Even in mid-November, many European trains are
still not loaded into online booking systems for travel after 19
December...
Every year, the European railways endure a massive
self-inflicted loss in revenue, as they stupidly change their timetable just
before Christmas, and never manage to get the new data loaded into
booking systems in time to maintain the theoretical 90 days advance booking
period. French train bookings for travel dates between 13 Dec & 4 Jan
went live on 14 October (so squeezing the 90 days to just 60), the Germans
were even later, but in line for this years 'most incompetent rail managers
of the year' award are Trenitalia, who as at 17 November still
haven't got any data loaded into trenitalia.com for travel dates after 13
December. The Artesia Paris-Milan TGVs are a particular problem, where
passengers are losing out because of inter-railway wrangling.
Forthcoming dates...
-
5 December 2009: The Train to Copenhagen"
is a special train taking delegates from Brussels to the United Nations Climate Change Conference,
see
www.traintocopenhagen.org. It's being organised by
the UIC (International Union of Railways) and partners, and will highlight the
potential contribution of train travel towards reducing transport's impact on
climate change. Yours truly will be on board, having been invited to
travel with the train by the UIC.
-
30 January 2010, London: The Man in
Seat Sixty-One is on Simon Calder's 'adventurous travel' panel at 13:30 at
the
Adventure Live Show, Royal Horticultural Halls, Victoria, London.
Seat 61 'highly commended' in the Virgin Holidays
Responsible Travel Awards 2009...
I'm delighted that seat61.com was chosen as one of
3 finalists for the 'Best Low Carbon Transport & Technology' category at the
Virgin Holidays Responsible Travel Awards 2009, announced at the World
Travel Market in London on 11 November. Alcatraz Cruises won the
category, with seat61.com and the Swiss Travel System 'highly commended'.
European motorail: Düsseldorf &
s'Hertogenbosch are the new 'Calais'!
Sadly, Rail Europe announced in October that they
will not be running their French Motorail service from Calais to southern
France in summer 2010. The withdrawal follows rising costs and poor exchange
rates. However, although it at first seems a long way round, both
Dutch Motorail from the Netherlands and German Motorail from Düsseldorf (a 3
hour 45 min drive from Calais) will continue to run motorail trains to the
South of France as well as Italy & Austria, with high-quality trains including proper sleepers and a
bistro or restaurant car and (in the case of German motorail), cheap advance
purchase fares from just 129 euros for car and driver each way. The
motorail page has now been updated with new
pictures and information about travelling on the excellent Dutch and German
motorail services, thanks to journeys provided courtesy of RailSavers/AutoSlaapTrein
& DB Autozug.
A recent trip by rail & sail to Dublin & Belfast
proved just how cheap and relaxing train & ferry travel can be. The
Ireland page and
Northern Ireland page have been updated with new pictures and
information. I can especially recommend the T-Mobile WiFi on Virgin
Trains to Holyhead, and the Club Class Martello Lounge on Irish Ferries
'Ulysses' with its complimentary red & white wine, tea & coffee, juice,
smoked salmon canapés and cheese & crackers. London-Dublin costs just
£29 each way, any day, any date, even on the day of travel, London-Belfast
£41, with a chance to relax, get some work done or catch up on your reading,
airport- and flight-free.
European timetable change from 13 December...
Most seat61 European pages have now been updated
with the new times as from 13 December 2009. When the new timetable starts on 13 December
across Europe, there will be a few key changes:
-
The new Brussels-Amsterdam
high-speed line opens, reducing Brussels-Amsterdam to 1 hour 53 mins,
Paris-Amsterdam to 3 hours 30 mins. London-Amsterdam still suffers
from poor connections in Brussels between Eurostar & Thalys, but the fastest
journey will now be around 4 hours 16 minutes, from central London to
central Amsterdam.
-
Thalys trains switch to the new
Brussels-Cologne high-speed line, knocking another 15 minutes off the
journey time. Fastest journey from London to Cologne (with a change at
Brussels) will be around 4 hours 11 minutes.
-
The new 'Sapsan' Russian
high-speed trains are due to start running between Moscow & St Petersburg
from 18 December. Based on the German ICE, journey time will be 3
hours 45 minutes.
-
The final parts of the
Milan-Florence & Rome-Naples high-speed lines come into use. Milan to
Rome will take just 3 hours centre to centre, down from 3 hours 30 now, and
over 5 hours previously.
-
More Munich-Vienna-Budapest
EuroCity trains are replaced by excellent modern
RailJet trains. Most
Vienna-Budapest services will now be operated by RailJet trains.
-
After major work improving rail
access to Prague's central Hlavni station, Berlin-Prague-Budapest/Vienna
trains will no longer by-pass central Prague, but will use Hlavni station,
walking distance from all the sights. This is a big improvement, as
passengers previously needed to use the metro or a taxi between the city
centre and Prague's less-than-central Holesovice station on the outskirts.
