How To Travel Europe By Train: My Self-Guided Journey

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Sweden to Portugal (Mostly) by Train

I love the process of planning for a trip. I create packing and “before I go” to-do lists, transport schedules, itineraries, and an expense forecast for every big trip I take. Bringing order out of chaos and confusion is a Virgo thing, and I embrace it. I enjoy the research it requires and the sense of accomplishment and self-reliance I get from navigating new places. Travel for me is not just about seeing things, it is about the journey, and how I got there. It is something that requires me to explore.

When my wife and I decided to take a post-retirement trip across Europe, I dove in with glee and started planning.

In choosing destinations, we strived to go places neither of us had seen before. With time and consideration, we created a route from Stockholm, Sweden to Lisbon, Portugal almost entirely by train, with a few bus trips when trains were unavailable.

Trains are my favorite way to travel. I enjoy the space and comfort trains provide, the ability to easily get up and walk around, stopping at a bakery or grocery store to buy food for the trip, and the views. Additionally, when traveling between major cities, the train stations are always in the town centers and don’t require you to arrive early. In almost every case we walked or took a short underground from our hotels to the stations.

I cannot imagine attempting this trip by car, though we have taken and enjoyed a few road trips in places where trains are not a good option, the headache of driving and parking in large cities would have been too much for me.

Contents

The Route

The map below shows the route with the cities we stopped and stayed in at least one night, although the map depicts driving directions rather than trains. It does not show the many day trips we took while based in certain cities. For example, we stayed 4 nights in Avignon, from which we took day trips to Arles and Nimes. I will describe each briefly below. It took 36 days from start to finish to complete the journey.

I used Google Maps transit directions to get a general sense of how far apart potential destinations were and to get a start on rail options. Remember when planning for a European trip from the US, the default for Google Maps directions assumes you are leaving right now. It is best to put a departure date a few days in the future with an early morning time, this will result in more available options. From there, I used railway or bus booking systems, which I describe in more detail below.

How to Make European Train Reservations

One of the first challenges I encountered involved how to query timetables and make train reservations in so many different countries. There are two general options for booking online. First, you can use a service like Trainline.com or Rail Europe which allows you to see schedules and buy tickets for multiple carriers between cities. It is a bit like Expedia, except for trains and buses. They are a third party and charge a small fee in addition to the fare charged by each individual rail service.

Alternatively, you can book directly on each country’s rail or bus service website. You avoid the small fee charged by a third-party service this way. However, this requires navigating numerous different websites and providing payment information on each of them.

I suppose a third option would be to just show up at the train station shortly in advance of when you hope to leave and buy a ticket there. While that worked fine for short day trips, I don’t recommend it for longer journeys between larger cities. We traveled in late September and most of October, and even in that “shoulder season”, nearly every train we took between overnight stays was nearly full. I recommend booking in advance. How far in advance varies based on when each country makes tickets available. This can vary widely, from 6 months in advance to only a few weeks.

I booked most of my tickets with each rail or bus provider directly. It resulted in a few extra apps on my phone, but many of the apps provided useful information in addition to my holding my ticket, alerts about delays for example.

In addition to my electronic tickets on the Trainline and local rail apps, I also printed a hard copy of all my tickets. Finally, I saved all the PDF copies of the tickets on my Google Drive and made them available offline. In a few cases, such as buses, the only way to present a ticket was to have a paper copy. On trains however they were never necessary, but it assuaged my fears over my phone not working properly in Europe. Those fears also never came true. My US phone provider is T-Mobile, and it worked flawlessly everywhere I went. Additionally, I used public Wifi, but with Bitdefender VPN always enabled.

How far in advance to book?

I try to book things as far in advance as possible. Once we had determined how long we would stay and the route, I booked the airline tickets for Charlotte, NC to Stockholm, and then back from Lisbon. Shortly after that came the hotel reservations. We booked both of them far in advance with no trouble.

