Here’s our quick guide to your choice of north-south rail routes if you are traveling from central Europe through Switzerland to Italy.

There are just three routes to choose from: the Simplon, the Gotthard and the Bernina.

The Simplon route

Our rating: **

Used by four daily EuroCity services from Geneva to Milan and by the thrice daily EuroCity trains from Basel to Milan. Not our favorite option as the best of the scenery is missed in tunnels. The Geneva and Basel routes converge at Brig, and then run through the Simplon tunnel into Italy. The trains from Geneva do offer some super views as they skirt the northern edge of Lake Geneva. But the Basel route south through Berne is pretty but unspectacular, and then plunges through the 34km-long Lötschberg tunnel to reach Brig, where you get a breath of fresh air before diving into the Simplon tunnel.

On the plus side, there are some super views of Lake Maggiore as the train cruises through northern Italy towards Milan. Sit on the left for the views. And it is those lake views which are the redeeming factor for the Simplon route. So we give it two stars.

The Gotthard route

Our rating: **

Used each day by seven EuroCity trains from Zürich to Milan (and also one from Basel to Milan). This route is also taken by domestic Swiss services from Basel and Zürich to Locarno and Lugano. Indeed, this is the main north to south rail axis through Switzerland. The approach to the north side of the Gotthard Tunnel is classic Switzerland. Sit on the right side of the train for super lake views with range upon range of mountains edging ever closer.

With the opening of the new 57-km Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2016, the journey is now even less scenic.

The Bernina Express running right along Lake Bianco. Photo: Terry

The Bernina route

Our rating: *****

Far and away the finest of the three north-south routes from Switzerland into Italy. No ifs, no buts. The Bernina knocks spots off the competition. If you are in a rush to get into Italy, take the Simplon or Gotthard routes. But if you want to see the Alps, the Bernina is the obvious choice. This is the only route that goes over the Alps rather than tunneling through them.

The Bernina is served by Rhaetian Railway services from St Moritz (in the Swiss Engadin) to Tirano (in Italy). Local trains run hourly on this route throughout most of the day, although evening services are very limited. There are also some through trains from Chur and Davos to Tirano (branded “Bernina Express” and with a supplementary charge).

The beauty of the Bernina, particularly if you ride the local trains which stop at every tiny station, is that you have a real sense of engaging with the landscape. There are glaciers and Alpine meadows, with moments of high drama as the train drops down from high mountain terrain into serenely beautiful valleys. Beyond Tirano, the route runs south-west to Milan, skirting the east side of Lake Como for more than an hour.

The time question

So why does everyone not take the Bernina route? It seems to be really a matter of time. Sadly, most travelers are in a rush. And the lure of a direct train tempts folk to the faster Simplon and Gotthard routes. Journeys from the principal Swiss cities to Milan via the Bernina route require several changes of train. Here are some comparison journey times for Zürich to Milan:

via the Simplon route: 4 hrs 15 min
via the Gotthard route: 3 hrs 45 min
via the Bernina route: 10 hrs 05 min

The travel times speak for themselves. Yes, the Bernina journey takes more than twice as long, but it’s so very, very much better that canny travelers give the Alps the time they deserve. Indeed, there are a heap of places along the Bernina route which warrant an overnight stop, so why not spread the journey over two days?

Editor’s Note: Looking for more insider information on train travel across Europe? Pick up a copy of Europe by Rail, now in its 15th edition, it is the definitive guide for exploring the continent by train. You can also follow them on twitter at @EuropebyRail.

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More recently, Germany started loosening rules on how bus companies could operate, resulting in incredibly cheap fares for international bus travel. The latest development here happened just weeks ago, when two of the country’s big budget bus companies announced they were merging together.

So how is Germany’s national railway, the Deutsche Bahn (DB), reacting to the current travel landscape? What does this mean for the other rail operators in Germany? And what does this mean for your upcoming travel plans?

