Paul visits Europe - including the Cinque Terre

Staff member: Paul // Trip date: May 2010

Vienna - Bratislava - Vienna

Our first taste of train travel in Europe on this trip was day trip to Bratislava, just over the border in Slovakia. Bratislava and Vienna offer a range of good value deals between these two points, and return tickets cost about 20 Euros and included at the time free use of public transport in Bratislava (apparently the same deal for Vienna for slightly more applies if coming from Bratislava). I used my validated pass for the journey, but had to pay a supplement of about 8 euro return due to Slovakia not being covered on the Eurail Global pass. Buying both tickets took about 3 minutes at the station, which was great because that's exactly how much time we had. We caught this from the Wien Südbahnhof, but this is one of the few services still running from this station which has been demolished to be replaced with a new large modern station. If arriving by public transport at Südbahnhof (it is services by the metro, tram and bus) allow a little extra time to find the station as it is about 5 minutes walk but clearly signposted. There are literally no facilities at this station apart from an ATM and a ticket office. The regional express service to Bratislava is a modern train that was about 50% full at its peak. There are services every hour or so during the peak times, and the facilities on the train don't include dining cart. Seats were comfortable, and trip itself was quick and enjoyable. It's about 1 hour each way and our services all arrived and departed on time. Bratislava station is basic, but easy to navigate with most signs being in English, and well connected to the cities many trams and buses. It is a small city anyway, and can be navigated by foot as long as you don't have too much luggage with you. There are several stations in Bratislava, it's important to remember the name of its abbreviated name (for example, it appears as "hl.st." on the front of the trams) if travelling back to Vienna. It's very easy to get on a tram going to a different station that may or may not have services back to Vienna!

Vienna - Ljubljana

We caught the one direct daily Eurocity service at about 8 am from Vienna to Ljubljana from Meidling station. The upgrades being undertaken by the main station Südbahnhof mean that this smaller station is currently being used for this journey. It was easy to reach on Vienna's easy to use, efficient and un-crowded metro system. The station itself has good facilities, including a 1st class lounge for the use of 1st class passengers with either full fare 1st class tickets or 1st class Austrian single country pass. Since lounge access was not granted for us, on Eurail Global passes, we found the platform our train was departing from and waited patiently. The service arrived on time, and we jumped on. The train had a large area for large items of luggage or bicycles near the start of the two first class carriages. The seats all had the numbers clearly stated, and had tags marking our seats as reserved for the journey between Vienna and Ljubljana. On the seats was a small leaflet outlining the services available on the train, the stops of the train, and connecting services at the main station. The train was a 2 - 1 configuration in 1st class and a 2 - 2 configuration in second class. We were offered a welcome drink, an assortment of German language magazines, but no trolley service during the duration of the journey. The dining cart offered reasonable prices food/drinks (from 2 to 15 Euros) from snacks such as sausages in rolls to cooked meals. I got a sausage and bread for about 4 Euro and went back to my seat. It was honestly more sausage than any one person should eat in a week, and was served with mustard, tomato sauce, and about half a loaf of rye sourdough bread. My wife and I shared this most likely nutritionally lacking but tasty meal, and felt satisfied with the value. We washed it down with our first taste of Slovenian beer, which cost about 3 Euros, and was served out of your choice of can or bottle with an optional plastic glass. The second half of the trip was through the hills and forests of Slovenia, and was particularly scenic. Ljubljana station is well situated close to the main city. It has reasonable facilities, including multiple cafes and convenience stores with a selection of cold takeaway food. Its surrounds have a few other options for cheap convenient food, which all seemed to be open even first thing in the morning and late at night.

Ljubljana - Venice

This route is not frequented by lots of trains, and the trip is a good 7 hours total travel time with one change. Our first service was from Ljubljana to Villach, and Eurocity train. We made it to the station early to see if we could reserve a seat on the second service, from Villach to Venice, to find out that we couldn't. That will teach me not to do it in Vienna like I planned. We were informed that this service was running 30 minutes late, not too big a deal as the change was almost two hour in Villach. At the 30 minute mark we were informed rather informally (a random English speaking passenger who also waiting) that the train would not arrive, so we followed the crowd to a replacement bus. We were taken to a seemly random station about 30 minutes away, and got on to a train here. All quite odd - but soon after we were on our way. Train was ok - it was a compartment style cabin with 6 seats. I think we were the only people in the whole carriage - and I did not see another soul (or conductor) the entire journey. We arrived in Villach about 45 minutes late, bought our replacement bus reservation to Venice in first class (11 Euro p/p). The station itself was clean but basic, and it was a weekend with few shops in and around open at all. The bus arrived 5 minutes early, and we gave our luggage to be stored underneath and on we got. The bus was a double-decker style, with 1st class downstairs and 2nd upstairs. There were rows of 2 seats on one side of the aisle and 1 on the other. There was a bathroom, tea and coffee making facilities/supplies, and orange juice available for 1st class passengers. It was extremely comfortable bus, with large adjustable leather seats, and the journey as far as bus trips can be was quite enjoyable. The bus arrives into Venezia Piazzale Roma, which is a square were a number of bus services (local, national, and international) arrive. It is near the main station of Venice Santa Lucia, across a clearly labelled bridge, and was a nice taste of what Venice offers. I am pretty sure that we got the last two seats, and would highly recommend booking this service in advance.

