Europe by Train: Real Tips and Highlights from a Three-Week Multi-Country Rail Trip

Narelle Mather joins Tracy to share how she planned and took a three-and-a-half-week multi-country train trip through Europe with her husband, sister, and a close friend. 

Starting in London and finishing in Warsaw, the group travelled through France, Switzerland, Austria, and Poland using a first-class Eurail pass bought at a discount more than a year in advance. 

Narelle covers everything from choosing routes and booking seat reservations to managing luggage, finding accommodation near stations, and eating well across different countries. 

She also shares some deeply meaningful stops along the way, including the Australian war memorials in Normandy, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the Eagle's Nest near Salzburg. 

Show notes - Episode 94

Transcript

Why Travel Europe By Train

SPEAKER_02 0:00

What's it really like to travel through Europe by train? In this episode, Norrell shares how to travel through Europe by train, what the experience was really like, and why should do it again in a heartbeat.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome to the Global Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is founder of the Global Travel Planning website, Tracy Collins. Each week, Tracy is joined by expert guests as she takes you on a journey to destinations around the world, sharing travel inspiration, itinerary ideas, and practical tips to help you plan your next adventure. Join us as we explore everywhere from bustling cities to remote landscapes, uncover cultural treasures, and discover the best ways to make your travel dreams a reality.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Global Travel Planner Podcast. So this week we have a trip report with a different. I'm joined by Norell, who traveled through Europe by train using a Europass, visiting four different countries over three and a half weeks. She didn't do that alone. She travelled with her husband, her sister, and a close friend after they'd already spent several weeks in the UK beforehand. Now I will be talking to Naurelle about her UK trip for the UK Travel Plan and Podcast. But this week we are talking all about that trip around Europe. So we're going to talk about what it's really like to plan and take a multi-country trip by train through Europe, from choosing the routes and booking seat reservations to managing luggage, accommodation, food, and some long travel days. Noral shares what worked, what surprised her, and why train travel ended up being such an enjoyable part of the journey rather than just a way of getting from A to B. We also talk about some very meaningful stops along the way, including time in France, the Swiss Alps, Austria, and Poland, and how travelling by rail shaped the pace and feel of their entire trip. So I started by asking Naral to introduce herself, who she travelled with, and where they went on this European adventure.

Meet Norelle And The Route

SPEAKER_01 1:59

My name is Narril. I went with my husband Wayne, my sister Dimity and friend Zara, and we went for three and a half weeks Europe part of the trip. And we went to France, Switzerland, Austria, and Poland.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Wow. So that's it. That's nice. And you started off. Where did you start off that trip?

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Uh we started in London because we did four weeks in the UK beforehand. So we got took the Eurostar over to Paris. Then we got a day trip down to Bayo, which is a tour, like private driver picked us up from Paris, and then we stopped at Monet's Garden on the way down for an hour and a half, and then got to our bed and breakfast in Mayo.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Perfect. Now you start I know you started that trip in London because you had that the previous uh month you'd spent in uh in in the UK and and Ireland. So we'll talk about that for the UK trip. So if you listen to this podcast and want to know about what Laurent Norrell did before she went into Europe, that's the episode that you've got to um you've got to listen to. So you started off basically in London. Where did you finish at the end of your three and a bit weeks?

SPEAKER_01 3:12

We finished in Warsaw.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Okay. And then from there, did you fly back to Australia? Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Stop over in Singapore on the way back, only for a couple of hours.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Yeah, yeah. Well, um, yeah, it's difficult to there's not that many flights we could do straight all the way back, is there that you could just do in one go? So okay, so was this the first time you decided to do like a train trip like this around Europe?

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Yes, yes. We always said we love, we wanted to do trains everywhere, but so we decided this was and my husband wasn't going to drive through Europe, so we decided to do the train.

Choosing A Rail Pass

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Well, I mean, you know that how much we love train travel, and we um we just we did one previous to that as well. We went we were travelling around um we we went through Germany and then we we had to do some flights and ended in Poland and we've done a lot of kind of uh train trips around Europe uh in the past, and it's it's just a fun, great way to get around Europe, it really is. So now at what point did you decide that using a URL pass was going to be the best option?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Uh it was about a year and a half before we as I was planning it, because it started off only the four weeks in UK, and then we just kept adding on and adding on. And then I was just looking at EuroWo passes, and it just worked out the best. And I ended up getting a sale on the I think the November sales they usually have somewhere around there, and I ended up getting first class passes for 10 days in two months for about 750 Australian dollars first class. So yeah, and you're allowed to get it 11 months before you have your you've got to have your first journey in 11 months. So I'd message them and made sure I could buy it then on sale and it would still be fine, and it was so.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Oh, brilliant. And and was uh with that particular pass that did you have to um see which countries you wanted to go to, or did that cover you for a larger number of countries?

