Travel Europe by rail

Our thoughts are renting an apartment for two months and traveling at our leisure.

No specific country. Our only experience is a rive cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest and an Oceania cruise from Venice to Barcelona.

If it were me, I'd stay in Milan. Train travel is relatively cheap in Italy (particularly if you buy the super economy tickets well in advance), and there are numerous places within a few hours train ride to see... Venice, Verona, Florence, Rome, Bologna, Turin, Alba, Ravenna, Lake Maggiore, Lake Como, Lake Garda, plus it'd be easy enough to travel to many parts of France and Switzerland as well. A cheap plane ticket could even get you to Spain or Germany. But once you discover the charms of Italy, you may never want to go anyplace else.

I'd pick Munich.

1. Plenty to do and see when you are not traveling.
2. Largest German Land (state) geographically, so you can go a lot of places on cheap Bayern Ticket.
3. Central rail hub so lots of fast train connections to elsewhere in Europe.
4. Close to the Alps.
I'd give Frankfurt a close 2nd. a bit closer to Paris, Amsterdam, Alsace, Rhine/Mosel, Berlin.

Thanks for the advice.
George, I think you are right. We were thinking about an apartment and then renting hotels, but know this would be expensive. Need to start doing some homework on maybe getting two apartments where we could do mostly day trips. Probably looking to travel in Austria, Switzerland, France and Germany.

If traveling primarily by train, I'd want to move around to at least several different home bases with different circles of accessible destinations (places you can reach within a 1 - 2 hour train ride each way). For longer distances, flying can be pretty cheap, but you still might be doing unnecessary back-tracking. See Rick’s Train Travel Time & cost Map for an overview of faster train travel times and regular, 2nd-class fares between main cities. See also www.skyscanner.com for flights within Europe.

I'd think about staying only a week or two in any one place. Pick places with fairly good train connections. If it were me, for the time I would spend in the Germany area, I would look at somewhere in the middle Rhine, Salzburg, and Gengenbach (in the Black Forest with good connection to Strasburg and the Alsace area). Germany has a great train system. My sister spent a week in the Nice area of France and had a great week using the train and bus for her day trips. Look at a rail map to get an idea of where trains can take you to a multitude of day destinations.

I agree with Laura's approach that it would be better to choose several home bases during a two month time frame. That will allow easy day or overnight trips by rail in different regions and you'll be able to cover more ground that way. If you stay in one location, that will limit your travel duration to some extent.

I understand what you want to do. But it's a bit like trying to visit both New York City and San Francisco from St. Louis because it's "in the middle." You will do much better (and not necessarily spend more) by having 2-4 weeks each in several different places, then taking closer trips from each base.

Hi,

Since your list includes both western and central European countries, I would also pick Munich and Strasbourg. In both I know where to stay regarding locations. Both cities have block after block of small hotels and Pensionen in the main train station area. With Strasbourg you have TGV connections not only with Paris but also northern France, ie, towards Belgium.

I agree, for daytrips and an occasional overnight you should use a base for a week, so you can experience some routine but also be able to do that in several different regions. Look at a rail map of Europe and locate the hub cities that interest you most, narrow. Or expand your choices from there.

@jbnh, everyone's taste, interests and budgets vary. There is a lot of convenience in what you suggest and you get a unique living experience in your hub city. We have done, and continue to do something similar but in shorter bursts. We found a city we enjoy and we return to it often and use it as a base to visit new places. Sometimes by train, but on occasion we have found great airfare deals under $350 RT to places as diverse as Moscow, Istanbul and Jerusalem. We do it in 16 day stints because I can't be out of the office much longer than that, but I love to do a night or two at "home" then a night or two someplace for New Year Eve or maybe the Christmas Markets then off to Moscow for orthodox Christmas mass, back home for a few nights, then back on the road for a couple of nights. In warmer weather they have been quick fishing trips where ever the transport was cheap: UK, Slovakia, Bulgaria, etc. I call them bonzi trips when we leave the apartment for a day or two, then we get back to the comfort of our "home" away from home, sit in the wine bar down the street and relive the trip in our conversations. These are life's good times. The apartment we stay in rents for 45 to 65 euro a night and it doesn't break the bank to rent for a few nights and not use it while we are traveling. It does allow us to make the bonzi trips with just a couple of day packs since we can leave the main part of the luggage in the apartment.

Thank you for you input, has really been helpfull. Know I need to do a lot more planning.\