Charleville Mézières, France – Namur, Belgium via Givet and Dinant along the River Meuse train & bus
Charleville-Mézières railway station, in the north of France. From this medium-sized city, we’ll go along a very regional train to Givet, in the north of France close to the border with Belgium. A beautiful train journey along the river Meuse. From there on we continue along the same river by bus to Dinant in Belgium, from where we continue our journey further into Belgium via Namur. Join me on this train bus train journey from France to Belgium along the river Meuse. For now, let’s get this video on the track and on the road. And let’s roll the intro. [Music] I started another YouTube channel called Trainviking Passenger POV, where I record the views from the train for entire routes and I also did that for the first train along this route from Charleville-Mézières to Givet. You can find it on the Trainviking passenger POV YouTube channel. So far, that channel is not a great success. So on that channel, I really appreciate every subscription and also your watch time, because I need that to make that channel a success as well. I’ll just give it some more go and if it doesn’t work out after some time, I think I’ll just stay with the real thing and that are these trip reports. And for that we also start now with the real trip report. I arrived in Charleville-Mézières by regional train I took from Lille Flandres Railway Station. There will be a trip report about that as well. From and to Lille Flandres you find great connections by train to Belgium. But this is also kind of an alternative connection from and to Belgium. At this railway station, there are two underground passages and lifts can be found in one of them. There are quite some screens with information about departing and arriving trains by the way. Within the main concourse, you’ll find a point where you can tap water, so you don’t have to buy plastic water bottles, that are way more polluting, so you can reduce plastic waste, There is a shop, there are some vending machines for snacks and drinks, some vending machines for train tickets, and even a staffed ticket counter. Although the shops and the staffed ticket counter were all closed when I was here after rush hour on a Friday night. At the front of the railway station, there is a park and you find quite some hotels around here. The town center is not too far away from here by foot. However, you do find some bike sharing programs as well. And let it be no surprise, this is for this region quite an important city because there’s not much around. And you do find quite some buses from and to here. Not only to the city itself, but also to some more remote parts around here, to some smaller villages. Anyway, let’s head back into the railway station building again. And we are here right at the main concourse. By the way, at the side of the railway station, there is another kind of passage and also another tunnel. And if you arrive here by bike, you can park your bike over there. But we didn’t do that obviously. And as you can see on the screen for arriving trains, you do find some high-speed trains that are heading to Paris as well. So I actually think that this connection that we’ll be taking right now is not that strange if you want to go for example from Namur to Paris as an alternative way. I think it’s more obvious from Dinant actually. Anyway, within the main concourse, there are obviously some spots where you can take a seat as well. Even though there are some TGV inOui Highspeed trains from and to here, I also noticed quite some regional trains that were heading towards the highspeed line. That’s still quite a long distance from here actually. Anyway, for now, let’s head to our platform where our train departs from today. I first thought it would be the train here on the right, but that’s not the train yet. At the platform, there were clear displays about the departure for the train as well. And this will also host all the stations in between. And for long-distance trains, what we obviously did not have for this route, also the composition will be displayed. Anyway, this here in the distance is the train coming in that will take me to Givet, just before the Belgium border. Actually the railway line used to continue towards Dinant but on that section you won’t find trains anymore nowadays. So on that section we’ll be traveling with a bus but more on that if we are there. Today’s journey will be on board of an Autorail grande capacité. You’ll find these trains all over France. These trains have been in service since 2004. And the SNCF, the state-owned railway company of France, owns 700 of these train sets. There are still some differences on these train sets, though. Some of them do exist of four carriages and others of three. And some of them are only diesel powered, others are diesel and electric, and some others are only electric again. For this journey, we were traveling on board of a diesel powered train because there’s no overhead wire along this route. And even though these are not the newest trains, I like them. For luggage, you do find some dedicated luggage racks as well within the train, but don’t miss out on the overhead luggage racks you find obviously all over the train. There are some seats facing each other, and in that situation, you find these nice tables in between. You can fold them out to make them slightly bigger. Of course, you also find the airline style seats. And for those traveling with a bike, there’s quite some space as well. This space can also be used for extra space for luggage. And you find some folding seats, so for extra seats. At the total back and front of the train, you find these areas over here. And you will find sunscreens at all windows. Speaking of which, the windows are pretty large actually. The amount of leg room for the airline style seats is very reasonable. And I have to add up to this; I’m pretty tall. It looks like something was broken on these seats. Maybe an old cup holder? There’s a small magazine rack as well. And there’s a sturdy foldout table in the seat in front of you. Coat hangers are located at the side as well. LED screens at the end of the compartment do host some route information as well. On board of this train, you will find two toilets. Well, let’s have a quick sneak peek in the bigger accessible toilet. And this is how they are. Pretty fine, nothing special. Most importantly, it looked clean. About tickets; for the first leg of this journey, so for this specific train, the best website to book them in my opinion is TrainLine. I do have an affiliate link to that as well. You can find it in the description of this video. There are some promotional tickets as well. Actually, they’re pretty often also available last minute, but those tickets are only for specific trains and pretty often not available within the rush hour. A full fair ticket at the moment of recording will cost you €15.20, but once again, pretty often you have the promotional tickets and then you only pay € 6,-. This is all the price level at the moment of editing and recording this video. So, this might change in the future. These trains do only have 2nd class, what is a good product in my opinion. For now, I’ll show you some views I recorded from the train as well. Like I already mentioned at the introduction of this video, I recorded also the views from the train for this entire route. And you can find that video on the Trainviking passenger POV YouTube channel. For now, enjoy the views from the train along this route until the railway station of Givet. Over there, I’ll be back with you and we continue our journey by bus to Dinant in Belgium.
