Thalys webiste it so horrible that you cannot believe your eyes. You choose a fare, provide all the details, and then you get a message saying that the fare is no longer available. Of course, refreshing does not solve the problem, because they do not hold the ticket for a few minutes once you've chosen it (which all serious companies do to give you time to put in your details) - so this can happen multiple times in a row. After trying for more than an hour to buy a train ticket online, I had to call them to book, and of course accept a 9euro added fee for booking over the phone (which is ironic, since I was ONLY able to book over the phone). I don;t know if this is their business model, but it is horrible! Unfortunately, they are a monopoly on some routes (I have no idea how the EU has allowed that) so they can afford to offer crappy service at expensive prices read more

Nice place to sit back and relax while you are waiting for your Thalys train. It is located right next to Gare du Nord and had free decent WiFi, clean toilets, and free coffee/water. There are loungy chairs, tables and chairs, and couches. While it's not the most comfortable place ever, it is better that standing around in the station. read more

Hi speed train travel can be pricey but discounted if tickets are purchased far in advance. It's a comfortable and relatively quick ride from Paris to Amsterdam taking about three and a half hours. The seats are comfortable. There is wifi available for a price and it's a nice quiet unremarkable ride. There are travel clubs and discounts you can sign up for if you travel often or even less than often making travel by train more attractive. You can purchase tickets online to make things even easier. The high speed trains embark and arrive at the Paris Gare du Nord. read more

Booked in a group of four, and did not get a four-seat arrangement, even though they were all clear, until a family of six took up two. Absolutely horrible smell inside the train, bags fall out of the overhead compartments every minute, internet is really slow, has a limit of 250 MB, which I took up 11 writing this review, tray tables are dirty, staff are not helpful, old train, they say it is a high-speed train, and when the train comes and is no faster than any regular train. Seats are confusing to get to, train is at least 80 years old. If you want to get somewhere choose Eurostar or a plane instead. NEVER choose Thalys. read more

Awful services on all aspects. I wish there is more competition in the railway sector.

259 euros lost for a 0 star service I would put 0 star to this service if possible. In reality, we choose Thalys because this is the only existing option to transit between Amsterdam and Paris.. and there is no existing competition from Ryanair or Easy jet YET. Besides being highly pricy, the trains run in an unorganised way from Amsterdam central or Schiphol. Meaning no clear display of the platform until 5min before it arrives (and I am generous here). No Thalys staff to guide you either. For example today my train overall stayed 1 min on the platform for a 16h34 schedule from Schiphol to Paris and I missed this 135 euros train today like that. Less than 1 min later, it was not displayed anymore and other intercity trains ran on the platform. I had hope that the controller for the next train could have some pity, as I was told at the Thalys counter...but he made me pay 124 euros for the same trip. Trip where I have no seat assigned and on my receipt it just says "no ticket". Like an outcast who fraud to be on the train.. I am pretty angry and disappointed of the lack of compassion and understanding. In clear you pay 259 EUROS for a one way from Schiphol to Paris and for being sat next to the door. They insist also in telling you that they cannot do anything for you. That this is your Fault. There is no human compassion or service at all. You better AVOID THALYS, choose the car sharing, for having nice people respecting you !! read more

Thalys - Trains Near Me - Paris, 75

What a horrible experience! The train actually left while passengers were still on the platform trying to get onto the train. And the customer service was completely non-existent. We'd booked for Brussels to Amsterdam a month in advance. We got to the station over an hour early, and we were on the platform way before the train arrived. When it arrived we all started boarding, but there was a long line trying to get onto our coach. My partner eventually made it onto the coach, and I was behind him waiting to board when suddenly the doors of the train started trying to close. My partner wasn't all the way on the train yet, so the door jammed on his backpack and reopened. But then it kept trying to close again. There wasn't room for me to get in yet, so I caught the door and tried pushing it back open, but each time it closed a little harder until I had to let it close. There were still about 6-8 of us standing on the platform along with the attendant who was checking our tickets, all wondering what the heck was going on. The attendant seemed surprised and tried his radio and then tried running for help. Then after a minute or so, the train started moving and left the station. Those of us still on the platform couldn't believe it. What was even worse though was that nobody seemed apologetic or to really care. One of the other attendants said something to the affect that she hadn't seen us there and had told the train to leave, but there was no apology, no attempt at compensation for their mistake, nothing. We were just told we'd have to catch a later train, although I wasn't even given a seat assignment or anything. Anyway, this is my first experience with Thalys, and hopefully my last. I'm definitely not impressed. read more

