Above: Arriving in Greece by train+ferry from
London, under blue skies and even bluer sea...
If you don't like flying or want to avoid flying for
the sake of the environment, most big holiday companies can
offer you nothing much more than a short break on
Eurostar to Paris. Which is crazy, because it's so
easy to spend a week in Spain, Italy or Malta, or a
fortnight in Morocco or Greece, without setting foot on
a plane. I know it's possible, because I've done
all of those myself! The journey becomes part of
the holiday, an experience in its own right. On
this page you'll find ideas for holidaying abroad from
the UK without flying.
Here are some suggestions:
Short breaks to Paris, Brussels, Bruges,
Amsterdam, Dublin & Ireland. A few days
break by Eurostar or
train+ferry. Or stay in the UK and visit
Edinburgh, Bath or York... Or use the
time-effective sleeper trains to the Highlands of
Scotland or the Cornish coast...
Minicruisesto Spain, Holland or Denmark.
Also good for a short break...
Holidays by
trainto France & other European countries,
with travel by train rather than plane.
Escorted tours by trainto Morocco,
Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, eastern
Europe.
Several operators offer escorted tours to these countries
with travel by train rather than plane, including
Great Rail Journeys (www.greatrail.com), sister company Treyn Holidays,
Planet Rail, Page & Moy, and Travelsphere. A tour
is an excellent choice if
you prefer everything arranged for you and enjoy travelling with others.
Arrange your own holiday
independently
to Spain, Italy, Greece, Morocco, Malta, eastern Europe
or Scandinavia... There is no reason why
you can't book a resort or hotel, then arrange
train travel
separately. Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Malta,
Morocco, Eastern Europe or Scandinavia can all be reached
easily and affordably by train & ferry. There
are some ideas & help on this page.
Visit Paris, Lille,
Brussels or Bruges by Eurostar...
The simplest non-flying holiday to
Europe is a short break to the ever-popular French capital, or
how about Lille, Brussels or Bruges (Bruges arguably being the
most picturesque of these)? A number of companies offer short
breaks or longer holidays to these cities, combining Eurostar
travel with hotel accommodation,
including:
How about a short break to Amsterdam, with some time in
Brussels too? Take a Friday night Eurostar
to Brussels, and stay the night there. On Saturday,
explore the Grand Place before hopping on the hourly
intercity train
to Amsterdam (3 hours). Spend Saturday night there,
return around 16:30 on Sunday afternoon
Amsterdam-Brussels-London.
Take the overnight train+ferry+train service from London
(or any station in East Anglia) to Amsterdam via the
overnight Harwich-Hoek ferry, sleeping in a comfortable
cabin. Spend a day or two in Amsterdam, then return
overnight by train+ferry again.
See the Netherlands page to
book a combined train+ferry ticket, then
see the hotels page to book a
hotel separately.
New from 2008, an Irish tour company called Railtours Ireland (www.railtoursireland.com) offers short breaks
from London to Dublin by train &
ferry, with the option to add kissing the Blarney Stone, the Ring of
Kerry, or visiting the Giant's causeway. No airport hassles, no ugly
motorways. As far as I know, they're the only company to
offer the rail & sail alternative
to flying.
The tour leaves London every weekday from March to October, aboard the
09:00 Virgin train direct from Euston station to
Holyhead via the scenic North Wales coastline. At Holyhead
you board the Irish Ferries cruise ferry & sail across the sea to Dublin
Ferrryport, arriving around 5.25pm. It's the scenic & painless way to reach Ireland!
The cost is 289 euros (£229) per person, including 2 nights three-star hotel accommodation in
central Dublin
(with the option of extra nights) an return rail & sail travel from
London.
You can mix-and-match the London-Dublin tour with one or more
1-day tours from Dublin, for example to Cork, Blarney Castle & the
Queenstown Story, or to Belfast & the Giant's Causeway, or around the
Ring of Kerry. These tours use a fast comfortable intercity
train from Dublin, then a motorcoach to reach the sights of western &
northern Ireland, then a fast intercity train back to Dublin.