Unfortunately, it mostly means cuts to service. Read on…

Good Night, Nachtzug

Germany’s night train service, the “Nachtzug,” saw dramatic cuts in the new train schedules which went into effect last December. DB no longer offers overnight trains from Germany to Paris, Copenhagen, or Vienna, and decreased overnight service to Amsterdam.

The company has also reduced their Autozug offerings, which allow passengers to travel with their car to their vacation destination without driving it there.

The company claims that these routes have been losing millions of euros for years, despite the apparent popularity of certain routes (I’m looking at you, Berlin-Paris sleeper train!). However, the rising costs of right-of-way, the company’s lack of high-speed, long-distance locomotives (which required expensive rentals from the French and Danish), and the unwillingness to invest in improving their aging fleet of sleeper cars are among the reasons DB cites for the decision. They’ve promised to reexamine the issue for travel in 2016 and beyond.

Passengers’ rights and environmental groups see this development as a major setback and are looking into ways to support cooperation between rail companies and the growth of investment in European-wide night train networks as a carbon-friendly alternative to flying.

One bright development, as reported last week by hidden europe: Russian Railways (RZD) plans to begin operating a Paris-Berlin service this June.

Bye Bye, InterConnex

The December schedule change ushered out another familiar train route: the InterConnex ran its last trains between Leipzig, Berlin, and Rostock. The independent carrier rode the eastern German rails for more than a decade, offering steeply discounted train tickets on its dedicated routes and schedules. A subsidiary of the larger transportation company Veolia, InterConnex was the first private long-distance competitor of the near-monopolistic DB.

In its announcement that it was ceasing service, InterConnex explained that it was squeezed between the market pressures of the DB, whose control of the railways allows it to demand increasingly high prices from its competitors for access, and new low-cost bus services. When forced only to compete with DB, InterConnex carved out a discount segment that was quite successful. Yet, the overhead of running a train (even a version as slimmed-down as theirs) was so much higher than a bus that it simply could no longer compete.

Hamburg-Cologne Express cuts back

Germany’s other independent long-distance rail operator, HKX (Hamburg-Cologne Express), has also suffered under the new financial pressures and responded with a two-fold strategy. First, it decreased long-distance service to once per day per direction in order to function primarily as a regional connector (thereby increasing its eligibility for German state funds).

Secondly, it’s cooperating with the former enemy, allowing passengers with DB tickets to travel on its trains, as well as allowing DB to sell HKX-branded tickets at a higher price directly to its passengers.

The Thalys is safe

Perhaps the best-known private rail service in Germany is the international Thalys train, which runs between Cologne, Brussels, (Amsterdam) and Paris. The Thalys, however, is a brand unlikely to be negatively impacted by the same pressures outlined above.

Why? A high-speed train like an ICE or TGV, the Thalys offers a higher quality of service between these European capitals. The majority of its European business passengers are unlikely to switch to lower-cost international bus services, even as these services develop between the same destinations.

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Linking two capitals: from €29 one way

But take another look. We judge the Prague to Berlin journey as one of the finest middle-distance hops anywhere in Europe. It is less than five hours by train between the two capitals. Reliable EuroCity services run every two hours along the route. Book when tickets first go on sale (three months prior to travel), and you can pick up bargain tickets for just €29 one-way. Leave buying a ticket till the day of travel, and that fare hikes up to a hefty €66.

This is not one of those high-speed journeys on modern infrastructure. It is, rather, rail travel as it used to be. The route catches the warp and weft of the landscape, tracking north from Prague through soft Bohemian countryside and then following the Elbe Valley downstream into German Saxony.

Picture windows for sightseeing

No slick bullet-nosed trains on this route. And that’s no loss, for the Czech, Austrian and Hungarian rolling stock used on the EuroCity services from Prague to Berlin all have a nicely retro feel. The seats are ample and comfortable and most carriages have large picture windows — perfect for sightseeing.

Grab a window seat on the right-hand side of the train for the best views. Heading north from the Czech capital you sense the spirit of the countryside that so inspired the Czech composer Smetana — his Má vlast is the perfect soundtrack for the journey.

