Single-night stopovers

The feedback we receive from readers of Europe by Rail speaks volumes about the hopes, aspirations and regrets of rail travellers. By and large, people are hugely enthusiastic about the journeys they have made. But it’s a common refrain that travellers wish they had planned longer stops at selected places along the route.

So why not ditch one-night stands in favour of multi-night stays? We know that train travel can be tiring. Even we, as dedicated travellers, don’t often spend ten hours on a train in a day. And two or three days on the trot with long hours of travelling just become a grind. It’s better, we think, to limit the number of days when you are actually on the move. Staying a couple of nights offers a recuperative change of pace.

This is of course something that nicely fits in with the idea of the Interrail flexi pass. Nowdays, there are more travellers buying flexi passes, rather than a continuous pass. The latter was for so long an Interrail staple. A whole month’s continuous travel made pass holders worry they were losing out if they didn’t take a train every day. Nowadays, more travellers are inclined to opt for a flexi pass, like one offering seven days travel in a month or ten days travel in a two-month period.

Of course, well do we understand that sometimes an itinerary just demands a one-night stop. If you are travelling right across Europe, there may be an imperative to cover a lot of ground quickly. So you might really need to make a one-night stop then head on early next day.

Favouring small town overnight stays

Our advice is to think carefully about such stops. Don’t even think of a one-nighter in a big city. With very few exceptions, it’s hard to get a feel for a big city in so brief a stay. You arrive disorientated and you leave disorientated. Arriving in Paris at 20.00 with a train to catch at 08.00 the next morning just doesn’t work. And much the same could be said of Berlin, Vienna or Rome. Save those big-city stopovers for that part of the trip when you can linger for two or more days.

If you have to make a one-night stop, better to choose a smaller city, ideally one where the station is close to the city centre and you’ll have a chance to wander in the evening and get a feel for the place. Over recent weeks, we’ve enjoyed overnight stops in many smaller places, among them Bourges in central France and latterly in Aachen, the German city close to the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. Both were wonderful opportunities to have a relaxed evening in the heart of a historic city.

Our repertoire of perfect places for single-night stays now makes an impressive list. And there have been many cases of a one-night stop being the prelude for a subsequent longer stay. For all these places are deserving of more than a single night. Here’s our list of a score of places which work well for one night stops. All can be built into longer rail itineraries across continental Europe. But be prepared! Some of these places have a seductive appeal and you may end up wishing you really had opted for a two or three-night stay:

• Aachen, Germany
• Aarhus, Denmark
• Beaune, France
• Białystok, Poland
• Bourges, France
• Colmar, France
• Lund, Sweden
• Maastricht, Netherlands
• Neuchâtel, Switzerland
• Ribe, Denmark
• Saumur, France
• Sinaia, Romania
• Trani, Italy
• Trier, Germany
• Třeboň, Czech Republic
• Trnava, Slovakia
• Valence, France
• Verviers, Belgium
• Zernez, Switzerland
• Zwolle, Netherlands

Travel well. You may like to know that a new edition of Europe by Rail is now available. This 18th edition of the book has just been published.