Rode the 10:17 am train from Amstedam to Paris yesterday, Jan 16th. My daughter and I ordered the tickets online a couple of weeks ago & spent the extra surcharge for the 'comfort 1' option as opposed to 'comfort 2', which includes the benefits of free wifi and a full meal. Wifi worked fine starting out, but stopped working shortly thereafter and never came back fully, the server said that outages and spotty service are commonplace. As for the food, despite it being a near empty train, another server informed us that they'd 'run out' of food and showed us a handful (4-5) of small unidentified microwavable packets from the bar as alternatives, which we declined. The ride itself was smooth and comfortable, but the upcharge for the 'comfort 1' package was a total waste. read more

Train is a fine alternative for the plane. Just as fast from Amsterdam to Paris and vice versa

First time on the train and find it rather enjoyable. Didn't really feel the "train" ride and was able to get a nap in between Amsterdam and Paris. Easy to find at Amsterdam Centraal; not so much at Gare du Nord but as long as you pay attention to platform numbers you'll be able to find it easily. They screen your luggage in Paris but not Amsterdam. Food choices was eh and had they have options to pre-pay for wifi when I purchase the tickets I would. I purchased comfort 2 tickets and trying to pay for wifi without wifi (data from US) is expensive. So I napped for about two hours. Can't say I was terribly disappointed with the service; just wished options was available so I can pre-plan the trip accordingly. read more

Since a couple of years I have been using the Thalys regularly (more than 10 trips) so it's finally time to make a review. Comfort 2 is their second class. Seats are two by two with some arranged in four around a table. Last minute tickets can be ca. 120 euros, but if one books well in advance, tickets can be 47, 35 and even, once upon a time, 25 euros. This is for the no-flex option (no exchange, no refund). There are also semi-flex and full flex (increasingly more expensive). Food can be found at the Thalys Bar, which is, as all train bars, horribly expensive and often runs out of food around Brussels or Liege (when hungry hoards empty all the shelves). Working toilets can sometimes be found after a long treck. Good point: recently they have introduced free slow wifi for all ticket ranges. If you have Thalys the Card (a free membership program) and you buy a semi-flex ticket when you are supposedly allowed to take the train before or the train after without paying the difference. This, however, can be a nerve wracking operation. I missed my first train by one minute (shame on me) and the thalys employee confirmed that with my booking (I had it on my smartphone) I was allowed to take the one afterwards. So I came back and boarded on the later train. Here the train conductor almost yelled at me asking to show him the physical card (which I did not receive since it takes around one month to get one by mail), otherwise I would have had to pay the difference (around 130 euros). Slightly confused I jump off the train right when the doors are closing. On the platform another Thalys employee tells me that I should have been allowed on the train. My confusion grows. He calls the Thalys service at the Gare du Nord (which is not far from the station). Here a very nice employee issues a permission to board on a latter train (the last one of the day). Now, the confirmation e-mail states "you can show your Thalys Card OR this e-mail". Given that "or" is different from an "and", the information is contradictory. According to the nice salomonic Thalys employee, me and the conductor were "both right", because somewhere else they say that only the physical card is accepted. I don't know, I kind of prefer to be the only one to be right. Anyway, all ended well, but keep in mind to have your physical card or to sharpen your argumentative skills if you don't. Now for the best part: Comfort 1, Thalys' first class. Big and spatious seats (including solo ones), free international press, food brought to the table with two vegetarian options, including a healthy one, tea from Palais du The, chocolat from Gallet, obviously less crowded. If I only I could take it anytime. Despite the adventure above, I still give Thalys four stars. They managed to bring me where I needed to go, for sometimes a very cheap price. Beware in Paris there are now security checks 20 minutes in advance, so no last minute arrivals. read more

