Thalys, the high speed train company, offers a lounge in a selected number of train stations. Gaining access to one of their lounges is actually fairly easy. I got to check out the lounge at Brussels South/Midi station.

Text and photos: Nico
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The Thalys Lounge in Brussels isn’t actually located inside the station, rather right across the street. It is easy to find.

Access: even with the cheapest ticket!

Thalys has own operated lounges both in Brussels and Paris. Next to that they work with partner lounges across Germany and The Netherlands. Passengers with a premium ticket can off course use the lounges everywhere.

But even with a ‘Standard’ ticket it is fairly easy to get access in Brussels and Paris: Thalys has a loyalty program called ‘The Card‘. As soon as you took Thalys once after registering for The Card, you gain the Silver status. With the Silver status and any ticket on Thalys the same day, you are granted access to both the lounges that are operated by Thalys themselves. Easy, no?

The Lounge

When you enter the lounge, you have to prove you have access to a lounge host. When I visited the lounge, she was really friendly.

As soon as you are registered, an automatic door opens to let you in. Here are some impressions:

The lounge offers hot drinks and water. The tea was provided by Palais Des Thés, a very good tea brand if you ask me. There were also apples.

There is also a table with national and international news papers.

There is free wifi that works really well, and almost behind every seat there were power outlets.

Thalys Lounge Brussels: bottom line

You can’t compare the Thalys Lounge to an airline lounge with free flows of champagne and a food buffet. But I found the lounge to be a very pleasant way to wait for a train.

Taking into account the fact that it is so easy to get in, Thalys did a really nice job here. You can wait in a beautiful area with some hot drinks, water, wifi and a clean toilet (not bad when waiting for a long train ride). So hands up for the good work.

Thank you Thalys, can’t wait to visit the lounge again soon!