Highlights of the journey

Just over an hour out of Prague, the valley sides begin to tilt ever sharper, and the finest stretch of the journey is the spectacular gorge of the River Elbe just beyond the station stop at Decín. Once over the border into Germany, there are fine views of sandstone turrets and perched castles — all good Romantic stuff.

Later in the journey, the train sweeps through Dresden before heading north through seemingly-endless forests to Berlin. Catch those forest landscapes on a fine summer evening and they unfold to reveal glades of rare beauty. This is truly a ride worth making.

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One book: 140 years of travel history

But the March 2013 issue of the “Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable” is not just any timetable. This edition marks the 140th anniversary issue of the book that has become the bible for rail travelers across Europe.

During almost the entire life of Europe’s railways, the Thomas Cook timetable has become the indispensable companion for train travelers across the continent. The book started life in 1873 as “Cook’s Continental Time Tables and Tourist’s Handbook” and was for several decades known simply as “Cook’s Continental” — those who really affected familiarity with the European railway scene would abbreviate the title to “The Continental” or the ever terser “Cooks.”

Nowadays, it has morphed into the “European Rail Timetable” (“ERT”).

The 140th anniversary edition of Thomas Cook’s European Rail Timetable.

What’s inside?

The anniversary issue of the ERT is packed as always with rail and ferry schedules from across Europe, throwing in a few trams and buses for good measure. If you need to know on which dates the Moscow to Belgrade train carries through carriages to Skopje, this book has the answer.

This current March 2013 issue has a supplement on cruise trains and rail-based holidays. And the regular “Beyond Europe” section is this month devoted to China (even including cross-border rail services from China to Pyongyang in North Korea).

There are previews of the summer 2013 European rail schedules, most of which will be introduced this year on June 9.

In addition there is a wealth of material to mark the 140th birthday, with a retrospect on how the book has evolved over the years. That includes facsimile reproductions of old schedules (going right back to 1873).

And Thomas Cook marks this anniversary by introducing a new regular feature called “Route of the Month.” It is just a couple of pages of prose, evoking the spirit of a particular journey. They kick off with Salzburg to Vienna. But the idea recalls the very earliest days of the publication. Back in 1873, it was more than just a timetable, but also a handbook for tourists. The “Route of the Month” gives new life to that idea.

Brand power: Thomas Cook

The title may have changed over the years but this monthly publication remains the defining product of the entire Thomas Cook brand. The company has its roots in 19th-century railway history and even though many of Thomas Cook’s clients may nowadays opt for the plane over the train, the company’s trump card and key selling point is its ability to build on a rich historical tradition firmly rooted in the early work of the company’s founder.

Developments in technology have served only to underline the importance of good timetable information. Mark Smith, the rail travel guru who runs The Man in Seat Sixty-One website, nicely captures the success of the ERT in his comment: “Internet or no internet, nothing rivals the Thomas Cook timetable for laying out the routes, trains and options for travel across Europe and beyond, and I’d be lost without it.”

The one thing you will certainly not normally see on the cover of the ERT nowadays is a steam train. But in a nice gesture to history, the March 2013 issue does recall the age of steam. Oddly, the very first edition of the book in 1873, apart from the obligatory train pic on its cover, also included a camel. The camel was eased out to make way for a Rhine steamer in 1900.

This very special edition of the monthly timetable is certainly one for the archives — every bit as handsome as the March 1973 centenary issue that has now become a rarity much sought after by collectors.

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At just €10 (ten, dix, diez, X – just to be clear, it’s not a typo!) for a ticket that would cost €60, €70, or even €80 on a normal TGV, well, yes, “oui” will go indeed!

How Ouigo works

The SNCF said there will be 62 different TGV (“train à grande vitesse,” or high speed trains) each week serving various destinations. Trains are the same as the standard TGVs and the stops are mostly familiar, running between the Paris region, Lyon, Montpellier, and Marseille, among other cities.

Ouigo’s routes are initially limited to the southeast and Paris region.