Venice - Florence

Venice was amazing but it was time to leave so we made the short walk to Santa Lucia station situated on the northern tip of this island city. The train was easy to find, the departures board is large, and the train was bright red. This service was a Eurostar service, Italy's most modern. The inside is almost like a plane, but with a lot of extra room. The seats in first class were 2 and 1 configuration, and we were facing each other with a table between us in the row of 1. This train did not have a spare seat - and it was almost entirely tourists judging the languages being spoken and the amount of luggage being carried. There was announcement in English and Italian that the train would be delayed 15 minutes and the train departed exactly 15 minutes late. A hot/cold drink and small snack was served about 30 minutes into the journey, and a trolley service operated, although it was a little restricted just due to the sheer volume of luggage that inevitably spilled into the aisles. This fact also stopped me from exploring the train more - that and the fully adjustable seats were extremely comfortable. The train arrived into Florence about 10 minutes late

Florence - La Spezia

We caught a very early regional service from Florence SMN station to La Spezia. It was second class only, we sat down and hung out with the locals. This train seemed to be full of young students! The train was 2 seats each side of a centre aisle, and I could not find a dining car. The train was quiet and I soon dozed off for half the trip to find myself pretty much at La Spezia. Italian regional trains are notorious

The Cinque Terre

From La Spezia you can access the Cinque Terre by regional train. If you plan on walking the tracks between the 5 villages you can buy a pass from the station that includes both track and 2nd class train access for the day (less than 10 Euro p/p). The services are of the same standard as the service to La Spezia, but with both 1st and second class. 1st class had seats in a 2 and 1 configuration, but no trolley or food cart. The trains' first thing to the Cinque Terre were extremely busy, so it's worth getting to the station early. After walking the tracks and sampling the local produce in this amazing coastal area, we caught the train back wish was only a fraction as busy.

La Spezia - Milan

We woke up early in La Spezia and decided to see if we could get on an early train to Milan. It would give us an extra two hours to explore Milan, but we understood from previous services this may not be possible. The ticket office sent me down to a lovely lady at window one, who seemed to speak the best English, and who found that reservations were available (4 Euros p/p). Perfect - so it arrived on time and on we got, found our seats and stowed the luggage in the overhead racks. The train was an Intercity compartment style service, with 3 seats each side facing each other in a private cabin. We ended up having the cabin to ourselves for the majority of the service, and enjoyed the trolley service hot coffee (about 3 Euros). We arrived into Milan, stored our luggage at the check-in style service provided at the station and were on our way.

Milan - Bergamo

After spending a couple of hours checking out Milan, we turned back up, collected our luggage, and found our train. Milan Station is an amazing place; it has amazing old school charm and architecture with the shopping and facilities of a modern mall. Our regional service to Bergamo was a simple affair of a similar standard as other Italian regional trains, quite busy as it was peak time, but left and arrived on time. Outside the front of the station we asked the taxi driver how much it was to our Hotel adjacent to the airport, and he quoted 18 Euros. I then realised I needed to use the ATM - no problem he said, and he dropped me off at the ATM, and then to the airport about 15 minutes later. Wonderful service!

Porto - Lisbon

The station in Porto is situated about 10 minutes cab ride away from the old town. It is linked by metro, but we slept in and were in a hurry! There are two kinds' trains between Porto and Lisbon - the faster Alfa Pendular and the slower intercity services. The next train was the 9.20am IC service so we bought reservations from the ticket office for 4 Euros p/p and jumped on. The train exceeded expectations- it was really comfortable. There was no food car that I could find, but it left on time with most seats taken. The trip was along the Atlantic coast and really pretty with lots of golden sandy beaches. We arrived into Lisbon about 3 hours later.

