When winter strikes

In three of the last five winters, we have had at least one trip where we were seriously delayed on journeys back to our Berlin base, in each case not reaching home until a day later than anticipated. And that is just what happened last weekend: what should have been a routine journey from London to Berlin turned out to be a 25-hour epic.

“Hop on the Next Train” stamped on the back of a ticket.

The key to getting the best out of Europe’s railways is having a through ticket from origin to destination, which was just what we had on Saturday when we set out from London with through tickets to Berlin (a snip at just €49 per person).

Stuck in Brussels

Eurostar was as magnificent as ever, speeding us through the Channel Tunnel and on through wintry Flanders to Brussels Midi where we arrived just after 2 p.m. But the onward connecting train to Germany was cancelled due to bad weather, and many other services were heavily delayed.

Western Europe’s principal rail operators cooperate in an alliance called Railteam. And if things go wrong, you can ask to be rerouted on other Railteam member trains to reach your final destination.

Railteam: Hop on the next train

Many cheaper European rail tickets (the ones we love) restrict you to specific trains and routes. But when trains are canceled or connections missed due to a late-running train, you can ask any railway official to stamp the reverse side of your ticket. This confirms that you have encountered problems along the way, and that you are now entitled to use alternative trains or even a very different route to reach your final destination.

The Railteam stamp (nicely embellished with the slogan “Hop on the Next Train”) is your passport to flexibility in times of trouble.

Onward via Paris

We were rerouted from Brussels on a stylish Thalys train (all lush vibrant pink and purple velour) to Paris, where there was just time for a quick supper before hopping on an overnight City Night Line (CNL) train to Germany.

The Paris to Berlin sleeper would have been our first choice, but that was booked out, so we opted for the CNL train to Hamburg where luck was very much on our side as we grabbed the last remaining two-berth sleeper (for which we paid a supplementary sleeper charge – crisp linen sheets come at a cost, but we do like our creature comforts).

Snoozing to Hamburg

This was a perfect overnight journey. We both slept like logs, awakening on Sunday to see a glorious winter sunrise over northern Germany. We continued with a sleek Deutsche Bahn ICE train to Berlin, enjoying breakfast on the way and arriving home early afternoon.

What could have been a nightmare turned out to be a happily memorable journey. All thanks to the Railteam alliance.

The moral: Next time you run into trouble on the rails, make sure you get your ticket stamped to confirm the disruption. Train crews and station staff will provide the necessary stamp, and once it’s there you can exploit the flexibility of the network to reach your destination.

Don’t get flustered or annoyed. Delays are all part of traveling and with a little patience you’ll still reach your destination in the end. And perhaps with some unanticipated adventures along the way.

The post When Rail Journeys are Disrupted: Meet the Railteam Alliance appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Riding the Glacier Express in Switzerland

Yes, the 180-mile journey from St. Moritz to Zermatt is a very fine trip, though hardly the express run implied by the name. The Glacier Express journey takes a shade under eight hours, and the route’s summer season is now in full swing. Departures from St Moritz are twice daily through September 25, with the schedule dropping back to one departure daily until late October, when the glitzy trains with their panorama coaches are shunted off into the sidings for a fall break.

A panoramic view aboard the Glacier Express. Photo: Mark & Gideon

The route: Tunnels, bridges and gorges galore

Travelers have a tendency to flock to well-known sights, and the Glacier Express, which has been particularly heavily promoted in the North American and Japanese markets, now features on the “must do” list of many non-Europeans visiting Switzerland.

Don’t misunderstand us. It is a super journey, but we are far from sure that it is the best on offer in Switzerland. The views while the train is in 191 tunnels are not great. And it would be difficult to contrive a route of similar length elsewhere in Switzerland that is so utterly devoid of lakes. The Glacier Express is very much a route in the mountains, much of it through deep gorges or barren high terrain.

Some who know the route well comment that the two stretches of industrial valley scenery (around Reichenau and later at Visp) come as a rather welcome relief from dark, forbidding crags and brooding snowfields.

Go local

Our issue with the Glacier Express is that it is promoted outside Europe as an up-market “exclusive” tourist experience with a price tag to match. That drives away the locals. And there are plentiful local trains that serve exactly the same route which have sensible prices (no hefty tourist supplements, no need to reserve seats in advance) and are often very much less busy than the Glacier Express.

Seven daily departures from St. Moritz on those regular local trains provide connections through to Zermatt in just over eight hours — so just 20 minutes slower than on the so-called “express.” The only downside with the local services is that you do need to change trains along the way, but the connections work perfectly in a way that only the Swiss can manage.

And the big advantage of the local trains is that on some of them you can open the windows (great for photography, and also a chance to enjoy the fresh mountain air).

The fares

It is not that locals despise the idea of traveling with tourists. But the prices drive them away. The one-hour stretch of the Glacier Express from Disentis to Andermatt is in our view one of the finest parts of the entire route. The trains chugs up over the wild Oberalp Pass. On the local trains that ply this route, generally once each hour, the one-way fare is 19 Swiss Francs (about $23). But use the Glacier Express — which isn’t any faster on this stretch—for the same journey, and the fare hikes up to 52 Swiss Francs ($62).

The regular second-class fare to ride the full Glacier Express route from St. Moritz to Zermatt this summer is 169 Swiss Francs ($202). This includes the compulsory seat reservation fee.

Travellers with a Swiss Pass may ride the Glacier Express by just paying a 33 Swiss Franc reservation fee. Holders of InterRail and Eurail Passes receive a discount, with fares for travel this summer as follows (always including the seat reservations): Eurail passes 94.50 Swiss Francs ($113), Adult InterRail passes 115 Swiss Francs ($137.50), Youth InterRail passes 74 Swiss Francs ($88.50).

Is it worth the ride?

In our view, it’s a fun day out and certainly a journey through magnificent scenery. If you are tempted, ride the local trains on the same route which have far more character. But eight hours is a long time, and the unremitting diet of gorges and glaciers can pall. There are, we think, other rail journeys in Switzerland which are cheaper, shorter, and—by virtue of being more varied—much more appealing.

Next week we shall review one of our personal favourites.

Have you boarded the Glacier Express?

Share your Glacier Express experience with us in the comments section. How much did you pay for your ticket? Was it worth it?

The post Switzerland by Train: Is the Glacier Express worth the ticket price? appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.