SJ, www.sj.se
for train times & fares. Book Swedish train tickets online
at www.sj.se (no
booking fee) or
www.bokatag.se (small fee). If you can't get your
credit card to work, call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75
(touch tone 6 for English). Tickets are collected from the SJ
ticket machines at all main stations. All-Europe train times.
Eurostar
times & fares.
Ferries UK to Sweden:
DFDS Seaways Newcastle-Gothenburg ferry was withdrawn in 2006.
25 June 2009. Train times valid from 14 June to 12 December
2009.
UK to Sweden without flying...
Vaasa Museum, Stockholm: Don't miss this fabulous museum.
The warship 'Vaasa' sank in Stockholm harbour in 1628 and was raised
in 1956.
It's easy to travel from London to
Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö or anywhere else in Sweden by train
or train+ferry, a
wonderful journey with a lot to see on
the way, and a great alternative to an unnecessary flight.
On this page you'll find a step-by-step guide to planning,
booking & making a journey from the UK to Sweden by train or ferry, with train & ferry
timetables, approximate fares, and the best way to buy
tickets.
London-Stockholm by Eurostar &
sleeper train.
This is the fastest & most frequent option, with
daily departures. It's shown in red on the map
below. Take a lunchtime Eurostar to
Brussels, a high-speed train to Cologne, the excellent City
Night Line overnight sleeper train to Copenhagen then a fast
X2000 train to Stockholm.
London-Stockholm by cruise ferry to Denmark then train.
This is a more leisurely option, with more cruising
and fewer trains. It's shown in yellow on the map
below as far as Copenhagen, then in red to Stockholm. Although there are no longer any
direct ferries from the UK to Sweden, you can sail from Harwich to Esbjerg in
Denmark by DFDS Seaways cruise ferry, take an InterCity train to
Copenhagen then the sleeper to Stockholm. This
route offers 3-4
departures weekly, and it's a very comfortable option.
London-Stockholm by daytime trains. It's too
far to go in one day, so you travel London to Hamburg
on day 1, stay overnight, then travel Hamburg to
Stockholm on day 2. It's slower & less
time-effective than using the sleeper train, but if
you prefer daytime train travel, here's how to do it.
This is the fastest and most
frequent option, with daily departures. You leave
London at lunchtime, and arrive Stockholm early evening next
day.
London ► Stockholm
Day 1, travel
from London to Brussels by
Eurostar,
leaving London St Pancras at 14:34
and arriving in Brussels at 17:33.
Day 1, travel
from Brussels to Cologne by
high-speed Thalys train, leaving Brussels at
18:59 and arriving
in Cologne at 21:15.
Day 1, travel overnight from
Cologne to Copenhagen on the City Night Line sleeper train
'Borealis', leaving
Cologne at 22:28 and arriving next morning in Copenhagen at 09:59. This train has a sleeping-car
(1, 2 & 3 bed rooms, standard with washbasin or
deluxe with private shower & toilet),
couchettes (4-berth & 6-berth) & seats,
see the London to
Denmark page for more details about this train.
Day 2, travel
from Copenhagen to Stockholm by high-speed tilting
X2000 train, leaving Copenhagen at 12:19
and arriving in Stockholm at 17:39. See the X2000
pictures above.
Stockholm ►
London
Day 1, travel from Stockholm to
Copenhagen by train, leaving
Stockholm at 12:21 by fast X2000 tilting
train,
arriving Copenhagen at 17:30.
See the X2000
pictures above.
Day 1, travel
overnight from
Copenhagen to Cologne by City Night Line sleeper train
'Borealis', leaving
Copenhagen daily at 18:53 and arriving Cologne at 06:14
next morning. This train has couchettes (4-berth &
6-berth) and a sleeping-car (1, 2 & 3 bed compartments,
standard with washbasin or deluxe with private shower &
toilet).
Day 2,
travel from Cologne to Brussels by high-speed
Thalys
train, leaving Cologne daily at 07:45, arriving
Brussels Midi at
10:01.
