Trains are much nicer than planes. We all know this. They’re less hassle,
they’re greener, they go to city centres, not to godforsaken airfields 40
miles away - and, best of all, they give you space and comfort, instead of
crushing you up against your fellow travellers like an airborne sardine.
Knowing it and acting on it, however, are two different things. When we go on
holiday, we make for the airport almost every time.
Why? Simple: the Great British Public has decided that air travel is always
quicker and cheaper. To hell with the planet (and our own dignity), we want
those bargains.
To be fair, we’re often right. Riding the rails to Andalusia or Greece is,
frankly, a mug’s game. But what if you found a bunch of trips to the
Continent where trains really work?
Where the price isn’t exorbitant, the timing is reasonable and the trip is a
pleasure in itself – an absorbing ride through lovely countryside on clean,
efficient trains, as opposed to air travel’s laborious, overcrowded and
dehumanising slog. Would you go by rail then? Of course you would.
Well, here they are. From chic shopping and glamorous beach breaks to Alpine
walking tours and lazy weeks in Provence, these are holidays by rail that
don’t cost a fortune and won’t take an age.
In fact, if you take into account getting to the airport, check-in times,
security queues and waiting for your bags, they’re often quicker. The others
can test their nerves and trash the planet this summer: we’re letting the
train take the strain.
Rail prices are the cheapest return fares. Timings are for the best
available connections from St Pancras
A VILLA IN PROVENCE
The journey: now here’s a thing. Provence is, as anyone who’s made the
mistake of driving there knows, a long way away - but, if you hop on a
morning train from London, you’ll only just have time for lunch before you
step off in Avignon. The journey time is just 6hr 10min, which includes a
simple cross-the-platform change in Lille. Sorry if we’re being effusive,
but that’s a marvel.
The fare: from £109, booked direct with Eurostar (0870 5186 186, www.eurostar.com
).
The holiday: it’s tempting to stick around in Avignon itself, wandering
the superb Papal Palace and the clutch of excellent museums huddled inside
the 14th-century ramparts - but we’re here for the Provençal good life, so
it’s off to the hills.
Tucked away in the craggy countryside of the Dentelles de Montmirail, Les
Ramiers fits the bill. It’s a smart four-bedroom place with a pool - new but
traditionally built, with tiles, beams and, on the walls, some decent pieces
by the artist owners.
The village of Le Barroux is nearby, with a good local restaurant and a
12th-century chateau. Les Ramiers sleeps eight comfortably, and prices start
at £1,195 for a week in June, with Vintage Travel (0845 344 0433, www.vintagetravel.co.uk
).
You’ll need a car: Carrentals.co.uk will do you a couple of
littlies for £134 each for a week, picked up at Avignon station. Tot it all
up and eight of you have a week of gorgeousness for less than £300 each,
without setting foot in an airport. Not bad.
RIDING IN POITOU-CHARENTES
The journey: we’re making for Poitiers, just 5hr 10min from London.
Catch the 7.30am from St Pancras, and you’re there at 1.40pm French time,
thanks to a spanking fast TGV service from Paris.
The fare: from £79, booked direct with Eurostar (0870 518 6186, www.eurostar.com
). The holiday: there’s no better way to experience la France
profonde than on horseback. Driving tours just skim the surface, but
anyone trotting the back lanes and tracks really gets to grips with the
place – and the little-known backwater around the Vienne and Charente
departements, a sparsely populated region of isolated villages, rearing
hills, tumbledown abbeys and prehistoric caves, is worth getting to know.
La Vallée des Cerfs, a small equestrian centre based on a typical Poitou farm,
has a range of horse treks through the area. You’ll need to be competent, as
there are some long trots and canters.
Our favourite is a guided sevennight jaunt across flat farmland, following
streams and ancient Roman paths, up into the high foothills of the Monts de
Blond. No Loire-style coach parties, no tourist sights, no English on the
menus - it’s very low-key, very real. Very French.
And not expensive. In the Saddle (01299 272997, www.inthesaddle.com
) offers the trip for £585pp, including riding, accommodation and all meals;
the return pickup from Poitiers station costs £18. The groups are small -
six is typical - and you stay at local inns and on private farms, with
sheep-breeders and apple-growers. Don’t expect the Ritz, but do expect
character, authenticity and good company.
WALKING IN THE ALPS
The journey: 7hr from St Pancras to Geneva. The 8.32am from London will
see you safely into the Swiss city by 4.35pm, so you’re in the hotel with
time for a snooze before dinner.
The fare: our priciest option, from £149 with RailEurope (0844 848
4070, www.raileurope.co.uk ). Or
book it as part of a package - see below.
