Something New - European Travel By Train Trip Reports

Yes the train system is great, and hard to explain to other Americans who have never used trains for normal transport. If you're into details and want to follow maps and schedules, this book is a great resource: european rail guide

If you haven't looked at the excellent Seat61.com website, you should. It has a wealth of train resources and has been of great help to me through the years.

Not sure if this is the type of info that you are looking for, but these are some of the trips/itineraries that I've taken over the past ten years while visiting Europe. They all included at least one night in the arrival city:

Madrid to Seville

Seville to Barcelona

Rome to Florence

Florence to Venice

London to Edinburgh with a stop for a few hours in York and return

Frankfurt to Bamberg

Bamberg to Berlin

Berlin to Brugge

Brugge to Paris

Prague to Vienna

Budapest to Venice, via Vienna on the overnight train (probably wouldn't do that one again)

And in a couple of weeks, a combo train/ferry ride from London to Dublin.

And this doesn't even include day trips.

I’ve taken some trips in Europe by train and have another coming up in a few weeks. Not exactly sure what you are looking for, but happy to answer any questions. Please pardon if it takes me a minute to answer though, as I’m still knee deep in planning.

This year’s trip is 7 weeks by train & ferry beginning in Budapest and ending in Dublin with Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, France and UK in between.

Several locations are repeat visits for stuff I didn’t have time for the first time around, as well as new locations. And some is for favorite, or new, train routes I wanted to check out. I thoroughly enjoy traveling by train and consider it part of the overall travel experience (vs transportation from point A to point B).

I also use the Seat61 site referenced above extensively. Whenever I find myself in a quandary about how to navigate a certain situation, I go there, and most often find the information I need.

Budapest to Kyiv overnight this past January. Looking forward to Budapest to Liviv if not Kyiv later this year.
Budapest - Vienna - Hallstatt - Salzburg - Budapest
Budapest - Vienna every few years

Something else you might look at are the historic train rides (some steam some just very nice period cars) and the excursion charters (generlly very nice). They exist in many countries. The ones in Hungary you can see here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/classic-train-and-classic-train-trips

Info on routes posted on RS General Europe: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/5-train-routes-that-highlight-the-beauty-of-europe

My husband and I have been traveling to Europe together for over a decade, and we are 100% Team Train! We have never rented a car there. If we want to visit a site that is difficult to reach by public transit, we book a day tour.

2024 was a busy travel year for us. (I think we were trying to make up for lost time from Covid.) Here are our European trips:

• Ireland: Dublin - Galway - Dublin. From Dublin, we took the commuter train to Malahide, Howth, and Dalkey. In Galway, we used Lally Tours for day trips. The train system in Ireland is a bit sparse in places, especially away from Dublin.
• Netherlands: Hoorn - Utrecht - Zwolle - Leiden - Hoorn. The trains are so easy to use here! By train, we visited Enkhuizen, Gouda, Woerden, Den Bosch, Kampen, Nijverdal, Steenwijk, and Delft. We even took a bus to Edam.
• Germany: Munich - Füssen - Ausburg - Nuremberg - Munich. Again, we took several day trips by train. Germany's trains did have some scheduling issues while we were there, so make sure to do your research on the various routes.
• UK & France: London - Paris. This was a winter holiday trip. Being based out of these two cities made it easy to visit many places.

This is just a sampling of our train travels. If you are interested in a specific country, feel free to message me with questions. Also, look for a copy of Europe by Eurail at your local library. It has some good itineraries and gives background on the different rail systems.

About 10 years ago I did a 5 week trip to Europe using only trains (except for one bus) and it was my favorite trip ever.

I flew into Brussels and spent 3 nights there using trains to do day trips to Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp.

From there I traveled by train to Bacharach (on the Rhine) with a few hour stopover in Cologne to visit the Cathedral, the Roman-Germanic museum, and take a boat ride on the river. I spent one night in Bacharach and then next day did a boat trip from there to Boppard, stopping to explore Rheinfels castle in Sankt Goar on the way, then took a train back to Bacharach, retrieved my luggage and took the train to Frankfurt. I spent 3 nights in Frankfurt with a day trip by train to Budingen.

From Frankfurt I took the train to Berlin where I spent 5 nights with a day trip to Potsdam. So much to see in Berlin that I spent the other 3 days there.

From Berlin I took the train to Munich where I stayed for 4 nights with day trips to Regensburg and Passau.

From Munich I took the train to Salzburg for a few hours (had been there before) and then caught the train to Cesky Krumlov. I spent the night and much of the next day in CK and then took a bus to Prague for 3 nights - no day trips from there.