-
Sadly, all sleeper trains between
Switzerland (Geneva, Zurich, Bern) & Rome are withdrawn, the only
alternative being a long daytime journey with changes of train. The
Nice-Rome sleeper went last year, after running for over a century.
The Italians seem too busy with their shiny new domestic high-speed trains
to properly manage Italy's rail links with the rest of the EU!
-
The Strasbourg-Vienna 'Orient
Express' is finally withdrawn, a much truncated train but still
the true descendant of the original 1883 Orient
Express. It will still be possible to travel between Paris and
Vienna using the Paris-Munich sleeper.
-
The Amsterdam-Cologne-Vienna City
Night Line sleeper is cut back to Cologne-Vienna, and becomes an Austrian
EuroNight train rather than City Night Line. The Amsterdam-Milan City
Night Line sleeper is withdrawn.
-
The previously daily Eurostar from
London to Disneyland won't run on Tuesdays or (bizarrely) Saturdays, except
in a few school holidays.
BBC TV 'Eggheads' quiz...
Well, I never, real fame at last...
www.seat61.com became the subject of a
question on the BBC Quiz 'Eggheads' on 15 October. "The Man in Seat
Sixty-One is a website aimed at helping (a) Rail travellers, (b) theatre
goers or (c) couch potatoes? We'll have none of the latter here
at seat61, please!
Seat61 short listed for the Virgin Holidays
Responsible Travel Awards 2009...
I'm delighted that seat61.com
has been short listed for an award at the Responsible Travel Awards 2009, in
the 'Best low-carbon transport & technology' category. The winners
will be announced at the World Travel Market in London on 11 November.
Fingers crossed...
Seat61 short listed for 'Website of the Year
2009' award from thegoodwebguide.co.uk...
I'm also delighted that
seat61.com is one of the 24 sites shortlisted for 'Website of the year' with
www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk,
out of 1,000 sites nominated. The winner will be announced on 3
November. If you'd like to support seat61's nomination, you can
comment at
www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk/awardfeedback. Update November 2009:
Sadly, seat61 didn't quite make the 'website of the year' award!
Going back twenty years, the sleeper trains from
Paris to Florence, Rome, Verona or Venice used to be amongst my favourite
trains, and I've used them many times. Dinner in the restaurant car as
the sun sets over pretty French villages, snuggling between crisp sheets and
waking up to Italy next morning. Wonderful! These sleeper trains
have always been busy and popular. However, Trenitalia's management of
these sleeper trains has steadily declined in the last few years, generating
increased complaints about delays, cleanliness, food service and carriage
maintenance. I have finally decided to reword the
London to Italy page to suggest people take daytime trains to Italy,
even if this involves an overnight stop. New high-speed routes mean
the journey to Italy isn't in fact that much longer (although a 100mph
sleeper train still beats a 198mph train plus a 0mph hotel!) and the scenery
through the Alps on the route via Zurich is superb.
European train bookings for 13 Dec 2009 to 4 Jan
2010 won't open until 14 October...
Normally, European train bookings open 90 days
before departure (Eurostar is an exception, opening 120 days ahead).
However, this often gets squeezed to less than 90 days for travel
immediately after the twice-yearly Europe-wide timetable change because
there's always a delay in getting the timetable finalised and the new
data into the system. With unbelievable stupidity, the European
Railways and the EU chose the second Sunday in December as the date for
their big Europe-wide timetable change, right before the busy Christmas
travel period. As anyone with a brain can see, the second Sunday in
January would have been the correct choice. It's now been
announced (surprise, surprise) that bookings for trains within France & out of France to Spain,
Italy, Switzerland and Germany for 13 Dec 2009 to 4 Jan 2010 won't open
until 14 October, closer to 60 days ahead than 90, precisely at a
time when people need to make travel arrangements further ahead than
normal. This is not the first time, this seems to happen every year.
Just take comfort in the fact that no-one else can book up all the seats before bookings
open, either.
The 'Orient Express' to disappear from 12
December 2009...
The famous name 'Orient Express' lives on in the
official timetables, albeit in a much truncated form as an Austrian Railways
Strasbourg-Vienna sleeper train. But make no mistake, this is indeed
the true descendant of the original 1883 Orient Express, cut back from
running Paris-Vienna in 2007, cut back from running beyond Vienna to
Budapest & Bucharest in 2001. However, the Strasbourg-Vienna Orient
Express will finally be withdrawn permanently as from the Europe-wide
timetable change on 12 December 2009. The name 'Orient Express' will
then finally disappear from Europe's official timetables. For a full
explanation, see the Orient Express page.
SeaFrance no longer providing a Dover-Calais passenger
service...
