Holland to Sicily: a ten train tour across Europe
Apr 15, 2018, 8:14 am
#31
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: EXT
Posts: 477
Since the photos received some interest, I thought I'd share a few more from once we'd completed the journey. We spent most of our time in Taormina, often not even venturing down from its lofty central streets (although we took the cablecar to Isola Bella one morning). So here's a gallery mostly from around town. But we did take an excursion to Mt Etna, which also included a destination we hadn't heard of, the Alcantara gorge; I've written about that whole trip here, with the now-obligatory photo gallery.
Mt Etna
Alcantara gorge
So, trip complete, would I have done it differently, or would I suggest changes for others considering something similar? The most obvious change would be the starting point - clearly we had reasons to begin in the Netherlands, but that will be less likely for most people. An ex-UK version could simply swap the Rotterdam - Brussels leg for a Eurostar service out of London, but if so I'd recommend some time to actually visit the city! Otherwise, it makes more sense to skip Belgium and Germany and travel straight to Switzerland via France. Otherwise, I think the itinerary holds up; although more time at any and every stop would obviously be appreciated, this schedule never felt rushed nor does it feature back-to-back heavy travel days. I'd happily trade time in Naples for more in Verona, except then we'd have struggled to fit in Pompeii, so it'll depend on whether that's somewhere you want to include or not. The hardest stretch is the last one, so although the 'direct' aspect of the train-on-a-boat was what inspired the trip in the first place, it might be worth breaking into more manageable chunks (or sailing direct from Naples).
Would I do it again? Well, we already have plans to! In the Netherlands the 'Twelve and a half years" anniversary is a thing, and of course falls in the winter rather than summer. So we'd like to repeat the journey then; possibly reversing the route and starting from Sicily. Of course, I doubt we can wait that long to revisit some of the locations along the way - I'm already eyeing up the glacier express for an extended Swiss railway adventure... We also have an assortment of trips taking shape for this summer; I'm not sure which ones will turn into reports here, but surely something will; so until then, thanks for reading!
Mt Etna
Alcantara gorge
So, trip complete, would I have done it differently, or would I suggest changes for others considering something similar? The most obvious change would be the starting point - clearly we had reasons to begin in the Netherlands, but that will be less likely for most people. An ex-UK version could simply swap the Rotterdam - Brussels leg for a Eurostar service out of London, but if so I'd recommend some time to actually visit the city! Otherwise, it makes more sense to skip Belgium and Germany and travel straight to Switzerland via France. Otherwise, I think the itinerary holds up; although more time at any and every stop would obviously be appreciated, this schedule never felt rushed nor does it feature back-to-back heavy travel days. I'd happily trade time in Naples for more in Verona, except then we'd have struggled to fit in Pompeii, so it'll depend on whether that's somewhere you want to include or not. The hardest stretch is the last one, so although the 'direct' aspect of the train-on-a-boat was what inspired the trip in the first place, it might be worth breaking into more manageable chunks (or sailing direct from Naples).
Would I do it again? Well, we already have plans to! In the Netherlands the 'Twelve and a half years" anniversary is a thing, and of course falls in the winter rather than summer. So we'd like to repeat the journey then; possibly reversing the route and starting from Sicily. Of course, I doubt we can wait that long to revisit some of the locations along the way - I'm already eyeing up the glacier express for an extended Swiss railway adventure... We also have an assortment of trips taking shape for this summer; I'm not sure which ones will turn into reports here, but surely something will; so until then, thanks for reading!
Last edited by TheFlyingDoctor; Dec 10, 2019 at 2:17 pm Reason: migrate off flickr
Apr 20, 2018, 11:46 am
#34
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 71
Fantastic. Nice job.The days of long distance train travel from one end of Europe to the other are past. There used to be a service from Amsterdam to Ancona via Maastricht, Liege, Luxembourg, Metz, Strasbourg, Basel, Lugano and Milan. Popular among the Italian expats in the Netherlands. These days, the same trip would require 8 changes of train and 2 full days.
Apr 20, 2018, 2:56 pm
#35
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Florida
Programs: Delta 3MM/PM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 350
Outstanding trip report! Many thanks for posting. We've done some pieces of this on other trips. Brilliant idea to string it all together in this way. Many great ideas here!
Apr 22, 2018, 12:45 am
#37
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: BA Gold, AA Lifetime Gold 1.8mm, IC Spire Ambassador, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold et al
Posts: 4,350
Great report.
I did Taormina - Naples last summer and enoyed it but I agree that it would be a whole lot easier and quicker if the ferry took just foot passengers with 2 different trains deployed. As a one-off it was fun though.
I did Taormina - Naples last summer and enoyed it but I agree that it would be a whole lot easier and quicker if the ferry took just foot passengers with 2 different trains deployed. As a one-off it was fun though.
