Rail Travel Around the World
Traveling by rail is one of our favorite types of travel. It’s usually affordable, reliable and brings back a bit of the times before seats are crammed into any kind of transportation. In the United States there isn’t as much availability of train travel outside the Northeast but in other places like in Europe you can take a train nearly anywhere. When we go to Europe we have never rented a car and easily travel by train on some of our trips to get to different cities or even some rural areas. There are so many different options if you want to travel by train in Europe so we want to give some tips and share some of our experiences on rail travel!
Rail Travel Tips
In Europe, we have booked our own rail travel in multiple different countries. There are a wide variety of options in booking your rail travel but we have mostly booked through the national rail companies of the nations we are traveling through. If you are traveling through many different countries it might be cheaper to buy a multi nation train pass that allows you unlimited or at least multiple train rides on different companies rail. Some countries and cities offer City or Nation passes for tourists that include things like museum and attraction entry or discounts and some include the use of public transportation such as rail. In Luxembourg, we used the pass to travel by train in the small nation and used it to get out into more rural areas. If you want to take the guess work out of train travel you also can book rail tours that are guided and use the trains to tour different areas.
Booking Tips
When booking rail travel on your own without a pass its important to research where you want to travel to and what are the rail companies that operate between the cities. Each nation has a national company that runs most of the rail network within the nation or to other nearby nations. A few we have used and the nation that it is found in can be found below:
- OBB – Austria
- SNCF/TGV – France
- SBB – Switzerland
- Eurostar (combined with Thalys) – High speed rail service to The Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom
- DB – Germany
- Ceske Drahy – Czech Republic
- Iarnrod Eireeann (Irish Rail) – Ireland
- NS – The Netherlands
After you find the right company you should familiarize yourself with the type of fares available. Some fares allow you to book flexible tickets where you can take any train and sit in the class you have selected. We have used this a few times if we are not really sure when we will be leaving such as the day trip to Strasbourg or Bern we took. Those tickets can be more expensive so if you want cheaper tickets book for a specific time. Many train companies have Saver rates if you book early so the sooner you book the rail the cheaper the price you might get. Also when you book early, sometimes you are able to get First Class tickets for just a few dollars more than the cost of a Second Class ticket. You can also buy a day pass or discount pass in some countries if you plan on taking many different trains in a day. Like in a plane, first class has roomier seats and they sometimes serve food at your seats versus heading over to the dining car. The biggest advantage though of first class is there are fewer people so its easier to store your luggage and easier to get to your seat. You also have the option to reserve your seat for a price or to just take your chances on your seat when you get on the train. There are also many different kinds of trains within a single company. I found in Switzerland for example you could travel on a slower local train that stopped at smaller cities or a faster regional train that only makes a few stops.
At the Station Tips
After booking and you are on your trip you will find the experience much different than heading to an airport. European train stations are usually massive in the large cities and are more like malls. You can find restaurants, shops, grocery stores and so much more inside the station. We always get there early and buy anything we might need at the train station. Some large stations can have 40+ platforms so the stations can be very crowded. When you get to the station be sure and check the departures board for which platform your train will be leaving from. When looking at European train (and airport) departure boards they are not alphabetic by destination like it is in the US. In Europe it is always by departure time in the 24 hour (military time) clock. Do not be afraid if you are early at a busy station and your train and time is not on the board yet as that I’ve found is common. Just keep an eye on the board from time to time to see if your train has been added. When your train does show-up on the board many times it will not have the platform number on it yet. You will see groups of people staring at the board watching for when the platform is selected for their train and will run off as soon as it is there. Sometimes its put there early and you have plenty of time to make it to your platform but more often than not its only 10 minutes or so before your train leaves so you have to hurry to your platform. Most platforms are segmented into sections such as A, B, C or maybe 1, 2, 3. You can check boards that will show you where you train will park on the platform so you can go to the right section to get on your train car (check your ticket for what car you are on). There is no TSA style security as you just head to your platform much like a subway in the US. Sometimes you only have a few minutes before your train leaves so head in and put your large bags in a luggage holding area on your car and then head to your seats. If you didn’t reserve your seats be sure and check if any names are on your seats (usually a digital display above the seats) to make sure no one reserved it. Now that you are on board you can enjoy your rail trip. There is usually a dining car for non-local trains that can offer a variety of snacks to sometimes full meals. You can walk between the train cars while traveling and most trains do have Wi-Fi.