Sadly, ferry operator SeaFrance (www.seafrance.com)
now refuses to carry passengers between Dover & Calais as from the end of
September 2009. It will continue to carry freight and a few motorists,
but all other passengers should switch to alternative ferry operator P&O (www.poferries.com)
who will continue to offer a fully-featured ferry service on the
Dover-Calais route, with proper facilities for passengers. The
train+ferry option between London & Paris via Dover/Calais is explained on
the London-Paris by train+ferry page.
Flooding blocks the rail line to Istanbul...
(Update 26 September: Line now reopened)
On 11 September 2009, severe flooding damaged the
railway west of Istanbul. Turkish Railways have suspended all service
west of Istanbul (domestic and international to/from Sofia, Thessalonica,
Bucharest) while the line is repaired. Update 26 Sept:
Line cleared and trains now running again.
Swansea-Cork ferry to resume in 2010...
At last some good news from the world of ferries.
Fastnet Line has finally secured a ship, the Julia, to resume the
Swansea-Cork ferry service after a break of several years. The ferry
is due to start operating in March 2010. Built in 1982, the Julia
previously operated for the Color Line in Scandinavia. She has 300
cabins and capacity for over 400 cars and 1,800 passengers.
International bookings now possible at
www.renfe.es...
The Spanish Railways website,
www.renfe.es, has long been the cheapest
way to buy train tickets for journeys wholly within Spain, with cheap 'Web'
& 'Estrella' advance purchase fares available that aren't shown anywhere
else, and no booking or postage fees to pay, you simply print out your own
ticket. But it has always steadfastly refused to book any
international trains. However, that has now changed, and renfe.es will
now book the international 'Trainhotel' sleeper trains linking Paris with
Madrid, Paris with Barcelona, Zurich with Barcelona, Milan with Barcelona,
and Madrid with Lisbon. On the run from Paris to Madrid or Barcelona,
prices are the same as on the French Railways website or Rail Europe's site,
but because renfe.es accesses a separate pool of tickets held on the Spanish
as opposed to the French reservation system, you can often find cheap
tickets still available on renfe.es when they are sold out on the other
sites. Plus, cheap 'Web' & 'Estrella' fares are now available for the
Madrid-Lisbon 'Lusitania Trainhotel' which aren't available through Rail
Europe or the French Railways site, making it far cheaper to book this
particular train direct with Renfe. These cheap Web & Estrella fares
are now shown on the Portugal page,
and both the Spain and 'How to buy European train tickets' pages have now
been updated. There's a step by step guide to using renfe.es
here.
High-speed from London to Holland from
December...
The new high-speed line from Brussels to
Amsterdam will finally open on 13 December 2009. Paris to Amsterdam
will then take 3 hours 10 minutes by direct Thalys high-speed train, London
to Amsterdam will take as little as 4 hours 6 minutes by Eurostar to
Brussels then Thalys onwards. From central London to central
Amsterdam, it'll be faster than flying! Details will be posted on the
Netherlands page nearer the time.
Buy tickets online
to Douglas on the Isle of Man from London or any station in
Britain...
Seat61 is now the only website explicitly selling that well-kept secret,
inclusive train+ferry tickets from any station in Britain to Douglas on the Isle
of Man. London to Douglas costs £82 return (£103 return on Fri,
Sat, Sun June-September), Manchester-Douglas from £49.50 return, Leeds-Douglas
from £54.50 return, Birmingham-Douglas from £66 return. No airport
hassles, and no flights required. See the Isle
of Man page.
Buy tickets online
to Belfast from London or any station in Britain...
Online ticket sales are once again possible from
London or any station in Britain to or from Belfast, thanks to RailEasy.co.uk. London-Belfast costs just £41 each
way via Holyhead & Dublin or from £44 each way via Stranraer, centre to centre without flying! An online booking system has
been added to the London to Northern Ireland page.
Coupled with online bookings to Dublin from any station in Britain now
possible on the Ireland page, it's never been
easier to ditch the plane and travel the classic civilised flight-free way
to Ireland.
Norfolkline's resurrected
Scotland-Belgium ferry hitting its targets...
Norfolkline report that loadings on their resumed Edinburgh (Rosyth) to
Zeebrugge ferry are meeting or exceeding projections. The ferry sails overnight,
three times a week. See www.norfolkline-ferries.co.uk.
New Premier Classe sleeper train from Johannesburg to
Kruger National Park...
July 9 sees the launch of
another 'Premier Classe' affordable deluxe sleeper train in South Africa,
this time linking Johannesburg every Thursday evening overnight to
Hoedspruit for the Kruger National Park. Aimed at both
budget-conscious tourists and South Africans themselves who want a safe,
civilised train travel experience, 980 Rand (£73) gets you a private deluxe
sleeper, dinner and breakfast in the deluxe restaurant car and complimentary
tea or coffee in the spacious lounge car. They hope to increase it to
thrice weekly in due course. Highly recommended! Other Premier
Classe routes include Cape Town to Jo'burg, Jo'burg to Durban, Cape Town to
Port Elizabeth.
