Europe holidays by train only!

[KennedyD22]

Hi!

Looking for some advice by some fellow plane avoiders… I absolutely love travel but unfortunately my partner is terrified of flying. We’ve flown to Italy once, but he is pretty adamant that he does not want to fly again in the near future.

We have 2 DC aged 2.5 and 1. Next year, we would really love to take them abroad, however with the no plane rule implemented by DP, and our children being young, we’re limited with where we can go.

Any one else have experiences of travel from UK to Europe by train? I personally do not like Paris & do not feel like Amsterdam would be good for my children at this age (when I went it was a party holiday). Looked into Nice as a potential & Switzerland which is a quick train from Paris (but terribly expensive & out of our budget atm).

Please recommend European holidays suitable for children this young!

I think I'd wait and see what happens with the French general strikes before booking any family train travel than involves France this year.

If you live in Plymouth I would get the ferry to Roscoff and find a nice campsite near Carnac which is within 2 hours. Or if you book through Brittany Ferries they have great fires on offer which cost barely lore than the ferry journey alone. Get a cabin for the overnight. Is fine.

I’m anti-plane and pro-train generally but I couldn’t do complicated train journeys (you’ll have to cross London and other cities) with small kids due to the amount of stuff they need. Car is much easier.

We are on a train holiday right now... Geneva to Milan, Florence, lake Maggiore, then back to Geneva. I love it!! But...

My kids are 14, 16 and 18, they carry their own bags, we don't need a buggy, they can cope if we need to walk round dodgy areas around train stations, run after a bus that didn't stop at the place it was supposed to and if we can't find food at the right moment.

If I had younger children, I would plan the logistics carefully.

Not 100% directed to initial post, but can anyone tell me if the Paris to Madrid route uses pendolino trains?

I'm pretty sure not. According to the Man in Seat 61 https://www.seat61.com/index.html you'd have to change in Barcelona.

From Paris to Barcelona you would travel by TGV Duplex - the TGV Duplex is a 320 km/h (199 mph) double-deck high-speed train with 1st & 2nd class, café-bar, power sockets at all seats & free WiFi.

Then from Barcelona to Madrid by AVE-S103 high-speed train.

The Barcelona to Madrid AVE is great!

Thank you both so much, I massively appreciate your replies! @Ginmonkeyagain @Chersfrozenface
So just to confirm, both trains (the one from Paris to Barca and the one from Barca to Madrid) are NOT those tilting trains?
I am so sorry but I have severe anxiety…which is realising it’s ugly head around an impending travel trip.
@Ginmonkeyagain can I ask what makes it so great?

Very quick, clean, efficient - takes you city centre to city centre.

TGVs are defintely not pendelinos. The whole USP of the TGV networks is they are straight, mostly dedicated lines so high speeds can be achived.

@Ginmonkeyagain thank you so much, I massively appreciate your help.
What about the AVE’s?

It's been a while but i don't remember them being that bendy - i think like the TGVs they are dedicated high speed lines. So if you are ok with the Eurostar you will be fine.

I’ve never done the Eurostar (doing it on this trip also-another thing I’m anxious about!)
Is the Eurostar tilting? I am so sorry for all the questions!!!

No. It definitely is NOT!

Thank you.
Do you know if the train from Paris to Barcelona and the train from Barcelona to Madrid are tilting trains?
Some lovely people have replied and suggested they are not so just asking for further reassurance realky

Yep the Eurostar does not tilt at all.

To try and address your anxiety what is the issue here - do you not like tilting trains (they can make some people a bit travel sick I understand).

All of the trains you propose getting are very smooth, modern, high speed trains. They are well run and often on dedicated lines.

I have travel anxiety so bad but trying to be brave and address it by booking a holiday with the family (don’t want them missing out because of me.)
my worry is that the trains will be the tilting trains and my children will be feeling awfully I’ll and sick and there’ll be no way out! I have other worries too but I won’t get started on those 😂
If none of the trains we’ll be on are tilting-that would help!
suppose if they are, I’d rather know ans get organised!

Ahh ok. So they are definitely not tilting trains! You will all be fine and have a wonderful journey.

Thank you for taking your time to respond to me this morning. It’s lovely to kel that there people out here who are so kind @Ginmonkeyagain

No problem!

There's a new ÖBB train connection from Vienna to Trieste, Italy via Ljubljana, Slovenia (great for a day stop). 9 hours’ journey but beautiful scenery. From Trieste you can get to Venice easily or take a family friendly cruise.

If you are happy with sunny days, rather than hot weather ( Med style) The Netherlands has fabulous beaches and public transport. Ferry, train and local bus get you to many places.

The beach. a tram ride from Den Hague, is great too and very ‘seasidey’, beach bars, water sports etc.

This is the beach near to Bergen. We booked a package. - hotel with meals, one including at the hotel beach bar, a days bike hire included.

We've been to lots of places by train. I would definitely recommend Germany with small children - we took ours to Cologne and Hamburg ar similar ages, Cologne is very easy to get to. If you have a bit of time, we have also been to lake Garda by train, and there are some great campsites for kids which are accessible by public transport - the journey is long, though, so you might want to break it up a bit.

Eurostar to Brussels, then change and get the train to Bruges. Bruges is lovely :)

We’ve done Ile De Ré by train (one change in Paris) - needed a taxi from La Rochelle to get over to the island. You could hire a car from La Rochelle or get to the island and hire bikes - there are ones with trailers so you can pop the kids in there, and the whole island is very traversable by bike.

Foot passenger ferry to st malo is great for an instant holiday!

I am mourning the Brexit induced loss of the direct London to Marseille Eurostar. You can obviously still easily get to South East France by train but it was so much easier changing at Avignon or Marseille rather than Paris.