If the Swiss Bernina Express and the Norwegian Bergensbanen are true legends, there are other less popular train journeys in Europe that, however, deserve to be known. Travel journalist Sander Groen summarizes his 10 favorite rail adventures here.
A futuristic train runs through a green valley at dusk. The restaurant car is decorated in beige tones, the lights are dim, the seats are comfortable and the tables are covered with beautiful tablecloths. A waiter brings the menu. Vesper Lynd, dressed in a business suit, sits down and says, “That’s the money.” James Bond takes a sip of whiskey and replies, “Every penny.” (Until the last hundred). The two characters discuss the strategy to be adopted for the upcoming mission, while enjoying their slow-cooked lamb skewers with a bottle of 25-year-old Château Angelus. Traveling by train has rarely been more elegant than in the movie Casino Royale.
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Adopt a slow journey thanks to the train
While in the movie, the train goes from Switzerland to Montenegro; in reality, the scene was filmed in a Czech Railways Pendolino. In Prague, I boarded the same high-speed train, bound for Marienbad. I ordered goulash soup (€2.30), chicken escalope with potato salad (€6.60) and a glass of Czech beer (€1.60). It may be less glamorous than Bond, but it’s still fun to eat on a moving train. I have traveled the world for more than 20 years and, in recent years, only in a sustainable way – by train, bus, boat, bicycle or on foot. Slow travel is what we call: traveling slowly. Start your holiday with a long journey by sleeper train or night boat and you will arrive relaxed. Don’t rush, but make the trip part of your vacation. Spend a little more for comfort and look out the window, where you will see the most beautiful scenery passing by. Besides being good for the environment, it’s also better for morale.
Italy – A train on water
Every evening, the Intercity Notte departs from Milan to Palermo. At 1,500 kilometers, it is one of the longest train journeys in Europe, from the far north to Villa San Giovanni, at the tip of the Italian boot. This is not the arrival point, since this is where the train takes the boat for the crossing to Sicily. As of 2020, it is the last ferry in Europe. This is a night train, but most of the journey along the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea is during the day.
Montenegro – In the middle of the black mountain
The railway line from Bar to Belgrade is 476 kilometers long and crosses the Black Mountain of Montenegro: from the Adriatic to Podgorica, the capital, through the Moraca gorge and the highest railway bridge in Europe. Up to Kolasin, it is possible to take a day trip: going in the morning and returning in the evening, with time to visit the Biogradska Gora National Park, one of the last 3 virgin forests in Europe, where the trees it’s 500 years. where wolves and bears live.
France – The secret of the blue train
For her tenth detective novel, Agatha Christie was inspired by the Train Bleu, a luxury train as famous as the Orient-Express at the time, which linked Paris to the Côte d’Azur every night – until to 2003. In 2021, the railway connection. is restored, this time in the form of Intercités nocturnes between Paris and Nice. Embark in the evening and arrive the morning after rest on the Côte d’Azur, where life is still as luxurious as in the era of the Blue Train.
Great Britain – The magic of the Highlands
Sparkling lochs, dark forests, moors, bountiful rivers, wild highlands, medieval castles and endless vistas: the West Highland Line is Scotland’s most beautiful railway. This unique line starts in Glasgow and crosses the most remote corner of the country, taking a thousand and one bends on the coast of the Atlantic fjords, staying in cottages that are sometimes only accessible by road.
Germany – Along the Rhine by train
The boat option is better known, but a train ride along the Rhine is just as beautiful. The Upper Middle Rhine Valley is classified as a World Heritage Site and the most beautiful part, between Koblenz and Bingen, is also nicknamed the “Romantic Rhine”. The high mountain landscape, undulating vineyards, jagged cliffs, rustic villages, medieval castles and fairy tales inspired famous writers and poets such as Lord Byron, Victor Hugo or Heinrich Heine.
Poland – Railway to Hel
In 1959, a Polish night train served as the setting for the film Night Train (Pociag), a classic of Hitchcockian black-and-white cinema. More than 60 years later, this same sleeper train is still running. Embark in Krakow, stop in Lodz, the city of cinema, and arrive in Hel, 700 kilometers away. Despite its name, this peninsula is a real summer paradise, with a 25 km long sandy beach, seafood restaurants in fishermen’s houses, forests and dunes, and sun every day.
Austria – A World Heritage railway
The Südbahn connected Vienna, the Austrian capital, to Trieste, which today is in Italy, but was once the glorious port of the Habsburg Empire. The line was opened in 1844, but for almost a century it did not operate direct trains. This 179-year-old connection has been restored. A EuroCity every day also connects Vienna to Trieste in 9 hours, via Ljubljana. Part of the line is the Semmeringbahn, the oldest mountain railway in the world.
Croatia – Via express to the 101 Dalmatian islands
The 6-hour train from Zagreb, the capital, to Split, the seaside resort, offers no sea views, but the journey offers breathtaking views of the Lika region of the Dinaric Alps, with its karst plains, river valleys and isolated. countries Upon arrival in Split, you can swim in the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic or take a ferry to a Dalmatian island such as Hvar, with its old Venetian town, lavender fields, olive trees and vineyards.
Norway – Through the seasons
On the Bergen line, the train takes 7 hours to pass through 182 tunnels and 4 seasons: from summer on the Oslofjord to spring on the Norwegian Sea, to autumn in the mountains and winter in the plateau From Oslo, the train winds through an enchanting river valley, then towards the plateau of Europe’s highest mountain, with a winter landscape of white trees, glaciers and snow-capped houses, before descending to 1222 meters high to reach the beautiful city of Bergen.
The Bernina Express is the most famous train in Europe. As soon as you leave Chur, the view is breathtaking and after Thusis, it’s a roller coaster: in 2 hours, you overcome a difference in altitude of 2000 meters at the cost of a frantic race. In a mountainous landscape, above the treetops, the train reaches its highest point at 2253 meters, before descending to 1800 meters through a railway spaghetti made of spires, arched bridges and tunnels, until its term.
Text: Sander Groen, Emilie Van de Poel and Ana Michelot. Photos: Sander Groen, from the book Tussen di rails. Of 35 most beautiful train journeys.
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