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On the train from Rome and Naples to Sicily

The Best Rail Holidays in Europe

Welcome to the ShowMeTheJourney European rail holiday edit. The curated selections which will help you choose from the 100s of holidays by train offered by our partners!

By Simon Harper Simon Harper
| Last Updated: about 2 months ago
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Experiencing the best of Europe on an organized rail holiday can be a fabulous and easy travel adventure:

  • You don't need to look at a boring and confusing timetable to plan a route.
  • Or seek out the optimum ticket
  • Also no need to figure out if you need seat reservations, or how to get them.
  • You don't need to work out where to stay, or track down a good room rate- all of the holidays include accommodation!
  • No need to add up the budget, you can see the full cost.
  • Plus you can access support in circumstances, such as a booked journey being disrupted.
  • You can choose to travel solo, with friends or family -or join a group tour.

Hence ShowMeTheJourney has teamed up with multiple rail holiday specialists with excellent online reputations, who all offer a great alternative to crawling through (ahem) all of the info we have produced.
Collectively these partners offer 100s of rail based holidays, all of which can be accessed from this page.
Though to make things easier, ShowMeTheJourney has cherry-picked the 66 holidays which we would most like take, and presented them below - in the anticipation that you will agree that they have a wow factor!

Unless where stated the use of → indicates a journey by train.
Click on each description to see the minimum cost, details of what's included and the accommodation options.
Use the Contents Menu to jump direct to your preferred location.

Circular Tours from London

Experience multiple countries flight-free on amazing looping routes which leave from, and arrive in, London.

Book a European Cities by train holiday
Europe City Highlights 11 Days: London → high speed train to Amsterdam → Berlin → scenic journey to Prague → Vienna → scenic journey to Zurich → London
Edinburgh station has a fantastic location
Grand Tour Of Europe 40 Days: London → Dublin → Belfast → Glasgow → Edinburgh → Brussels → Paris → Zurich → Milan → Rome → Innsbruck → Prague → Berlin → Amsterdam → London. Includes two ferry crossings. No night trains
See Bruges on a Charms Of Europe rail holiday
Charms Of Europe #1 7 Days: London → by high speed train to Paris → by high speed train to Luxembourg → high speed to Brussels and on to Bruges → by high speed train to London
See Cologne on Charms Of Europe rail holiday
Charms Of Europe #2 14 Days: London → Eurostar to Paris → by TGV to Luxembourg → scenic journey to Cologne → by high speed train to Bruges → Lille → Eurostar to London
Locarno
Mountain Lakes 9 Days: London → high speed trains to Basel → scenic journey to Locarno → Lugano → Lecco on Lake Como → high speed trains to London
See Krakow on the Pan European holiday
The Pan-European (slow paced) 57 Days: London → Brussels → Amsterdam → Berlin → Krakow → Prague → Munich → Vienna → Bratislava → Budapest → by bus to Belgrade → by bus to Zagreb → Ljubljana → Venice → Rome → Florence → Milan → Nice → Barcelona → Paris →London
Venezia Santa Lucia station is the flat roofed building to the right
The Whole Hog: 6 weeks 43 Days: London → Amsterdam → Berlin → Krakow → Prague → Vienna → Bratislava → Budapest → by bus to Zagreb → by bus to Ljubljana → by bus to Venice → Florence → Rome → Milan → Nice → Barcelona → Paris → London
Gorgeous Budapest-Keleti station
The Whole Hog: 5 weeks 36 Days: London → Amsterdam → Berlin → Vienna → Bratislava → Budapest → → by bus to Zagreb → by bus to Ljubljana → by bus to Venice → Florence → Rome → Milan → Nice → Barcelona → Paris → London (not Krakow and Prague)
Florence on a Whole Hog Rail Holiday
The Whole Hog: 4 weeks 29 Days: London → Amsterdam → Berlin → Vienna → Bratislava → Budapest → by bus to Zagreb → by bus to Ljubljana → by bus to Venice → Florence → Rome → Milan → Paris → London (not Krakow, Prague, Nice and Barcelona)
Budapest on a Whole Hog rail holiday
The Whole Hog: 3 weeks 22 Days: London → Amsterdam → Berlin → Vienna → Budapest → by bus to Zagreb → by bus to Venice → Florence → Rome → Milan → Paris → London (not Krakow, Prague, Bratislava, Ljubljana, Nice and Barcelona)
How to travel by Nightjet
Europe's Imperial Cities 17 Days: London → by Eurostar + sleeper train to Berlin → scenic journey to Prague → sleeper train to Budapest → Vienna → sleeper train to Amsterdam → by Eurostar to London
See Munich on the Historic City Hopper rail holiday
Historic City Hopper 13 Days: London → by high speed trains to Munich → Vienna → Budapest → Prague → scenic journey to Berlin → by high speed trains to Brussels → by Eurostar to London

Scenic Journey Holidays

These holidays are based around a sequence of beautiful journeys of a lifetime by train.

