Train ride from U.K. couple’s holiday

[KobaniDaughters]

DH and I starting to vaguely look at a holiday for our joint 40th in a year or so, we love city breaks and walking to find out of the way places, love food and drink and have especially loved Prague, Barcelona, Madrid, Verona together

Trying to cut down on flying as well so any thoughts on where you would go for a bit of a special holiday pref by train (we don’t mind if it takes a day or two - eg have looked into taking DC to Barcelona by train)

At initial planning stages so open to all ideas

Have you looked at the 'Man in Seat 61' website? Brilliant site with loads of ideas for train based holidays - he's got loads of ideas where the journey itself is a part of the holiday - so historic train lines or luxury trains or beautiful scenery. I really want to try his London - Venice routes sometime and Venice would be lovely for a couples holiday esp for foodies?

Amsterdam - Pretty straightforward on the Eurostar
Vienna - Take a lunchtime Eurostar to Paris and an evening high-speed TGV to Zurich, stay overnight, then travel on next day by Railjet train through the Arlberg Pass to Vienna arriving early evening. It’s such a scenic journey.
Budapest - Take an afternoon Eurostar to Brussels, the excellent Nightjet sleeper train overnight to Vienna and an onward EuroCity train to the heart of Budapest. Or take Eurostar to Paris and a high-speed TGV to Munich, then a Hungarian sleeper train to Budapest. Or travel by daytime trains with an overnight stop in Munich or Zurich.

Brilliant thread op. Thank you’

@maxelly I do know that site but have only used it to specifically look at ideas I’ve already had, will go and have a browse instead that sounds great, thankyou

@Fivemoreminutes1 Budapest and Vienna are exactly the ideas I’m looking for! Thanks so much

Vienna sounds great, Amsterdam is lovely if interested in art and wandering and eating. Venice or Prague?

We took the sleeper from Paris to the south of France, hoping it would be like the London-Inverness one, pleasant if functional. It wasn't - it was really pretty grim and a terrible night's sleep. Apparently several.of the French Southern routes are bad but going across Germany/Austria/Switzerland they are much better.

Amsterdam I’ve been to a few times so not necessarily for this trip and we’ve done Venice and Prague (Prague a few times, we love it there) but happy to continue hearing thoughts and options

We did the London-Fort William sleeper 12 years ago and it was an adventure! I love train travel

Ssshhhhhh don't tell anyone but Lille is gorgeous!!! Only a short trip away on the Eurostar!

Echo Man in Seat 61 suggestion! OH and I took the train to Istanbul via Brussels, Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest a few years ago. A long journey but just fabulous and so many amazing memories. We fly a lot for work but getting the train gets the size of the world in perspective! Would love to train it to St Petersburg ;)

I would definitely recommend Bruges. One easy train ride from London, a really pretty city, great for walking (very self contained).

Or you could Eurostar to Paris and then change onto the once-weekly Paris to Moscow train.

@Snezcomb that is some serious out of the box thinking - will def look into that

Turin is lovely and you can get there in a day from London (and Coventry actually...). It's a journey we (used to) often make on our way to mil's apartment in Italy. Seats on the left hand side of the tgv have a better view...

Oh, or Berlin? Slightly shorter journey than Turin.

I’m daydreaming about lovely train journeys now... Would love to take DS (5) somewhere when things open up again. We are all train fans in this house and he’s desperate to go on a double-decker train and a sleeper!

Oh gosh yes Berlin - can’t believe I didn’t think of that!

[quote KobaniDaughters]@Snezcomb that is some serious out of the box thinking - will def look into that[/quote]
The same train stops in Berlin too!

Wonder if I can convince my parents to have DC for 2 weeks

Look at OBB nightjet and other sleeper services too.

I'd go to Cologne and along the Rhine Valley, then Munich or Vienna overnight to Milan and the lakes, then back via Bernina express to Nice and overnight to Paris.

Watching this thread with interest as I would love to do a trip like this!
There are some great ideas on this blog, love the sound of the route through Spain and Portugal:
www.ontheluce.com/tag/train/

Or ferry to Santander or Bilbao, and explore along the Renfe narrow gauge lines around there. Can come home via Hendaye / Biarritz / Bayonne and Paris, or via Zaragoza to Barcelona then sleeper from Perpignan.

Antwerp is a wonderful train destination, no least because you arrive at the fabulous Antwerp central station. There are lots of things to see and do, lovely architecture, great restaurants and bars, river trips, the list is endless.

Once travel starts up again the Nightjet will be going from Brussels which makes it a doddle from the UK. We’re planning a round trip that includes the Nightjet down to Vienna or Salzburg, then back through the Arlberg Pass to Switzerland and up through France.

Oh now the multi destination suggestions are coming up, so great, adding all these to the list we’re already looking at a Spain/Portugal trip we can do with the kids, feeling the Vienna, Bucharest, Berlin, Antwerp suggestions are all great ones for just us

Brussels is a fabulous city and very quickly and easily reachable by Eurostar.
We also went to Bordeaux by train, Eurostar to Paris and then Paris-Bordeaux on the TGV. You need take the Metro from Gare du Nord to Montparnasse to pick up the Bordeaux train and the TGV journey is amazingly quick - 2 hours and 4 minutes.

The ferry to Bilbao or Santander is great, it's absolutely part of the holiday.
You can go into northern France by train from Santander.