Railtripping • The best slow travel tips & trips

The grande dame of the Pyrenees

Bart Giepmans

Stations

Canfranc station in the Spanish Pyrenees was built as a 241‑metre palace for international trains between France and Spain – a “grande dame” of the mountains in a village of barely 600 people. During the…

Along chalk white cliffs – on foot along the Hochuferweg on Rügen

Bart Giepmans

Rail & Hike

There are those hiking trails where time seems to stand still for a moment. The Hochuferweg along the steep north coast of the island of Rügen is one of those. A day trip full of…

Cycling over the Kanonenbahn, Zossen, Brandenburg

Rail biking on a disused railway

Journeys

An old railway line that once transported Prussian troops and military equipment has been brought back to life. Today, you can enjoy a ride along the disused railway on a draisine – or rail bike….

Wildlife on the tracks, Inlandsbanan, Sweden

Railtripping to the Arctic Circle

Journeys

Often described as Europe’s last wilderness, Sweden’s remote and sparsely populated far north is a land of striking beauty – and in summer it’s easy to visit without a car or plane. The slow trains…

How to survive Brussels Midi

Stations

Brussels Midi – Belgium’s busiest railway station – lies at the crossroads of Europe, with trains departing for France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, including to some of the continent’s most cosmopolitan cities…

The ruins of Kostrzyn – Poland’s Pompeii on the Oder

Destinations

Walls protrude from the tangled undergrowth. Cobblestones cut through the grass with kerbstones delineating old pathways and tracks. Ahead, steps spiral up to what once must have been a grand doorway. A stone plinth stands…

Deutschland-Ticket: the ultimate slow travel ticket

How To

Tram, train, bus, metro, ferry, Schwebebahn and even a rowing boat with ‘private driver’. Since early May, you can make unlimited use of all regional public transport in Germany with the ultimate slow travel ticket,…

The 10 best museums to explore from home

Journeys

From the Uffizi to the Musée d’Orsay, the Rijksmuseum to the Pergamon, join us on a stroll through some of Europe’s greatest museums, just without the queues and admission fees.

On a royal trail: Joachimsthal’s Kaiserbahnhof

Stations

Entering the lush forests of Schorfheide by train, the hustle and bustle of Berlin seems miles away. Amid this green paradise lies a forgotten piece of imperial grandeur: Joachimsthal’s Kaiserbahnhof. Built in 1898, this charming…

Connecting the best of Bauhaus by rail

Journeys

Visit the birthplace of modern design on this tour of the best Bauhaus sites across eastern Germany. The pioneering principle of the Bauhaus school – namely functional elegance – continues to shape the world we…

Discover the top 5 night trains in Europe

How To

In Europe, there are around 90 night train routes in which you glide through the night in your ‘hotel room on wheels’. We selected five routes for their particularly nice wake-up calls and their arrival…