Getting Around Oostende

5
STOP PRESS
Oostende is now DEAD for FOOT PASSENGERS.. The Jetfoil packed up and
THE Ro Ro ferries refuse foot passengers....SAD...so head for CALAIS INSTEAD!

The following info HAS changed so check before u travel!

Since I wrote this info some years ago I have a feeling the ferries might have

stopped running and now it`s prob JETFOIL only.Everyone wants FAST TRAVEL

Oostende Lines is the company that exploits the ferry service between Ostend and Ramsgate. Ostend can be reached easily by car via the E40 motorway or by train.

Oostende lines has three ships and two jetfoils. You can take your car on
the ferries, but not on the jetfoils. The crossing of the channel by ship takes
about 4 hours, by jetfoil only about 95 minutes. Crossing by jetfoil is a bit more
expensive. In Ramsgate, a bus takes you to the railway station.
From Ramsgate it takes about two hours by train to get to London Victoria.

Oostende Lines offers some great reductions for people who want to go to London.
For a 72-hours ticket (3 days) from Oostende to London, crossing the channel by jetfoil,
you only pay 1750 BEF! If you take the car, you pay 300 BEF for one day,
and 1500 BEF for 3 days (including 2 passengers)!
This is probably the cheapest way of getting to London!

More information about this service can be obtained at:
Oostende Lines
Natiënkaai 5
8400 Oostende
Tel: +32-(0)59-55.99.55
Fax: +32-(0)59.55.97.55

Eurostar is for the rich and the stressed......
Not any view of the wonderful English Channel
or of the white cliffs of Dover!
All official train info will send you via Eurostar
even if your standing in Oostende and there is
a jetfoil which will take you to Ramsgate for a tenth of
the price.

How to get to London
(from Belgium)
There are several ways of getting to London. It depends on how much you want to spend, whether you want to go by car and whether you want to be there fast.

From Belgium you can go to London either by train, plane,
hovercraft, jetfoil or ferry.

By train

There are mainly two ways of going to London by train:
by either using Eurostar or Le Shuttle services.
Both services go through the channel tunnel
(from Calais to Folkestone) which is being exploited by the company Eurotunnel.

Eurostar is the train service that connects Brussels South Station
(Brussel Zuid / Bruxelles Midi) with the London Waterloo Station
(Another Eurostar service connects Paris with London).

Tickets for this service can be purchased from every station in Belgium.
You can either buy a usual ticket or a ticket with a magnetic strip for automatic
check-in. Keep in mind that you have to be at the check-in at least 20 minutes
before departure!

More information about this service (such as departure times etc.)
can be obtained from Eurostar


Check in at the station at least 45 minutes before the departure time
After checking in, you will need to have baggage/security and passport
checks before you can go to the departure lounge

Spend many of my cross Europe trips with a stopover here!
The station cafe opens round 7 and they have great coffee.
The train information office opens at 8 and they can offer
info printed out for you for most train trips in Belgium and
International.
The station is a 5 minute walk from town.
One of the local supermarkets is a good place to get
great food stocked up for your journey!

Oostende has many direct trains to destinations within Europe,
or there is a local train service taking an hour to all 3 of the main stations in Brussels.
From Brussels you can take to almost every destination in Europe
and it`s a good place to spend a few hours between trains.
Check out the Belgian Railways timetable link here.
Happy travels!