Passengers travel in a
couchette or sleeper. This is a 4-berth couchette
compartment, with the beds folded away and table in
place for breakfast...
Normal passenger trains
don't carry cars or motorbikes, just
passengers and their luggage and perhaps bicycles.
However, there are
special 'Motorail'
trains which will also carry your car or motorbike. These
run on selected holiday routes, usually on
certain days of the week, and usually summer-only.
There are many advantages in using motorail over hiring a
car when you get there: you can take as much luggage
(and toys for the kids) as you like, and you can bring
back as much wine or beer as you can safely pack in!
No baggage fees or weight limits, no expensive airport
parking, and the journey becomes part of the holiday!
Motorail trains
carry cars and motorbikes, and some routes (not all) can now
take over-height 4x4 vehicles and people carriers.
However, they can't carry caravans or campers.
Here is a summary of motorail services of use to UK
travellers.
Calais to
Avignon, Brive, Narbonne, St Raphael, Nice, Toulouse:
www.raileurope.co.uk
Paris to Nice,
Geneva, Avignon, Biarritz, Marseille, Tarbes, Narbonne, St
Raphael, Toulon & Toulouse
French motorail trains run overnight from Calais on
Friday nights from mid-May to mid-September (and also
Sunday nights from late July to late August) to
St Raphael (for St Tropez), Nice,
Narbonne, Avignon, Toulouse and Brive, see
www.raileurope.co.uk/frenchmotorail
for times, dates & prices. There are also
motorail services starting in Paris.
Passengers sleep in
4 & 6 berth couchettes.
One price covers the car, driver and all car
passengers, and you get exclusive private use of a whole
6-berth or 4-berth couchette compartment (1- & 2-bed
sleepers were withdrawn from French Motorail trains in
January 2006). A one-way trip
from Calais to Brive for a car and all passengers starts at
around £340
one-way depending on the date of travel.
For Calais to Nice, fares range from
£400 to £590 one-way. French motorail carries both
normal cars and many 4X4 and MPVs (maximum height 1.80
metres). There
are now no Motorail services from Calais or Paris to Italy or Spain.
Note that dogs and other pets are not carried
on French motorail trains, though they are
carried on the German motorail trains, see the
DB AutoZug website.
For times, fares and
online booking see
www.raileurope.co.uk/frenchmotorail or call Rail Europe's Motorail line
on 0844 848 3339
or call UK motorail specialist www.railsavers.com
on 01253 59 55 55, lines open 09:00-17:00
Monday-Saturday, 10:00-16:00 Sunday.
There are now
no direct motorail trains from Calais or Paris to
anywhere in Italy, in spite of high demand. The
alternative is to drive to Holland or Düsseldorf and take
the motorail to Italy from there, or take the Calais-Nice
motorail and drive the rest of the way. Each of these
options is described below.
Düsseldorf is a
4-hour drive (245 miles) from Calais, or a 2 hours 40 minute
drive (157 miles) from Hoek van Holland or Rotterdam. German railways
(Deutsche Bahn) run excellent motorail trains from Düsseldorf to
Verona & Alessandria in Italy. The trains run
overnight with both
couchettes and
sleepers plus a bistro-restaurant car. Some deluxe
sleepers even have private shower & toilet. Prices
start from as little as 149 euros (£108) one-way for car &
driver with couchette sleeping berth on the train if you
book online in advance and corner a cheap deal. Dogs
can be carried, too.
The
Düsseldorf-Alessandria motorail runs every Sunday night from
March until October, loading 15:40-16:10, departing 16:54
arriving 07:45 next morning. For
online booking, see the
DB AutoZug website (English button top centre).
The
Düsseldorf-Verona Motorail train runs every Friday night in
April then on Friday & Sunday nights from May to October,
loading 16:15-16:45, departing 17:54 and arriving 09:55 next
morning. For
online booking, see the
DB AutoZug website (English button top centre).
Calais to Nice
by motorail, then a short drive to Italy...
The overnight Calais to
Nice motorail train can take the
strain out of a long drive to Italy, see
the France section
above or
www.raileurope.co.uk/frenchmotorail.
Nice is 33 miles' drive from San Remo, 119 miles from Genoa,
190 miles from Cinque Terre, and 258 miles from Florence.