Trains, I learned were different. In some cases, such as the Austrian OBB overnight train from Hamburg to Zurich, I was able to make the booking almost 6 months in advance. In other cases, such as Stockholm to Copenhagen, and most of the trains in Spain, tickets were available less far in advance. Sometimes it was only 6-8 weeks in advance of departure. This posed a problem for me, the Virgo, the planner. I would have preferred to have every train ticket purchased very far in advance. Due to the release of some tickets closer to departure, this wasn’t always possible.

In advance of the trip, I developed a daily routine of checking the Renfe website for the availability of tickets for a train from Granada to Seville, one of the later stops on the journey. Unfortunately, these tickets were not available early enough for me. I did not want to leave without everything booked, so a week or so before my flight to Sweden, still a month and a half in advance, I gave up and booked the bus instead. When I arrived in Granada I learned there was a train to Seville, it just wasn’t available for booking before I left. Unfortunately by the time I arrived there and learned this, it was already completely booked.

In the case of the Stockholm-Copenhagen train, the delay in ticket availability was due to rail line maintenance. The high-speed direct train between the two cities that I was hoping to take never became available on the day I needed it.

My advice is to book as early as is feasible, which requires vigilance and persistence. Operators usually indicate when tickets for certain routes will be released. I don’t recommend leaving it to the very last minute or attempting to buy tickets at the station for travel between large cities. Not only will you pay more, but you are likely to find popular routes sold out.

Eurail Pass Or Not?

If you are considering a trip like this you may be wondering whether it makes sense to purchase a Eurail pass versus buying individual tickets. I have used a Eurail pass in the past myself. Whether or not it is better for you will depend on your own specific list of destinations and trip duration. I made a rough comparison of what I expected the trip to cost individually using a spreadsheet I created with expected fares for each trip, versus using a pass with their online planner. I found that I would save by buying tickets individually for this particular trip. I was usually able to make a seat reservation when booking, which was a big plus since most trains were crowded. Don’t forget that even with a Eurail pass, you still need to make a seat reservation for many trains, and usually pay an additional small fee. Without a seat reservation, you have to find an empty seat in the appropriate class, and then you have to move when someone at the next stop gets on and has your seat booked. This seems to happen frequently.

Advice About Booking Activities

This is an article largely focusing on the logistics of planning and booking a self-guided train journey across Europe. I would be remiss though if I did not mention the need to book certain activities and visits to popular landmarks well in advance. We were naïve in assuming that tickets to attractions like the Alhambra would be easy to get on the day of the visit deep into October when we were in Granada. We were wrong, Granada was still full of tourists like us in the fall. Upon our arrival, we learned that tickets for the palace tour were sold out. We were still able to walk around the castle, but not booking those ahead was a miss. We had another similar experience attempting to visit Guell Park in Barcelona.

Book your tickets for busy tourist activities as soon as you have finalized your itinerary, you won’t regret it.

My Plan For Managing The Travel

With few exceptions, we planned the stops such that we would travel 1-4 hours between destinations. Whenever possible I booked trains in the late morning or early afternoon. This allowed us to avoid early wake-ups on departure and also helped avoid the scenario whereby we arrived in a city too early to check in to the hotel. Although it was not possible to eliminate these situations, we minimized them. Almost all of the hotels we stayed in were within walking distance from the train or bus station.

Embrace Public Transportation

A long time ago we got some great advice. It was to take the bus when traveling in a new city, as that was the best way to see it. This is very true, though I gravitate more toward metros and subways. I like to see families, and how real people live and commute. I take pride in mastering the subway network of a new city in a short time. Sadly, I always do this just in time to leave.

Major cities on our route, like Stockholm, Copenhagen, Barcelona, and Madrid featured clean, efficient, inexpensive subway systems that ran frequently and were easy to navigate. Even smaller Genoa had a single subway line that ran back and forth along the length of the city. We used it frequently in our few days there.