London-Amsterdam 'Dutch Flyer' train+ferry bookings up a remarkable 39%...
Stena Line report a remarkable 39% year-on-year
increase in train+ferry ticket sales from London to any Dutch station in the
first 6 months of 2009. They also report a change in their
clientele: Train+ferry to Amsterdam is no longer the sole preserve of
budget-conscious backpackers, but young professionals keen to avoid airport
stresses and lower their carbon footprint, as well as travel overnight in a
cabin an save expensive accommodation costs in Amsterdam.
Read the
article by Richard Hammond. Details of
the Dutch Flyer service on seat61.com.
The Rail Europe Snow Train will not run in winter 2009/10...
Sadly, Rail Europe have just announced that after
running for many years their special
Snow Train from London
to the French Alps will not run in the 2009/10 winter season. Put down
to the general economic situation plus a weakening pound, Rail Europe say
they haven't taken this decision lightly. The Eurostar Ski Train will
continue to run in 2009/10, and regular trains are also available, see the
Ski by Train page.
Online tickets from London (or any station in
Britain) to or from Dublin...
Online ticket sales are once again possible from
London or any station in Britain to of from Dublin Ferryport or Dun
Laoghaire, thanks to RailEasy.co.uk. London-Dublin costs just £29 each
way, centre to centre without flying! An online booking system has
been added to the London to Ireland page, and the
page has been overhauled to make it clear just how easy it is to reach
Ireland the traditional way, by train & ferry.
Problems with the seat61 RailShop...
There are problems with the Seat61 RailShop (which
sells railpasses and reservations to go with railpasses) at the moment,
which are likely to last a little longer while the company concerned sorts
them out. Please buy passes by phone if you have any trouble getting
them online.
New European train travel helpline, 0906 80 20 284
(60p per minute, lines open
08:30-18:00 Mon-Fri, 09:00-13:00 Sat, UK callers only, provided by Erail)
There isn't an
official European rail travel enquiry line, and there's only
one of me so I can't handle phone calls, just the occasional
email. So I've talked to Erail, a European rail
ticketing agency in London, and we've set up a helpline so at
least there's now someone to call with those knotty European
train travel problems. They charge 60p per minute which
pays for the staff (seat61 also gets a small commission), lines
are open 08:30-18:00 Mon-Fri,
09:00-13:00 Sat, UK callers only. It's not intended for fare quotes or
to buy tickets, as you can do this at normal call rates on
normal phone numbers, it's for in-depth help and assistance
with European train travel questions & problems, without
necessarily buying tickets. Feedback will be very
welcome, as we'll improve the service as we gain experience.
More
information.
Scotland's very
own deluxe cruise train which showcases the history, scenery &
culture of the Highlands, The Royal Scotsman now has its own
seat61 page giving the inside story. Trips on the Royal
Scotsman don't come cheap, but if it's a special occasion or
time & comfort are the issues rather than cost, you won't be
disappointed by this train...
Success for New
Zealand's Auckland-Wellington Overlander...
It's reported
that passenger numbers have increased by over 25.5% in the last 11
months on the Auckland-Wellington 'Overlander', in my view one
of the world's most historic and scenic train journeys.
This comes after the train was saved from withdrawal a few
years ago, and new
nationalised train operator kiwi Rail has pledged to improve
and expand the service. They have just announced that it
will run daily (as opposed to 3-times-a-week) for a longer
season this summer, becoming daily from 25 September 2009
until May 2010, instead of 30 November to April.
No more
Berlin-Kazakhstan through sleeping-car...
Kazakhstan
Railways has announced it will withdraw its weekly
Berlin-Astana direct sleeping-car from June this year.
Through cars from Berlin to Novosibirsk, Saratov & Rostov-on-Don
on this remarkable train will remain. You can still
easily travel from western Europe to Kazakhstan by changing in
Moscow, see the Silk Route page.
At last!
Now you can buy European train tickets at St Pancras...
The Eurostar
ticket office at St Pancras can only sell Eurostar tickets to
Paris, Brussels, and a few other destinations. It has
never been able to provide a proper European train ticketing
service. But now Trains Europe (www.trainseurope.co.uk)
has stepped into the breach and opened a European train
ticketing desk in the East Midlands Trains travel centre at St
Pancras. The new Trains Europe desk can sell train
tickets & railpasses for train journeys almost anywhere in
Europe, and make European seat, couchette & sleeper
reservations. The new desk was opened by travel
journalist & celebrity Simon Calder on 4 June...
New Eurostar
fare structure...
Eurostar has
revised its fare structure from 16 June 2009, and at long last
this now features sensible one-way fares right across its fare
range. The cheapest 2nd class fare remains £59 return to
Paris or Brussels, though the cheapest 1st class fare has
risen. Seat61 will be fully updated to reflect the new
fares over the next few days.