A private
company,
www.autoslaaptrein.nl, runs an excellent weekly motorail train
between June & September from s'Hertogenbosch (in the middle of the
Netherlands, a short drive from the Channel ports of Hoek
van Holland or Rotterdam) to Bologna in Italy. The
train runs overnight with couchettes (4 & 6-berth) and
private sleepers (1, 2 & 3 bed) southbound on Friday nights,
northbound on Saturday nights. Their website is
currently only in Dutch, but you can contact them for
details, or book in the UK through www.railsavers.com
on 01253 59 55 55, lines open 09:00-17:00
Monday-Saturday, 10:00-16:00 Sunday.
For overnight ferries
from Harwich (Essex) to Hoek van Holland, see the seat61 Ferry Shop
or
www.stenaline.co.uk. For overnight cruise ferry
from from Hull to Rotterdam, see
www.poferries.com. For the overnight cruise ferry
from Newcastle to IJmuiden (Amsterdam) ferries, see www.dfds.co.uk.
It's only a short drive from any of these ports to s'Hertogenbosch
to pick up the Motorail train to Italy.
The motorail
services from Brussels to Italy operated by the Belgian
national railways stopped
running in December 2003, but a new privately-run motorail service
was due to
start in 2006 from Denderleeuw (near Brussels) to Bologna and Alessandria in
Italy. Unfortunately, it didn't start in 2006 or in
2007, and summer 2008 now looks very doubtful. In
fact,
I'll believe it when I see it. The train is planned to run
overnight with sleeping-cars, couchettes and restaurant car,
outward on Friday nights from late June to early September,
returning northbound on Saturday nights. Denderleeuw is 90 minutes' drive from Calais, 45 minutes
from Zeebrugge. Prices will start at around £270 one-way for car+driver in shared couchette, £405 one-way for
car+driver+passenger in private 2-bed sleeper. Fares & times will be shown on
www.ttconline.nl,
or in the UK, contact www.railsavers.com
on 01253 59 55 55, lines open 09:00-17:00
Monday-Saturday, 10:00-16:00 Sunday.
* Latest news
(mid-2008): Regrettably, not only did TTC
fail to get the arrangements for their new
Brussels-Italy Motorail train sorted for the summer
2006 & 2007, it doesn't look as if they're going to
start in summer 2008
either. I will update this page if and when they
start operation...
Car-carrying
trains within Italy...
Motorail trains
carrying passengers' cars operate on many routes within
Italy, including Bologna-Palermo & Bologna-Catania (Sicily)
daily year-round, Turin-Bari weekly all year and daily in
summer, Bolzano-Bari weekly year-round, Rome-Sicily weekly,
and many summer-only routes. See
www.trenitalia.com and to book in the UK contact motorail
experts www.railsavers.com
(01253 595555).
It may be
better to take a direct cruise ferry from the UK to Spain.
www.poferries.com sail
Portsmouth-Bilbao and
www.brittany-ferries.co.uk sail Plymouth - Santander,
all year-round.
Both companies have excellent ships, making for an enjoyable
voyage, complete with whale-watching in the Bay of Biscay...
You can also book all these routes through the
Seat61 Ferry Shop. There
are also kennel facilities on board for dogs.
Car-carrying
trains within Spain:
Motorail trains within Spain
were all suspended in 2006 and are not currently
running at all. They may resume in 2008, but
there are no signs of this yet.
However, if and when operating, routes include Santander-Madrid
overnight daily except Saturdays from July to September, Bilbao-Alicante
overnight on Fridays all year, Bilbao-Malaga overnight on Fridays all year
(3-weekly in summer), Madrid-Algeciras (for Gibraltar or
Morocco ferry) daily overnight year-round, and Madrid-Malaga daily
except Saturdays all year. See
www.renfe.es
and contact UK motorail specialists www.railsavers.com
on 01253 59 55 55 (lines open 09:00-17:00
Monday-Saturday, 10:00-16:00 Sunday) or Renfe agents
www.spanish-rail.co.uk. Car transport costs around
80-140 euros one-way depending on the length of the journey,
excluding driver & passengers who pay the regular fares.
