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I am travelling from Brussels airport (Zaventem) to Bruges on 24th of December and back from Bruges to Brussels on 25th of December.

Should I buy tickets in advance? I am not really concerned about the price (unless it is twice cheaper or around that), but about the place availability.

Additionally, this post suggest that one should not take high speed trains but rather regular SNCB trains. Does the price for these "regular SNCB trains" differ that much from the "high speed trains"?

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    Beware that traveling from/to Brussels Airport train station requires a special "diablo" surcharge. Also, AFAIK there are no high speed trains to/from Bruges.
    – BCdotWEB
    Dec 20, 2016 at 10:08

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You can buy tickets beforehand, but there is no real advantage. The price is the same and you can't make reservations. A ticket is valid on any train. On those days you should have plenty of place on the train, so I wouldn't worry about that. In my experience the end of the train (going to Bruges) and front of the train (going to Brussels) is where you have the most empty seats.

As for the high speed trains mentioned in your link, there used to be a Thalys in the morning from Bruges to Brussels and the other way around in the evening. They stopped that because the train was always as good as empty. So this is not even an option any more. The only reason that train existed was that its depot was in Ostend. From there, it had to get to Brussels anyhow.

The best ticket to buy for this journey is a Weekend Ticket. This is a return ticket valid during a weekend. It costs €15.20.

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    Note that if you're under 25, you can use Go Pass ticket which will cost you around 12€.
    – Gp2mv3
    Dec 20, 2016 at 8:32
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There is no restriction on the number of passengers on those trains and there is no seat reservation system for those trains.

So there is no reason to buy a ticket before the day.
As far as I know there are not even lower prices.

Regular SNCB train tickets are completely different from 'High speed trains'.

The site of the Belgium rail site has a lot of tickets which you might be able to buy. By waiting till the day you can ask the staff in the window for which is the best on that day for your intended journey.

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