New!
www.eurostar.com now sells tickets to Switzerland...
Eurostar has
teamed up with Lyria, the consortium of the French/Swiss
railways running the Paris-Switzerland high-speed TGV trains,
to offer train tickets from the UK to Switzerland. It
can sell special through fares from London & over 130 key
towns & cities across the UK to key destinations in
Switzerland, including Zurich, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne, Bern,
Montreux. Fares start at £99 return - if the cheapest
fares are available (but note the 'if') this will be the
cheapest way to buy train tickets to Switzerland.
However, experience suggests that the number of cheap tickets
made available in the reservation system will be crucial.
If it's anything like London-Amsterdam, it will often still be
cheaper to use
www.raileurope.co.uk and add a cheap London-Paris ticket
to a cheap Paris-Switzerland ticket (which also gives you the
flexibility to stop over in Paris). My advice is to
check both systems!
RailJet, and
where to eat before boarding your sleeper to Germany...
A trip from
London to Budapest & back courtesy of Deutsche Bahn's UK
office has allowed me to experience the superb new RailJet
train linking Munich, Vienna & Budapest. Photos &
information about this train now appear on the Austria,
Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece & Turkey pages, along with
many other snippets of useful information gleaned from the
trip. I can recommend dinner at the Brasserie Terminus
Nord just across the road from the Gare du Nord in Paris
before boarding your sleeper to Germany, and how about the
typically Bavarian Mongdratzerl restaurant for breakfast on
arrival in Munich, located in Munich hauptbahnhof itself.
Daily
Hanoi-Halong tourist train starts in Vietnam...
The
Vietnam page now includes details of
a new daily train aimed at both Vietnamese and overseas
tourists, between Hanoi & Halong for the beautiful Halong Bay.
No more
'Flandres Riviera' Lille-Nice overnight train...
French Railways
SNCF have announced that the Lille-Nice overnight sleeper
train will not now run this summer, or for that matter ever
again. It was so handy for travellers from the UK, even
though it had become a summer-only seasonal train for some
years. UK passengers wanting to save time over daytime
travel on high-speed TGVs will now need to travel via Paris,
using the all-year-round 'Train Bleu' sleeper train from Paris
to Cannes, Nice & Monaco.
Easier planning
& booking for the Trans-Siberian Railway...
The
Trans-Siberian page now
includes a 'widget' linking to Real Russia's innovative
Trans-Siberian trip planner. This allows travellers to
plan & book a Trans-Siberian journey any of the three routes,
eastbound or westbound, with stopovers wherever they like for
as long as they like, ordering tickets all in one transaction.
At last: A
new Night Riviera sleeper page
all about the overnight train from London to Cornwall...
I've lost count
of the emails I've received asking me why I haven't covered
the 'Night Riviera' sleeper to Cornwall as well as the
better-know Caledonian Sleepers to Scotland. Well,
thanks to a trip provided courtesy of First Great Western,
I've been able to research that sleeper service and give it
its own page. The page includes not only train times,
fares & information for the sleeper, but information about
branch line connections to places like St Ives, Falmouth &
Newquay, and bus & ferry connections to Land's End, the Eden
project and even the Isles of Scilly. I hope you find it
useful the next time you plan to visit Cornwall...
Seat61 Facebook page...
Following
suggestions from visitors (and not least my wife Nicolette, a
Facebook regular) I've created a
Seat61 page on Facebook. It might make it easier to
keep up with developments and share the site with your
friends...
New credit card
fees & postage fees at Rail Europe...
The credit crunch
is biting, and the various European railways have reduced the
commission they pay to ticketing agencies.
As a result,
www.raileurope.co.uk
has now imposed a £1.95 postage fee and 2% credit card
fee, although they can be avoided by collecting tickets at the
station and by using a debit card. Or indeed, avoided by
using French Railways own website instead,
www.voyages-sncf.com. Ironically, SNCF will send
tickets from France to the UK for free (with no credit card
fee, either) whilst its own UK subsidiary charges £1.95 to
send them out from its office in Kent. Yes, really!
Why not by-pass
London? Scotland, north of England & East Anglia to
Europe...
You can of course
take a train up to London and head to the Continent on
Eurostar. But if you live in Scotland, the north of
England or East Anglia, why not by-pass London by taking a
cruise ferry overnight from Harwich, Hull or Newcastle to
Holland, then a direct train from Amsterdam to Zurich, Warsaw,
Moscow, Prague, Milan, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna etc.?
I've added details of how to do this to the Netherlands,
Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, Russia & Switzerland pages.
City Night Line
sleeper trains...