Thalys from Brussels to Cologne, Germany. We booked first class and it was worth it. Quiet carriage. Delicious breakfast with meat, yogurt, fruit, bread, and drinks. Super comfy seats. It was a good experience. read more

Traveled from Dortmund to Paris (Nord) by Thalys and then from Paris (Montparnasse) to Le Mans by SNCF. The Thalys train arrived late on 30 minutes and I was missing the second train to Le Mans. Thalys gave me a letter for hotel to stay one night. They did not check the reservation and the hotel appeared to be completely booked. The manager of the hotel was not going to help me and I asked for help from SNCF service at the Montparnasse Station. They were very kind and eventually did not leave me to sleep on the street and gave me the reservation in SNCF hotel. Conclusion: Thalys staff is very bad if they do not check the hotel reservation. read more

I like the (train) service but... booking service and custome service is not far from acceptable. (Tried) to book a dayticket Brussels-Paris for 3 pax. Went fine but when paying the online site just said "Request unsuccessful. Unfortunately an error occurred". Tried several times but no. Seems like it happens often since the system said "If this error persists, call Thalys Contact Center". I did. They called back after some 30min investigation and explained that someone probably booked the tickets while I was booking. Really!? If I had reserved them (and I was not slow), system cannot give them away! But yes. But now the customer officer could help me right? No. Well, he offered me tickets at more than double the price, since well now your tickets are gone and we only have expensive left... OK, I gave up on him but did contact customer service via online form to complain and hopefully get some help. Same answer "As my colleague from the booking service told you, the tickets that you saw online were most probably booked by someone else a few seconds before you." And so forth. So if your booking a Thalys ticket, it's a chicken race for time. Perhaps ok for a booking system of 1990s. Not 2018. And of course customer service should be flexible to assis and be flexible, not just saying we cant do more than the online system does! read more

Worst experience. Train departed late and I had to spend the night in the train from 11:30pm to 6am. No offered hotel, no offered bus to my destination and just a refund of my ticket but no other compensation. Terrible. The reason behind is a technical problem and unforeseen construction work on the railway network... If you are a transport provider you should be up to date about construction work on railway networks, that is the most basic thing. read more

My fiance and I arrived in Paris on March 11th with 2 Thalys tickets to Brussels for 12:25pm. Our plane arrived early so we went to the train station to see if we could get on an earlier  train. There was a lady with a Thalys jacket on that said we could  ask if we could board the earlier  train with our 12:25 tickets, she said if the train isn't full we could  get on with our later  tickets and to ask them. We went through security and asked the first  Thalys person standing outside of the train. I showed her my ticket was for 12:25 but asked if it was okay for us to get on this train  instead. She said there was space in coach  5. We went to coach  5 where the man outside the train  was looking at tickets, I explained the situation and he said it was  okay to board this train and once we entered coach 5 take a left. During the train ride Train Manager Tom Agent: 520 came to us and asked for our tickets. I explained to him the situation. He told another train manager agent 246. On multiple occasions they mentioned us being Americans in another language and then decided we have to pay for brand new tickets that would cost  us $100s each. I told  her we already purchased tickets and were told  it was okay to get on the earlier train. They said  that we didn't get  permission from them  and they are the train managers. I told them we would have never gotten on an earlier train if we had known they would want us to buy new tickets and that we spoke to 3 people in which none of whom told us that when I showed them our original tickets and showed them they were for 12:25. At this point I called the customer service number on my ticket for Omio. While I was on the phone Tom asked us for our passports. They wrote  us up tickets right there for $164 euro each.  We know we purchased cheap tickets but explained this to everyone that said it was fine. When we asked to speak to their manager to see if there was anything we could do they refused and demanded we give them our passports and threatened to have us arrested at the next stop if we did not comply with them immediately and gave us no opportunity to call the customer service or further understand our options. read more