Day 2: A
Eurostar
leaves Brussels at 11:29
and arrives London St Pancras at 12:26.
Introducing the City Night Line sleeper
train 'Borealis' from Cologne to Copenhagen...
1, 2 or 3 bed sleeper:
The most comfortable & civilised option, standard with
washbasin or deluxe with shower & toilet.
4-berth couchettes:
Ideal for families, much more space per person than
6-berth couchettes.
6-berth couchettes:
A very economical option, far better than a seat for
just a few euros more...
Above: One
of the new 'Comfortline' sleeping-cars on the
Cologne-Copenhagen City Night Line sleeper train.
The easiest way to book train tickets from London to
Stockholm is at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
because all the trains can be booked as a single
transaction on one UK-based website. If you live
outside the UK, or want to book 4-berth couchettes (which
for some reason raileurope.co.uk currently won't do) then
use
www.eurostar.com &
www.bahn.de
instead (see the next section). In any case, it's a good idea to
compare prices for the Cologne-Copenhagen train between
www.raileurope.co.uk
&
www.bahn.de
as they can differ. Remember that booking opens 90
days before departure, you can't book before then.
Step 1, go to
www.raileurope.co.uk,
but resist the temptation to enter 'London' & 'Stockholm'
all in one go as this won't find the cheapest fares, even if
it works.
First, enter 'Cologne' &
'Copenhagen' and book the overnight train from Cologne to
Copenhagen & back. Obviously, in the search results simply
look for the direct train with no changes. For some
reason it won't book 4-berth couchettes, and may struggle
with 2-berth sleepers with shower, but if you have any
difficulties like this simply book using
www.bahn.de
instead, as described in the next section. Add this
ticket to your basket and click 'continue shopping'.
Step 2, still at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
now book the train from Brussels to Cologne & back, using
the train times above as your guide. Add this ticket
to your basket and click 'continue shopping'.
Step 3, still at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
now book the Eurostar from London to Brussels & back, using
the train times above as a guide. By all means take an
earlier Eurostar outwards, or a later one back, if it has
cheaper seats available or if you'd like to stop off in
Brussels. Add this to your basket.
Step 4,
book the Copenhagen-Stockholm train. The easy but
more expensive way is to stay with
www.raileurope.co.uk,
click 'continue shopping' and book a ticket from
Copenhagen to Stockholm and back online. Rail Europe
charges a standard fixed price for Copenhagen-Stockholm
trains for all dates and departures, this is the
international tariff made available to other European
railway operators by the Swedish Railways. The
second, much cheaper way is to book the
Copenhagen-Stockholm train online using either
www.sj.se (no booking fee)
or
www.bokatag.se (English button bottom right, booking fee
added). If you can't get your credit card to
work, simply call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch
tone 6 for English). The price you'll pay using
www.sj.se,
www.bokatag.se or SJ telesales is the actual Swedish Railways
price, which varies like budget airline fares. The cheap
deals start 90 days before departure. If you
book several months in advance you can find really cheap
fares available, much cheaper than with Rail Europe,
rising to pretty much the same level as Rail Europe closer
to departure. You collect your tickets
from the Swedish Railways (SJ) ticket machines which are installed at Copenhagen main station.
www.raileurope.co.uk
can send tickets to any UK address and they normally arrive
within a couple of days. Only UK credit cards are
accepted.
This method involves two or three websites, so do a dry run on both
sites to check prices and availability before booking for
real.
Step
1, book the Cologne-Copenhagen sleeper: Go to the German
Railways website,
www.bahn.de and book a sleeper or couchette ticket from Cologne (Köln Hbf)
to Copenhagen (Koebenhvn H) and
back, looking for the cheap 'Savings' fares ('sparnight' in
German). You pay online and print out your own ticket
in .PDF format on your own PC printer. Easy!
I recommend registering when it asks you before completing
the purchase, so you can easily retrieve any bookings.
Step 2, book
your London-Cologne ticket: Go to either
www.eurostar.com or
www.raileurope.co.uk
and using the train times on this page as your guide, book a ticket from London to Cologne
& back (Cologne is listed as Koln on the Eurostar website).