For details, see
www.railtoursireland.com.
To book from the UK, call free on 0800 328 2899. To book
from outside the UK, call+353 1 856 0045
Take a short break in the UK.
Edinburgh? Bath? York?
You can also use the Night Riviera
sleeper train to spend a weekend or longer in St Ives or elsewhere in
Cornwall, without the 6-hour drive!
See the Sleeper to Cornwall page.
Mini-cruises...
Several ferry companies offer
mini-cruises, around trip from the UK on a comfortable
cruise-ferry. Some operators also offer longer holidays:
DFDS Seaways Sail from Newcastle to Amsterdam &
Harwich to Denmark.
P&O
ferries sail from Portsmouth to Bilbao in Spain.
If you want someone to organise a
holiday to Europe by train for you, and are happy to travel on
your own unescorted with departures on any date you like, this
company offers various holidays to Europe with travel
exclusively by train, no airports & no flights. Seat61
gets some commission to support the site if you quote
'Seat61.com' when you call.
Companies offering
holidays by train
rather than plane:
020 7619 1080
Please quote 'seat61'
0844 84 888 43
Please quote 'seat61'
Erail,
www.erail.co.uk,
020 7619 1080. Please quote 'Seat61.com'
when you call...
Erail has been
started by experienced European rail ticketing agency
www.europeanrail.com, to offer unescorted organised tours
to Europe totally by train. Tours include:
Italian Grand
Tour, 9 days to Rome, Florence & Venice from around £553
per person.
Swiss Lakes &
Mountains, 8 days to Geneva, Interlaken, Lucerne, Lake
Maggiore, from around £730 per person.
Swiss Panorama,
7 days including the famous Glacier Express, from around £638
per person.
Highlights of
Andalusia, 10 days to Seville, Cordoba, Granada, from
around £675 per person.
2-centre Swiss
skiing, 11 days from £824. They also do an 8-day
Austrian week skiing.
Call 020 7619
1080 to enquire or book. Please quote 'Seat 61' when
you call.
French Travel
Service (FTS),
www.f-t-s.co.uk,
0844 84 888 43. Please quote 'Seat61.com'
when you call...
A well-known firm
established over 45 years ago and originally part of French Railways,
the French Travel Service is now a family business
offering affordable holidays all over France (even Corsica!) with travel
by train instead of plane.
Train+hotel deals
for all parts of France, including Cannes, Nice, Monaco,
Lourdes, Bergerac, Strasbourg or the French Alps.
Train+ferry+hotel
tour to Nice & Corsica.
Hiking, walking, sea
kayaking, canoeing & family activity holidays in Scotland:
Wilderness Scotland...
Award-winning company Wilderness
Scotland for small group
walking, sea kyaking, canoeing, hiking & family activity
holidays. National Geographic list Wilderness Scotland
as one of the 'Best Adventure Travel
Companies on Earth'. They're the only Scottish company
to hold AITO's 5-star
Responsible
Tourism award and were recently named Best Green Tour Operator at
the World Travel Awards.
Although they don't package rail travel with their holidays, it's easy
to reach Scotland on daytime trains or the overnight Caledonian Sleepers,
see the Caledonian Sleepers page.
If you want a holiday in Europe
with travel by train rather than plane, but would prefer to travel with a group of fellow
travellers, a tour manager and all the legwork done
for you, several companies offer escorted tours
from the UK to Italy, Switzerland, Spain, France, eastern
Europe and even Morocco by train, with regular departures from
London by Eurostar, no airport hassles
and no whole days spent in cramped coach seats on motorways.
Seat61 gets some commission to support the site if you book
your holiday through these links or phone numbers, at no extra
expense to you.
Great Rail
Journeys are the original train-travel holiday specialists.