If you plan to use public transportation in large cities, consider how you will pay for it. Stockholm and Milan allow you to pay for each trip at the turnstile by tapping your credit card. Not every city has this in place, and in Barcelona and Madrid, buying multi-day passes that allowed for unlimited travel for a fixed amount of time on subways or buses made sense. These cities are so large that walking to everything is usually not feasible, no matter where you stay.

Lastly, sometimes public transport itself is a sight you should see on your trip—many of Stockholm’s metro stations double as art installations. Copenhagen’s stations are the cleanest and most modern I have ever seen.

Stockholm to Copenhagen

I had never been to Sweden, so I decided to start there.

I arrived at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport. Like most airports, it is a considerable distance from the city center. There are buses as well as a direct rail service connecting the airport to the city. I chose the train, the Arlanda Express. I purchased my ticket at the airport, there was staff everywhere who spoke English and made the process simple. It was a little pricey, $30 for the one-way trip, but it was fast and efficient, only 20 minutes to Stockholm’s Central Station. It resembles London’s Heathrow Express in every way. I knew I would be tired from the time change and the overnight flight, and the ease of getting out of the airport on the express train made it well worth the cost.

The first stage of the journey posed one of the first challenges. I had researched and learned there was a high-speed train service between the two cities. I checked Sweden’s SJ Railways website every day, sometimes multiple times a day, for months in advance of the trip, but the no-change high-speed train was never available. This was due to track maintenance occurring on the week I was there. The only option available to me was a high-speed train from Stockholm to Lund, followed by a bus from Lund to Malmo, then another train from Malmo to Copenhagen. I avoided booking this as long as I could, but in the end, I had no choice.

It wasn’t so bad. It seemed like most people on the train from Stockholm were headed to Copenhagen like me. When we got off the train in Lund there were buses outside the station and people guiding everyone on to them for the short trip to Malmo. When we arrived in Malmo, it took a few minutes to find the correct train to Copenhagen Central Station. Despite the two changes and 6-hour elapsed time, it was a pleasant journey, particularly the high-speed portion between Stockholm and Lund on the tilting train.

Copenhagen to Hamburg

I booked a ticket directly with the German rail service DB for the direct 4.5-hour train to Hamburg Central. I was able to book it very far in advance, so far in advance that I completely forgot that I had bought a first-class ticket. This meant that I missed the option to wait in the first-class lounge at Copenhagen Central Station. It wasn’t a great loss, the station is very pleasant and I was able to buy food and a coffee for the train. Buying meals and snacks for each train ride became one of my favorite activities on the many train rides I took on this trip.

The first-class car consisted of closed berths with six seats, three on a side at a table. The scenery was pleasant as were the two other travelers in my berth. The only stressful moment occurred during an approximately 15-minute delay, as everyone present had plans in Hamburg for the evening following the scheduled 4:01 PM arrival. Fortunately, a first-world crisis was averted. The delay was minimal, and I arrived in Hamburg in plenty of time to check into my hotel and change clothes for the concert I was attending at the famous Elbphilharmonie.

I recommend visiting the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Even if you are not a classical music fan, for a modest fee you can buy a ticket to enter the building and on a clear day enjoy a great sunset view. On the day of my visit, the venue was crowded with visitors taking the view in.

Hamburg to Luneburg Day Trip

I had a full day in Hamburg, as my overnight train to Zurich didn’t leave until 10 PM. I certainly could have spent an enjoyable day there. However, I felt like roaming. Before the trip, I did some research on day trips from Hamburg. The nearby small town of Luneburg looked promising. It was a 30-minute direct train ride from Hamburg Central. Luneburg was a small, quaint town, full of old homes, shops, and restaurants. It sits above an abandoned salt mine, which has caused part of the city to subside.

After breakfast at the hotel, I left my bag there for later and bought a return ticket to Luneburg at the station using the ticket machine for $20. It was an easy short trip, and Luneburg was well worth visiting for a day if you are in the area.