A recent trip to
Prague, courtesy of DB's UK office, has allowed me to improve
the information about travelling on these excellent trains,
with more pictures too. See
www.seat61.com/citynightline.htm. The Czech page has
been revised with more pictures, information & advice about
visiting Prague by train, with not a flight in sight.
Norfolkline's
new ferry: £5 fare (plus £255 for the cheapest cabin,
please)...
Norfolkline's new
overnight ferry from Edinburgh (Rosyth) to Zeebrugge starts
soon, and it's good to know it will now carry foot passengers
as well as freight and motorists. A recent test booking
produced a fare of just £5 and initially appeared to show a
(not unreasonable) cabin cost of £65 for sole occupancy.
But on proceeding, a mysterious cabin surcharge was added,
totalling £255. I thought the website was malfunctioning
and I called their telesales line to confirm. Yes,
that'll be £5 for the fare plus a compulsory cabin surcharge
of £255. I'm sure their cabins are very nice, but worth
the same as night at the Ritz? At those prices, a train
ride to Newcastle or Hull then an affordable crossing with
DFDS or P&O remains a better option...
New train service
to Vientiane, Laos...
With the rails
now laid on the Friendship Bridge across the Mekong River from
Thailand into Laos, The overnight Bangkok-Nong Khai train is
due to be extended into Laos this month, to the new station at
Tha Naleng just outside Vientiane. This is the first
railway in Laos.
Details are on the
Thailand page.
250 km/h
high-speed trains now operating in Turkey...
The
Ankara-Eskisehir section of Turkey's new 250 km/h
Istanbul-Ankara high-speed line was opened in early March, and
brand-new high-speed trains now link Eskisehir with Ankara,
with connecting conventional trains between Istanbul &
Eskisehir. When fully completed, Istanbul to Ankara will
take just over 3 hours, even beating airlines. The new
service is shown on the train travel in
Turkey page.
New Turkey-Syria
train service...
A new
twice-weekly overnight train started running in early March
between Mersin & Adana in southern Turkey and Aleppo in Syria.
Details on the Syria page.
However, the weekly Toros Express through sleeping-car between
Istanbul & Aleppo still hasn't resumed following engineering
work on the line, perhaps it will in April or May.
Passenger trains
withdrawn in Botswana & Namibian train service cut back...
Sad news,
Botswana is reverting to third world country status,
withdrawing the overnight Lobatse-Gaborone-Francistown train
as of 1 April 2009, having withdrawn the daytime train in
2006. This leaves Gaborone and most of Botswana without
any passenger trains for the first time in around 100 years.
This follows several minor StarLine passenger train routes in Namibia being withdrawn
from January.
Recently voted
'Best Rail Journey' at the Wanderlust Travel Awards, beating
train journeys in Peru, Switzerland, Canada & Australia, a
recent trip courtesy of ScotRail has allowed a new page to be
added, all about the London-Ft William sleeper (in my opinion,
the best train in Britain) and the superb train journey
through the Scottish highlands up to Mallaig.
"Best Travel
Website" Award at Wanderlust Travel Awards 2009...
Sat61.com has
once more been voted into the top three travel websites (of over
over 600 nominated websites) by readers of Wanderlust Magazine.
I was at the Times Destinations Show at Earl's Court, London,
to received the award on 5 February.
Eurostar back to
full strength from 23 February...
Last year's fire
damage in the Channel Tunnel has finally been repaired, and
the damaged section of the Channel Tunnel is now back in
action. Eurostar introduced a new timetable as from 23
February 2009 to take advantage of this. Most seat61
pages have now been updated to reflect this (as at 24 Feb),
but the last few will be done by 26 Feb.
A recent trip
courtesy of ScotRail has allowed me to update and improve the
Caledonian Sleeper page,
with new photos and information. A 'West Highland Line'
page may follow, recently voted 'Best world rail journey' in
the Wanderlust travel awards 2009, and rightly so.
Helped by a
recent trip to Bourg St Maurice & Les Arcs on the Rail Europe
Snow Train, a new 'Ski by train,
not plane' page has been added, pulling together all the
information for skiers who prefer to enjoy the train rather
than the stress of the plane.
At last, State
Railways of Thailand have dipped their toe in the water with
online ticket sales. Starting 1 Feb 2009, 2nd class
sleepers on a few key trains on a few key routes will be
bookable online, with more to come once the system beds in.
More details and any feedback will be posted on the
Thailand page.
Cancellations in
Australia affecting The Ghan & Indian Pacific...
The economic
tourist downturn has prompted train operator Great Southern
Railway to take the unprecedented step of cancelling many
off-season departures of their Adelaide-Alice-Darwin 'Ghan' &
Sydney-Adelaide-Perth 'Indian Pacific' trains, effectively
reducing them from twice a week to just once a week in the
off-season. Information is now posted for travellers on
the Australia page. At the
time of writing, this vital information is not even posted on
GSR's own official website (which thus still maintains the
fiction that the trains run twice a week all year round), nor
have they apparently issued any press release.