[Music] I’m standing here at the railway station of Givet, in France close to the border with Belgium. I planned so many trip reports these days, so I had to stay overnight over here. But I arrived here yesterday night by train, spend the night in a hotel in the town here, what is actually a really nice and cute town. And now I’ll take a bus to Dinant Belgium along the closed part of the railway line. So they used to be trains just running across the border. Not anymore, unfortunately. I hope they will launch this again someday in the future. And from there on I continue my journey by train again towards Namur and probably I have a train that continues to Brussels. Actually, I don’t know yet. Anyway, I hope you like this video so far or that it’s a helpful video to you. If so, please give me a thumbs up, I really appreciate that! If you have questions, feedback, comments, let me know in the comment section, even if you just want to say hello, feel free to do so. And if you like to see more trip reports about more sustainable ways of transportation, the main focus for this channel is long distance and or international traveling. Well, this is international. It’s not really long distance, semi long distance? Or medium distance? I don’t know. But if you like to see more, then hit that subscribe button if you haven’t done this already. For now, let’s just continue with this video. So, like I mentioned, I spent the night in the town of Givet. Normally, you don’t need to do this if you make this journey, but I took the last train from Charleville-Mézières to Givet and then there’s no bus anymore at the same day. At least not at the day when I was traveling. Maybe the time table would change on this. Even though the town looks pretty nice actually, I only spent the night over here. So, I honestly don’t know how much there’s to do over here, but I think it’s worth visiting Givet if you are here. If you know this, let me know in the comments. This train ride went through the French part of the Ardennes. And the Ardennes, especially in Belgium, are really a popular area. At the front of the railway station, there are some spots where you can park a bike. There are some car parking spots as well and you will even find a vending machine for tickets at the front of the station. But probably if you buy your ticket over here, you will have the full fair tickets. Once again, the link to Trainline is in the description of this video. But Trainline doesn’t work for the bus that we’ll be taking next. Within this railway station, there seems to be a staffed ticket counter and also an indoor waiting area. Very nice for in the winter time, I guess. but not really needed at the moment when I made this journey. Another train was just leaving when I was recording this part of the video. And over here you will also find screens with information about departing and arriving trains. Since all trains do have the same destination, all trains do also come from and go to the same town. For the rest, there’s not that much over here. But actually, I just really liked it over here. I don’t know what it is. It’s maybe the quietness and also the fact that it’s not too far away from home in the Netherlands where I do live, what is a very flat country, and here it’s quite mountainous. I really enjoyed yesterday’s rout along the river Meuse and today’s part wil also be pretty. The frequency for trains in France along this part of the route is pretty good, about every hour at day time. Even though it seemed like this railway connection used to have known better days when there where still international trains. What I really liked at the front of the railway station was this kind of repair kit for bikes. But where we are here for, at least at this time of the day, is the bus. And the only buses that do depart or go from this railway station are buses that will head into Belgium. So you won’t find French buses. The bus that will be taking from here is line 154A. This bus is heading for Dinant in Belgium and basically along the closed section of the railway line. These buses do operate on weekdays 11 times per day in both directions, on Saturday, five times per day on both direction and on Sunday only four times per day in both directions. About the interior, I don’t have to spend too much time on this. These are relatively simple but comfortable buses. There are USB power sockets as well at the side of these buses. There’s a special area for those traveling with a stroller or in a wheelchair. And that’s basically it. You can buy tickets with the driver, but I purchased my ticket in the TEC app. The bus makes a route within the town of Givet and is also serving the more touristic areas. Actually at the moment we cross the bridge over here along the river Meuse. You have a great view on the town itself and also the castle that’s close to the town of Givet. Once again I think it’s really interesting to go back here again and spend some more time over here. Once again if you know if it’s worth it please let me know in the comments and also let me know what are the nicest things to do around here. The town of Dinant where we are heading to is very touristic. Anyway, not long after we crossed the bridge and served some parts of the town of the other side of the river, we head on to a more regional road. And the quality of this road isn’t too good to be honest. However, as soon as we cross the border into Belgium, the road is good. I know pretty often this is the opposite thing. At least in the Netherlands, we claim that this is the case. And in my personal experience, it’s also true that roads in Belgium are less good than in their neighboring countries. But this time, it was the other way around. The bus is serving some smaller towns along the route as well, and the railway history is pretty much everywhere visible. You can even see some old parts of the railroad tracks and some old station buildings. But for now, I’ll just stop talking and show you the views from the bus until the railway station