From Prague I took the train to Krakow for 3 nights with a day trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

From Krakow I took the train to Vienna for 4 nights with a day trip to the Wachau Valley (Vienna to Melk by train, Melk to Krems by boat on the Danube, train from Krems back to Vienna). Also did a day trip to Bratislava by train.

From Vienna I took the train to Budapest for 6 nights. Budapest had been a bucket list item for years so spent most of my time there and only took a 1/2 day trip to Szentendre. Flew home from Budapest.

I estimated that over the 5 weeks I took at least 20 trains and 1 bus. I'm in love with the train system across Europe and probably would never rent a car again over there. I have rented cars in the past in France to see villages and explore Brittany, areas not well served by train. You wanted people's experiences taking trips by train so there you go.

min, and others who might read my reply here ...

That sounds like a great 7 week trip. I am not sure if you write up a formal itinerary or trip report, but if you do (and only after you have completed the trip), I would be interested in anything that you would not mind passing on to me. For example:

• Any written itinerary for your trip including details on specific trains and ferries (schedule dates/times, costs, class of service - 1st or 2nd), number of days you stayed in each place, etc.
• Any written trip report, but not necessary unless you have one.

The itinerary is the most important thing for me to learn about taking trains. With where you went, how long you stayed, and specifics on the trains and ferries taken, I can gain a wealth of information. Plus, I would like to duplicate your trip, or someone else's trip before setting one up myself.

I am less interested in where you stayed, where you ate, what you did each day, etc. Those are nice to have, but if i was using your train/ferry itinerary as a guide, I can research those easily enough.

So only what you feel comfortable passing on, and when you have returned.

For all,

All good feedback. Yes, I am familiar with [the man in] seat61. I'll look into the European Rail Guide. In the past, I've reserved point-to-point train trips, e.g. Berlin to Brugge. Having a complete itinerary of others trips, as per my comments to 'min' above, is more what I am looking for.

I'm actually hoping I might be able to duplicate one such trip someone has taken.

As an FYI ...

It is too much to add to this reply, but if anyone is interested, I can send them an abbreviated itinerary (.xls) for our 2024 Croatia/Slovenia/Venice 6 week trip (we rented a car twice, but did use trains in a few places). Below is some info for one day, including what we planned to do, where we stayed. But as noted, I can research these. I am more interested in the high level - cities/towns visited, # days in each, details on what trains/ferries you took between each.

I hope this helps clarify my interest.

Day 5 Monday 02-Jun-24 Dubrovnik -> Kotor, Montenegro Rent car.

Montenegro for a day: Border near Vitaljina → Herceg Novi (Pet Danica Walkway) → Morinj (Konoba Ćatovića Mlini lunch, E65, Morinj 85338, Montenegro) → Risan → Perast (Possibly Our Lady of the Rocks, boat tour of 2 islands) -> Kotor (town walls, stroll town, BBQ Tanjga dinner, free park Njegoseva) Reserve ferry once car type is known.
Apartment Marina, Zlatne Njive 20, Kotor, 85330, Montenegro

Or KIS (yes, I get verbose) ...

Someone could take my itinerary and use it as a plug-and-play trip. It has where we were each day, what we might do that day, when we picked up/returned a car, what trains we took/cost/time, where we stayed and cost, contact info for places, etc. One could duplicate the trip exactly, or add or subtract from it for a different length trip. Very detailed, but very minimal planning for anyone who wanted to use it.

The ideal would be to find a similar trip report that replaces my car rentals with the specifics on trains use. But if I just had something like the following, that would be great:

Day 1 - 5: Paris
Day 6: Train at 8:30 a.m., 2nd class from Paris xxx station to Zurich xxx station.
Day 7-9: Zurich
Day 10: Train at 18:00 from Zurich xxx station. to somewhere, 2nd class overnight

Hope this helps more :)

You could also do some searching on youtube, there's a whole community of train vloggers who just take trains all day everywhere.

Some folks I like are Thibault at Simply Railway, Nonstop Eurotrip, Superalbs, Steve Marsh. And often Paul Lucas Wingin It and even the infamous Man in Seat 61 who used to grab his family and grab a train. They have been to everywhere you might want to go, the newest fascination is with the return of overnight trains.

It's hard for Americans to understand just how easy and painless it is to travel by train instead of car in Europe. Japan too. The Man in Seat 61 also recommends some train travel companies which have prefab itineraries or can help you DIY.

In Europe I never get a rental car, basically not an option.