It's a good idea to try both of these websites, as sometimes
one is cheaper than the other, for some strange reason. Bookings
for Eurostar+Thalys open 90 days (3 months) before
departure, and the further ahead you book, the more likely
you are to see the cheapest fares. Tickets can be
posted to any UK address or collected at St Pancras on
departure. It's obvious, but remember that your return departure date from Cologne will
be the day after your departure date from Copenhagen!
Top tip: If you don't see any sensibly-priced
London-Cologne through fares, go to
www.raileurope.co.uk
and try booking in two stages, first London-Brussels & back,
then Brussels-Cologne & back, using the train times above as
your guide. This can be cheaper!
Step 3,
book the Copenhagen-Stockholm train: The easy
but more expensive way is to stay with
www.raileurope.co.uk,
click 'continue shopping' and book a ticket from
Copenhagen to Stockholm and back online. Rail Europe
charges a standard fixed price for Copenhagen-Stockholm
trains for all dates and departures, this is the
international tariff made available to other European
railway operators by the Swedish Railways. The
second, much cheaper way is to book the
Copenhagen-Stockholm train online using either
www.sj.se (no booking fee)
or
www.bokatag.se (English button bottom right, booking fee
added). If you can't get your credit card to
work, simply call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch
tone 6 for English). The price you'll pay using
www.sj.se,
www.bokatag.se or SJ telesales is the actual Swedish Railways
price, which varies like budget airline fares (the cheap
deals start 90 days before departure). If you
book several months in advance you can find really cheap
fares available, much cheaper than with Rail Europe,
rising to pretty much the same level as Rail Europe closer
to departure. You collect your tickets
from the Swedish Railways (SJ) ticket machines which are installed at Copenhagen main station.
How to
buy tickets by phone...
You
can buy tickets through a number of UK agencies, but the best
for this trip is probably Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66
(lines open 09:00-20:00 Mon-Fri, 09:00-13:00 Sat & Sun,
no booking fee, 2% credit card charge, no charge for
debit cards), or
European Rail
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00
Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday, £25 booking fee per transaction).
Click
here for a list
of agencies and more info on how to
book.
Above: DFDS Seaways ferry "Dana Sirena" links
Harwich with Esbjerg...
Photo
courtesy of DFDS Seaways.
This is a very comfortable way to
go, although not the fastest. There are cabins, restaurants, bars and
cinema on board the DFDS Seaways cruise ferry from
Harwich in Essex to Esbjerg, then a train
ride across Denmark to Copenhagen for the sleeper to
Stockholm. There used to be a direct ferry from
the UK to Gothenburg in Sweden, but this was withdrawn
in October 2006.
London
▶ Stockholm
Day 1, travel from London to Harwich by train, leaving London Liverpool
Street at 14:18 and arriving Harwich International 1 hour 25 minutes
later. Harwich International station is right next
to the ferry terminal. Trains to Harwich run hourly, but
this departure gives plenty of time to catch the ferry.
Please check times at
www.nationalrail.co.uk.
Day 1 early
evening, Sail from
Harwich to Esbjerg in Denmark aboard DFDS Seaways 'Dana Sirena'.
The Dana Sirena sails from Harwich every Wednesday, Friday & Sunday
at 18:00 (increased to every second day in
June, July & August ), arriving in Esbjerg at 13:00 next
day (day 2).
www.dfds.co.uk
will confirm sailing dates. The Dana Sirena is a
modern and well-run ship, with comfortable cabins,
two restaurants, a bar, coffee shop and lounges, see the
photos below. On arrival at Esbjerg, take a taxi
or bus or simply walk to the
railway station. Bus number 5 runs from the ferry
terminal to the
station every 20 minutes, bus fare 15 Kr adult 8 Kr
child.
If you've a backpack or light luggage,
you can easily walk from the ferry terminal to the
pedestrianised town centre in about 10-15 minutes, from
where it's another 5-10 minutes walk to the station.