SPEAKER_01 5:13

That covered us for wherever, because I ended up using it for two trips in England and Ireland that we needed, so for a longer day.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

So yeah, perfect, perfect. So, did you find when you were looking at doing all your research? Because I know you're a planner, we talk about planning trips, we're both like planning our trips, don't we? So when you were planning with a URL, did you find it kind of like you say, obviously, you you you contact them and ask them about um you know getting the pass and using the pass? Was it fairly straightforward? Did you find the whole process straightforward?

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yes, getting it organized was because it's only like ordering it. The only thing I was worried about was that first trip, how to create the code, and but once I watched a few YouTube videos, I just copied them and then it was it was actually quite easy. Once you've done your first trip and you know what to do, it was quite fine. Like you just create your trip, and it was easy to cancel a trip if a train got or you change trains, put it in, create the code. I usually took a screenshot of the code just in case of the internet, and I always had paper copies of our past as in that anyway, so because I'm a paper paper person as well.

Apps And Seat Reservations

SPEAKER_02 6:25

It's always it's always a good idea because you never know when technology's gonna let you down. That's that's for sure. So, um how about designing, yeah. I obviously you're spending the time in the UK, and then you as you say, yeah, your trip kind of expanded, kept kept going. So so tell me about how you decided about where to go in Europe, because there's I mean there's so many countries to choose from, and that and the actual route that you decided on.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Well, my husband, when we were so close to Paris, France, my husband wanted to definitely go because his great uncle has died in the war. So I'd messaged a tour company, a private tour company, and he said, No, I'll I'll find the grave, I'll take you to him. And so we knew we were doing that in France, and then we knew we wanted to do Ausricht Birkenhau because we're war, like we like to see those sort of things, not like seeing those sort of things, but and then so we just decided to go down through Swit and we thought, well, we want to see the Swiss Alps, and then he wanted to see Eagle's Nest from Salzburg, so we just I drew a line round and that was it.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

So And how about um like researching which trains you're gonna take? Did you find that straightforward?

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Um fairly, yes. Once I went on the train line app, I got a couple of the apps and I just looked and which which one was most popular. They usually just pop up which are the most popular, and I tried to get direct journeys and um yeah, it was quite easy.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

So and what about seat reservations? Did you would did you have to pay extra for those or were they kind of included?

SPEAKER_01 8:05

I was more worried that we wouldn't get a seat, but looking back, you would get a seat. But we bought I booked seat reservations, so the four of us were always sitting at a table. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

I think that's quite a good thing to do though, because you just never know. And if you want to all sit together and have a table, this way, if you've got a seat reservation, you're guaranteed that. And then you're not stressing because you're not thinking, oh, are we all going to be together or not? You just have you know, if you get on a really busy train. Yeah, um, so so t tell me how overall did you find the traveling because I mean I love travel on my training, so I know you're gonna say the same. But overall, how how was your experience of of using the trains?

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Oh, it was really good, really good. We had not not a problem. Every every platform, I was worried about which train, which carriage to get on, how would we know? But every train in Europe, every platform in Europe has got a picture of the train where you stand on the platform to get into whichever class you're in. And it was really simple, really, and you just ask. We found, you know, we found the language. I was I was a bit worried about the language barrier, but we we learned please and thank you and excuse me in every language we went to.

France Highlights And Meaningful Stops

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Oh, but it's it's really useful. It's a really useful thing, isn't it, to do that? No, so yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. So so tell me about the about your actual itinerary then. What what were the highlights of because you you went to four countries, so let's let's talk about each of the the different countries and what you what you really enjoyed. So obviously in in France you had a a bit, you know, obviously a family connection and and going to um the grave of a of a relative. Um and um so what else did you do in in France that you enjoyed?

