Travelling from Lille to Ieper - advice please????

[potty5]

Dear forum members, I am travelling to Ieper on June 8 from Lille and have come across some great travel advice on the forum, but can anybody tell me if this is up to date and the bus numbers, times etc still correct. Or is there an easier way?? Thanks guys!!!

 

This post could do with a 2014 makeover. Some small details have changed. This trip costs €4.50 now for a start.

Ieper is only 30km north of Lille. Ieper is 130km West of Brussels. You save at least an hour by not going all the way to Brussels and then all the way back again. . Secondly, the last Eurostars arrive in Brussels too late for the last train to Ieper, or with a tantilising 7 minutes to get from the Eurostar platform and find the last train. Miss it and you can only get as far as Kortrijk.

Further, you are paying £5 extra each way for Eurostar to 'any Belgian Station' for the privilege of travelling an hour extra on each leg of your journey.

LILLE TO IEPER

With regard to the original post, French buses all operate as specified, but the bus numbers have changed. All buses take about an hour.

Bus from the Lille centre to Comines Mairie ( from Republic Beaux Arts) is now called Liane 90 (see 'Other Option' in my original post). This bus is always a fallback, running hourly into the small hours of morning.

The two buses which go from the other end of the road bridge bisecting Lille Europe (Eurostar) station are Bus 86 and Bus 88

Check times on www.transpole.fr

It's a bit confusing but there is an English version of the website (flag top right) and check timetable by bus number is easiest.

Buy ticket from driver. It is une billet si vous plait, costs €1.50 (any destination, you don't have to say)

Compost your ticket in the machine halfway along bus.

On arrival at terminus (Comines Mairie),

Belgian buses no longer venture over that bridge into Belgium next to the bus stop. Walk over the bridge, You are now in Belgium. Keep going straight. Belgian bus terminus is by the second roundabout (next to big church). Bus 89 (to Ieper Station)) is still the number, but the service is pretty unhandy. - only 7 departures a day.

0732 0859 1215 1359 1554 1712 1759

Only one bus on Saturday, 0902. None on Sunday. Hopeless!

Cost: single ticket from driver for 1/2 an hour trip €3.00, shocking compared to the French one.

While these times look pretty precise, the bus is always late, anything between 5 and 25 minutes in my experience. It would be nice to think you find one waiting for you, and if you do you will be the only person on it. Give up hope and proceed to train station.

Komen-Comines train station is the next thing you come across keeping straight on up the same straight road.from Comines France.

The train takes 9 minutes.

It is one stop

There is no way to buy a ticket at the station. There is no obvious way to buy a ticket on the train. Passenger tickets on this train have already been checked when train departed Kortrijk.

It is all over very quickly and your feelings of guilt will soon be replaced by naughty euphoria

Trains go every hour at 11 minutes past, and half hourly between 1700hrs and 2000hrs last train 2311hrs

Different at weekends. http://www.belgianrail.be/

RETURN JOURNEY

Here you do have more chance of using Bus 89 from Ieper Station.

It goes at 0630 0657 1125 1220 1300 1630 1715 1845

The Saturday bus (Fanfare) 1125. Perhaps you could spend some time in Lille, it's a lovely city.

The bus starts off on time, then wanders about loosing time in the countryside, so leave 20 mins from the declared arrival time in Comines if you are making a tight connection between the French bus and Eurostar departure, in case the driver has stopped to look at some sheep.

Bus 86 and 88's penultimate stop in Lille is the Eurostar Station, right outside the front door.

This might sound complicated, but that's just my waffling. It's all quite straightforward. The French buses are Germanically accurate in their departuring, and there is an electronic board telling you when the next bus is due.

I use these buses and the Eurostar every 6 weeks or so, never a problem (Except that Christmas when the Eurostars broke down). If you arrive 1/2 an hour early in Comines, there is an unexpected delight, the memorial to the German 45th Division:-

http://comines19141918.wordpress.com/les-sites/le-monument-allemand-de-la-45eme-division/

about 5 min walk from the main square in the church yard.

Hugh

[Fattyowls]

Thanks Hugh, I've been thinking of doing this trip for a while as I am a danger to myself and others while driving on the continent (thinking about it it's much the same in this country). This is brilliant, totally comprehensive and done with humour which is always a Good Thing. Perhaps you should advertise when you are going and charge the geographically/linguistically challenged for guiding services. You would be a natural.

 

Pete.

[sassenach]

Taxi, 45 minutes. Sorted. 

[Fattyowls]

2 minutes ago, sassenach said:

Taxi, 45 minutes. Sorted. 

 

Just out of interest, how much S?

 

Pete.

[sassenach]

Just now, Fattyowls said:

 

Just out of interest, how much S?

 

Pete.

70 Euros, Pete. Pricey, I know, especially if there's only one of you. But all that hassle on buses...maybe with bags...one has to treat oneself sometimes, no?

[Fattyowls]

You are clearly a man of wealth and taste Sassenach; a treat that certainly is. For my part I think I would most likely want to blow such a king's ransom on sweets and comics, or since this is Ieper we are talking about what said comics used to call 'a slap up nosh' at somewhere like De Rufelayer.

 

I appreciate your price comparison, but I quite like the jeopardy aspect of having a Eurostar to catch and wondering if the bus driver will stop to look at the sheep. I also really like the idea of naughty euphoria, but not necessarily related to free but illicit continental rail travel......

 

Pete.

[sassenach]

4 minutes ago, Fattyowls said:

You are clearly a man of wealth and taste Sassenach

Huh! Seriously, though, if there are, say, three or four people travelling it does start to make economic sense, especially once you factor in the convenience factor.

[chaz]

Are. They fitting toilets in taxi's now😊

[AOK4]

12 hours ago, potty5 said:

Komen-Comines train station is the next thing you come across keeping straight on up the same straight road.from Comines France.

The train takes 9 minutes.

It is one stop

There is no way to buy a ticket at the station. There is no obvious way to buy a ticket on the train. Passenger tickets on this train have already been checked when train departed Kortrijk.

It is all over very quickly and your feelings of guilt will soon be replaced by naughty euphoria

 

 

I don't know who told you this.

There is a ticket machine on the platform at the station of Comines (all stations have been equiped with a machine)! In the train, you will be charged extra if you don't have a ticket. Tickets are checked irregularly, so they may be very well checked between Comines and Ypres.

 

Jan

[AOK4]

7 hours ago, poulsenr85 said:

InterCity (IC) fast trains run between major German cities. EuroCity (EC) international express trains travel on routes outside Germany.

What is your point exactly? To travel from Lille to Ieper, Germany is not involved.

[egbert]

2 hours ago, AOK4 said:

What is your point exactly? To travel from Lille to Ieper, Germany is not involved.

If he is on a historic trip , Lille at least was Germany.

[Marco]

Indeed. He could have missed they gave it back. Twice.

[Michelle Young]

Unfortunately, spammers did get through and posted on this particular thread. 

[Marco]

I beg to differ "A Spammer is a standalone utility that allows to send massive amounts unsolicited emails (SPAM) to different addresses. A Spammer usually fakes email message headers and uses anonymous SMTP servers to send emails. These programs are not destructive. In several countries usage of such tools is illegal."