The station is a historic red-brick building, though not
very distinctively marked.
Day 2 afternoon, travel from Esbjerg to
Copenhagen by modern InterCity
train, leaving Esbjerg town station at 15:42 and arriving in
Copenhagen at 18:53. The journey is about 175
miles, right across Denmark in air-conditioned comfort. You can check times
for your date of travel at
www.bahn.de.
Day 2 evening, travel from
Copenhagen to Stockholm overnight, leaving Copenhagen
by frequent local train at 21:23 arriving Malmö
at 21:58 (these Copenhagen-Malmö local trains in fact run every 20 minutes). A sleeper train leaves Malmö at 23:08, arriving Stockholm at
07:05 next morning (day 3 from London). This sleeper
train runs daily except Saturday nights and has seats, couchettes (6 bunk) and sleepers (1 & 2 bed
rooms with washbasin). Check train times at
www.bahn.de.
Alternatively,
spend the night in Copenhagen and head for Stockholm the
next day (day 3). Regular high speed tilting 'X2000' trains link Copenhagen with
Stockholm in about 5½ hours, check train times at
www.bahn.de.
Stockholm
▶ London
Day 1, travel from Stockholm to
Copenhagen overnight by sleeper train, leaving Stockholm
at 21:55 and arriving Malmö at 06:20 next
morning. This sleeper train runs daily except
Saturdays. A connecting local
train leaves Malmö every 20 minutes, with one at 07:02 arriving Copenhagen at 07:37.
The sleeper train has seats, couchettes (6 bunk) and
sleepers (1 & 2 bed rooms).
Alternatively, on Mondays-Saturdays there is a high
speed X2000 train leaving Stockholm at 06:21 and
arriving Copenhagen at 11:32, allowing same-day
connection to Esbjerg for the ferry to England.
Check times and days of running at
www.bahn.de.
Day 2, travel from Copenhagen to
Esbjerg by modern air-conditioned InterCity train, leaving Copenhagen at
12:30 and arriving Esbjerg at 15:27. You can
check times at
www.bahn.de. Take a bus or taxi to
the ferry terminal, or simply walk (25 minutes). Bus number 5 runs from the station
to the port every 20 minutes.
Day 2 evening, sail from
Esbjerg to Harwich aboard DFDS Seaways' 'Dana Sirena', leaving Esbjerg ferry
terminal at 19:00 on Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays, arriving Harwich at 11:30
next day (sailings are increased to every second day in
June, July & August). See
www.dfds.co.uk
to confirm sailing dates.
3D virtual tour of the Dana Sirena's cabins, lounges,
bars and restaurants.
Day 3, travel from Harwich to London
by train, leaving Harwich
International station at 13:06 and arriving London Liverpool Street at 14:33.
The train service runs hourly, you can check
times at
www.nationalrail.co.uk.
Introducing DFDS
Seaways "Dana Sirena" from Harwich to Esbjerg...
The Dana
Sirena is a modern and well-run ship, built in 2002.
All passengers travel in cabins, and all cabins have a private
shower & toilet. Facilities on board include the 7 Seas buffet restaurant,
the Blue
Riband à la carte
restaurant, Café Lighthouse (with WiFi access for laptops), Columbus Lounge,
and shop. The ship is child-friendly, with children's play
area, child restraints for cabin berths available from
reception, and highchairs available in all restaurants and
lounges.
3D virtual tour of the Dana Sirena's cabins, lounges,
bars and restaurants. Cabins come in three classes:
Seaways class:
1-6 berths with private shower and toilet;
Sirena class: 1
or 2 berth with private shower and toilet, TV (BBC World,
BBC Prime), complimentary minibar, breakfast included;
Commodore
Deluxe: Hotel-style rooms with double bed or two single
beds, TV (BBC Prime, BBC World), small sitting area, private
shower and toilet. Commodore cabins are on their own
deck with exclusive access to the Commodore Lounge which has
sea views, complimentary tea, coffee, snacks, beer and (in
the evening) free wine and spirits, PC with internet access
and WiFi access if you have your own laptop. Commodore
Deluxe is like travelling to Scandinavia
aboard a
floating hotel, highly recommended..!