Ready for
2009...
I've now updated
the site for 2009, and all Southampton-New York Queen May 2
sailing dates, Beijing-Hong Kong sleeper train running days,
Venice Simplon Orient Express departure dates,
Vladivostok-Japan ferry sailings and innumerable other vital
details should all now reflect 2009 schedules. If you
find something that I've missed, please let me know!
Daytime train
travel to Europe...
Journeys such as
London to Rome, Copenhagen, Stockholm or Vienna are simply too
far to go in one day. Overnight sleepers are the
traditional, time-effective way to reach these places, but
some people prefer daytime train travel and would rather stop
overnight in a hotel. I've now added daytime travel
options with an overnight stop at a suitable location from the
UK to key destinations in Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark
& Sweden.
Currency
fluctuations...
With the pound
going from £1=$2 to £1=$1.6 in a matter of weeks, and sliding
from 1.40 euro to a ridiculous 1.1 euro, I've given up trying
to keep pace with the latest currency fluctuations.
Treat quoted exchange rates as a rough guide and use the link
to xe.com to check the latest rates.
European
timetable change 14 December 2008
All European
timetables changed on 14 December 2008, and Seat 61 has now
been updated to reflect the new times. The biggest
change affecting UK travellers is the revamp of the City Night
Line sleeper trains between Paris & Berlin, Paris & Hamburg,
Paris & Munich. Thanks to high track access charges
levied by Belgian Railways, German Railways (who own & operate
City Night Line sleeper trains) have diverted their
Paris-Berlin service to avoid Belgium. UK travellers can
no longer leave London after 18:00 and pick up the sleeper to
Berlin in Brussels, they must leave London at 15:00 and travel
via Paris. The sleeper to Hamburg sleeper is withdrawn
completely, although Paris-Hamburg passengers can travel
overnight Paris-Hanover and change at Hanover for Hamburg.
That's a long way round from the UK, however! The
Paris-Munich sleeper now runs combined with the Paris-Berlin
sleeper as far as Mannheim, so it has to leave Paris earlier,
necessitating a 15:00 departure from London rather than 17:35.
In addition, as the economic situation bites, the Paris-Berlin
& Paris-Munich sleeper trains will no longer run daily all
year, but daily March-November and on 4 peak days a week
outside that period. Not good news, and well done
Belgian Railways, you've lost the revenue but probably saved
nothing, so everybody loses! On the plus side, the
Paris-Munich sleeper now makes an earlier connection in Munich
for Zagreb, and a safe connection in each direction to/from
Vienna & Budapest. It therefore becomes the most logical
route for travellers from London or Paris to Istanbul or
Athens, and the Turkey and Greece pages (as well as the
Romania & Bulgaria pages) now show the route via the
Paris-Munich sleeper as the recommended option.
Also affected are
the Amsterdam-Munich & Amsterdam-Switzerland City Night Line
sleepers, which also go down to 4 times a week outside the
core March-November season. The
Amsterdam-Cologne-Vienna/Milan sleeper becomes 3 times a week
Amsterdam-Cologne-Vienna/Milan and 4 times a week
Dortmund-Cologne-Vienna/Milan. At least it's still daily
between Cologne & Vienna!
Unconnected with
City Night Line, but also affected by the economic downturn,
the Paris-Madrid trenhotel sleeper train which has run daily
since 1981, drops it's Monday & Tuesday departures from Paris
& Tues/Wed departures from Madrid until the busier season
starts in March. A daily alternative is available, using
sleeper train Paris to the Spanish frontier and a daytime
high-speed train on to Madrid. This is now shown on the
UK to Spain page.
Seat61.com
updating for European timetable change, 14 December...
All European
railways change their timetables in mid-December and mid-June,
and seat61 pages are now being updated on by one to reflect
the new Dec 2008 to June 2009 timetable. Some internal
train times within places such as Spain or Italy won't be
fully updated until early December, so please bear with me and
use online systems to double-check times if need be.
Seat61 wins 'Best
Travel Website' at the Guardian & Observer Travel Awards
2008
I travelled to
Fes in Morocco last week (by train and
ferry, naturally, allowing me to update that page of the
site!) for the Guardian & Observer Travel Awards. I'm
absolutely delighted that seat61.com has won the 'Best Travel
Website' award for 2008. Eurostar was voted 'Best Train
Company', too...
Channel Tunnel
/ Eurostar update:
With two-thirds
of the northern rail tunnel back in action, Eurostar are
running 93% of their normal service levels, but a revised
timetable will apply from 1 October to 13 December (and
possibly beyond this). All seat61 pages have now been
updated to reflect the new Eurostar timetable.
More information on the
Eurostar/Channel Tunnel situation here.