Ouigo will launch with service only to the southeast of France, which accounts for 35% of all TGV traffic in the nation. A successful run, however, could mean spin-offs to Bordeaux, Rennes, or Strasbourg in the future, if we’re lucky!

Oui-know that you’re ready to book a ticket now, but first be aware of some of the differences between Ouigo and standard TGV service. Here’s a quick overview:

1. Ouigo doesn’t stop in Paris.

The train actually departs and arrives from Marne-la-Vallée, right by Disneyland Paris. This is also a stop on the Eurostar line from London, in case any Brits were looking for a cheaper shot down to the south of France.

For Parisians, however, sure, it’s only a 30-40 minute RER ride from Paris, not to mention the Metro to get to the RER to get to the Ouigo train. Sounds like a hoot, right?

Center-city Parisians aren’t the main audience, however, and the SNCF is targeting suburbanites who would usually travel by car, offering the low-cost train as an alternative. But no one is writing off a direct train from Paris one day in the future…

€15 for Marne-la-Vallée to Aix-en-Provence. Pas mal!

2. Keep an eye out for extra charges.

Anyone who has ever taken Ryanair will understand the hidden costs of budget travel. While the Ouigo extra charges aren’t as extreme as the Irish airline, there are supplementary charges possible, like €2 for an electrical plug if you want to charge something. And if you’re not traveling light, extra baggage beyond the one suitcase and one handbag allowance will cost you €5 when reserving a ticket or €10 afterwards, so plan accordingly.

So far, trips to the bathrooms are free…

3. Act fast to book a €10 tickets.

Prices will go up after the first 400,000 seats are sold at €10. Then the next million or so tickets skyrocket, relatively, to €25. The prices continue to rise with demand.

Tickets can only be bought online, so don’t bother heading to a train station expecting inexpensive tickets. A color-coded calendar on the website will indicate when the most low-cost tickets are available (think pink!) and when cheap tickets are dwindling (white or, worse, blue).

4. Choose your tickets wisely.

Tickets are not reimbursable, but you can change the name on it or switch it for another date. If you are going to change a cheaper ticket for a more expensive one, you’ll have to pay the difference. If you’re getting a cheaper ticket, you won’t be reimbursed the extra that you paid. Such is low-cost.

5. Say goodbye to the café car.

If you’re interested in low-cost travel, you’re not expecting the Four Seasons. Ouigo is no exception. There’s no First Class aboard this train. Gone are the days of the dining car, so bring your own pastry and coffee if you’re an obsessive traveling eater. (Although, really, the ride is only 3 hours and 15 minutes from Ile-de-France to Marseille, so you’ll survive!)

No onboard café means more seats though, with each train holding about 20% more seating than standard high-speed TGV trains. Otherwise, the trains are perfectly comfortable.

The post Introducing Ouigo, France’s new budget TGV appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Fair fares and high speed

With adult return fares from London to Brussels and Paris currently available from £59 return, budget-conscious British travelers are well aware that in terms of price and city center to city center journey times Eurostar knocks spots off the competition from airlines. And this train service has subtly reshaped England’s relationship with Europe — most particularly since late 2007 when the stylish terminal at St. Pancras replaced dowdy Waterloo as the London launch-pad for trains to the continent.

Reshaping Europe

Londoners have suddenly realised that the journey from St. Pancras to Brussels takes no longer than the ride from St. Pancras to Sheffield. You can hop on Eurostar in London and alight at Calais (the first stop in France) less than an hour later.

But Eurostar is more than merely the canny way to reach Brussels and Paris. It is a good choice for a wonderful range of other journeys. For example, Eurostar offers winter-season direct trains from London to the French Alps. The current season is well underway with most services already heavily booked. The last return trains from Bourg-St-Maurice and Moûtiers-Salins are this year on April 13.

From London to Aix-en-Provence

Eurostar has long run a summer service from London to Avignon and that popular route to Provence is set to return for 2013, but with an interesting twist. Direct trains to Avignon will this year run for a longer summer season (with the first departure from London on May 4 and the last on August 31). During the months of May and June, these trains will be extended beyond Avignon to Aix-en-Provence.