Crossing the North Sea aboard the Dana Sirena...
Commodore class cabin
with double bed.
Sirena class cabin.
On board the
Danish InterCity train from Esbjerg to Copenhagen...
Air-conditioned Danish InterCity train.
2nd class seats on board
the InterCity train...
All aboard for Copenhagen..!
On board the X2000 daytime
trains from Copenhagen to Stockholm...
X2000 at Stockholm
Central
2nd class seats on
the Swedish X2000
Boarding the
X2000...
How much does it cost?
London to
Harwich by train costs £24 return or £21.50 one-way.
Advance reservation isn't necessary, just buy tickets at the
station on the day of travel. Alternatively, if you
book with DFDS Seaways by phone, they can sell you a
London-Harwich train ticket with your ferry ticket for a
special price of £10 one-way or £20 return.
Harwich to
Esbjerg by ferry starts at around £158 return for two people
sharing a 2-bed Seaways class cabin with private toilet and shower (= £79
return each) or £147 return for one person with sole use of a
cabin. To
check sailing dates, times and fares for different types of
cabin, visit
www.dfds.co.uk.
DFDS
Seaways now has an airline-style pricing system so prices
vary, book early and avoid peak times to get the cheapest fares. Children under 16 travel at
reduced fare. Unfortunately, DFDS
won't now let solo passengers share cabins, the whole cabin
must be booked.
Esbjerg to
Copenhagen by intercity train costs 297 Kr (£27) one
way, 594 Kr (£54) return for adults, or 149 Kr (£14) each
way for children and seniors over 65. Advance
reservation is possible but not necessary, and tickets can
be bought at the station on the day at those prices.
Alternatively, DFDS can sell you a train ticket with your
ferry ticket, at the same prices.
Copenhagen to
Stockholm by sleeper train costs SEK 760 (£56) one-way
or SEK 1520 (£112) return per person travelling in 6-bunk
couchettes, or SEK 1170 (£87) one-way, SEK 2340 (£174)
return per person travelling in a 2-bed sleeper, when booked
by email through
www.swedenbooking.com. Booked online at either
either www.sj.se
or
www.bokatag.se, the price will be at least 10% cheaper.
How to buy tickets...
Step 1:
Buy your ferry tickets online at
www.dfds.co.uk
(no booking fee)
or by calling DFDS Seaways on 0870
5 333 000 (£10 booking fee for phone bookings).
Phone lines are open 08:30-20:00 Mondays-Fridays,
08:30-17:00 Saturdays, 10:00-16:00 Sundays.
You can buy
your London-Harwich & Esbjerg-Copenhagen train tickets at
the station on the day of travel. No reservation is
necessary, and there's no price advantage in buying tickets
in advance. But if you really want to, you can buy
the London-Harwich ticket online at
www.nationalrail.co.uk and the Esbjerg-Copenhagen ticket
(with seat reservation) at
www.dsb.dk,
the Danish Railways website. This is in Danish, but
it's not difficult to work out how to use it if you're
familiar with the way such booking systems work. You
pay by credit card then print out your own ticket.
remember that Copenhagen in Danish is 'Kobenhavn'.
Alternatively, if you book by phone,
DFDS can add both UK and Esbjerg-Copenhagen tickets to your ferry fare, including
making a seat reservation on the Esbjerg-Copenhagen train.
Ask DFDS about special cheap train fares from other UK
stations to Harwich, too.
Step 2:
Buy the Copenhagen-Malmö-Stockholm sleeper tickets online at
either www.sj.se
(no booking fee, you may have to fake a Swedish phone number) or
www.bokatag.se (English button is bottom right, booking fee
added, accepts all credit cards through 3-D secure
system, you may have to fake a Swedish phone number).