You can't see these views from the trains which travel through the Gotthard Base Tunnel
Europe's Greatest Rail Journeys 36 Days: London → Cologne → through the Rhine Gorge to Frankfurt → Vienna → the Arlberg route to Zurich → the Gotthard Route to Locarno → Chur → the Bernina route to Milan → Monterosso (the Cinque Terre) → Genoa → Nice → Marseille → Barcelona → the Torre del Oro to Cadiz → Madrid → San Sebastian → Bordeaux - London
On the train journey between Oslo and Bergen
Scandinavia By Rail 28 Days: London → Hamburg → Copenhagen → Malmo → Gothenburg → Oslo → the Bergen Line and Flamsbana to Flåm → the Flamsbana and Bergen Line and to Bergen → by the Hurtigruten boat to Trondheim → by sleeper train to Bødo → by bus to Narvik → by sleeper train to Stockholm → by sleeper train to Hamburg and on to London
Only pay reservation fees to travel on The Glacier Express
Highlights of Switzerland 11 days: private transfer from Zurich airport to Lucerne → to Interlaken with an excursion to Jungfraujoch → to Lausanne with a stopover in Geneva → by private transfer to Zermatt → the full journey on the Glacier Express and on to Zurich
The West Highland Line 6 Days: London → Glasgow → ride the full length of the West Highland Line to Mallaig and then back to Fort William → by Caledonian Sleeper train to London
From one of the Semmering Railway viaducts
By Sleeper to Austria 10 Days: London → Amsterdam to connect into a sleeper train to Vienna → on the Semmering Railway to Graz → across Austria to Innsbruck and on to Salzburg → on the Arlberg Railway to Zurich → London via Paris
Descending from the Semmering Pass
Austria's Scenic Railways 12 Days: London → Zurich via Paris → on the Arlberg Railway to Innsbruck → Salzburg → on the Enns Valley railway to Graz → on the Semmering Railway to Vienna → on the Arlberg Railway to Zurich → Paris → London

Guided Tours

For either all or most of these group tours, a guide will show the way and help make the most of these trips.

Save 5% on an escorted rail tour of Switzerland
Ultimate Switzerland Made Easy on an Escorted Tour! Save 5% on the small group 12 day tour that includes all of Switzerland's most spectacular railways!
Guided Tour from London to Budapest
London to Budapest (the long way round) 15 Days: London → Paris → Amsterdam → Berlin → Prague → Vienna → Budapest
Paris to Barcelona guided tour by train
Paris to Barcelona (the long way round) 13 Days: Paris → Interlaken → Rome → Rapallo (on the Italian Riviera) → Nice (with day trip to Monaco) → Barcelona
See Mostar on the Balkan Rail Adventure holiday
Balkans Rail Adventure 16 Days: Ljubljana with opportunity to visit Lake Bled → Zagreb → by train + bus to Sarajevo → scenic rail journey to Mostar → by bus to Dubrovnik and on to Podgorica → by bus + scenic train to Belgrade → by bus to Skopje → by bus + train to Bitola with a tour of Heraclea → by bus to Ohrid → by bus to Pristina
The top tier Trenitalia train - the Frecciarossa 1000
Colosseum To Coast (luxury tour) 7 Days: Rome → by high speed train to Naples and on to Sorrento → day trip to Capri → tour of the Amalfi Coast
Northern Italian Lakes (luxury tour) 9 Days: Stresa on Lake Maggiore → by the Centovali Railway to Locarno → train to Lake Como resort → by train to Milan and then on to Verona → day trip to Lake Garda → by train to Venice
Join the group on a backpacking tour of Europe by train
The Whole Of Europe (backpacker adventure) 29 Days: London → Amsterdam → Berlin → Prague → Budapest → Vienna → Venice → Rome → Florence → Nice → Barcelona Paris → London (also available as 2 x two week holidays)

Swiss Holidays arranged by the Switzerland Travel Centre

Simplify the glorious journeys by train and cable car to Swiss peaks, by booking holidays or mountain excursion packages.

Save money when booking rail based holidays in Switzerland
Save 5% on Swiss Rail Holidays Packages put together by the Switzerland Travel Centre include reservations, tickets and a choice of...
All of the Grand Tours include a ride on the Luzern - Interlaken Express
Swiss Rail Holidays: Grand Tours Additional details on what's included on each holiday, plus links to useful info!
Lauterbrunnen is included on the four holidays featured below
Swiss Rail Holidays: Themed Holidays Discover more about these holidays - see videos and images captured on our Swiss rail adventures and...
To Jungfraujoch on the Best Of Switzerland holiday
Book to Jungfraujoch The round trip from Grindelwald/Wengen to Europe's highest station, travel with the cogwheel train and/or the Eiger Express gondola!
Book a round trip to Gornergrat on ShowMeTheJourney
Book to Gornegrat Travel on the amazing journey to Europe's highest open air station!
Book to Pilatus Includes a journey on Europe's steepest railway and the cable car route on the other side of the mountain!
Book to Mt Titlis with ShowMeTheJourney
Book to Titlis The round trip from Engelberg to Titlis with 3 different cable cars including the ride on the Rotair revolving cable car with 360° views. Plus a return trip on the Ice Flyer glacier chairlift!
Author

Simon Harper

I wanted to share my passion for train travel and explain how anyone can take the fantastic journeys I have taken.

ShowMeTheJourney

This is one of more than 100 train travel guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.

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