Breaking records

Aix thus becomes the most distant point from London to which it has ever been possible to travel on a direct train from London. Way back in pre-Eurostar days, there were direct overnight sleeper services from London to the continent. The trains cars were ferried over the English Channel in a boat. For a time there were even through carriages to Switzerland, but never has there been anything to match this new direct train to Aix.

Eurostar will purr from St. Pancras to Aix-en-Provence, a journey of 1,215 km (about 755 miles), in just over six hours. Return fares to Aix can still be booked from just £109.

How to book tickets

To grab the best fares on Eurostar, bear in mind the forward booking horizons that apply to your intended route. For the capital city services from London to Paris and Brussels, tickets go on sale four months before departure. That same forward booking horizon applies for tickets to Calais and Lille.

But tickets for other Eurostar destinations go on sale very much longer in advance. For example, the company runs a direct service from London to Marne la Vallée – Chessy (a route that is hugely popular with British families bound for Disneyland, but also useful for the excellent connections at Marne la Vallée into the French TGV network). And tickets on those trains can already be booked right through to October 2013.

Tickets for all direct trains to Avignon and Aix in 2013 can already be booked on the Eurostar website — right through to August 31, 2013. But if you are looking to book a trip to the ski slopes on one of Eurostar’s direct trains to the Alps for next winter, you’ll have to wait a while yet. We expect tickets for those services to be released for sale in July 2013.

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New schedules from December 9

But they are not — at least in many cases. We are in the season when the standard three month advance booking horizon is often curtailed. That’s because many rail operators launch new schedules on December 9 and, until such time as those new timetables are finalized and opened for booking, trains beyond the changeover date remain veiled in secrecy. Imagine all those empty seats, entire empty trains, hidden away in the recesses of reservation systems, but not yet available to book.

When can I book?

Worry not! If you cannot book those Christmas and New Year trains, nobody else can either. It is just a question of patience, and before long all will be revealed. In fact this next week or two will see bookings open in some major markets.

France: For example, bookings for most French domestic services (for travel from December 9) will open next week. October 11 is the start date — bookings open in the early hours of the morning (European time).

Germany: Then just a few days later, Germany follows suit. Bookings for German domestic routes (as well as for many DB international daytime services and all City Night Line overnight trains to, from, or through Germany) will kick off on October 16, again in the wee small hours of the morning.

Spain, Italy, Switzerland and more: Expect bookings for other major European rail operators (such as RENFE, Trenitalia, ÖBB, SBB / CFF and PKP Inter City) to open sometime between mid-October and mid-November. Of course you can already book tickets and seats as normal for journeys up to and including December 8. It is merely those itineraries covered by the new schedules from December 9 that are not yet available for booking.

European Rail News last week published an overview of likely start dates for bookings for journeys on and after December 9.

Already available

There are always a handful of operators who beat the main pack away from the starting gate. Tickets are already on sale for the new timetable period for selected train companies (and that includes the full Christmas and the New Year period). Some services already available for booking include:

– All direct Eurostar services (viz. from London to Brussels, Paris and other destinations in France — including of course Eurostar’s popular ski trains)

– Eurostar tickets to “any Belgian station” (ie. routed via Brussels then onward with SNCB domestic services)

– All Thalys services (for example from Paris to Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne and Essen)

– Domestic NSB services in Norway

– Domestic SJ services in Sweden

– International services on the route from Sweden to Narvik in northern Norway

– Direct ski trains operated under the Schnee Express or Alpen Expres brands from the Netherlands and northern Germany to Austria

– Daytime services operated by private operator HKX on the Cologne to Hamburg route

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Too often we hear folk complain that buying international train tickets from the UK is difficult, and too often that supposed difficulty is adduced as an argument in favor of flying. Our experience in buying train tickets has however generally been positive. Buying train tickets from Britain to the near-Continent (and even to spots further afield in Europe) is pretty easy.