They run five-star
inclusive tours from the UK to many European countries, with
1st class train travel and 5-star hotels. Check the tour details
online, then call 01904 527120 to
book or use their
online
booking form. Tours include:
Treyn Holidays
run regular tours to a number of European countries using
overland travel from the UK by Eurostar and high-speed TGV, with
mid-range prices & 3*
hotels. For example:
9-day tour from
London to Bologna,
Florence, Venice & Rome, by train from London from £795 per person
8-day tour combining Mont Blanc with the fantastic
Glacier Express
across Switzerland, by train from London from £695
10-day tour to
Vienna, Prague & Berlin, by train from London from £795.
6-day Rhine cruise
from £615, by train from London.
Planet Rail,
www.planetrail.co.uk, 01347 811 810
(please quote 'Seat61.com' when you call)...
Planet Rail offer tailor-made holidays by
first class rail for both groups and individuals. A family-run
business, destinations include Italy, Switzerland, Germany,
Belgium, Russia and France. See
www.planetrail.co.uk or call 01347 811810 to speak to one
of their team. Please quote 'Seat 61' when
you call. Tailor-made holidays include:
Venice by rail – 7 day holiday with first class rail and 4*
hotels from around £975
Grand Tour of Italy – 12 day holiday by first class rail to
Rome, Florence and Venice from around £1,495
Glacier Express & Scenic Switzerland – 8 day holiday by
first class rail from around £1,095
French Hotel Barges – 7 day holidays by first class rail,
including meals & excursions from £995
Well-established firm Page & Moy offer tours to Italy, France,
Switzerland & Germany, including some tours with train
travel rather than plane. A 6-day trip to Albi, Carcassonne
& the Dordogne in France costs from £729 per person, a 10-day
trip to the great cities of Italy costs from £1,434 per
person, with travel to & from the UK by train. Book
online at
www.pageandmoy.com.
Booking tip: On the
Page & Moy home page, search for holidays with 'holiday
type' set to 'Rail holidays'.
Travelsphere offer tours to Italy, France,
Switzerland, Spain & Germany, also including some tours
with train travel rather than plane. A 9-day tour to
Lake Garda in Italy costs from £994 per person by train, a
10-day tour to Perpignan, Barcelona & Costa Brava in Spain
costs from £824 per person, also by train. Book online
at
www.travelsphere.com
(Booking tip: On the
www.travelsphere.com
home page, search for holidays with 'holiday type' set to
'Rail holidays').
Why not go independent?! Nothing
stops you deciding where you want
to go, booking a hotel and a train ticket or two, and heading off
independently. It can seem daunting if you've
always booked a package holiday, but it's really easy to
book train travel from London to anywhere in Europe and
choose your accommodation separately. None of the big
package tour
companies offer an overland option instead of a flight for
their packages to
Morocco, Greece, Malta and so on, so booking independently is
the way to go. Here are some ideas:
Holidays to Italy by train:
Choose whether to stay in one place
(for example, the coastal villages of Cinque Terre, the
wonderful Naples/Pompeii/Sorrento/Capri
area, or Sicily) or to travel around seeing the great cities such
as Rome, Florence, Venice, Verona, Naples.
Find a hotel or guesthouse at
www.venere.com,
a company specialising in accommodation in Italy with a very
wide choice of guesthouses and hotels in all price ranges.
Also try
www.laterooms.com.
It's easy to travel from London to
anywhere in Italy by train. Plan and book your train
travel to Italy following the steps shown on the
London to Italy page.
If you need transport between cities
once in Italy, just use
www.trenitalia.it (Italian Railways official site) to
check train times and fares. You can book online, or
simply buy your ticket at the station when you get to Italy.
It's not difficult..!
Feel free to stop off in Paris on
the way if you like..! It makes no difference to the
cost.