Some of Our Train Travel Experiences
We have traveled by rail on several continents, and they have all been great experiences (I am not including the sometimes lackluster US public transport trains and subways). Here are a few of our train travel experiences.
Vienna-Prague-Bratislava
Our first true rail travel experience was a trip we took to Vienna a few years ago. Vienna is one of my favorite cities in the world and we took advantage of how close we were to other nations and great cities to visit. We booked OBB tickets ahead of time and booked first class to Prague and second class back. It is around a 3 hour train ride to Prague from Vienna on a fast but not high-speed train. We made a couple stops one being the Czech city of Brno with its massive cathedral on a hill. We got to see a lot of the Austrian and Czech countryside which is a great benefit of train travel. We could see small villages as we sped along. At one stop the train conductor apologized that the train would be leaving 1 minute late. They are very punctual. I watched the time at one stop and they left nearly to the second of the scheduled time. In first class we had extra leg room in comfortable seats. We also were able to order a lunch of sausage and sauerkraut. We went from the central station in Vienna to the Central Station in Prague. Both stations are very large with shops and restaurants like most European train stations. We several days in Prague before we took our return journey. On the way back we had to go quickly to our platform as the platform wasn’t announced until a few minutes before the scheduled departure. Second class was nice but was more congested, so it was harder to handle our bags. We reserved our seats so we did not have to worry about that. We booked a transfer through viator and our driver met us at our platform in Vienna and we headed to our hotel. It was a great first train journey.
We took one more quick train trip from Vienna on our trip. In many cases we like to stay in one city and make it our base of operations to visit other areas. On our trip we headed over to Bratislava, Slovakia for a quick day trip. We booked a private guide through viator in Bratislava that met us at a hotel close to the train station. The OBB train on this trip was a smaller regional train since it was only an hour train ride over to Bratislava. The train was nice on board but built a little more like a subway car with less cushy seats. It was still a good train ride where we got to see a lot of scenery such as the Danube River. The central station in Bratislava is smaller than Vienna or Prague but is still nice. Bratislava is a nice city that is well worth the quick train ride over there. Our return train was on time and easy to catch to head back to Vienna.
Amsterdam to Brussels on Thalys (now Eurostar)
On our first Christmas Market in Europe we decided to take a true high speed train for the first time. We took the Thalys bullet train from Amsterdam to Brussels. We actually caught the train from the massive Amsterdam airport (Schiphol) train station. It is very nice with so many unique and great shops. I especially enjoy the toy airplane shop there that I visited recently on another visit to Amsterdam. On that trip our hotel was near Schiphol so we used The Netherlands rail (NS) to travel to the city center from the airport.
Like most European rail we headed to the station and checked for our platform and this being a bullet train gave us the platform early. On the train we found very nice seats with a lot of legroom. We sat in business class (a step down from first class). The tickets were affordable even for business class. I wasn’t sure what it would be like racing across the country going near 200 mph but it was actually one of the smoothest train rides I have ever had. If you didn’t look outside you could not really tell you were moving at times. Outside the countryside of the low countries raced by. We made a couple stops but with the high speed it was limited. One stop was the large Dutch city of Rotterdam that I had never been to before. There was a dining car to get some food but we didn’t get any on this trip. The train had Wi-Fi with an app that told you how fast you were going in kilometers per hour. There also was a speedometer in the train car. It was a great experience and after a couple hours we were in Brussels heading to our hotel!