Fast and easy with Rail Europe UK

For straightforward journeys to France originating in London a very good choice is Rail Europe UK. A simple easy-to-understand user interface allows for painless online bookings from London (or Eurostar’s two other points of call in south-east England: Ebbsfleet and Ashford) to many stations in France.

Journeys from London booked with Rail Europe always start with a journey on Eurostar. Rail Europe UK gives the convenience of being able to purchase, with just one transaction, tickets from London right through to your final destination (which will often involve a change of train in Paris, Lille or — though only occasionally — Calais).

If you move off the main routes, or search for itineraries with multiple changes of train, you may find that the online booking system will advise you to call the Rail Europe UK booking center (0044 844 848 4064) to finalize your booking. A booking fee of £8 (that is per booking, not per ticket) applies to bookings made by phone. You do need a credit card registered at a UK billing address. Our experience is that the quality of telephone service offered by Rail Europe UK is first class (although at busy times you may have to just be a little patient).

Beyond France

Rail Europe UK is a top choice for journeys not merely to France. Depending on your itinerary, it is a good option for journeys through France and beyond. For example, it makes perfect sense to try Rail Europe first if you are planning journeys to:

1. Central and southern Germany where you particularly wish to travel via Paris rather than Brussels and Cologne;

2. Western and central Switzerland routed via Paris rather than Brussels and Cologne;

3. Spain via Paris, then continuing onward by daytime TGV trains or with the comfortable overnight services from Paris to Barcelona or Madrid run by Elipsos;

4. Belgian Flanders where you wish to connect at Lille (rather than Brussels) onto SNCB local services;

5. Luxembourg via either Brussels or Paris;

6. Aachen or Cologne in Germany if you wish to travel via Paris and then continue with a Thalys train (rather than taking the more obvious and faster route with Eurostar to Brussels and then on to Germany);

7. Northern Italy via Paris.

London to Paris, Brussels, or Lille

For simple point-to-point journeys from London to Eurostar’s direct destinations (eg. Paris, Brussels, Lille, etc), Rail Europe UK is a good choice, though for these straightforward bookings we would also recommend booking your tickets on Eurostar’s own website.

Leeds to Lille, Peterborough to Paris

Where the Eurostar website is superb is in allowing through bookings from over 450 stations in Britain via London and the Channel Tunnel to the continent. You can thus book from many provincial stations in England, Wales and Scotland right thru to any Eurostar destination on the Continent — and even to stations beyond the tentacles of the Eurostar network. You can book online thru tickets to any station in Belgium or the Netherlands, to hundreds of stations across France and to five Swiss cities.

Deutsche Bahn UK

Deutsche Bahn (DB) is our clear first choice for online bookings from London on all journeys to Germany routed via Brussels and Cologne. Online bookings are only possible if you use one of DB’s four daily ICE trains on the cross-border hop from Brussels to Cologne (rather than the more frequent Thalys services). Stick to one of those DB trains, book three months in advance, and you’ll find some mighty bargains for journeys from London to the remotest corners of Germany. If you have any problems booking online, just call the DB UK booking center at 0044 8718 80 80 66.

The Brussels-Cologne route makes perfect sense for journeys from London to northern Germany. If you are heading for Munich or elsewhere in the south, you may secure a faster journey time via Paris (in which case Rail Europe UK is the obvious booking portal).

Through Tickets to Holland

We have from time to time used other sites for booking journeys from London to the near-Continent. For journeys from London to the Netherlands, the NS Hi-Speed site has served us well.

And we are great fans of journeys that combine rail and sea and thus like the Stena Line site which allows us to book thru rail-sea journeys from any one of over 150 stations in eastern England to any railway station in the Netherlands from as little as £39 one-way. Look for the dutchflyer Rail and Sail fares.

Spoiled for Choice

Well are we aware that there are many other vendors who offer tickets in the UK to the Continent, and some will perhaps cry foul that we have not mentioned them here. We have heard folk speak well of new start-up Loco2 (for online bookings) and we have received many good reports of the first-class customer service provided by four long-established agents: Ffestiniog Travel, TrainsEurope, International Rail and Rail Canterbury. We have no reason to doubt those reports — in this article we have merely foregrounded those vendors with whom we have ourselves had positive experiences.