If you can't get your credit card to work, call SJ telesales
on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English). You
can also book by email with
www.swedenbooking.com (personal service, but 10%
surcharge & SEK100 booking fee). Bookings open 90 days
before departure. Using either
www.sj.se or
www.bokatag.se (or SJ telesales) you pay online and collect tickets from the Swedish Railways
(SJ) ticket machines installed at Copenhagen main station or
any Swedish station including Stockholm or Malmö. This
is the cheapest option as there are no booking fees.
Using Swedenbooking, you email
info@swedenbooking.com or call + 46 498 203380 to
make the reservation by credit card. Swedenbooking can
post tickets to UK addresses or tickets can be picked up by
entering your booking reference into the automatic machines
at stations, including Copenhagen, Malmö & Stockholm
stations.
London to
Sweden is too far to go in one day, so an overnight
stop in Hamburg is required. It's therefore
slower and less time-effective than using the
Cologne-Copenhagen overnight sleeper train. But
some people prefer all-daytime train travel, so here's
how to do it. Take a bottle of wine, a good
book, an enjoy a 2-day train ride across Europe on
some very modern & comfortable trains.
London ► Stockholm or Gothenburg by daytime trains
Day 1, travel
from London to Hamburg using any of the services
suggested on the London to Germany
page. For example, you can leave London St Pancras
at 12:57, change trains at
Brussels & Cologne, arriving Hamburg at 00:20.
Day 2, travel
from Hamburg to Stockholm or Gothenburg by any suitable
trains. For example, on most days you can leave Hamburg at 09:28,
change at Copenhagen & Malmö, arriving Stockholm 20:39.
You can check train times using
http://bahn.hafas.de
(English button top right), but I'd suggest clicking
'advanced options' and selecting 'connection time at least
30 minutes', otherwise you won't have time to collect your
Copenhagen-Stockholm ticket from the machines between trains. The
Hamburg-Copenhagen train is shunted onto
a ferry for the crossing from Puttgarten in Germany to Rodby
in Denmark, one of the few places in Europe where trains
still go onto ferries. An interesting experience in
itself!
Stockholm or Gothenburg ► London by daytime
trains
Day 1, travel
from Stockholm or Gothenburg to Hamburg by any suitable
daytime trains. For example, on most days you can
leave Stockholm at 08:21, change once in Copenhagen,
arriving Hamburg 20:16. You can check train times for your date
of travel using
www.bahn.de
(English button top right).
Day 2, travel
from Hamburg to London using any of the services
suggested on the London to Germany
page. For example, you can leave Hamburg at 09:46,
change at Cologne & Brussels, arriving London St Pancras at
19:03.
Fares & how to
buy tickets...
First jot down
each separate specific train you need to book using the information
above, with the date of departure for that train. I suggest doing a dry
run to check prices & availability on all three websites
before booking for real.
Step 1,
go to
www.eurostar.com and book a ticket from
London to Cologne (shown as Köln on their site) & back. Prices start at £85 return. Bookings open
90 days before departure. Tickets can be posted to UK
addresses or collected at St Pancras. Returns may be
cheaper than official on-ways for a one-way trip.
Step 2,
go to
www.bahn.de. First book from Cologne to
Hamburg & back for day 1 of your outward journey and day 2
of your return. Then book from Hamburg to Copenhagen & back for day 2 of your
outward journey and day 1 of your return. Cologne-Hamburg starts at just 29 euro (£24) one-way
or 58
euro (£48) return. Hamburg-Copenhagen starts at 39 euro (£33) one-way
or 78 euro (£66) return, assuming
you book well in advance (maximum 90 days ahead).
