Brussels with Ryanair or Aer Lingus

T

Tintagel

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Just wondering if it is better to fly to Brussels with Ryanair or Aer Lingus. The plan is to head to Ghent for a few days and maybe take in Antwerp and Bruges.
I understand that Ryanair fly to Charleroi airport whereas Aer Lingus fly to brussels main airport. Ryanair are offering much cheaper fares and even allowing for the coach transfer they are working out cheaper than Aer Lingus.
Are hotel prices generally cheaper at weekends in Belgium than midweek?
 
Weekend hotel prices are cheaper at weekends as demand from EC related workers is less.
Ryanair may be cheaper but is it worth the hassle , last time I travelled there was a queue for the buses and we were dropped at a metro station some distance from city centre .
 
The good thing about the main airport (Aer Lingus) is that if you are heading to Ghent straight away is that the train station is in the basement. No hassle with buses etc.
 
And Charleroi (Ryanair "Brussels South") is the wrong side of Brussels for Ghent ... by the time you factor in the extra time and cost for the ground transfer I wouldn't bother with it - especially for a short trip

Brussels hotel prices would normally be lower at the weekends as demand is very business related there ... but I'm not sure that would hold true for Ghent.
 
If you travel Ryanair. note that you will only be allowed 15kg baggage allowance. It is + €20 per kg for any excess. Which equals €100 to bring you up to 20kg. I just flew to Turkey via Standsted and refused to go Ryanair to Stansted because it would have been €400 extra for myself and my wife for a return journey. The holiday flight had a baggage allowance of 20kg and we needed this amount for 2 weeks holidays. I flew Aer Lingus to Heathrow. Also less hassle because of Ryanair online elctronic check in.
 
If you'd said perhaps you were planning to visit the Ardennes then I would say definitely go via Chareloi. As you are going to the Flemish region, definitely don't, you are 30km the wrong side of Brussels.
 
I fly there regularly.....Aer Lingus all the way....The Airport train takes you to the Central area and there are many hotels withing walking distance. You can then take the train to Bruges/Antwerp etc !
 
Thanks guys. I notice that the Aer Lingus flight is a 6.50 a.m out of Dublin and the Ryanair an 8.00 a.m. flight. Considering that most hotels don't allow check in until about 3.p.m. in the afternoon would it not be better taking the later Ryanair flight and slowly making my way to my hotel?
I notice on the way back that the Aer Lingus flight is at 10.10 a.m. but I can get a late afternoon flight with Ryanair. Again I could make my way back to Charleroi without a mad rush (from Ghent).
 
Most hotels will quite happily let you drop bags before your room is ready. Personally I'd rather have the day in Belgium enjoying my holiday than a whole day spent travelling to it. It would seem a waste of a whole day to me to spend it on buses and trains lugging bags across. The later flight back might be a consideration if it gave you most of a day but I'd rather the early morning landing and a whole day in Belgium doing my holiday stuff.
 
Having travelled to both airports over the last couple of years, I have to say that Aer Lingus to the main airport is the way to go unless you are saving a significant amount of money by going by Ryanair.

Charleroi is in the middle of nowhere and the only real link to the city is the coach; problem is that if you take a late flight you can easily miss the last coach; a cousin of mine ended up paying a fortune in a taxi fare a few years back. Not the only person this has happened to from what I hear.

The main airport is easy connected to the city (and the rest of Belgium) by rail and you get into the city in minutes rather than well an hour from Charleroi
 
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