Europe's most exciting new rail journeys

Brussels–Berlin

The new Brussels–Berlin overnight train by European Sleeper (launched in May) connects with the London–Brussels Eurostar and promises a seamless link between the UK and the German capital. It calls at Antwerp, Roosendaal, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Amsterdam, Amersfoort, Deventer, Bad Bentheim and Hannover, and has one-, two- and three-berth compartments. There are couchettes and seats for those on a budget.

More information: One-way seats from £43; couchettes from £70; sleepers from £96. europeansleeper.eu

Hamburg–Stockholm

SJ EuroNight, part of Swedish State Railways, launched this overnight service last September. It has en-suite showers and WCs for passengers in first class; those in second-class sleepers will have a washbasin in their compartment and a toilet in the carriage; there are also second-class couchettes. As well as the regular route between Stockholm and Hamburg, the train continues on to Berlin between April and September.

More information: One-way seats from £37; couchettes from £66; sleepers from £145. sj.se

Mount Pilatus

Queen Victoria made it to the summit of Mount Pilatus riding a pony brought from England and accompanied by Highland attendants. But since 1889, the world’s steepest rack railway has allowed millions to enjoy the panorama from its 2,132m summit. Last October, faster, more energy-efficient trains replaced their 60-year-old predecessors, and their larger windows offer even better views of the sheer rock walls as they ascend the final section.

More information: Returns from Alpnachstad from £69. pilatus.ch

Goldenpass Express

Last December, a world-first train was launched in order to obviate the need to change services when travelling through the Swiss countryside between Montreux and Interlaken. The GoldenPass Express can not only change the track gauge as it moves through an apparatus at Zweisimmen, but the height of the coach body is adjusted to the different platform heights of the two gauges. The train has generous windows, swivelling leather seats in Prestige class and on-board food and drink from the local area – except the Champagne. The climb out of Montreux astonishes first-timers as the train negotiates a series of hairpin curves to gain height over Lake Geneva before diving into a long tunnel. Classic Alpine valleys and farmsteads are then followed by skirting the waterside of Lake Thun before arriving in Interlaken, a springboard for trains to the Jungfrau and Eiger.

More information: Montreux–Interlaken from £47 one-way; reservation is recommended, with booking fees starting from £18pp. goldenpass.ch

Paris–Barcelona

SNCF Voyageurs launched its TGV service between the French and Catalan capitals last December with a journey time of just over 6.5 hours. Leaving from Gare de Lyon, the train dashes across undulating countryside towards Lyon before entering the more appealing Rhône Valley and the first stop at Nîmes, which is well worth visiting for the Maison Carrée, a remarkably well preserved Roman temple, and the city’s 24,000-capacity ancient amphitheatre. After the stop at Montpellier, the sight of marshes and coast begins to fill the window until you reach Perpignan station, a building once dubbed ‘the centre of the universe’ by Salvador Dalí. Flamingos and Dali’s former home are among the curious sights to be seen as the train crosses the Pyrénées for stops at Figueres and Girona before its arrival at Barcelona Sants station.

More information: From £34 one-way; InterRail and Eurail passes are accepted. sncf.com/en/sncf-voyageurs

The Beautiful Basque Country Tour

Eurostar and TGV trains carry you from London to Hendaye to begin this new eight-day tour of the Basque country. While based in the coastal walled town of Hondarribia, excursions include visits to the gastronomic centre of San Sebastián, beautifully sited around a crescent bay. When wandering the narrow streets of the Old Town, it’s worth calling at the San Telmo, the oldest museum in the Basque country, which has been converted from a 16th-century Dominican convent and offers insights into local culture. During your day in Bilbao, don’t miss Europe’s largest covered market: bustling fishmongers occupy its ground floor, while fruit, veg and meat lies upstairs. Though Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum is the architectural icon of the city, Norman Foster designed the metro stations with entrances as distinctive as the Paris Metro. Quieter moments can be found in the fishing village of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, whereas the topography is better understood by a journey on the rack railway up La Rhune for views over the Atlantic and the western tip of the Pyrénées.

More information: From £1,199pp; Rail Discoveries. Call 01904 734939, or visit raildiscoveries.com.

Hidden Treasures of Tuscany Tour

Turin is reached by Eurostar and high-speed train from London for the first evening of this new ten-day escorted tour. There is a morning to explore the architectural delights of modern Italy’s first capital before taking the train through Milan, Bologna and Florence to Poggibonsi for a coach transfer to the tiny fortified town of Monteriggioni, which is walled with 14 stone towers. Among the places visited are Pienza, Assisi and Perugia, before taking the Treno Natura steam train that runs from Siena to Asciano for a village festival celebrating seasonal food or wine – the particular village is chosen according to the time of year. A final day in Florence precedes the train journey home via a night in Ventimiglia on the Cote d’Azur.

More information: From £2,395pp; Great Rail Journeys. Call 01904 521936, or visit greatrail.com

Lindau & Lake Constance Tour

Travelling out by rail via Cologne and the Rhine Valley and back via Bonn, this new escorted nine-day tour is based in the waterside German town of Lindau but uses boats and trains to explore all three countries around the shores of Lake Constance, including Switzerland and Austria. The spectacular Arlberg Pass route is taken for a day in Innsbruck, while the Swiss Appenzell region is explored via the delightful narrow-gauge network that threads the valleys. The ski resort of Oberstdorf, the southernmost town in Germany, is reached by riding a local train up the beautiful Iller Valley, whereupon you can take one of three cable cars to grab the perfect mountain panorama shot.

