A basic fact underpins the appeal of European rail travel: trains are great. It takes a hard-boiled traveller not to be seduced by the prospect of rumbling through the Alps in a dining car, or watching locals hop on and off as you trundle through the Balkans or be wowed by the sunlit swell of Italian vineyards revealed behind the window blind of an overnight train as it rattles into dawn. And this fact was lore long before environmental concerns and the slow travel trend boosted our reverence for rail travel.
But with a steady clickety-clack, continental rail travel as a leisure pursuit has grown into something more than it was. Increased airport security and a heightened awareness around carbonintensive flights — coupled with a pandemic-driven change in travel habits — have helped the rail industry to a renaissance of sorts. Various headaches still linger around long-distance ticketing and cross-border cooperation, but there’s no denying the impetus. New sleeper and intercity services have sprung up, Eurostar and high-speed operator Thalys have merged, and the noise around European overland travel has become louder and more layered largely thanks to