Just in case you wondered, none of the companies mentioned in this article offered any incentive to secure a mention. We review these issues of ticketing in more depth in our book Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide for independent Travellers (published by Thomas Cook).

Finally, we must put in a good word for Mark Smith, the marvelous Man in Seat 61, whose website gives wise counsel on all matters relating to the high theology of European rail ticketing.

The post Train Tickets: Britain to Continental Europe appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Slow down

Speed is not compulsory. Eurail is great for travelers keen to cover a lot of ground, but it may not always be the cheapest option. For example, if you book well in advance, stick to main routes and commit to a fixed itinerary, then the aggregate cost of a sequence of point-to-point tickets bought direct from the various European rail operators may, for many itineraries, undercut the cost of a rail pass.

Stopping off on a whim. Photo © hidden europe magazine

Dynamic pricing (often dubbed “market pricing”) means that for long hops between major cities in Europe there are nowadays some super deals available on point-to-point tickets. Shift to lesser routes, frequented by slower trains, and you may find little or nothing by way of discounts on international journeys.

Our view is that these slower trains are often a far better way of seeing Europe than the high-speed services. You’ll meet locals along the way, rather than just other tourists following similar itineraries to yourself.

Fast can be cheap

But expect to pay more for a journey with local trains than you might on the parallel high-speed services. Book in advance to ride a fast TGV from Paris to Marseille, and you can pick up a one-way ticket for less than €50 — if you are lucky and can travel off-peak perhaps even for just €20.

But if you take the slower TER trains from Paris to the Mediterranean, there is just the Tarif Normal. And that is more than €100 one-way. No discounts for pre-booking. No discounts…. full stop.

Best use of Eurail

Has slow travel thus become a privilege of the rich? Well, not quite, because a day on slower trains can be a very wise use of a Eurail or InterRail pass. And that applies equally to the global and flexi variants of both passes.

Budget-conscious holders of flexi-passes now appreciate that pass days are better reserved for journeys on slower trains where you want to preserve total flexibility. If you know you need to make a fast hop on a high-speed train (where you might in any case need to make a seat reservation and pay a supplement with a rail pass), then perhaps that’s the day to plan ahead and book a discounted point-to-point ticket on the Web site of the relevant rail operator.

So how slow is slow? Well, it’ll still be a lot faster than even the fast trains of yesteryear. European train services have so improved over the last 30 years that devotees of slower trains will still be making faster progress than those of our parents’ generation who clanked across Europe on what were, back in the 1970s and 1980s, acclaimed premium high-speed services.

Stop off and explore

The beauty of slow trains is that you don’t need to book. If a spot takes your fancy, just hop off and explore — then continue with the next train. On many routes, slow trains run hourly.

We have made long international journeys like this. True, it took us 12 hours to get from Switzerland to Spain. With premium fast trains we might have trimmed three or four hours off that. But we had that ineffable pleasure of trundling through vineyards, watching birds on lonely marshlands and stopping at little rural railway stations. The journey became an event in itself.

Eurail is a marvelous product, and that goes equally for its sister InterRail which is geared to European residents. Both families of rail passes can offer great value for money. But, contrary to what you might assume, it is the devotees of slower trains and more rural itineraries who get the most handsome return on their investment in a rail pass. If speed is more your style, and if all you aim to do is hit the big cities, then think carefully before buying a pass.

Taking slower trains which don’t require supplements or advance reservation is much more fun and preserves what is, after all, the prime benefit of a rail pass: its total flexibility.

You can read more about rail passes in two other articles published this week by the team from hidden europe. The full text of an article on InterRail, published on 16 July in hidden europe magazine, is available online. And another article on the hidden europe website, published on 17 July, questions some of the mythology that has developed around rail passes.

The post Slow Down to Make the Most of a Eurail Pass appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

But every journey deserves time and in our recent meanderings by rail around Europe we’ve made some engaging slow diversions, favoring rural branch lines that really tap into the spirit of local landscapes.