There are no motorail trains from Calais to anywhere except
southern France. However, there are motorail trains
within Germany and Austria that may help, for example
Hildesheim (near Hanover) to Munich. You can check routes and book
German motorail trains online at the
DB AutoZug website (English button top centre).
Düsseldorf to
Innsbruck, Salzburg, Villach by motorail...
Düsseldorf is a
4-hour drive (245 miles) from Calais, or a 2 hours 40 minute
drive (157 miles) from Hoek van Holland or Rotterdam. German railways
(Deutsche Bahn) run excellent motorail trains from Düsseldorf to
Innsbruck, Salzburg & Villach in Austria. The trains
run overnight with both
couchettes and
sleepers plus a bistro-restaurant car. Prices
start from as little as 149 euros (£108) one-way for car &
driver with couchette sleeping berth on the train if you
book online in advance and corner a cheap deal. Dogs
can be carried, too.
The
Düsseldorf-Salzburg motorail runs every Sunday night from
February until October, loading 17:50-18:10, departing 18:54
and arriving Salzburg at 06:00 next morning. For
online booking, see the
DB AutoZug website (English button top centre).
The
Düsseldorf-Innsbruck Motorail train runs every Friday night
in February & March then on Wednesday nights from April to
October, loading 19:50-20:10, departing 21:02 and arriving
Innsbruck at 07:20 next morning. For
online booking, see the
DB AutoZug website (English button top centre).
The
Düsseldorf-Villach Motorail train runs every Friday night in
February, March, April then on Wednesday & Friday nights
from May to September, then Fridays in October, loading
17:40-18:10, departing 18:54 and arriving Villach at 09:26
next morning. For
online booking, see the
DB AutoZug website (English button top centre).
Austrian
Railways (ÖBB) run a Düsseldorf-Vienna overnight motorail
train for most of the year, daily at peak times, twice
weekly off-peak (Fri & Sun nights southbound, Thurs & Sat
nights northbound). Departs Düsseldorf 20:15, arrives
Vienna Westbahnhof 09:07. Car transport costs 89 euros
each way, passengers pay the normal rail fares and travel in
a sleeper or couchette. See
http://www.oebb.at/pv/de/Rund_ums_Reisen/Autoreisezug/Deutschland/
(or if this link stops working, navigate from the
www.oebb.at
home page). If you can cope with German, there's
online booking. Alternatively, to book in the UK (in
English!) contact motorail experts www.railsavers.com
(01253 595555).
Taking your car to the Netherlands:
There are no motorail services
from the UK to Holland & the Netherlands, but there are
ferries.
Harwich-Hoek van Holland...
www.stenaline.co.uk
sail from Harwich in Essex to Hoek van Holland near
Rotterdam with both a daytime and an overnight crossing,
cabins available.
Newcastle-IJmuiden (Amsterdam)...
www.dfds.co.uk
sail from North Shields (Newcastle) overnight to IJmuiden
(the port of Amsterdam), cabins available.
Hull-Rotterdam...
P&O (www.poferries.com)
sail from Hull to Rotterdam overnight, cabins available.
The Düsseldorf
- Villach motorail service will get you from Düsseldorf (a 4
hour drive from Calais or a 2 hour 40 minute drive from Hook
of Holland or Rotterdam) to Villach in southern Austria, a
stone's throw from the Slovenian border, from where you can
easily drive to Ljubljana, Zagreb, Split or Rijeka, see the
Motorail to Austria section above.
There are now no direct motorail trains to Croatia.
If you are
travelling further afield, Optima Tours run Motorrail trains
from Villach in southern Austria to Bulgaria, Macedonia
(Skopje), Greece (Thessaloniki), and Turkey (Edirne), with
departures on various dates from May to October.
See www.optimatours.de
for dates, times and booking information.
Taking your
car to Greece by motorail to Italy then ferry...
See above for
information about the weekly motorail trains from Germany, Belgium or the
Netherlands to Verona or Alessandria in northern Italy. Car ferries operate
from Italy (Venice, Ancona, Bari, Brindisi) to Greece
(Corfu, Igoumenitsa, Patras), try
www.superfast.com,
www.bluestarferries.com,
www.minoan.gr.
There are no
motorail trains to Scandinavia, but direct car
ferries link the UK with Denmark (& Norway, until September
2008) several times
a week, all year round, see www.dfds.co.uk.
