxelles-Nord.
Departing from Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid station:
Aim to be at Bruxelles Midi/Zuid station a minimum of 15 - 20 mins before your train is due to depart.
You will usually* have to pass through security checks before boarding these trains and queues can build up at busy times.
The security checks are at the entrance to platforms/tracks/voies 3 -6 and these ICE and Thalys trains to Koln are usually scheduled to depart from this part of the station.
But check the departure screens before heading for the security checks, these trains can occasionally be scheduled to leave from platforms/tracks/voies 7 or 8.
from Belgium is available HERE.**
For virtually the entire train journey from Bruxelles to Koln the trains, will either be travelling at up to 290 km/h on a purpose built high speed line, or up to 220km/h on a section of line, that has been re-engineered to allow trains to travel faster.
The high speed part of the route comes between Leuven and Aachen.
Final Destination: Berlin-Gesundbrunnen
All trains also call at: Bielefeld, Hannover and Berlin-Spandau*
*If your final destination is in West Berlin, the fastest option is usually to leave these trains at Berlin-Spandau and connect there into S-Bahn commuter trains or Regio trains.
The station in the heart of West Berlin is Zoologischer-Garten, but these ICE trains do not call there.
If your final destination is to the north of the city centre, then it's likely that your best option is to take this train to Berlin-Gesundbrunnen station.
Check your onward connections in Berlin on this public transport map.
Travel overnight by train from Cologne/Koln to Berlin:
You can take an overnight train from Koln/Cologne to Berlin, but there are no sleeper trains between the two cities.
So if you need to be in Berlin by 07:00, you can take an ICE train, which happens to travel overnight.
This a journey on which we recommend having something to do on the trip, as it's a train ride with few wow moments.
A highlight of the train comes near the beginning, with the views over the city of Wuppertal, on the left hand side.
Between there and Bielefeld, the train will pass through an industrial landscape.
The train will travel at more than 250 km/h on a high speed line between Wolfsburg and Berlin-Spandau.
Sign up to receive the latest travel news stories and to hear about what we've been working on for you.
This is one of more than 1000 journey guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.