Holidays to Spain by train:
Choose your holiday location:
For beaches, there's the Costa del Sol around Malaga or the Costa Brava near Barcelona,
or even Ibiza
or Majorca. For culture, try Madrid, Cordoba, Seville or Granada.
You can reach Ibiza or Majorca by ferry from Barcelona.
You can
even reach Tenerife and the Canary Islands by sea, though this is a
voyage taking three nights from Cadiz.
It's easy to travel from London to
anywhere in Spain by train. Plan and book your train
travel to Spain following the steps shown on the
London to Spain page.
If you need train travel between
cities within Spain, just use
www.renfe.es
(Spanish Railways official site) to check train times and
fares, and book online.
Feel free to stop off in Paris on
the way if you like..! It makes no difference to the
cost.
Holidays to Marrakech & Morocco by train...
Morocco is fantastic, and getting
there by train is easy. You can step ashore in
Morocco just 48 hours after leaving London's St Pancras station.
The journey is an experience in itself, and you can stop off
on the way to see something of Spain, too. Far
more to write home about than a cramped charter flight!
The London to
Morocco page explains how to plan and book train travel
from London to Tangier and Marrakech. It takes 48 hours,
including a free day in Madrid on the way, with comfortable
sleepers available for both nights. Why not travel down
over the weekend?
Once in Tangier, the Continental
Hotel is the recommended (historic, comfortable and remarkably
affordable) option in
Tangier, contact details are shown on the London to Morocco
page.
Train tickets from Tangier to
Casablanca and Marrakech can easily be bought when you get to
Tangier.
After spending a few days in
Marrakech, why not hire a car for a few days (www.holidayautos.com)
and drive over the spectacular Tizi n Tichka Pass in the High
Atlas mountains to the amazing mud-built village of Aït ben
Haddou, Ouarzazate, Todra Gorge and the Gorge du Dadès?
Holidays to Greece by train +
ferry...
Greece is a wonderful, relaxing
destination, especially with no airports and planes to stress
you out on the way. You can travel by train and ferry, stepping ashore in Corfu or mainland
Greece just 48 hours after leaving London. The journey
is an experience, and you can stop off on the way to see
something of Italy if you like.
The London to
Greece page explains how to plan and book train+ferry travel
from London to Corfu, Athens, Crete or Rhodes. The
fastest and cheapest way is by train to Bari or Venice in
Italy then ferry to Greece, a wonderful journey.
Take a ferry across the North Sea to
Norway, see the London to Norway
page (runs until September 2008). For an unforgettable voyage along the
Norwegian coastline, book a trip on the coastal steamers of
Hurtigruten
Line.
Skiing holidays to Switzerland,
Austria or the French Alps...
See the new
Skiing holidays by train page.
Many holiday companies offer skiing holidays that incorporate
Eurostar Ski Train or Rail Europe Snow Train travel between
London & the French Alps, or can offer holidays
without flights, allowing you to arrange your own travel to
the skiing resort by train.
You can easily book hotels to go with your train tickets at
www.hotelscombined.com, just use the search box
below. It's not a hotel booking website, but a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites for you (Laterooms,
Expedia, hotels.com, AsiaRooms,
Opodo, Travelocity and many others) to find the cheapest hotel
rates on the net. I find it saves me hours going round
in circles checking umpteen different sites for the same
hotels. 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.
You must have
heard the term 'Fly-Drive' often enough, so why not
'Rail-Drive'? I travelled to Marrakech by train and
ferry, then hired a car for 3 days and drove south over the
High Atlas mountains, perhaps the most amazing 3 days car hire
I've ever paid for! Rather than search
multiple websites this search engine compares
different hire companies' prices.
It's
provided by carhiresearch.co.uk.
and it compares prices from a
number
of well-known car hire
companies:
and others...
Travel insurance & health card
Get travel insurance..
Never go abroad without travel insurance from a
reliable insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. 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.
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.
Feedback from
using insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome!
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which 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 NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, but if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85%. It
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
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
