I took my first ever first class rail journey in UK in November 2011 on the East Coast service from London King’s Cross to Berwick upon Tweed.  It cost about £15 more than a standard class single ticket. The last few return trips I’d made from London to Berwick had been pretty bad, as standard [...]

A few years back I decided it would be a good idea to take a train from southern Sweden to Italy.  A couple of my friends were studying abroad, so I had a place to be and people to see.  I decided a train would be a good idea because I could see the country [...]

I actually enjoy the travelling part of travelling. I get a couple of hours to sit on my own and have a bit of a think about my travel plans, or read a book or do… nothing. But there’s always someone around to ruin it. That’s right: The annoying passenger. No one likes the annoying [...]

There is no better way to travel in Europe than by train. Unless you’re in the UK, and then you might need to sell a kidney to afford some of the fares. But if you’re anywhere else, hopping on a train and grabbing a window seat is the best way to get from A to [...]

Something to celebrate this week – this is my 100th post at the Europe a la Carte Blog. In honour of making a century, I decided to post on one of my all-time favourite travel experiences in Europe (and beyond) – travelling on the Trans-Siberian railway across Russia. A ride on the Trans-Siberian railway is [...]

I was doing some Europe travel planning for the autumn (yes, I do realise that’s over six months away, but do you know my calendar is already full until then), and one of the options was to travel via the Orient Express. It seemed like a nice option but it wasn’t the Orient Express I [...]

I don’t think there is any doubt that flying is more inconvenient than ever – from terrorists to the rude & annoying airline staff that are just as bad as terrorists, it is a real wonder anybody bothers to fly these days. But yes – sometimes you have to. But in Europe, a lot of [...]

  If you’re planning a trip to Norway, be sure to save some time for the Flamsbana.  The Flamsbana is a green carriage train that runs from the mountain station of Myrdal, down a stunning Valley, to the village of Flam. This 20km route carved along the valley is one of the steepest lines on [...]

A recent post on the Sweden Tourism blog (Sometimes the road less travelled is less travelled for a reason) made me nod my head and mumble “damn right!” – it said that “roughly 75% of Sweden’s existing tourism attractions are widely unknown abroad because nobody is putting them into salable tours and tourism packages.” After [...]

If you’re planning on spending a significant amount of time in Germany and traveling around a bit, it may be worthwhile getting a rail card (BahnCard). This card is valid for a year and will give you a discount of either 25%, 50% or 100% off the ticket price. I can wait by malias The [...]