Lisbon - San Sebastian

After spending the day lazing round Lisbon we caught the train from Santa Apolina, which is a small old station near the centre of the old town, to San Sebastian. This is a 14 hour journey with a variety of different cabins, from self contained single/double sleepers, through to a carriage of reclining seats. The Double Gran sleeper in a day configuration had plenty of storage room for the bags. The Gran class sleepers also include a 3 course dinner with a drink of choice. The food was less than spectacular, but the service was prompt and wine served was great. When we got back to the room, the beds were made, and really quite comfortable - I slept solidly till the wakeup call (1 hour earlier than expected due to an unforeseen time zone change) for breakfast. I had the fruit option with a basket for different breads, butter and jam. The coffee was excellent. After a low pressure shower in the private bathroom we jumped of the train in San Sebastian

San Sebastian - Bordeaux

It can tricky to get to France first from San Sebastian first thing in the morning, so we took a metro service over the border (about 2 Euros per person, 35 minutes) to Hendaye. The service terminated, and we swapped stations (they are separated by about 30 meters). From Hendaye to Bordeaux we caught a regional service to Dax, where we quickly changed trains, and then on to Bordeaux. We had 10 minutes to change, and I would always have a plan B in my head in case of a delay (there was another service in 45 minutes in this case). Both services were punctual to the minute, about half full, and of a surprising high standard. The seat layout and feel was very similar to IC service in Portugal, with large comfortable seats, areas for bicycles, and plenty of extra luggage areas at the front of the carriages. There was no dining cart on either service, but all the stations had places to grab that first cup of French coffee, a bite to eat, and even an English newspaper.

Bordeaux - Paris

It was extremely busy at Bordeaux station, and I was really glad to have booked advance tickets on the TGV through to Paris. It turns out that Paris was hosting the Club final of the Rugby European Cup, and there were ALOT of people using the train to get to Paris. The train had amazing atmosphere, and we were pleasantly asked if we wanted to swap seats with a couple young French Guys who had forward facing seats in a quiet carriage (our seats were separated and in a carriage full of Biarritz supporters). Once we got the okay from the conductor we were out of there and into the quiet carriage. Excellent, win-win, and great use of commonsense by everyone involved. The train was immensely busy, but everyone who had seats was comfortable, and I get the idea the conductor realised that there were a lot of extra people on board - but as they were all extremely well behaved, and not bothering anyone but the bartender, not much action was taken. The train itself in first class had a 2 and 1 configuration, very quiet, and actually quite private, and they were semi compartment style. Luggage could be stored overhead or under seats, so no issues here even with no spare seats available.

Paris - Epernay - Reims - Paris

Our second last day of train journeys started with an early train between Paris Est Station and Epernay. It was a Sunday and the station was largely quiet, and on this first class regional train we were the only passengers in our car. The seating was a comfortable 2 and 1 configuration, and the seats while non-adjustable were large, with plenty of leg room, and of a similar standard of our other French regional services to Bordeaux. There was no dining car, but the service left on time and was a very smooth 55 minutes with several stops on the way at small French towns.

After trying the local produce, we returned to the station where we caught a different regional service to Reims. This train was extremely modern, spacious, and only offered second class. Again no dining cart, but as the train only services the tracks between these two points which are 30 minutes apart it's not really an issue. Again it takes you through multiple small towns in the Champagne area, and the scenery is amazing. The services on Sunday are less frequent, and it's worth double checking timetables at the station to make the service you want to take is running. Overcrowding wasn't an issue; there was probably only 20% on the available seats taken on this service.

We were to take the same route home, but at the last minute we checked with the friendly ticket office in Reims station if it was possible to get on the express TGV service leaving in about 20 minutes. We were pleasantly surprised and told that there were seat available using the pass and that since it was a short journey it was a very affordable $3 Euro per person to reserve a seat. Again in first class the seating was 2 on one side and 1 row on the other. We were seated in a "club duo" seat, facing each other and with the window next to us. These were probably the best seats yet, large, adjustable, with plenty of room to relax and even nod off (if the scenery will let you). The track between Reims and Paris is rated at over 320Km/h, and even compared to other high speed services we took it was noticeable the speed of this service. It took less than 45 minutes, including getting off and on the train, to cover roughly 150km Journey.

Paris - Paris CDG Airport

The Paris RER metro system connects all the major stations of Paris with key greater Paris destinations. These include Euro Disneyland, Versailles, and in our case, CDG airport. If you have a valid Paris Viste card for zones 1-6 you can reach all these points and more. Our flight was at 10pm, so after we checked out of hotel, we took our luggage to Paris Nord, put it a secure locker, and spent the last day of Paris exploring this amazing city without the hassle of lugging bags and suitcases around. Lockers cost about $10 Euro, depending on the size, and can be found at most major stations around Europe. With a station as busy as Paris Nord, I would recommend getting to the station early to make sure you secure a locker. We then took the express RER service to CDG, which took about 30 minutes. Services even on the public holiday were every 10 minutes on peak, and every 20 minutes off peak.

Overall:

I found using the trains really easy and had very few problems. All trains were at least the standard I would expect and with the pass offered a wonderful flexible way to travel through Europe. The stations themselves were universally easy to reach either by a short cab or via the public transport systems in place. I would not hesitate in recommending all the journeys we undertook as they were almost all punctual, comfortable, clean and above all enjoyable.

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