Hamburg to Zurich

This was the train ride I was most looking forward to. I had never taken an overnight train, but for some reason, it was something I needed to do. I researched various European overnight trains, and Hamburg to Zurich on OBB, which is an Austrian provider (this seems odd, but I believe the train carried on to Austria) was the perfect fit. I needed to reach Milan to meet my wife and I was starting in Scandinavia. This overnight train took me expeditiously to Zurich, where there were numerous train departures for Milan.

I booked a cabin for myself, which seemed a splurge at the time at $240. However, when you consider that I saved a hotel night, I believe it isn’t very expensive.

I had been looking forward to the journey through the night in my little cabin. Early on the day of departure (my train was scheduled to leave at 10:07 PM) the DB app notified me that there was a problem with train car availability for my trip. I panicked. The train ride I had been looking forward to for so long was now jeopardized. I desperately called OBB customer service and eventually landed with someone who spoke English (I know a little German, “Ich spreche nicht Deutsch.” It was helpful in this case.) I was told that the train was missing a car and that the conductor would find a place for me when the train arrived. This felt like little consolation.

After a long day of worry and rumination, my train arrived on time at the assigned platform in Hamburg’s main station. Me and several other travelers who all got the same message rushed to the conductor who told us nothing was wrong, and that we could go to our assigned reserved cabins. There was a communal outpouring of joy and relief. I high-fived a stranger standing in front of me.

My cabin was tiny, there was barely room to open the door with my bag on the floor. I didn’t care. I was so happy to be there. I hung my breakfast order on the doorknob, got tucked into the small bed, and turned on my nightlight so I could read.

The train hummed and rocked and put me to sleep like a baby in a cradle.

When I woke up I couldn’t stop smiling. I looked out at the window past my feet and watched the countryside zip by.

Breakfast was delivered to my little cubby, and the trip was over all too soon when we pulled into Zurich station. I vowed it would not be my last overnight train ride (it wasn’t).

The overnight train arrived at 10 AM in Zurich, most European overnight trains arrive at their destination in the AM, sometimes early. The morning arrival in Zurich was not a problem. Zurich’s large Hauptbahnhof had plenty of lockers for left luggage. The staff in the tourist information center at the station were friendly and helpful. In no time at all my heavy backpack was safely stowed and I had a detailed map for my day in Zurich. I spent an enjoyable warm day walking the city before retrieving my bag and checking in to my hotel for the evening.

Zurich to Milan

This was another train I was eager to book in advance, and I was able to use Trenitalia. I reserved a window seat for the 3-hour and 20-minute trip through the Alps to Italy for $53. When the train arrived, the coach listed on my ticket was not there. Confused, I found a conductor and showed her my ticket. She briefly took my paper ticket from me and looked at it, then sort of waved me off in a slightly annoyed way. I took this to mean I had to go find an empty seat, which I did, at the window. The train eventually filled up as we crossed Switzerland into Italy, past Lake Como. Fortunately, no one came along with a reservation for my seat. I shared most of the journey with a quiet family of three from Germany. I was expecting the trip to be far more scenic than it was.

I crossed many international borders aboard trains on this trip, and this was the only one where police boarded to check passports, though it was checked by conductors other times when I presented my ticket.

Always carry your passport securely on your person when traveling by train or bus. Never leave it in your suitcase or anywhere away from you.

On a crowded train you might have to leave your bag far from your seat and out of sight, do not take the chance your passport will be lost if your bag is stolen.

I arrived at Milan’s busy and architecturally stunning Centrale Station in plenty of time to take a subway to my hotel near Garibaldi Station and check-in. Then I took another subway back to Milano Centrale and got some food while I waited for my wife to arrive from Salerno.

Milan to Genoa

This was one of our shorter and easier trips, at only 1.5 hours to Genova’s Piazza Principe Station. I booked it well in advance on the Trenitalia site for $20/person. Unfortunately getting there on time proved difficult and dramatic.