The holiday: the GR5 is the classic Alpine walking trail, a mazy old
smugglers’ path that traces the French-Swiss border, past the Matterhorn and
Mont Blanc. It’s bare rock and snow-clad peaks high up, descending to
meadows strewn with wild flowers and dozily grazing cows that are straight
out of Alpine central casting - in short, the perfect landscape for a
life-affirming walking holiday.
On an 11-day stroll with Headwater (01606 720199, www.headwater.com
), your luggage is transported between small, family-run hotels, leaving you
free to tackle the climbs unburdened. They can be steep - much of the
terrain is around the 6,500ft mark - but that’s how you get the
awe-inspiring views across peaks to Lake Geneva and the Jura, and there are
four rest days in case your thighs start complaining.
It’s wild: you’ll have ibex, chamois, red deer, eagles and
falcons for company. Prices start at £995pp, half-board, including the
train, pickup from Geneva, luggage transfers, maps and route notes.
CYCLING IN THE BLACK FOREST
The journey: we’re going right down to the southwest corner of Germany,
but - thanks to the new high-speed track between Paris and Strasbourg - it’s
going to take only 7hr 22min. With easy changes in Paris and Basle, the
8.32am from St Pancras will see you into Freiburg, capital of the
captivating Schwarzwald, at 4.54pm, local time.
The fare: from £127, booked with RailEurope (0844 848 4070, www.raileurope.co.uk
).
The holiday: there’s history behind this one. That great Victorian
Jerome K Jerome is remembered here only for Three Men in a Boat, his
oft-copied travelogue of a trip along the Thames, but in Germany he’s
celebrated for the later Three Men on the Bummel, about a cycling tour of
the Black Forest. Of course, he went by train, and it took him, George and
Harris a (highly entertaining) age to get there. It’d be a shorter book now.
In the rolling hills of the Schwarzwald itself, though, JKJ would find things
much the same. The scenery is fantastic - not as high or wild as the Alps,
but sweeter, subtler, greener, studded with picture-perfect Schlösser
and quaint farmsteads. This was Hansel and Gretel’s home turf, and it feels
like it.
True, there are quite a few ups and downs - this isn’t one for the
cycle-to-the-shops crowd. For road-riders, the dedicated 233-mile Black
Forest cycle route from Karlsruhe to Lörrach is a good starting point, but
there are many more mazy lanes to explore. For mountain-bikers, it’s heaven,
with a plethora of good trails through the thick forest.
You could easily take pot luck at the dozens of simple guesthouses scattered
through the forest - our choice, though, would be a bauernhof, a real
working farm with rooms. You’ll have to take the rough with the smooth - the
livestock can get vocal at 5am - but for sheer authenticity, it takes some
beating, and you can count on a Frühstück of epic
proportions. (They start the day seriously here.) There’s a good selection
at www.bensbauernhof.com , or,
for a wider choice, go to www.bauernhofurlaub.de
: it’s in German, but has links to home pages in English). Expect to pay
£20-£40 per night for a double, B&B.
And the bike? You can bring your own, but it’s a bit of a faff. Better
to rent one in Freiburg: there’s a hire shop moments from the station
(Mobile; 00 49 761 292 7996), with modern road bikes from £38 a week.
SHOPPING IN MILAN
The journey: surely we’ve gone too far this time? No. For the serious
shopper in Europe’s fashion capital, the train makes sense. Think about it.
Yes, Milan has three airports, but (a) they’re all a bit of a fag to get to,
while the rather beautiful Centrale station is indeed centrale; and
(b) if you want to stow a large number of chic purchases in the plane’s
hold, it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg. Ryanair, for instance, allows
a maximum of three bags, weighing just 15kg altogether – and it’ll charge
you £30 each way to take them. EasyJet allows you a little more, but do you
really want to arrive in the Continent’s most stylish city in something
orange? Quite.
No, far better (and cooler) to be whisked down in a day from St Pancras. It
takes only 10hr 54min, and you pull into Centrale at a perfectly respectable
9.20pm. The sleek dart of a TGV traces a pretty route through eastern France
and the Alps, and has a good food service - which means decent wine and a
French-Italian menu, all at 180mph. Now that’s travel.
The fare: from £99 return, with RailEurope (0844 848 4070, www.raileurope.co.uk
).
The holiday: labels, labels, labels. Armani, Gianfranco Ferre, Prada,
Versace and D&G - the “golden rectangle” between Via della Spiga and Via
Montenapoleone is the epicentre of Italian style. For less wallet-whacking
buys, try the many end-of-season and returns outlets: Salvagente, on Via
Fratelli Bronzetti, has real bargains. For cut-price Gucci and Prada shoes,
try the Via Fauche market on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Suitably attired, you need somewhere to stay. The poshest place is the
“seven-star” Town House Galleria (www.townhouse.it
) - but the cheapest room is £730. Oh. Well, then, the coolest is the Chedi (www.thechedimilan.com
), a zen-accented favourite with the fashion crowd, where doubles start at
about £190.
