Our very first journey in Europe by Rail starts at London’s Paddington station; it is the unsung star of London’s railway termini. The station has a light elegance which is utterly charming - and it is the perfect place to embark on a journey which takes in some of the finest countryside in southern England.
If there is one rail journey which has consistently fired the English imagination, it is the train ride from London to the Scottish Highlands. We’ll cover over a thousand kilometres by train, travelling via York, Edinburgh and Inverness to reach Kyle of Lochalsh on the west coast of Scotland.
The highlights of this journey from Rotterdam to the West Highlands of Scotland are two railways which are both in the premier league of Europe’s most celebrated lines: the Settle and Carlisle railway and the West Highland Line.
Beurs metro station in the busy heart of Rotterdam is the improbable starting point for this journey which takes in four countries and ends in south-west Ireland on the edge of the country’s first national park.
Route 5 in Europe by Rail takes you from London to Galway. On the way you'll see some of the finest scenery in England, Wales and Ireland. It’s a chance to savour a journey for its own sake.
Route 6 in Europe by Rail is short and sweet, taking in a feast of fine cities as well as, especially in the early stages, some engaging rustic landscapes. It’s not a route where you need ever bother about advance booking and for holders of Interrail or Eurail passes, there are no supplements to pay.
Lille and Cologne are two cities with very strong regional identities within their respective countries, but they could scarcely be more different. Lille is altogether more downbeat - and is radical while Cologne is conformist.
Fifty years ago, the direct train to Basel stayed entirely west of the Rhine, traversing Belgium, Luxembourg and France along the way. The through trains have gone, but the railways are still there. Regular regional trains – all offering a high level of comfort – still ply the entire route.
This is one of Europe’s classic rail journeys, as the route south from Cologne hugs the River Rhine and then, once past Koblenz, follows the dramatic Rhine Gorge upstream.
This is one big leap across Germany, west to east. A sleek ICE train leaves Cologne Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) hourly for the German capital and the journey takes about five hours.
You can cut off to the south of the main railways which link Hannover with Berlin to discover the glorious landscapes of the Harz Mountains, a region which boasts Europe’s finest network of narrow-gauge steam railways.
This long journey from Berlin to Bavaria and on across the Austrian border to Salzburg takes in some very fine German cities (including Leipzig, Weimar and Munich) and some decent countryside. It is one of two routes in this book which lead travellers from northern Germany to the Alps.
This journey to France in Europe by Rail starts at London’s St Pancras station, as inspiring a space as any cathedral. After a fast dash to Paris on Eurostar we continue south to the Mediterranean.
Route 14 in Europe by Rail uses a regional train to travel from Paris to Burgundy, continuing via Lyon to Geneva. The classic line south from Paris (via Sens and Dijon) which we describe here is dubbed the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée (PLM) route. PLM was the company which introduced to the route such celebrated luxury trains as the Côte d'Azur Rapide and Le Train Bleu - names which evoke the romance of travel in a bygone age.
The train journey east from Marseille towards the Italian border is superb. The route has a grand, almost cinematic appeal when seen from the comfort of a TGV, but suddenly becomes more intimate when you experience it from one of the slower TER services.
This route from Paris takes in some of the finest townscapes and countryside in Normandy. It is one of the shorter adventures in Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide, but one that lends itself to those who prefer to travel spontaneously.
Route 17 in Europe by Rail is for those less inclined to hurry. It is a leisurely amble through some of Atlantic Europe’s most striking cultural landscapes: the Loire Valley, Aquitaine and the Basque region.
The route we follow here from Paris to Barcelona is a more traditional approach to the Pyrenees and northern Spain, one much favoured by travellers of yesteryear. It criss-crosses France's Route Nationale 20 more than a dozen times.
Route 19 from Caen to Valence is for those who love provincial France and don’t want to struggle with the crowds of Paris.
The train journey from Geneva to Barcelona is one of the finest excursions in this volume. It is a good practical way of covering a lot of ground, but it also takes in a wonderful medley of landscapes.
If you have a few hours to spare you get get to southern Spain by taking the old rail route that runs through the gorge at Despeñaperros. Route 20 is truly one of Europe’s finest rail journeys, and it’s a creative way of linking Barcelona with southern Spain..
Our journey as presented here in Route 22 was made possible with the completion of the new fast line from Barcelona to Madrid in 2008. While our natural inclination is to avoid high-speed lines, this route for Europe by Rail really plugs a gap – and it’s an enjoyable run.
Until 2020, Spanish rail operator Renfe ran the Camino de Santiago train, which broadly followed the route of the ancient pilgrim trail. Changing patterns of train services, in part prompted by the opening of new high-speed lines has necessitated a rethink of this route for this 18th edition of Europe by Rail. Beyond Burgos, our new route tracks further south, now running via Zamora rather than León.
The railway is a fine way to take the pulse of Portugal and this route is designed to do just that. Route 24 is the sole journey in this book which crosses the Spanish-Portuguese border.
Most of the cities along Route 25 in Europe by Rail have developed through sea trade or their links with the sea, although none is really on an open coast. We’ll visit places shaped by the Hanseatic League and feel the sea breeze on this journey through four countries.