Our hotel was a short walk and metro to Milano Centrale. I did not allow for much extra time in advance, which was unfortunate. Our metro arrived and we boarded but the doors did not close, and the train did not move for a long time. We were told, at least my wife was, she is the Italian speaker, that the train was delayed as the next one ahead of it was stopped due to an ill passenger. I started trying to figure out a different route but I had no cell signal in the underground station. I got off the train to look for a map but didn’t find one. We got back onto the previously motionless train to look for a map when suddenly the doors closed and the train started going backward. We were now going in the wrong direction and a mild panic set in. I decided we would get off at the next station and go up to the street to get a taxi, but after a few minutes, we were unable to find one. Out on the street with a cell signal again I found a route that required a long walk then a different metro, that might just get us there in time. We ran in the heat (it was hot in Milan and most everywhere else in Europe in late September/October) with our heavy bags and caught the metro we needed, then ran up the stairs at Milano Centrale and through the gate to our train with a minute or two to spare.

Genoa to the Cinque Terre Day Trip

Genoa was our base for a few days, mainly to take a few day trips. In reality, Genoa itself was a beautiful old historic city. We had no idea until we spent time walking around it. On our first night, we met a friendly Genovese woman as we got on the metro to the center of town. She took us immediately for American tourists when she saw us fumbling with the ticket machine, but quickly started a conversation when she learned my wife spoke Italian. She described what we needed to see, and where to get the best focaccia in a part of the world where focaccia is everywhere. We wished we had planned for an extra day there just to see more of Genoa. Next time.

Our first-day trip from Genoa was the famous Cinque Terre. As the name implies, it is a series of five small villages along the coast south of Genoa. For this day trip, we bought return tickets at the station (Genova Brignole) to Riomaggiore ($9/pp), the southernmost of the Cinque Terre. We planned to visit all in one day, starting at Riomaggiore and working north to Monterosso. The villages are small enough that this is perfectly feasible.

The train south along the coast was scenic, passing through small towns on the water. Even in early October, it was warm enough for people to swim in the blue Ligurian sea. To get the best of the views, be sure to get seats on the right side of the train, in the direction of travel, so that you are on the water side of the train.

The villages of the Cinque Terre are connected by the same rail line you take from Genoa. The easiest way to see each village is to hop on the train and take it to the next town. However, the Cinque Terre is a national park, so a pass is needed. We purchased a park pass ($20/pp) that allowed for train travel between all the villages at the station in Riomaggiore.

While the towns of the Cinque Terre are very scenic, the train itself isn’t. It spends most of its time burrowing through tunnels and is crowded with tourists, but each ride is very short. We used the train between all of the villages, except for Corniglia to Vernazza, which we hiked. The walking trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola was closed when we were there or we would have walked that as well.

At the end of the day, we took the train from Monterosso al Mare back to Genoa, which took a little over an hour, somewhat less scenic though as it was dark by then.

Genoa To Portofino Day Trip

Portofino was our other day trip destination from Genoa. Once again, we purchased return tickets from Genova Brignole station on the morning of travel. The train south was the same one as we took the previous day, and it runs frequently during the day.

There is no train to Portofino however. Traveling by train from Genoa, we disembarked in Santa Margherita Ligure, itself a pretty coastal town. There is a bus service that runs back and forth to Portofino, but we chose to walk approximately 3 miles there. It was a nice walk with great views, though the last section lacked sidewalks and we were out on the road with cars and motorcycles. After a short visit to Portofino, we decided to take the bus back to the train station at Santa Margherita Ligure rather than walk back in the heat of late afternoon.

After seeing the villages of the Cinque Terre the day before, Portofino was a bit underwhelming. In hindsight, I would have spent the day on the beach in Santa Margherita Ligure instead. But I am in the minority opinion on that.

Genoa to Nice, With a Stop in Monaco

Our next overnight destination after Genoa was Nice. When researching the train route it was obvious that the train passes directly through Monaco. I had never been there, so we planned for a short stop along the way.

Therefore, I purchased tickets from Trenitalia for Genoa (Piazza Principale Station) to Monaco only in advance ($22/pp). I did this to allow some flexibility in how long we wanted to stay in Monaco that afternoon. It was also possible as trains from Monaco to Nice are inexpensive and run several times an hour.

