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

Ooof @Tartyflette I am NOT good on ferries, terrible sea sickness - fine on small boats though!

We booked to go to Venice by train last year (Eurostar to Paris then Trello overnight to Venice) but it got cancelled because of Covid. Do read reviews of the Trello though (Trip Adviser) - lots of very bad experiences, eg people turning up at 10pm for their sleeper train to find it just being cancelled right before departure, having a nightmare getting refunds from the company. But we really wanted to do the trip, so we decided to chance it.

It was also surprisingly difficult to actually book - the Trello website was massively glitchy, and the price kept going right up (by hundreds of £) when we refreshed the page, or after we gave up when the glitches made it impossible and we looked again the next day.

Good to know @Wigeon

I had also looked into options of taking a camper van on the auto trains but looks like most of them have been decommissioned

We did a lovely trip to Cologne. Eurostar to Brussels then high speed ICE train. Or my all time favourite mini break destination - San Sebastián. Beautiful, by the sea, loads of amazing tapas and bars. But we flew for that one. Maybe the Man in Seat 61 could tell you how to achieve by train?

@Kobani that's a shame. But I understand, the Bay of Biscay can be a little ...unsettling. 😬😬

Would highly recommend Italy by train. We had a special occasion holiday a few years ago and did a dual location by train - Lake Como and Milan. Both locations are great for walking, sightseeing, food and shopping.
We travelled out by train the scenic route: Eurostar to Paris then on to Chur in Switzerland (overnight stop), then over the mountains on Bernina Express to Italy. Final leg was local train to Varenna on Lake Como where we stayed for 6 nights. I know you are not good on ferries but one of the delights of Lake Como is being able to get a ferry pass and criss cross the lake to different locations. Not as unsettling as the Bay of Biscay!
We then travelled to Milan and spent a few days there before flying back to UK. We would definately do that trip again but on return would take the TGV back to Paris/Eurostar.

Lovely idea @flintyminty Thankyou - boats on lakes is fine, we crisscrossed Garda a few years ago, just can’t face long journeys across choppy waters on big passenger ferries - would weirdly be fine if it were a little boat!

We did this trip before the Easter break so missing the crowds and still getting fairly decent weather, in fact Milan was very hot.
I'd also give more consideration to the timing of journey. Because we were travlling from the Midlands we got a mid morning EuroStar but then ended up travelling across France early evening and Switzerland in the dark so nothing much to see. Also hit Paris in the rush hour which wasn't fun!

DH and I had to be in Geneva a few years ago and we added on a fab mini-break using a Swiss Rail Pass. It covered trains with viewing galleries/tourist routes as well as regular trains/boats/buses and you can choose a region or the whole country:
www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/travel-in-switzerland/international-guests.html

I seem to remember that it is easy enough to get to Switzerland by train, changing in Paris (but we few)

Ah, one of my favourites is planning trips like this.

Nightjet 425, from Brussels to Innsbruck (via Munich if you prefer).
Nightjet 50425, from Brussels to Vienna (Via Linz)

EN 40467 from Zurich to Budapest
EN 347 from Vienna to Bucharest, or you could pick it up in Budapest. Doesn't arrive in Bucarest until 4 pm!

Nightjet 1237 from Vienna to Florence and Pisa - or
Nightjet 40233 from Vienna to Florence and Rome

Nightjet 237 from Vienna to Venice (go all the way to Santa Lucia - getting out of the train and straight onto the Grand Canal is an experience)

The Paris to Venice night train has already been mentioned.

Nightjet 233 from Vienna to Milan

You could even do a round trip. Brussels - Vienna; Vienna - Venice; Venice - Paris. Could make a lovely short trip.