SPEAKER_01 9:44

We were down in Bayot for two days. One of the best days we had, we hired electric bikes and had eight hours on electric bike, and we actually rode down to Normandy. They give you a little app of a map, and you go through little tiny villages, little lanes, all the way down to Normandy, Omaha Beach. So we had lunch down there, and it was just that was the best day, just off the beaten tracks and that. So that was brilliant, and then seeing the Bayou Tapestry, we went and seen that just before it was getting closed down, so we just got into that. Then we went back to Paris. We had four days in Paris and just wandered around really. We did the the Louvre. The my husband wanted to see a picture called the Raft of Medusa in the Louvre, and then and of course the Monta Lisa, you go and see that, and then we climbed well, took a lift in the Eiffel Tower. I didn't climb it. Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

You can, I think you can go to I don't know which level, but I'll make no thanks. I'll take the lift. Yeah, we took the lift.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

And other than that, we just wandered around Paris and just looked around and just had a nice time, you know. It was nice to be there. Um, I didn't find it I love the architecture and that sort of thing, but I probably wouldn't go back to the city part of it. I'd go to other parts of France now. So yeah. And then we trained to Zurich. We had an apartment in Zurich, and we went to Rhine Falls one morning, which we went before the crowds. As we left, it was getting super busy, but it was just there was hard, there was about five of us on the little boat that we took out to the falls. Yeah, and then we the next day we did Interlaken and Lauterbronnen, I think it's called just the Instagram sort of areas, and that was a really good day, beautiful weather. We had beautiful weather the whole of eight weeks, just fabulous, and then the next day we just wandered the old town, wandered through Zurich, then we went on to Salzburg for three days and wandered around, did the palace there. Uh, my husband and I did a half-day tour trip up to the Swiss Alps to the Eagle's Nest, which was wonderful, that was a brilliant trip. So and the in France we did the um the day tour to all the Australian war memorials and all the cemeteries over there, and he was brilliant. That the man that we had through him. It was just it was just us and him, and he just took us through everywhere, knew everything about everything. He'd worked out where Wayne's uncle had died, he worked out what he was had done the week before, before he ended up in hospital and that sort of thing. So, and that was a brilliant tour.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

So oh, you have to share it, you have to share some information about the the the chores that you booked because that'll be interesting. Um, it's always good to hear, you know, a recommendation if somebody's had a particularly good experience uh with a guide. We went to, I have to ask you because Doug, we went to the Eagle's Nest or I don't know, probably maybe 10 or so years ago now, probably more than that. How did you find them? I just remember getting up there in the because it's it's a little bit don't look over the edge, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yeah, yeah. I made the mistake of sitting on the window, so I was looking straight down the mountain and I was like, oh yeah, no. I think I said to my husband, I said, I'm not doing that again. You can sit on that side.

Switzerland And Austria By Rail

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Yeah, I have to say, I I think uh I think I'm with you on that because I can still remember that trip up and thinking, I I I don't want to look over because it's uh it was it was very scary. And then uh it was, and then from Salzburg, did you stay in Vienna or did you head to Poland at that point?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

We went to Vienna for two nights, uh, did the Schoenberg castle, the palace, I think it's called, and we did the Mirabelle Gardens, had a photo on the fountain from the sound of music, uh, and just wandered around. My husband went to one of the war museums in Vienna, um, and then on to Krakow. Uh in Krakow we did the old town, we did Schindler's List Museum, we did, and then we did the tour out to Auswich and Birkenhau. So we had a brilliant four days there. You just can't you can't explain that sort of feeling to anyone going to those places.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

It's just no it it definitely it definitely stay is stays with you. Um we went uh about 15 months ago and um yeah for it it was I think the week after I didn't sleep very well because that you know it it is very emotionally impactful for sure. Yeah uh going going there. Um and then was that was that the last place that you you stayed before you you flew back?

SPEAKER_01 14:51

No, then we trained to Warsaw and we just had two days in Warsaw and wandered around, did the Jewish quarter, just all the old town, just had a little bit of a rest, really. We didn't do any chores out of Warsaw.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

So so um what about because obviously you're going from you're taking the trains, so there's some logistical things I want to ask, because there's there's always logistical things when you take the trains that you have to take into consideration, and one is where you stay. So, did you decide to stay beside the train stations or did you go a little bit further afield? Because some some of the some of the cities in Europe around the train stations could be a bit dodgy. I'm thinking about Rome here. Um so how did you find your accommodation and what sort of places did you stay at?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Well, I usually booked on booking.com, free cancellation, and what I'd do is I'd put in the train station and then look round that. But I think the longest away was about a 15-minute walk that I'd booked, and that we had apartments most of the way. The last three, uh, Krakau and Warsaw and Vienna, we stayed in hotels. So but we wanted um laundry facilities being away for so long. And my sister is Celia, so it was better for her if we cooked food ourselves. She knew where what pans were being used and things like that. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Well, those are two kind of things that I guess you know, when you travel and we get asked all the time is like, how do you manage doing your laundry? And you know, it it is interspersing if you want to stay in some hotels, is if is interspersing it with somewhere where you can do your laundry or find somewhere that you can close by that you can do it. Um, the other thing I can I think that kind of goes with that as well is like how did you pack? Because you were away a long time, and I I get stressed when I've got too much luggage and to because it's getting on and off trains, thinking of where you're gonna put it, keeping your eyes on it all the time. So, how did you manage that with a pack in?