Choosing to ride with thalys was possibly one of the worst decisions I've ever made. I purchased a ticket a month in advance & the email specifically stated I could only print my ticket at a kiosk at the station. So, I followed the directions in the email & attempted to print at the station. All the machines were down or giving me an error message. I tried speaking with attendants, but nobody really understood or could speak English and directed me to the train manager. With just 9 minutes left to board my train from Paris Nord to Brussels midi & Bruges, I was in full on panic mode. I showed the train manager my confirmation email, my credit card statement indicating I indeed paid for the ticket & he denied my ticket entirely. He "called" someone on his cell phone and said my ticket was canceled and that I'd have to purchase a new one for a steep €125 charge IN CASH, 2x the price i originally paid. He told me "his credit card machine was down" which I found highly unlikely. At this point, I burst into tears and he lowered the price to €99. I had absolutely no cash on me & my friend ending up paying for me. I also had to repurchase a connection ticket from Brussels to Bruges for €6.4. Along the way, I attempted to settle this with each thalys office I could find at connecting stations. NOBODY COULD HELP ME. I signed forms, sent emails, spoke to countless people and nobody could help me. Seriously, take Eurostar instead as choosing Thalys ended up being disastrous. The seats themselves were dirty, and there's nobody to help you with your luggage either. (Maybe someone would have if we were blonde or white). read more

We booked online and added tickets to our cart for their "promotional fare" of €73 instead of their €99 regular rate. We received a confirmation number and saw that the price was put against our credit card. The next day we received an email from them (good thing we checked our email) saying they cancelled our tickets because the promotional fare was not available. Live chat didn't help, just told us to book regular fare because even though the promotional fare was still on their website, and I could still add the tickets to my cart with the promotional fare, they would cancel the tickets again. I asked when the promotion expired and why it was still on their site and they couldn't answer that. I booked through IZY and ended up paying €50 for the Thalys. Thalys booking system is very deceitful. Thank you IZY!! read more

i took the Thalys from Amsterdam to Paris. the service on the train is good and you have a restaurant on board, but they don t have lots of choices. also, they have wifi on board it does not work very well. it cuts a lots. it s a good change if don t want to fly and see the scenery. read more

€4.80 for a double espresso? Girl at the register for the cafe was a little rude and when I asked for milk in my coffee, she didn't tell me until after she had made it that they don't have milk even though I said, "coffee with milk." So I paid nearly 5 euro for a coffee that wasn't even that good and to a girl who was snooty. Also train interior is ugly and outdated. Bathrooms are nice though because you don't have to touch anything; garbage and toilet have pedals. read more

this must have my worst travel experience in a very long time. I had a ticket for a train departing from Essen. Once arrived at the railway station I found out that the train was cancelled. After three very expensive calls to the Thalys-hotline and an unsatisfactory conversation with a person who had no idea or intention to help me, I made a mad dash to Cologne (thanks to Deusche Bahn, not Thalys). I managed to get a place on the next train where I spent four hours being ushered from one seat to another, as the train was packed and I didn't have a reserved seat. Upon my return from Paris I contacted the Thalys-customer service, described the whole situation and asked for the compensation. What followed was a series of boiler plate-statements from customer desk that resulted in literally nothing. At some point they even claimed that the train departed from Essen with less than an hour delay which was an outright lie. After a long back-and-forth yet another person from the customer service in Brussels contacted me. She apologized for the whole mess and promised me a compensation - only to disappear to never be heard from again. Every attempt to contact her thereafter proved futile. Needless to say that I will never use the services of Thalys ever again. An addendum: after this review was published, i've been contacted by the customer desk in Brussels again, apparently a partial refund has been arranged. I am still not happy with the way the whole thing was handled, but at least I don't feel completely duped. Still would be wary to recommend Thalys to my friends. read more

Don't EVER order tickets in advance from these heartless folks. I missed a train at Gard Nord by 4 minutes because mine from Gard du Lyon was late and it is a long way between the two stations. They wouldn't let me use my first class ticket on the next train, gave me wrong information about where to go to resolve the problem. Then I had to pay for a new second class ticket. Only buy your tickets right before you go. And the place you wait at Gard Nord is filthy with no amenities no where to sit. I thought hey were no better than Amtrak. read more

Fast trains but poorly designed. Poor storage in certain cars and seats overlap doors. On both trains I took there was no water in bath sink even though train had just been cleaned. A person told me there is never water. Disappointed after riding the Spanish trains. read more