of Dinant (from where on we take a train). [Music] Here, the bus is arriving at the town of Dinant, what was really peaceful and quiet on an early Saturday morning, I have to say. I mean, I’ve been here in the past and it’s always crowded at this place, at least at the moments I was here with good weather and in the summertime. The bus was a little bit early. And for Dinant I won’t do a railway station review. We’re here at Railway Station. One thing, the bus is about three minutes early. If you take this bus along the way, just make sure you’re on time at the bus stop. At the railway station of Givet, it departed on time, though. I won’t do a proper station review for this. Let’s go to my train for now. Well, basically I already featured the Dinant railway station in the past, but there were some improvements going on at the moment I was here. Honestly, I don’t think that’s that much that will change over here, but doing a proper railway station review doesn’t make sense at this moment. Also, this here was my next train that would take me to Brussels. For this, I needed to use the overground passage that was basically brand new and a little bit more at the side. You do find elevators as well, by the way, from and to here. And I think what it looks like at least. You will also have access
to somewhere at the back of the station. I mean, this is a hilly place. However, I needed to run for my train. I didn’t feel like doing another station review for this. I just wanted to go home. The next train I had was one of these Siemens Desiro trains. While the Siemens Desiro trains can be nice and good to be honest, but these in Belgium, they’re great commuter trains, but you can’t call these trains intercity trains. I won’t review these trains though. In the early days of Trainviking, I did a train review for these trains. And if you want to see more, just check out that video. That’s on the route from Luxembourg to Liège. I will show you the views from the train until the railway station of Namur though. That is a junction railway station from where on you will find trains to Luxembourg, Brussels or to Lille in France via Charleroi and Mons. Also the train tickets within Belgium can be purchased via Trainline. You can use the affiliate link in the description of this video, However, in Belgium there are great other offers, like you have special discounts if you’re a bit younger, older or in general good discounts. So yeah, I think full fair tickets are in general not that interesting unless you’re traveling the rush hour. But I’m not going to explain everything about the Belgian railway ticket system in this video. So for now, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the views from the train. Also along the river Meuse, until the railway station of Namur. [Music] Like I already mentioned, Namur is a real junction railway station and also a rather big city. From here on, I theoretically could try to follow the river Meuse as much as possible again, but I decided to go home as soon as possible. So I traveled towards Brussels. From where on I took a EuroCity to Rotterdam and later on to the Hague. However, I crossed the Dutch Deep River by train as well and the Meuse River will end up on this river as well, after a very long detour. I hope you liked this video or this has been a helpful video to you. If so, please give me a thumbs up. I really appreciate that. Once again, questions, feedback, comments, let me know in the comment section. If you just want to say hello, feel free to do so. And if you like to see more trip reports about more sustainable ways of transportation, the main focus for this channel is once again long distance and or international traveling, then hit that subscribe button if you haven’t done this already. Before we really end up this video, one very last thing. Once again, thank you for watching. Related videos can be found in the description of this video. And something else you find in the description of this video is a link to a map where you can find all videos as well, but then on a map. And don’t forget to check out the Trainviking Passenger POV YouTube channel. See you on the next video.
This international public transportation adventure begins in the charming French town of Charleville-Mézières, where we board a train winding through the picturesque Ardennes region. As the landscape unfolds—rolling hills, dense forests, and quaint villages—we arrive in Givet, a historic border town nestled along the Meuse River.
From Givet, our journey takes a turn: a bus ride along the abandoned railway line, offering a glimpse into the region’s industrial past and stunning natural beauty. The route leads us to Dinant, a gem of Wallonia, famous for its dramatic citadel, Gothic cathedral, and the winding Meuse.
In Dinant, we rejoin the train, continuing our voyage to Namur, the capital of Wallonia.
Here, the confluence of the Meuse and Sambre rivers creates a breathtaking setting, with a fortress overlooking the city.
From Namur, Belgium’s extensive rail network invites you to explore further—whether to Brussels, Mons, the charming towns of the Ardennes or Luxembourg.
This journey blends history, nature, and culture, making every leg of the trip an experience to remember a real slow travel journey between Belgium and France.
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▬▬▬▬▬▬ VIDEO CONTENT ▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 Introduction
00:51 Trainviking Passenger POV YouTube Channel
01:29 Charleville-Mézières, France railway station
04:31 Train Charleville-Mézières – Givet
07:07 Views from the train between Charleville-Mézières and Givet
10:51 Givet, France railway station
14:42 Bus Givet, France – Dinant, Belgium
15:49 Views from the bus, Givet, France – Dinant, Belgium
18:52 Dinant railway station & train to Namur, Belgium
20:46 Views from the train between Dinant & Namur
23:03 End of this trip report by train & bus from France to Belgium
Trip report 270
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