Here are four great rural rail journeys that we have taken over the last four weeks, each one of them a ride to remember.

Pass traditional Trulli in Puglia aboard the FSE train. Photo © hidden europe

Italy: Peaches in Puglia

The regular Trenitalia rail fare from Bari to Taranto is €7.70. The journey between the two cities on the fast Trenitalia route is unexceptional. But for the same fare you can ride the Ferrovie del Sud Est (FSE) route via Martina Franca.

This really is the Italian outback. The FSE network in Puglia does not feature in most online databases of European rail schedules (not even in the Deutsche Bahn’s celebrated HAFAS system which shows only a subset of all European trains and is by no means as complete as some travelers imagine).

Our FSE train rattled south from Bari, eventually swapping half-built industrial parks for the orchards of the Puglian countryside. Peaches and almonds aplenty, and – as we climbed up into the hills – plenty of the classic Puglia trulli. These are dry stone buildings with distinctive conical roofs.

Czech Republic: Through the Erzgebirge

It is an easy journey from Bohemia to Saxony by train. Comfortable EuroCity services follow the main line through the Elbe Gorge and it is very pretty indeed. The run from Prague to Dresden takes just 2hrs 15mins.

But for a change last Monday, we took to the hills traveling via Karlovy Vary and Zwickau. There are four rail routes that cross the border between the Czech Republic and the German State of Saxony west of the Elbe Gorge, and all are worth a try. Each climbs over the hills, along the way making stops at the tiny villages that rely on the railway for links to the wider world. They are part of a family of routes, some entirely within Germany, marketed under the banner Erzgebirgsbahn – derived from the name of the mountain range that straddles the German-Czech border. The name Erzgebirge means the ‘ore mountains’, a hint of the rich history of mining in the region.

The Karlovy Vary to Zwickau train (with links at either end from Prague and on to Dresden respectively) averaged less than 40 kph (25 mph) on its tortuous and steep journey through hills and forests that this week still had plenty of lingering winter snow.

France: To Switzerland by stealth

We could of course have taken the fast train to Switzerland. Modern French TGV Lyria services streak from Dijon to the shores of Lake Geneva in just a couple of hours.

In mid-March, we opted instead for the slow alternative, taking local trains that followed switchbacks through the folded hills of the Jura. This is an exquisitely beautiful mountain range, the outermost ripples of the Alps that straddle the border of France and Switzerland between the Doubs Valley and Lake Geneva.

Highlight of the journey was the two-hour section from Besançon to La Chaux-de-Fonds. We found this little gem of a route tucked away in Table 376a of the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable. It is served by modern trains with panoramic windows well suited to sightseeing. Trains runs thrice daily from Besançon to Switzerland via the rural cross-border route, so do check times before setting out.

Germany: Across the Lüneburg Heath

Even tame landscapes have their minor rail routes, so it is always worth checking if there is a credible alternative to the fast train. The Thomas Cook European Rail Map is a good starting point for your research.

The main line from Hamburg to Hanover in northern Germany wins no medals for its scenic charm. Twice-hourly ICE trains speed between the two cities in just 80 minutes.

But there is an alternative. The Heidebahn cuts across the Lüneburg Heath, a sparsely populated area of delicate beauty that you simply miss if you follow the main line. True, you have to change trains along the way (always at Buchholz and sometimes also at Soltau), and the entire run from Hamburg to Hanover takes twice as long as on the fast ICE train. But it’s a chance to see an area rarely visited by tourists.

This rural rail service across the Lüneburg Heath is run by a private company rather than the Deutsche Bahn, but happily the times are shown in the Deutsche Bahn’s HAFAS online information system and schedule planner. Eurail and InterRail passes are valid.

Your favorite rural rail routes

We are always on the lookout for good rural rail diversions that warrant a mention in forthcoming editions of our book Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide for Independent Travellers. If you would like to suggest your personal favorites, we’d love to hear them.

The post Rural Rail Diversions: Choosing slow alternatives to fast trains appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.