This article is in partnership with Day Translations.

A recent article from Business Insider looked at Prague as being one of the best destinations in Europe for culture and as a base from which to travel to other European cities.

Looking at the map of Europe, Czechia’s capital city Prague sits pretty much in a strategic central position.

European Train Travel

Using Prague as an example and referring to the article mentioned above, the author shared that she travelled around Europe for six months and was impressed with Prague’s history and architecture, as well as its rail system.

She recounted how she managed to take several day trips from Prague by train, travelling both within the Czech Republic and to other nearby European destinations. One of such destinations was Munich to attend the famous beer festival Oktoberfest, which took five hours by train.

In the words of Lonely Planet, “There’s something magical about a journey by train.” The Economist also extolls the virtues of travelling by train, particularly around Europe, as it’s the fastest, most efficient and most comfortable way to move from one country to another. One aspect that is often overlooked about train travel is that (excluding social media distraction and noisy passengers) it can be a meditative experience. Slow travel builds up the excitement of arriving to a destination and watching the world outside pass by at ground level (unless you are crossing mountains and valleys on bridges, of course) feels comparatively more real than as viewed from above as a plane passenger.

Talking of comparisons, train travel has the advantage of having a much smaller carbon footprint compared to plane travel. However, a train ticket can cost way more than a plane ticket from a budget airline, but that’s another story.

Interrail

Interrail is a network of European rail companies and you can use its services to plan journeys by train around Europe. You can visit 33 European countries using an Interrail pass. There are different types of passes allowing you to choose more expensive ways to travel in first class or more budget-friendly ways in second class, with options for younger and older passengers as well as various trip durations starting from five days up to a whole month. There are also options to buy ferry passes in advance combined with rail tickets if you plan to go to Greece, for example.

Lonely Planet picked the top 10 European destinations by train in 2024 which include:

• 63 km from Villefranche-de-Conflent to Latour-de-Carol in France;
• 476 km Belgrade to Bar in Serbia;
• 156 km Chur to Tirano in Switzerland;
• 89 km from Nova Gorica to Jesenice in Slovenia;
• 563 km Munich in Germany to Venice in Italy passing through Austria;
• 496 km Oslo to Bergen in Norway.

For reference, in Ireland, if you were to travel by train from a place in the north west part of the island to the south east part, such as Sligo to Wexford (319 km), it would take more than 6.5 hours by train or 4 hours by car and you would stay within the same country.

Overall, train travel has many advantages, especially for people who work remotely, as it offers a conducive environment to take your laptop out of your bag and finish that first draft or send that important email without the hassle of the typical airport pre-travel checks and queues.

Picture: TUBS, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons