Long distance rail travel

[tapkaJohnD]

I'm thinking of taking to train across Europe, for a sailing holiday on the Med. I know that most would fly, but I'm retired and have plenty of time.

I know it is possible to go all the way to Greece, but that involves Balkan railways, or else to Gibraltar, for instance. I'll be grateful for others' tales of long-distance rail travel, if only to know that it can be done and be enjoyable rather than a traumatic experience!

John

[Pete102]

I only really have experience of UK - France - Switzerland - Italy but I found that once out of the UK everything tended to be efficient and on time. I would steer clear of Germany as delays and cancellations are routine.

Routes I have taken previously:

Eurostar to Paris
Paris to Basel
Basel to Milan
Milan to Rome
Rome to Naples

All generally high speed trains (except here in Switzerland) but I would also consider any overnight trains if they are available on your intended route e.g. into Austria, Prague etc.

[Leithen]

Love the idea. Discovered recently that you can get a first class Interrail pass.

You probably know this, but if you don’t, the website seat61 is the motherlode of knowledge.

https://www.seat61.com

[Mr Penguin]

Perfectly possible, especially if you have time to break it up into a series of 1-2 day city breaks (a bit easier if there are a couple of different routes so you can go out and back via different countries).

[loskie]

tapkaJohnD said:

I'm thinking of taking to train across Europe, for a sailing holiday on the Med. I know that most would fly, but I'm retired and have plenty of time.

I know it is possible to go all the way to Greece, but that involves Balkan railways, or else to Gibraltar, for instance. I'll be grateful for others' tales of long-distance rail travel, if only to know that it can be done and be enjoyable rather than a traumatic experience!

John

No help to you at all but my Aunt, born 1928, still alive often tells me her tale of travelling from Manchester to Greece via communist Yugoslavia in the early 50's (1953 I think) and back over several months. Limited money was allowed out of the UK as financial recovery from WW2. People in Yugoslavia wanted to buy their clothes.
One story that makes me think was the uncertainty of hotel accommodation in places. They wrote to hotels to make bookings but didn't always get a confirmation and paid no deposits yet still trusted they would have a booking.
In Greece especially people touted at ports and stations to offer accommodation in their homes for pennies.

Not comparable to you or old Aunt but last Dec I flew to Malaga. Train to Cordoba then Granada and back to Malaga. Solo, planned, but not pre bought. It all worked well and was quite pleasant with a couple of nights at each place. Way more relaxing than solo hire car travel.

Edited by loskie on Wednesday 10th April 12:42

[sfella]

A school trip I really enjoyed was a flight to Vienna and then overnight trains in a loop, we did Budapest for a few days, Poland Warsaw and camps and then back to Vienna from memory. Apart from a border crossing in the middle of night with a border guard holding an ak47 and another tapping every detail of my passport into I assume a basic computer in an knackered old briefcase it was brilliant. Getting train stamps in the passport was great too as a teenager......probably still would be now to be honest!

[Kawasicki]

I took a first class sleeper train from Hanover to Vienna in the noughties - it was a very cool experience. A butler knocked on my door in the morning with breakfast and a fresh newspaper.