Our secret fave, though, is Antica Locanda Solferino (www.anticalocandasolferino.it
), in the Brera district - central, a bit alternative, with the coolest bars
in town. You could see its traditional rooms as faded or characterful. We
pick the latter. Doubles start at £138.
CHIC IN THE ILE DE RE
The journey: you’re making for La Rochelle, from where a two-mile
bridge connects with the island. It’s 6hr 14min from St Pancras.
The fare: from £99 return, booked with RailEurope (0844 848 4070, www.raileurope.co.uk
). A bus can take you over to the Ile de Ré, but it’s painfully slow: grab a
cab instead, for about £30. The holiday: there are two Iles de Ré in one. On
the one hand, you’ve got an idyllic, rural French island with miles of sandy
beaches, a succession of sweet, intact villages, superb seafood and peace.
And on the other, you’ve got a hip hot spot, with faces such as Johnny Depp
and Princess Caroline of Monaco strolling the quay of St-Martin-de-Ré,
boutique hotels lauded by the style guru Herbert Ypma and half the
chattering classes of Paris doing their talkative thing in the waterside
cafes. A contradiction, then, but a thoroughly agreeable one.
Go in June or early July to beat the rush. In St-Martin, try the traditional
but stylish 11-room La Maison Douce (www.lamaisondouce.com
), where charming, grey-toned doubles start at £84. To be near the beaches,
it’s L’Océan (www.re-hotel-ocean.com
), in Le Bois-Plage-en-Ré. Its smart rooms are decorated with nice seaside
touches - weathered boards, bathing lockers and so on. Go half-board (the
restaurant’s excellent) for £54pp per night. Or rent a private home with
French Affair (020 7381 8519, www.frenchaffair.com
) or Wake up in France (01484 680855, www.wakeupinfrance.co.uk
).
AND FINALLY... DISNEYLAND
The journey: here’s one where the train is simply the only way to go.
It’s 2hr 34min direct to Disneyland Paris - enough time for the kids to be
excited, not enough for them to get bored.
The fare: returns start at £59 (children 4-11 £44, under4s free), with
Eurostar (0870 518 6186, www.eurostar.com
). It can be better value to grab a package, though - see below. The
holiday: girls, dig out your pinkest, frilliest dress; boys, strap on the
pirate eyepatch. Grown-ups may have mixed feelings about Disneyland Paris -
the cuisine ain’t haute, for starters - but it’s here for one reason, to
please the kids. Sleeping Beauty’s castle may be constructed of heavy-duty
plastic, but the tots are still awestruck, and the rides - notably the
Rock’n’Roller Coaster - are unbeatable. The big news this summer is the
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, where you free-fall nearly 200ft in a lift.
Don’t have a big lunch.
A three-day, two-night package in May, staying at the Santa Fe hotel, costs
£248 per adult, £159 per child aged 7-11 and £83 per child aged 4-6,
including the train, breakfast and three days of tickets for the park. Book
direct with Disneyland Paris (0844 800 8222, www.disneyland15.com
).
How to book your tickets - cheap
THE KEY to getting the best train fare is timing. In general, European rail
authorities release their seats for sale 90 days before departure, and
that’s when you will get the widest range of the cheapest tickets.
For large cities in France, you can buy through returns direct from Eurostar
(0870 518 6186, www.eurostar.com
).Another option is RailEurope (0844 848 4070, www.raileurope.co.uk
),the UK arm of the French train company SNCF: prices are similar, and it is
better for smaller cities and for trains to Germany, Switzerland and Spain.
In the case of more intricate trips, or anything further afield, specialist
independent agencies come into their own. Options include European Rail (020
7619 1083, www.europeanrail.com )
or Trainseurope (0871 700 7722, www.trainseurope.co.uk
).
For ready-made holiday packages with rail travel, try French Travel Service
(0844 848 8843, www.f-t-s.co.uk ) or
Railbookers (0844 482 1010, www.railbookers.com
).
But I don’t live in London!
THE FURTHER you are from St Pancras, the less attractive training it to Europe
becomes. It’s practical in a day from more places than you might think,
though, and Eurostar offers through fares from 68 UK stations - which makes
life simpler. The trip from Birmingham to Disneyland Paris, for example,
takes 5hr 30min and starts at £79 return. Peterborough to Poitiers is 7hr,
and from Newcastle, it’s closer to 9hr 30min; returns from both start at
£137. Even from Edinburgh, Paris is within easy reach – about 7hr 30min,
with returns from £89.
