First Contact With Train Travel

Train travel has come back into fashion for the right reasons. Faster than driving. Cheaper than flying once you factor in everything. Better views than either. And a rhythm that turns transit time into part of the trip instead of dead space between it.

Europe leads on this, obviously. But Japan's Shinkansen is still the world's benchmark. Korea's KTX is nearly as good. Turkey is quietly building excellent high-speed lines. And Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, while it isn't fast by international standards, has been dragging the US into the game.

The high-speed corridors worth planning around

The famous ones deserve their reputations.

Eurostar London to Paris in 2 hours 20 minutes. Book direct on the Eurostar site, which is often cheaper than aggregators. Book at least six weeks out for best fares.

TGV in France, especially Paris to Marseille or Paris to Bordeaux. About three hours to either. Book on SNCF Connect or Trainline.

Frecciarossa in Italy. Rome to Milan in three hours. Compete with Italo, the private operator on the same tracks. Whichever is cheaper wins, both are excellent.

ICE in Germany. Berlin to Munich in four hours. Reliable, comfortable, sometimes late.

AVE in Spain. Madrid to Barcelona in under three hours. Barcelona to Seville is about six.

Shinkansen in Japan. The pass isn't the automatic bargain it used to be, so cost it out both ways. A single Tokyo to Kyoto ticket is about $95.

Amtrak Acela on the US Northeast Corridor. Not truly high-speed but a genuine alternative to flying between Boston, New York, and DC.

The scenic ones worth taking for their own sake

Some train journeys are worth doing regardless of destination.

The Bergen Line in Norway. Oslo to Bergen through mountains and fjords, seven hours. Ordinary passenger train, extraordinary route.

The Glacier Express in Switzerland. St Moritz to Zermatt. Eight hours through alpine passes. Book a window in the panoramic cars.

The Reunification Express in Vietnam. Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. Two nights on a soft sleeper, coastal views, real Vietnam.

The Trans-Siberian. Moscow to Vladivostok, or the Trans-Mongolian variant to Beijing. Political situation depending, this is not straightforward right now.

The Rocky Mountaineer in Canada. Not a cheap trip but a memorable one for those who like a rail experience with meals and views.

The Blue Train in South Africa. Pretoria to Cape Town, 27 hours in serious old-school luxury.

Booking without getting ripped off

The main trap in European train booking is third-party aggregators marking up tickets or charging opaque fees.

For most of Europe, book directly on the national operator's site. It's almost always the cheapest option.

• France: SNCF Connect
• Germany: DB
• Spain: Renfe
• Italy: Trenitalia or Italo
• Netherlands: NS International
• Austria: OBB
• Switzerland: SBB

Trainline is a legitimate aggregator that works across many countries. It adds a small booking fee but is convenient if you're crossing borders. Rail Europe is generally more expensive.

The one exception is when a rail pass makes sense. If you're doing many trips in a short window across multiple countries, a Eurail pass or Interrail pass can pay off. Do the math against point-to-point tickets first. For most 1-2 week trips with 3 or fewer intercity journeys, individual tickets are cheaper.

When to book

For high-speed trains in France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, book as early as you can, up to three months in advance. Prices double or triple as departure approaches.

For regional trains, the price is usually the same whether you book six weeks or six hours ahead. Just walk up and buy.

For overnight sleepers, book weeks in advance. Cabins with two beds sell out first, especially in summer.

First class vs second class

The gap is smaller than most people think, and second class in Europe is generally excellent.

On day trains, first class gets you slightly wider seats, sometimes a meal at your seat, and quieter carriages. The upgrade is worth it on long journeys if the price gap is under 50 percent.

On overnight trains, the class matters more because you're sleeping in it. A private single-berth cabin or a two-berth for a couple is much better than a shared six-berth couchette. Prices vary but the premium is usually worth it for anyone over 25 who values sleep.

Japanese Shinkansen has a green car category that's genuinely nicer, with 2-2 seating instead of 2-3. Worth it on longer trips.

The station experience

Train stations are generally less painful than airports but they have their own logic.

Arrive 20 to 30 minutes before departure. High-speed trains often board 10 to 15 minutes ahead and won't wait. Some countries, like Spain, have airport-style security screening for the AVE which adds time.

Big stations like Paris Gare de Lyon, Rome Termini, and Berlin Hauptbahnhof are enormous. Know your platform and give yourself walking time.

Left luggage is common at large European stations. Prices vary from cheap to absurd, especially at Italian stations. The Bounce app finds independent bag storage in cities that's often cheaper.

Almost every major European station has decent food now. Skip the platform snack kiosks and eat properly in the concourse before boarding.

What to bring

Trains are more forgiving of luggage than planes. There are no weight limits and no strict size rules. Bring what you like.

Water, snacks for anything over two hours. Some trains have decent cafes, others don't.

A book. The internet on trains is often spotty despite what the marketing says.

A power adapter, especially for cross-border journeys. Some carriages have USB and Type C, some have only Schuko outlets, some have nothing.

A neck pillow if you're doing more than three hours. Train seats are comfortable but not that comfortable.

The night train renaissance

Overnight trains almost died in the 2010s and are having a genuine second wave. OBB's Nightjet network is the leader, running from Vienna to Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, and beyond.

European Sleeper connects Brussels, Amsterdam, and Berlin to Prague and Dresden. Snalltaget runs Sweden to Berlin. New routes get added every year.

The reason to take a night train is not always the price. It's that you cover the distance while sleeping and wake up in the middle of a city center, not at an airport 40 kilometers outside. Paris to Vienna overnight arrives at the actual Gare de l'Est or Wien Hauptbahnhof, and you're in the city by breakfast.

The mindset shift

Train travel asks you to relax about arrival times in a specific way. A plane either lands or it doesn't. A train might be 15 minutes late and nobody bothers to announce it. This is normal. Build in a small buffer for onward connections and it stops being stressful.

Once you accept that, train travel is often the best way to see a country. You go slower. You see more. You share space with locals. And the transit becomes part of the trip.