European Rail Timetable . . .

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Cornwall by
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Channel Islands

Europe

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London to Paris
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Albania

Bangladesh

Cambodia

China

Indonesia

North Korea

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	Buy a copy online...

Published since 1873, the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable is a remarkable book, an essential companion for any serious train traveller to Europe.  It costs £13.99 from branches of Thomas Cook (ask at the bureau de change section) or from www.thomascooktimetables.com.

What does it contain?

• Schematic maps of all major European rail & ferry routes, both international and within each country (see example map below);

• Timetables for all major international routes in Europe, as far east as Istanbul, Moscow, St Petersburg & Kiev, as far west as Lisbon, as far south as Athens, Sicily, Gibraltar (see example timetable below);

• Timetables for all principal domestic train services in each European country;

• Timetables and route maps for all ferry services serving Europe, including Baltic, English Channel, North Sea and Mediterranean;

• A complete index of all places covered in the timetables;

• How to read the timetables, with an explanation of the symbols used;

• Calendar & list of public holiday dates in each European country;

• Time zone information;

• Useful rail travel words & phrases in English, French, Spanish, Italian & German;

• Basic city plans for some 34 European cities showing location of main stations & interchanges (see examples below);

• Car-carrying (Motorail) train routes, departure dates & timetables;

• Airport link information;

Is it worth buying one?

If you're only making one journey from A to B and back, well of course you can find the necessary train times online these days.  But if you plan to make regular trips from the UK into mainland Europe several times a year, or are planning an extensive tour, then yes, it's definitely worth buying a copy.  Having your own comprehensive timetable allows you to plan at leisure in your armchair at home, and when travelling it puts you in control of your own trip.  It can save you hours in queues for station information desks or struggling with station timetables which show only the most basic information.  It's published monthly, although as European timetables only change twice a year in June & December, you don't need to buy one every month.  Just buying the June and December editions is sufficient for most travellers, although occasional updates and revisions happen in between.  In fact, even a Thomas Cook Timetable that's two years out of date is far better than travelling blind!

Buy online...

• Latest monthly edition sold direct by www.thomascookpublishing.com, with shipping worldwide.

• Or buy the Independent Travellers special edition, sold by Amazon.co.uk, with shipping worldwide:

  Winter/Spring 2011/12 edition (December 2011 to June 2012) or (when available) Summer/Autumn 2012 edition (June to December 2012)

Example rail route map:

This is a typical rail route map shown in the Thomas Cook Timetable.  The numbers next to each rail line refer to the timetable for that route.

Example timetable:

Here's an example timetable.  Don't worry, an explanation of how to read the timetables and of all the symbols is included at the front of the Timetable.  Each column is one train, and you read downwards (although in some cases a solid black bar under on train saves space by allowing another to be shown further down the same column).  Train number, train type, catering, and reference to any footnotes, are shown at the top of each column.  As you can see, like the railways themselves, the Thomas Cook Timetable always uses local place names, 'München' for Munich, 'Wien' for Vienna, 'Bucuresti' for Bucharest.  You soon get used to this!  A crossed knife and fork means restaurant car, a goblet symbol means buffet refreshments.  '1-5' (the numbers in circles at the top of a column) means Mondays-Fridays, '6 7' means Saturdays & Sundays.  Easy, really...

Example city maps:

It also includes simple but useful city maps showing stations and interchanges for some 34 European cities...

Extracts used here with kind permission of Thomas Cook...

The Thomas Cook Rail Map of Europe:   Buy from Amazon UK    Buy from Amazon USA

The Thomas Cook Rail Map of Europe is easily the best map of European train routes that there is, showing rail routes from Portugal in the west to Ukraine in the east, Finland in the north to Sicily in the south.  Scenic routes are highlighted.  It costs around £8.99 from branches of Thomas Cook or you can buy online from Amazon UK with worldwide delivery.  Highly recommended and well worth buying, especially if you are buying an InterRail or Eurail pass and doing a lot of travelling.

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