More information: From £1,725pp; Ffestiniog Travel. Call 01766 512400, or visit ffestiniogtravel.com.

From the French to the Italian Riviera Tour

This new six-night tour encompasses France’s Côte d’Azur and Italy’s Genoa and Cinque Terre region, beginning in Menton – which can be reached from Paris by TGV (not included). As you travel around, the Ligurian Sea is seldom out of view as the train curves around the coast for a full day in Genoa and the chance to explore one of Europe’s largest medieval quarters. The coastal train journey then continues on to Monterosso; this village lies close to Levanto, which offers a thrilling bike ride along a former railway line to Framura that threads the old rail tunnels. Alternatively, the villages of the Cinque Terre can be explored by local train or by boat.

More information: From £1,155pp (based on two sharing); Inntravel. Call 01653 617001, or visit inntravel.co.uk)

Grenoble–Gap–Briançon

It is unusual for an important railway to be closed for two years for rebuilding, but that is exactly what happened to this line. It only reopened last December but remains one of the great unsung railway journeys of Europe. Between Grenoble and Veynes-Dévoluy there are 26 tunnels and numerous bridges and viaducts, mostly on curves, giving passengers a clear view of the line ahead and the chasms below. Leaving Grenoble, an arc of peaks resembling malformed teeth soon fills the horizon as the train climbs to the summit of Col de la Croix Haute at 1,179m. After Lus-la-Croix-Haute a curious fin of rock – like the spine of a stegosaurus – descends to the valley floor; pines and conifers flank the line as it drops parallel with a cluster of peaks before reaching the junction of Gap. From there, take the line on to the border citadel of Briançon, where, out of season, you half expect to turn a corner and meet cowled monks or a troop of breast-plated soldiers with halberds.

More information: From £34.50 one-way. raileurope.com

Zurich–Prague

Its easy to forget just what an eye-catching city Prague can be. The Czech capital is every bit the equal of Europe’s other big hitters, with its iconic castle, centuries-old bridges, pervading Gothic menace and mazy labyrinth of quaint back lanes that hum with microbreweries. It also has a rail history dating back to 1845. Today, Prague is the main base for a number of sleeping-car trains operated by Czech Railways (CD), whose services radiate out from the city and across Europe. Its Zurich–Prague train, which runs via Innsbruck, Salzburg, Linz and Ceske Budejovice, was even supplemented last December by another service operating between the cities, except that this version travels via Basel, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Dresden and is named ‘Canopus’. Both have sleeping cars and deliver passengers to Prague Hlavni station, which is an easy 15-minute walk from the old town. It’s the perfect way to arrive refreshed and ready to explore.

More information: One-way seats from £58 without reservation; sleepers from £79. cd.cz

Explore Spain with Iryo

With Trenitalia as its largest shareholder, Iryo is the new rail operator in competition with Spanish state railway RENFE. Its first service, linking Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona, began last November, followed by Madrid–València a month later and trains to Córdoba, Seville and Málaga in March. A service to Alicante is expected to start in June. There are four classes of comfort, though all seats on its 360km/h Frecciarossa trains come with USB and standard sockets. But it’s the destinations that really shine.

The attractions of Barcelona and Seville are well known, yet Córdoba is a revelation to many. Its narrow cobbled streets are a joy to wander, with glimpses into arcaded courtyards accompanied by the sound of water from a gentle fountain. However, it is the city’s palimpsest of a cathedral that is most spellbinding: what was an 8th-century mosque, possibly built over a Visigothic church, was converted into a cathedral from 1236. Just walking through it conjures a sense of wandering among a forest of stone. Take time to also appreciate the Moors’ genius for engineering from remnants of their sluices and locks beside the River Guadalquivir, spanned by a traffic-free Roman bridge that is a popular haunt of buskers.

Elsewhere, Cuenca’s hanging houses, above the gorge of the River Huécar, are its most striking feature, but there are plenty of other delights to be found in a city that dates back to the 8th century. Equally well explored on foot is València, where extensive restoration of the old city and the towers of its defensive walls has greatly enhanced visits. As the birthplace of architect Santiago Calatrava, check out his bridge and the many spectacular buildings of the City of Arts and Sciences that were designed by him.

More information: One-way tickets: Madrid–Barcelona from £27.50; Madrid–València from £10; Madrid–Seville from £14; Madrid–Málaga from £16. iryo.eu

Paris–Vienna & Vienna–Genoa–La Spezia

Ten years ago, optimism about sleeping-car trains was hard to find, yet Austrian Railways (ÖBB) saw an opportunity and set up Nightjet in 2016. Its growth has arguably been aided by the spread of the flygskam (flight shame) movement, which started in Sweden in 2017; consequently, we are now starting to see more sleeper services across Europe and better facilities. As well as the recent addition of Nightjet’s Paris–Vienna service, its Brussels–Vienna sleeper route will become daily in late 2023.

If you want to continue your adventure, another new Nightjet service for this year now links Vienna with Italy’s Cinque Terre region, terminating at La Spezia, just south of the famous five villages that cling to the Italian Riviera coast. This port city is worth a stay in its own right: it has a fine Naval Museum and is the starting point for boat trips to islands such as Palmaria or Portovenere. Those exploring the region’s coastal villages, such as Manarola, can buy a one-, two- or three-day Cinque Terre Train Card, which gives free access to local hiking trails (for which there is normally a fee) and unlimited train travel between Levanto and La Spezia.

More information: Paris–Vienna one-way: couchettes from £44; sleepers from £80; Vienna–La Spezia one-way: couchettes from £93; sleepers from £119. nightjet.com