This is another very scenic train ride along the water, passing numerous small seaside villages with only a handful of visitors. We both wished we had stayed in one along the way. This is something to do next time. Be sure to sit on the left side of the train in the direction of travel, keep this in mind if you are making seat reservations when booking.

The train from Genoa to Monaco required a change in Ventimiglia near the border. However, the station was small and the change to the waiting train to Monaco was not difficult. We arrived there just under three hours after we left Genoa, just in time for lunch.

The station in Monaco was clean and modern, unfortunately, it lacked a left luggage service, which I had (incorrectly) assumed would be present. Therefore our short lunch stop in Monaco was encumbered by our luggage: a heavy backpack on my part, and my wife’s large rolling suitcase.

After our short visit, we walked to the station and bought tickets to Nice Ville Station from an SNCF ticket machine. They cost $9 for the two of us, a small price to pay for the views of the French Riviera. In no time we arrived in Nice, with only a short walk to our hotel.

Nice to Antibes Day Trip

There are several good day trips from Nice, but we only had time for one and chose Antibes. It is a small town on the water, perhaps best known as the one-time home of Picasso. A good museum is dedicated to him in the home he once occupied, looking out over the water.

This was another easy and inexpensive train ride, purchased at the station from the machine on the day of the trip for $11/each. One thing to keep in mind is there sometimes are multiple different ticket machines, especially in larger stations like Nice Ville. They sell tickets for different services, such as the TGV for long journeys. Be sure you use a ticket machine labeled “TER” or sometimes “SNCF” or you won’t find your destination.

Nice to Aix-en-Provence

When I searched for a train route from Nice to Aix-en-Provence, I was presented with numerous options. There was no direct (no change) train, the only option involved an intercity train to Marseille, followed by another north to Aix. It looked a bit out of the way. There was a more direct route by bus, however it appeared to take the same amount of time. We took the one-change train through Marseille, booked in advance on the SNCF site for $48/person. It was 3 hours to Marseille then another 40 minutes on to Aix. With the train north to Aix, we finally left the scenic French Riviera views behind and traded instead for the hills of Provence. I was able to see Mont Ventoux in the distance.

Aix-en-Provence to Avignon

Aix was lovely, I would have enjoyed a longer stay there. It featured some of the best bakeries we visited on our long journey. However, we were only there for one night, on the way to Avignon, our destination for the next four days.

Avignon was a much more convenient base from which to take short day trips by train. Trains from Aix were limited. There was no direct train to Avignon, only trains south back to Marseille, with a change to go on to Avignon. We chose to take a more direct bus from Aix to Avignon instead.

I never did figure out how to book the bus ticket in advance on the local French service. We checked out of the hotel, walked to the busy bus station (Gare Routier) in the center of town, and got in line to buy a ticket from the agent. There were no self-service ticket machines, and the line took an age. In hindsight, we should have gotten there sooner. Ultimately, we got our tickets ($21/person) for the soon-departing bus and enjoyed a relatively short (1 hour and 10 minutes) and uneventful bus ride to Avignon. The bus station, like many others in this part of the world, was located near the main train station (Gare D’Avignon Centre).

Avignon to Arles and Nimes, Day Trips

As I mentioned, in addition to being a fun and scenic town on its own, Avignon was a great base for day trips by train. The train station sits just outside the walls of the old city. It was a short walk from the Regina Hotel (we loved it) where we stayed on Rue de la Republique. Both Arles and Nimes are serviced by frequent direct TER trains, and the trips are short, 20 minutes to Arles ($11/pp) and 35 minutes to Nimes ($19/pp). Tickets were bought from the machine at the station on the day of travel. By this point in the trip, I had gotten sufficiently good at working the French train ticket machines that I was helping confused American tourists use them.

Both cities are well worth a visit, particularly Nimes with its Roman ruins.

