Stockycub1973

Having poured over the Seat61 website daydreaming I have decided I would like to take a few long train trips.

I will have three weeks to play with at the end of August/beginning of September. I am debating about doing a train trip for a week or two with multiple stops on the way. Beyond doing the Trans Siberian (which I would love to do but that would be something I would have to treat myself to when I am a bit more flush) what would people recommend. I am a bit of a shutterbug and love just wandering round people watching and exploring places I havent been to.

For daytime travel I am not fussed about class of travel. In fact I think it might be a bit fun getting on a boneshaker or two. If I do a sleeper I would need access to a power as I use a CPAP for obstructive sleep apnea.

So any tips or recommendations would be cool.

railways

Give us some pointers! Where are you starting from? Where do you want to avoid? Cities, sea or mountains? Any cost restrictions?

Stockycub1973

I live in London. So anywhere in continental Europe. As cheap as possible as I don't mind roughing it. Cities, towns, mountains all would be good.

Central, Southern or Eastern Europe would be areas I would particularly like to see.

nrr

Switzerland has an extensive train system, and the scenery, mountains, lakes on some routes is phenomenal. You will be traveling at the end of the high summer tourist season, and the ski buffs won't be out in force either=less crowded trains. 2nd class travel is very comfortable (and considerably cheaper than 1st). Some of the "great" routes are Glacier Express, Bernina Express, Golden Pass to name a few--there are 6 or 7 other "greats" also. Buying a train pass (or half fare card and paying per ride) could be very economical. Browsing around sbb.ch/en you can find lots of nice stuff.

stut

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.1; U; en-us) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413 es61i)

Have to agree with that - I've just come back from Switzerland myself (mostly around Lucerne) and loved it.

Look out for the pre-purchase SuperSaver e-tickets, too, if you're not travelling enough for a pass - I managed to get, for example, Lucerne - Geneva for SFr20, just a couple of days out...

nrr

The trouble with these SS e-tickets is that you must use them on a particular train, preventing one from changing your mind at the last minute. A rail pass gives one super flexibility; frequently I'll arrive at the rr station in Luzern (Lucerne fr.) from my hotel and just board the next departure--its hard to go wrong, there is so much great scenery to see.

Stockycub1973

Do you know if a pass would also allow me to travel by a lake ferry?

nrr

The internal (all within Switzerland) lake ferrys ARE covered by all passes valid within Switz. Some of these provided beautiful scenic panoramas.
There are a few ferrys linking Switz. with Germany or Austria, these are only discounted.

PS: (Pure) Swiss passes generally cover local bus and tram service in all the major cities (which Eurail products do not.)

johndunn2

I really liked the Berlin to Prague train with a stop in Dresden. It's free if your stop is 24 hours or less