Poland Stops And Emotional History

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Um, I packed three pair of trousers, like a jeans and a couple of leggings, and I think I had about four t four undershirts, two wind sheeters, and then our puffer jackets. And I took rain jackets, but we used them for five minutes in Scotland, and that was it.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Wow. Well, you were very lucky with the weather.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Yeah, amazing, and then just two pairs of shoes, so yeah, so just rotated them.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

So and what about um when you were travelling, we attempted to buy anything, or you're pretty good at not not per over purchasing when you travel.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

I did buy a pair of a new pair of trousers and a t-shirt in Warsaw as we were coming home, and I just brought magnets from the main areas, and I'd I'd brought some things for my granddaughters, but I sent them home via post. Uh, other than that, didn't buy anything, no.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Oh, that's good. Well, it's always something to think about, especially when you're like you've got a longer trip. Um not to not to if if you are a purchaser, not to not to overdo the the baggage. What about food? Because obviously you're trying, I know you were saying that you you you eat, you cooked quite a lot in in the different apartments that you stayed at because of because your sister-in-law's um you know having celiac. But how did generally because obviously you're going through different countries in Europe with um different languages, different kind of foods available, different kind of traditional foods and stuff. So how how did you find that?

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Uh quite easy because I'd booked the restaurants, I'd looked up reviews for restaurants, and like if they had mostly good reviews, I'd book a few nights when we were staying in the hotels. I'd book a few nights at those restaurants, and they were usually steak and vegetables and that sort of thing. Like we had the schnitzel in Austria and that sort of thing. But other than that, no, I had baguettes in Paris, and so it was we found it quite easy to eat, you know.

Accommodation Choices Near Stations

SPEAKER_02 18:58

So yeah, there's some so there are some nice foods, I have to say. When I when I'm in in France, you can't beat a French croissant. They really do croissants better than anybody else. They should do, but they are they are they are really good. Um, what about um so going back to the the train journeys themselves? Because you did quite a few. Were there any of them that you kind of go, oh, they were just just fantastic, you really, really enjoyed that you know, was any of them particularly more scenic than others, or just any of them just you found it just a really nice experience?

SPEAKER_01 19:28

The one from Zurich to uh from Paris to Zurich was beautiful, and then we had uh the scenic one from Zurich down to Interlaken, and it's like all windows. That was just amazing, just the the the clear water in Switzerland is just unbelievable coming off the mountains. And the one from over to Salzburg was just as nice, just going from through the Swiss Alps and out, then you get to the paddocks and things like that. So, but they're all amazing in their own way, so it was no, they were brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

And then um, so obviously you had your URL pass. So, how did it go with um obviously getting on and off the trains or getting the passes checked? Um, you know, because I know sometimes when you're on the train the guards come around and they want to they want to check. So, did they have to see your passport as well as have a look at the pass? How did it work?

SPEAKER_01 20:28

We had the QR codes and I had our piece of paper for our seat reservation, so they knew that that we'd paid for that. Uh, didn't have to see our passports once, they just checked the QR cards. They come round as we sat down. And I think one place, I think it could have been Paris, they had a guard at a gate that you go into. They checked there. Um, but other than that, it was on the train, he'll he'd just come round, check everyone's, and that was it. Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

So they didn't even like check your names or anything, they're just happening to see the like oh that's really good. That makes it yeah, really easy.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yeah, and just before you get on the train, you click on that trip and goggle your little thing to yes, this is the train you're on, and you're good to go. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

And away you go, away you go. So that's good. So did you um well obviously some of the train journeys you're on were quite long journey. I've done that one from Paris to Zurich, actually. Um so did you take anything on the train with you, or did you just kind of go and try try this the the uh buffet cart and the trains? How did or did you make sure you took everything with you before you went?

SPEAKER_01 21:35

We took a few things. Uh most of them, a couple in Poland, they weren't doing food service. I don't whether they didn't have the staff or I don't know. But a few we got, the food came through. You had to pay a little bit for it, but it wasn't that much for a cup of coffee, a cup of tea. Uh but we just took our cards or and some Lola snacks and that sort of things, and our water ourselves. So Yeah.