Avignon to Narbonne

The well-preserved medieval city of Carcassone was one of the places I wanted to visit. I had seen it a few times on televised broadcasts of the Tour de France, and for some reason, it stuck with me. An aside here: watching professional cycling races in Europe is like watching travel shows, with a bike race thrown in. I watch them and get ideas about places to visit. The more I travel, the more I recognize the locations I have visited.

As Carcassone was the destination, we could have easily stayed in one of the many hotels there. However, as I looked at the route, Barcelona was the following destination. Narbonne lay directly on the train path between Avignon and Barcelona. In addition, there were frequent direct TER trains between Narbonne and Carcassone. Staying in Narbonne and visiting Carcassone made sense, it would be an easy day trip and a shorter trip to Barcelona.

The train from Avignon to Narbonne was a direct TER train, booked well in advance on the SNCF website. The trip took 2.5 hours and cost $35/pp.

One more aside, all along the trip, there was a comforting level of police presence on trains and in stations throughout the trip. My wife and I had just settled into our seats and were sorting ourselves for the obligatory selfie as two heavily armed and stern French gendarmes were walking in the aisle. Upon seeing us, the female officer smiled and extended her hand in a way that said: “Here give me your phone, and I’ll take a picture of you two crazy kids.” Which she did. Her companion, the male officer, rolled his eyes. She must do this all the time. It was a nice moment.

Note: Be careful to pick the correct station when you are making train reservations in and out of Avignon. Gare d’Avignon Centre is located very near the heart of the old city just outside the wall. The Avignon TGV station is much further away, too far to walk. If you are researching train routes using Google or Apple maps and you just enter “Avignon” as a start or end point, you will get results for both stations. For day trips from Avignon, you will use Gare d’Avignon Centre. If you are taking the TGV to Paris, it will depart from the Avignon TGV station and you will need to allow time to get there from town.

Narbonne to Carcassone Day Trip

We didn’t know anything about Narbonne and had no expectations when we arrived. We booked two nights in the Maison Gustave, a guesthouse in the center of town. It turned out to be one of the great pleasant surprises of the trip. It was a small guesthouse with only a few rooms. It was directly above a fromagerie. Though unattended during the day, the rooms were serviced and food for the next day’s breakfast was left in the refrigerator, including cheese from the shop below. Also, in the morning there was a delivery of fresh bread and croissants from a nearby bakery, left downstairs in a basket by the entrance.

Each morning, we got up early and looked out the window waiting for that bakery delivery, then we enjoyed breakfast at a little table in our room, directly across from the cathedral. It was the most enjoyable hotel stay of the entire trip, I can’t wait to go back.

The trip to Carcassone and back on a TER regional train was only 45 minutes and they ran frequently. Tickets were purchased from the machine at the station for $21/pp.

Narbonne to Barcelona

This was the most expensive leg of the trip, outside of my wonderful overnight train from Hamburg to Zurich, at $80 per person. This presumably was due to it being the high-speed, TGV inOui service. I booked tickets in advance on the SNCF site and reserved upper-level seats, in the direction of travel. The train was exceedingly crowded, I don’t believe there was an empty seat anywhere, I was relieved to have booked seats in advance, as it allowed us to politely eject the folks who were occupying ours when we boarded. Don’t be shy when you get on a train and you have to politely ask someone to leave your seat, it happens constantly. It was exactly at that moment that my headphones stopped working. It was an exceptionally noisy 2 hours and 10 minutes to Barcelona due to the crowd on the train.

Barcelona was a great city, it requires an article all to itself. I had no idea there were beaches there. We preferred the beach near our hotel in the Poblenou neighborhood to the busier Barceloneta beach, despite the fact that I got a better picture of the latter below.

Barcelona to Madrid

There were frequent high-speed trains on the IRYO service to Madrid. I booked this ticket on Trainline, which allowed me to make seat reservations as well. They were inexpensive for a high-speed train, only $23 per person. This was one of the few train journeys that required showing up in advance, as there was a security check before passengers were allowed into the waiting area. The 2.5 hours to Madrid was peaceful, quiet, and uneventful. The train sped at nearly 300 km/hr through vast arid stretches of plains and hills. At times it resembled the desert southwest of the US.