Luxemburg City to Paris on TGV
A few years ago we visited the wonderful country of Luxemburg that is often overlooked when visiting Europe. Its well worth the visit with medieval walls, great museums, huge medieval castles, WWII battlefields like the famous “Battle of the Bulge” and so much more. We decided to split the trip to spend time in Luxemburg and a bit of time in Paris to see some things we hadn’t seen in our first visit. We decided to take the TGV (French high speed rail) over to Paris from Luxemburg. Like our previous experience on high speed rail, the bullet train had very comfortable seats that are practically recliners with heavy cushion in the business class seats we picked (a step below first class). Like the Thalys train they had great Wi-Fi where you could see the speed of the train, a dinning car and was very smooth. If you went through a tunnel your ears pop like in a plane with the high speed change in altitude. The train ride allowed us to see some of the countryside in Luxemburg and in Eastern France. We speed by cities like Riems and got to see it (for a brief couple of minutes) but the train travel gives you the chance to see what things are like. We traveled from the relatively small Luxemburg City Central Train Station to the Paris North station. It was a quick 1.5 hour to 2 hour train ride and we were done. Navigating the stations was easy but one word of warning at the Paris North station we encountered some scammer Taxis that were trying to charge us outrageous rates. Around the corner was the official Taxi Stand that was charging reasonable rates that we ended up taking. While on the trip we also used the Luxemburg national rail system to travel to more rural areas to visit Vianden Castle and other sites. We rode for free as part of the very affordable Luxemburg day pass. We had the chance to walk over the border into a small town in Germany as well using trains and busses. It was another great trip that allowed us to venture into different countries and cities without renting a car!
Warnemunde to Berlin in Day on a Chartered DB train
On our Baltics cruise we ported in the small city of Warnemunde which is a 3 hour train ride from the German Capital of Berlin. The cruise lines charter trains that are non stop to and from Berlin. You don’t have to worry about luggage or which platform to get to in Warnemunde as you have cruise guides to take you to the right car. The train we rode on was a double decker train and our group rode on the top one way and the bottom the other way. The train was comfortable and they served us a light breakfast and on the way back a great butter filled pretzel snack. This train was more a commuter train than the fancy long distance trains but it was still nice and roomy. Like all trains, restrooms were available as well. We sped by German farms and small towns as we got to the Berlin Central Station. The station is huge with many platforms. It is multiple stories high filled with shops, restaurants and travelers. In stations in countries like Germany you should be prepared to pay a small fee to use the restrooms. It will be around 1 Euro and usually you get .50 Euros back as a coupon for a store nearby. While it can be a pain to pay for a restroom visit, the flip side is they have dedicated attendants and self cleaning toilets. Its very clean for a busy station. We took a whirlwind tour of Berlin that was nice and then headed back from a smaller station further away from the city center. It was a great day trip and was an easy way to get to Berlin in a day. It is a long day with 6 hours of train rides but it is a good one!
Swiss Rail (SBB) from Zurich to Bern
While we were in Switzerland we wanted to take a day trip from Zurich to the capital city of Bern. Since we did not rent a car we took a look at the rail options. There were many different options from between the two cities. We had the option of quick regional trains that had limited stops and took around 2 hours or slower but cheaper trains that made more stops. We went ahead and opted for the quicker trains so we could get to touring Bern quicker since we only had a day. We opted for a day pass so we could pick the train we wanted to travel on based on when we got done touring and if we wanted to stop for dinner. The Zurich Central Station has a historic look to it since it was built many years ago but inside it is just as modern as any station in Europe. Bern’s station was also very nice with plenty of shops and restaurants. The trains were on time and easy to find the platform to depart. The trains were nice and clean and we passed by the Swiss countryside on the way back and forth. On that trip we used Swiss rail to go from our hotel near the airport into the city center of Zurich for our tours. The station we used was near the Hilton Zurich and the trains came often and where on time. It was so easy to get around and to go on day trips in Switzerland. There is a very scenic Swiss rail train called the Glacier Express that goes through the Alps that I would like to take some day!