Packing Light Food And Long Days

SPEAKER_02 22:01

It sounds amazing. So if um if anybody's considering uh and I have to say, Doug and I, we we did when when our daughter was younger, we did two two summers on the bounce. We did train trips around Europe, and uh I mean this is a long time ago because she's nearly 30 now, and this is when she was about 10, 11. Um, and we did that, and we did we would fly to a destination and then kind of go around Europe and then fly back from a different destination. Um, we did that. This is the third year she said, I'm not doing that again. I think she's got enough of it. But but we found it, it's just it feels so much fun. And another advantage I think you've got over that, because you you know, you when you go on an aeroplane, you don't you don't see anything, just in the you don't really you can't really get up and wander around, which you can do on a train if you want to go and have a bit of a wander. You can you know, you can a plane, you can't get up and down, but it's not the same. Um and you're always the risk of you know on a plane and you've got a bit turbulence and you're all over the place, whereas on a train you should be fine just walking up and down, so you've got that kind of advantage, and you can look out the window and see the scenery as you go, um, and then you also often get to meet local people because a lot of local people be on the trains as well and and strike up a bit of a conversation. And I don't know about you, but when whenever anybody hears an Australian accent, I I know when I'm when I'm back here on Australian accent, usually people are like, There's usually another Australian somewhere in the vicinity. There was on a capital, yeah, and it's lovely, isn't it? It's like you get the chance to to chat and meet. And I remember traveling with Dominique when she was younger and um sitting on a train in Italy, I think, and having a family join us, and we were in the kind of the carriage system, and they they came in and they were sharing sandwiches with Dominique, and and it was just a really social, social event as well. So the whole it it's like Doug sometimes says to me, he's like, You'll say, you know, the well sometimes the the trip is it's not so much the destination when you're on train travel, but it's the getting there as well. The journey is is also happening.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

That was the fun part, everything, yeah. And the people we met, like the bed and breakfast we stayed at in Bayo. A lady called Diane run it, and there was an American older couple with their son and daughter and their partners staying there as well, and they were all doctors, and like we had breakfast together and chat what we'd done that day and things like that. So it was just brilliant. Yeah.

Best Scenic Rides And Final Tips

SPEAKER_02 24:23

Yeah, it's really good. So you meet other people and you you find out where they've been and what they've done and what they'd recommend. So that's already good. Um, what about if you were um you know, I'm thinking about anybody listening who's thinking, oh, I quite fancy doing something like this. That sounds like a really, a really cool idea or something I want to experience. Is there anything, uh tip that you would share with anybody who's planning to do kind of like a multi-uh country uh train trip around Europe?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Don't be nervous, as I was. It was just once you did it the first time, it's fine. Once you knew what to do the first time, it was great. And don't take big suitcases, just we took medium size and it was just perfect. You can lift them on they we didn't have a time when we had to leave them at our seats, they all fitted in everywhere, and it was just no, just don't be nervous.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

Yeah, no, that's perfect. Absolutely perfect. Yeah, it's just honestly, Europe is made for train travel, totally.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

We couldn't believe, especially here in Australia, it's not train, we're not trained people over here, so it's we just couldn't believe it.

Photos Show Notes And Closing

SPEAKER_02 25:33

So tell me about it. Doug moans about that all the time. That it's okay. He really does, he really does. Oh, thanks so much, uh Noral for coming on and and sharing uh the European train part of your trip. We'll be having a chat soon to get the uh the UK bit of your trip included as well, so we can piece it together. Uh, but um we're both off to the Philippines, not together, but we're both off to the Philippines soon, aren't we? Which is which is really cool. Um so looking forward to that. So have a fantastic trip and uh enjoy that. And um and I'll speak to you soon all about the UK side of it. But I will ask that if we can get some photos that we can share. So if you want to check the show notes and have a look at some of the photos that Norelle took on her trip, and I'll I'll also get some of the um names of the tour guides and maybe some of the places you stayed as well that you really enjoyed, and we can we can share that with our listeners as well because I think that's already always useful. But uh yeah, thanks so much, Norell. Go trousy. Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Global Travel Planning Podcast. For more details and links to everything we discussed today, check out the show notes at globaltravelplanning.com. Remember if you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us a review on your favourite podcast app because your feedback helps us reach more travel enthusiasts just like you. Anyway, that leaves me to say, as always, happy global travel planning.