Madrid to Granada

This was another high-speed train, this time on the AVE line. I booked tickets on the Renfe site and was able to make seat reservations in the direction of travel. This was one of the routes that did not make tickets available very far in advance, I had to wait until the last minute before my flight out. Train fares in Spain seemed relatively inexpensive and Madrid to Granada was one of the longer legs at 3.5 hours. Therefore I decided to buy first-class seats costing $48 each. It was a wise investment, the first-class coach was considerably quieter and more peaceful than second-class. Considering the crowds, and relatively low cost, I would book first class more often next time.

The only negative was the train left in the afternoon rather than the morning, but we had no difficulty keeping ourselves entertained for a few extra hours in Madrid before returning to the hotel to pick up our bags and catch the train.

Granada to Seville

This was another train route where tickets were not made available very far in advance, I knew it was possible to go from Granada to Seville by train, but I couldn’t book it before I left. Granted, it was a long trip, and this was near the end of it. The last time I checked was around a month ahead of time and with train tickets still not released, I decided to reserve tickets on the bus.

I am not sure when tickets for the train were released, I did not want to be stressing over making train reservations while I was in Europe. All I know is the train does exist, and I missed the opportunity to book it.

The Alsa bus trip was 3 hours, but was not a problem. Still, I prefer the space and freedom of a train. We disembarked at Seville’s busy bus station in the middle of town only a short walk from our hotel.

Last Stop: Seville to Lisbon, via Faro

Seville to Lisbon seemed like it would be the most daunting part of the journey. No direct rail service exists between the two cities. There is a direct bus, but it takes 6.5 hours, which I was not interested in. My best option was a 2-hour and 40-minute bus ride to Faro in the morning, followed by a few hours of layover, then 3 hours and 30 minutes by train to Lisbon. I booked the bus on the FlixBus website, and the train on the Portugese CP site. Be advised, that Faro is in a different timezone, one hour earlier than Seville. This means the bus reservation will appear as though the trip only takes 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The Seville bus experience was the first and only unpleasant one of the whole journey. The station itself was under construction and chaotic. There was a bathroom there, which I wanted to use before the long bus journey, but it was horrid. The bus was not in the bay that the departure sign indicated. The bus itself was pretty dirty. I was relieved to be off it when we arrived in Faro, even though the bus station was not open. We were deposited with our bags on the side of a street somewhere nearby.

It took a few moments to get oriented and find my way to the train station where there was a left luggage service, we had several hours in Faro and did not want to carry our heavy bags around all afternoon. Fortunately, we found it, a shipping container-sized small building at the train station, and for 10 euros left our bags for the afternoon.

I had worried about this day, the long travel times, the long layover in Faro. In reality, Faro was lovely. We ate Pastéis de Nata at a small cafe and walked along the main streets. Many buildings had large brown nests on them full of White Storks.

There were small boats for hire taking visitors on bird-watching trips to the nearby parks. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time in Faro, we wished we had stayed there a few nights.

Among the crowd gathered on the platform of the small train station in Faro, waiting for the train to Lisbon, were many fellow travelers who were on the morning bus from Seville, so we were not alone in making this journey. The train ride was inland but pleasant and fairly scenic. It was very inexpensive, only $19 per person for first class. We arrived at Lisbon’s busy Entrecampos station at dinner time and walked the half mile over cobbled sidewalks to our hotel.

With that, we were done roaming. We spent a few days in Lisbon without any further day trips or excursions. By this time, the unusually warm sunny weather we enjoyed for the whole trip finally gave way to late October fall rain and gloom, and it was time to go home.

Final Thoughts

I hope you were able to find some tips and glean some helpful advice to help you plan your European train journey! For me, all the planning and navigation add an element of adventure and accomplishment to these trips. I hope you are inspired to give it a try yourself!

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