The means of transport is only by train from city to city, be it 30 mins or less or multi-hours, from to 2hrs to ca 10 hrs, day or night. I take at least 2 night trains per trip, even I plan for 3 or 4.

The last two post-pandemic trips : some of the routes are Paris to Grenoble on the TGV, Paris to Arras (TGV) , Paris to Metz TGV, Paris to Rouen, Paris to Bar-le-Duc, Paris to Chaumont, Metz to Verdun, Paris to Orleans, Paris to Amiens to Albert/Somme., Paris to

Maubeuge, Metz to Saarbrücken to Frankfurt, Mannheim to Paris, Berlin to Frankfurt an der Oder, Berlin to Prenzlau, Nürnberg to Linz, Berlin-Hamburg-Lüneburg. Berlin-Offenburg (night)-Strasbourg-Metz. Vienna to Nürnberg, Linz to Passau, Metz to Thionville. Metz to Morhange/Lorraine, Metz to Toul, Nancy to Luneville. Stuttgart to Vienna.

I would advise also tailoring your own routes instead of relying solely DB. Of course, you have ti factor in dep/arr times, duration, etc.

In Germany I ride the ICE most often, use the Eurail Senior Pass for the day ICE and night train routes.

car rental may soon be a thing of the past

Really? Where did you get that bit of information?

Or maybe you mean not being able to rent a car because of age?

Autoeurope has a page with age limits for driving in 24 European countries. Croatia and Romania, 70; Greece and Ireland, 75; Portugal, 80; Hungary, 85; and Finland, 97 (I don't think I will even be alive, let alone driving, at 97). The other 17, including the ones I would be most interest in, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, no limit.

Driving a rental car has not been a thing for me for 40 years, but it didn't know it was spreading. I guess I've become an influencer!

My two cents is that you should figure out a place or to you would like to visit and come back and ask how it can be done by train. Some countries train systems are easier to navigate than others. I think Italy is easy because one website can go to. We are traveling in northern Italy by train this June for the second time. There are private lines too but they cover same places. In contrast, is England. I have visited twice and have relied on trains but find it a bit of a challenge because there are multiple train companies and they cover different areas of the country.

Really it isn’t that hard and you just need to jump in the water. We have rented cars to visit places not well served by trains but prefer the train when possible.

@ JD - yes, I understand now what you are looking for and can do that with the specifics you’re looking for, np! I’ll post it here on this thread.

btw, former fellow New Englander here :)

We did an entire trip to Poland by train--Krakow, Wroclaw, Pozen, Toren, Gdansk, Warsaw. We also did day trips from those cities by train. We've also done trips in Switzerland, Austria entirely by train and we have traveled in much of Italy by train.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/poland-trip-report

Thank you, thank you, thank you! All great information, and making me feel much more comfortable with traveling by train, rather than by car rental. And I now have some ideas for future trips, all by train - a plus!

The "... car rental may soon be a thing of the past. ..." is specific to me. I'm just realizing I am bumping up on personal limitations, so need to modify how we get around.

I'll also look into the train vloggers, This sounds like a good place for a wealth of information.

RE: " ...figure out a place or two you would like to visit and come back and ask how it can be done by train." A great idea, so let me start here since what follows is a trip I've been thinking about, but could not figure out how to do by train.

I want to start planning a 6-8 week trip to Ireland and Scotland. Basically, an in-depth trip to see the countries in their entirety.
While I have driven on the opposite side of the road, I'm not looking forward to doing it again. So trains and other modes of public transportation is the way to go. But part of going to Ireland/Scotland is just driving the back roads of the countryside. What is the best way to do this by train?

Thanks, JD

In Scotland because of the geography of the country (and the closure of many secondary lines half a century ago, if not earlier) the range of trains is fairly limiting.
Thus they need to be supplemented by long distance coach-bus (Scottish Citylink/Megabus, Flixbus and Ember Bus) as well as the local citybus routes.

A way to cover the most scenic routes in Scotland is the Scotland Grand Tour rail ticket- https://www.scotrail.co.uk/tickets/combined-tickets-travel-passes/scottish-grand-tour

Because of how connections work (notably on the Isle of Skye) that is best done in an anti-clockwise direction.

If you go to Shetland or Orkney it is perfectly possible to get around by local buses. In parts it needs a bit of planning, but many routes see much better and more frequent service than is often realised.

Much the same is true of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland- where coach- buses and the very rapidly expanding rural bus network of Transport for Ireland subsidised services supplement the rail services which were once far denser.