Dublin to Belfast on Irish Rail
When we were visiting Ireland we decided to travel to the country of Northern Ireland. We looked at our options and decided on taking the Irish Rail. Irish Rail is a smaller system as you would expect but is still nice. We went to Conolly Station which is the main station in the center of Dublin. Its not an overly large station but its does have a few shops. We were there around 7am so I headed to a coffee shop and they were selling Irish Coffee (coffee with whiskey) but I found out they would not serve it until after 10am. The seats on the train were comfortable and it was easy to board the train. The train was not a bullet train but after a few hours we made it up to Belfast. I really enjoyed watching the Irish countryside go by early in the morning. We pasted by fog covered rivers, had a great view of the Irish Sea and passed many beautiful Irish villages and cities. The station in Belfast is also relatively small but it was also very close to our hotel that was the Hilton Belfast (U2 Crew were staying there for the Irish U2 concert going on then). At the hotel there was an Irish Dancing competition for children going on. It was a great trip in Belfast and it was easy once again to take the train back into Dublin. It would be great to ride the Irish rail to other areas of the country to see the countryside!
The Heathrow Express in London
In London there is a short train ride that we take that makes it very convenient for us to head from Heathrow to London. Its a bit more expensive than taking the subway called “The Tube” but it is much quicker. Many times we have long layovers (8-12 hours) at London Heathrow so we decide to head into London for a quick day trip to see different things. On these day trips we have seen the Tower of London, The Churchill War Rooms and the HMS Belfast to name a few things. The Heathrow Express will take you from Heathrow to London Paddington Station in around 15 to 20 minutes time. You can buy tickets at the airport or by them ahead of time online. The train station is on the lower level of each terminal. You can ride the train for free to the different terminals and then need to pay to head into London. You can buy first class tickets but that’s not really needed. There are plenty of places for luggage and the seats are comfortable. On this train ride the scenery is all urban but you will see a little of West London. For us its been a great way to get into London quickly and an option we will use again in the future.
Riding on the Historic Manx Railway at the Isle of Man
While visiting the Isle of Man we road their historic railroad from the capital city of Douglas down to the southern city of Port Erin. It is like going back in time riding on the steam engine train that inspired the Thomas the Tank Engine series. The cars you ride in remind me of Harry Potter or another old train in Europe. The train is very well taken care of and passed by beautiful seaside views, small cities, farms and well kept old stations. In Port Erin, your train ticket included admission to their railway museum. We took a round trip ride that didn’t really take too long. Its a historic train but is actually used as public transportation on the island just like the Electric Railway that will take you to the Northern part of the Island and up to their tallest mountain. It also lets you go to other areas of the island in a unique historic way without renting a car. The Isle of Man has a great modern public transportation system as we used the busses as well that had charging stations and a great system letting you know to the minute when you would get to a stop. The Isle of Man is not on many people’s radar but it should be. The people are some of the most friendly and polite I’ve seen in the world and it has castles, Vikings, scenery and so much more.
PeruRail to Machu Picchu
While the majority of our train rides for true transportation has been in Europe we have ridden trains elsewhere. In North America we have ridden on the Long Island Railroad to travel from NYC to Farmingdale and New Jersey Transit in North America. We have taken many different historic and scenic railways but that is not the topic of this article.
In South America we rode on PeruRail so we could get to Aguas Calientes and visit Machu Picchu. Its the only way outside of hiking the Inca Trail to get to Machu Picchu. Our great tour guide Rudy and Trafalgar booked our tickets so I am not sure how much they cost but the train ride was great. Both stations are relatively small and its a normal diesel train. The train has great windows all the way to the ceiling so you can take in the great scenery. We sat at a table with 4 seats. The train has a dining car where a traditional dance was performed, and a live band played. We could stand outside on the rear platform. They served us Peruvian snacks and drinks on the train as well. The scenery on the train was amazing with the sacred river running by the train, tall mountains and glaciers and later the Amazon Rainforest. It is a spectacular train ride that I will never forget. Its a very comfortable train ride and one to take especially if you want to see the Amazing Machu Picchu!
In Conclusion
Rail travel can be found all over the world and has become one of our favorite ways to travel due to the affordability, comfort and the ability to see the countryside. I have yet to ride any trains in Asia and the quality of some trains might vary but its something every traveler should try. Get out there and see the World by Rail!
If you are interested in this trip idea:
Contact Donna Miller and she can help you book your dream trip today including rail travel as mentioned here. Her travel planning services are completely free if you book with her. Contact her at donnamiller.etfamilytravel@gmail.com to book today!