Step 3,
buy your Copenhagen-Stockholm ticket. Prices vary
between £17 & £70 each way. There are two options for
booking this. The easy but more expensive way is to go
to
www.raileurope.co.uk and book a ticket from
Copenhagen to Stockholm and back. Rail Europe
charges a standard fixed price for Copenhagen-Stockholm
trains for all dates and departures, this is the
international tariff made available to other European
railway operators by the Swedish Railways. The
second, much cheaper way is to book the
Copenhagen-Stockholm train online using either
www.sj.se (no booking fee)
or
www.bokatag.se (English button bottom right, booking fee
added). If you can't get your credit card to
work, simply call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch
tone 6 for English). The price you'll pay using
www.sj.se,
www.bokatag.se or SJ telesales is the actual Swedish Railways
price, which varies like budget airline fares. If you
book several months in advance you can find really cheap
fares available, much cheaper than with Rail Europe,
rising to pretty much the same level as Rail Europe closer
to departure. You collect your tickets
from the Swedish Railways (SJ) ticket machines which are installed at Copenhagen main station.
See train times and fares for London to Copenhagen on the Denmark
page. Frequent local trains link Copenhagen with
Malmö, running every 20 minutes, journey time 35 minutes.
London-Gothenburg (Göteborg)
Travel by train from London to
Copenhagen as shown on the Denmark
page, then take a Copenhagen-Gothenburg train.
Use
http://bahn.hafas.de to find
connecting Copenhagen-Gothenburg train times.
London-Northern Sweden
First travel to Gothenburg or Stockholm as shown above.
Sleeper trains from Stockholm and Gothenburg to Northern
Sweden (for example Boden, Luleå, and Narvik in Norway) are
now run by www.sj.se
(who took over from previous franchisee
www.connex.se
in 2008).
Trains have sleepers, some with private toilet and shower,
couchettes, seats, bar and even cinema. Daytime trains
from Gothenburg and Stockholm to most cities in Sweden are
also run
by national train operator SJ, see www.sj.se
for times and fares.
Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
2009 edition (June to December 2009)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
Definitely take a good guidebook. For independent travel, I
think this means either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide.
Both guidebooks provide an excellent level of practical information
and historical background. You won't regret buying one! My
own book, an essential handbook for train travel to Europe based on
this website called "The
Man in Seat 61", is due to be published in June 2008, and Amazon
will let you pre-order now.
Find a hotel in Stockholm or anywhere
else in Sweden...
It's easy to book hotels online to go with your train tickets,
but there are almost too many hotel booking websites to choose
from. So try
www.hotelscombined.com (just use the search box below).
This is not a hotel booking site, but a free search tool
which searches all the main hotel booking sites for you
(Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms, Opodo, Venere and many
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates on the net. Set
up in 2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place
to start for booking any hotel online in any country,
worldwide.
Try
www.laterooms.com, which will list a huge number of hotels
in any given town or city on a single page showing price and
availability for your specific dates.
www.laterooms.com gets significant discounts over normal rates
for many hotels, and these discounted prices are shown in orange.
As its name suggests,
www.laterooms.com gets discounts for hotel rooms booked within
3 months of travel, making it ideal for anyone booking train
travel within the normal 90 days booking horizon.
www.tripadvisor.com
is a huge resource, and the best place to browse for
independent travellers' reviews of all the main hotels.
Budget backpacker hostels...
If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget about the hostels. For a dorm bed or an
ultra-cheap private room in a backpacker hostel
in most European cities try
www.hostelbookers.com.
Travel insurance & health card
Travel insurance..
Travel insurance is boring, but a necessity, so
never travel without it. Make sure your cover is adequate, at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover,
from a reliable insurer. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Direct Line,
Columbus Direct & the Environmental Transport Association
(click the banner below).
I've used Direct Line myself and on one occasion, successfully
claimed back the cost of non-refundable Eurostar & trainhotel
tickets to Spain when we cancelled the trip because my mother
fell ill. ETA offer discounts on insurance for
non-flying trips, so give them a try too although I have yet
to use them myself.
Feedback from
using insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome!
UK citizens travelling in Europe should carry a European
Health Insurance Card. This replaces the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available free
from
www.ehic.org.uk and entitles you to free or reduced rate
health care if you become ill or get injured in many European
countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with the UK's NHS.
If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget about the hostels. For a dorm bed or an
ultra-cheap private room in a backpacker hostel
in most European cities try
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, see
If you live in the USA or Canada, see