Route 26 makes the perfect introduction to southern Scandinavia. Our journey runs up Jutland before we hop on a ferry across the Skagerrak to Norway for a train journey through the hills to Oslo. The final leg of our journey takes us east from the Norwegian capital to Stockholm.
Route 27 in Europe by Rail is a trip from Copenhagen to Bergen via Oslo. It is a journey of extremely varied character. Along the way we pass Göteborg from where there's a wonderful rural rail route around Lake Vänern.
The appeal of this journey from Oslo to the Lofoten in Europe by Rail is undoubtedly the scenery and the real sense of remoteness that you encounter along the way - especially once you have moved beyond the Arctic Circle.
The overnight journey to Swedish Lapland we describe in Route 29 of Europe by Rail is worth doing in one long hop. Most places of real interest lie beyond Kiruna – in the final three hours of the journey.
Our journey commences in northern Sweden and ends in Stockholm, but actually the bulk of the rail travel on this wonderful journey is through Finland. There’s more than city streets on this fine trip: you’ll see lakes and forests aplenty and learn a thing or two about Finland’s history.
Let’s go in search of the red brick trail. This route links a number of cities that draw on a common architectural tradition, often known by the German name Backsteingotik (brick
Gothic architecture). This style was intimately associated with the Hanseatic
League – a confederation of ports and other cities that in the 15th century
dominated seaborne trade and commerce across the entire Baltic region
and more widely.
In this rail journey from Nuremberg to Prague we take in spa towns and synagogues, make time for coffee and cake, and explore some deeply rural areas of Bohemia.
The rail journey from Hamburg to Budapest can be completed in a long day. The sole direct service between the two cities takes just under 14 hours for a journey of about 1,300 km.
Route 34 in Europe by Rail starts with an overnight journey through Hungary into Romania. There we’ll make time for three Transylvania cities: a few hours (or an overnight stay) in Dracula-themed Sighişoara, then visits with an optional overnight stay in magnificent Sibiu and historic Braşov.
This is a route that blends Habsburg style with assertive Modernism and along the way takes in some grand mountain scenery. It connects the two centres of former Habsburg power: Vienna and Budapest.
Between Berlin and Lviv, Route 36 takes in two particularly fine Polish cities, Poznań and Kraków – both with magnificent central squares. Not to mention the capital Warsaw too.
In this journey for Europe by Rail, we travel east through the shatterzones of history, through territories where tyranny and violence shaped lives and landscapes. We start in Dresden and make our way through Wroclaw and Kraków to Zakopane and on to Poprad.
Route 38 in Europe by Rail is a very useful fast hop south over the Alps from southern Germany to Italian sunshine. And it packs in an astonishing variety of scenery.
The very mention of the word Arlberg evokes memories of a belle époque of continental rail travel. On this route for Europe by Rail, we travel from Zürich to Vienna. The Arlberg Railway was opened in 1884.
The Bernina Railway which links the Engadine area of eastern Switzerland with the Valtellina region in Lombardy is in our view far and away the finest of the three north-south rail routes connecting Switzerland with Italy. In 2008 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Gotthard is Switzerland. And Switzerland is the Gotthard. The mountain is intimately linked to Swiss national identity. We take the historic Gotthard railway from Basel to Milan.
Route 42 in Europe by Rail highlights the famous Glacier Express. The route from St Moritz to Zermatt runs through high mountain scenery from the Engadine to the Valais takin in such Swiss staples as glaciers and brooding mountain valleys.
This route nicely explores the Switzerland of the imagination – a place full of Alpine meadows, cow bells and snow-capped peaks. With some of Europe’s most efficient rail services running even into remote Alpine valleys, there is plenty of scope for really getting off the beaten track.
The Semmering Railway opened in 1854. In 1998, it was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The citation commends the route as “one of the greatest feats of civil engineering during the pioneering phase of railway building”. Enjoy Route 44 in Europe by Rail, which starts in Vienna and ends in Trieste.
It was the railway which created the Riviera and by 1874 it was possible to travel by train all the way from Nice to Pisa. Just grab a seat on the seaward side of the train and sit back as we cruise along the coast from France into Italy.
Let’s set off on a journey through green hills, striped with olive groves and vineyards, stopping off at historic towns and cities overflowing with Renaissance art and architecture. Enjoy Route 46 from Verona to Rome.
Route 47 in Europe by Rail takes in several glorious north Italian cities from Genoa in the west to Trieste in the east – a veritable feast of art and architecture, along the way swapping the Mediterranean for the Adriatic.
This is a journey which ventures past the point where most rail travellers visiting Italy turn round and head back home. It gives a taste of the fiery harsh lands of Basilicata and it takes in a great sweep of the Calabrian coast.
For this completely new route for Europe by Rail, we offer an alternative to the direct ship from Venice to Greece, travelling down Italy’s Adriatic coast and then taking the ferry from Bari to Patras, from where it is just a short hop on to Athens.
We set out by train from Budapest to Split and then take the ferry to Ancona on Italy's Adriatic coast. This journey for Europe by Rail retraces a pilgrimage of yesteryear – but one which remains enduringly popular with residents of Budapest today.