Channel Tunnel
damaged by fire:
Eurostar services
will remain disrupted until 26 September, while the damage is
repaired, see
www.eurostar.com for the latest update. Normal
service is expected from the beginning of October.
Ferry cutbacks...
Sadly, two ferry services bite the dust this September,
victims of high fuel costs an budget airlines. DFDS
withdraws it's ferry service between the UK and Norway,
leaving no regular ferries at all between the UK and anywhere
north of Denmark after hundreds of years of maritime links
between these countries. Superfast withdraws its
Rosyth-Zeebrugge service. In addition, Tallink has
reduced the daily Germany-Helsinki service to 4 times a week.
The Estonia & Finland pages have now been updated to reflect
this, and recommend the daily London-Helsinki service taking
just 2 nights via Copenhagen, Stockholm & Turku.
Re-routing of Paris-Berlin sleeper & withdrawal of
Paris/Brussels-Hamburg sleeper, from Dec 2008
Allegedly due to unreasonably high haulage & infrastructure
charges imposed by Belgian Railways (SNCB), German Railways is
diverting it's Paris/Brussels-Berlin City Night Line sleeper
via Mannheim from the timetable change on 14 December, and it
will no longer serve Brussels. UK travellers will need
to leave London slightly earlier and pick up the sleeper to
Berlin in Paris, rather than late at night in Brussels (in
some ways a nicer option!). The Paris/Brussels-Hamburg
sleeper is being withdrawn, UK travellers will need to use
daytime trains between London & Hamburg. So, well done
to Belgian National Railways for torpedoing EU international
links - Perhaps the EU should move to Cologne, rather than
being stick at the end of a branch line in Brussels!
Sicily by ferry...
The options to travel from the UK to Sicily using an overnight
cruise ferry from Genoa or Naples have been added to the Italy
page, following an emailed suggestion.
French Motorail, Calais to the South of France...
This
is a painless way to get you, your family, your car and all
your luggage from the UK down to the South of France.
Following a recent trip, the Motorail
page has been updated with information and photos showing
what to expect, and how the service works. A new map
shows European motorail routes and connecting ferry lines of
interest to UK travellers.
UK to Corsica by train & ferry?...
Why
not, it's a wonderful way to get there! Following a
recent trip, improved information and pictures have been
provided for this journey, see
the UK-Corsica section on the France page.
Free WiFi at St Pancras International...
Eurostar have now installed free WiFi throughout St Pancras
International station. You can now connect to the net
free of charge with your laptop, in the departure lounge or
anywhere else in the station, whether you're travelling first
class or standard class. Full marks to Eurostar!
Railtours Ireland - Short breaks to Ireland, without flying...
At last, a company called Railtours Ireland (www.railtoursireland.com)
has started offering short breaks to Dublin and key
attractions all over Ireland, by train & ferry instead of
flying. They offer tours departing London Euston station
at 9am every weekday arriving Dublin around 6pm, with 2 nights
hotel in Dublin. You can combine this with tours
to the Giant's Causeway or Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney
stone, and much more.
See the Ireland page.
Rail Europe now offering 'ticket on departure'...
Until recently, you couldn't book train travel to Europe at
www.raileurope.co.uk
if you were planning to leave in less than 7 days time, as
there wasn't time to send out your tickets. However, you
can now choose to collect tickets on departure, using the
self-service machines at St Pancras in London, or (if your
journey starts in France) from any main French station.
This means you can book today and leave tomorrow if you like,
a significant improvement.
"The Man in Seat Sixty-One" book is published..!
I've written an essential handbook for train travel from the
UK into Europe, based on this website, published by Bantam
Press on 30 June. It's available now from
Amazon.co.uk. I hope you like it!
New page: Rocky Mountaineer...
After a quick canter around the Canadian Rockies on the Rocky
Mountaineer Fraser Discover, Kicking Horse & Whistler
Mountaineer routes, I've put together a
Rocky Mountaineer page to
complete the Seat61 Canada page. I've also revamped the
Canada page, with larger photos. The Rocky Mountaineer
page is intended to complement the official Rocky Mountaineer
site, helping you choose the best route, decide whether to
travel Red Leaf or go for Gold Leaf Service, and understand
what you're likely to see from the train.
New European timetable
The new June-December 2008 timetable brings very few real
changes, except the surprise withdrawal of the Nice-Rome &
Nice-Venice overnight sleeper trains, which have been in the
timetable for over a century. Obviously, nothing is
sacred! This is no high-speed route where faster daytime
trains make sleepers obsolete - the alternative is a 10-hour
daytime journey from Nice to Rome with a change of train.
You clearly can't leave anything to the Italians...
Ferries disappearing...
More sad news is just in that both the Superfast Ferries
Edinburgh-Zeebrugge and the DFDS Seaways Newcastle-Norway
ferry services will close for good in September. This
leaves no ferry from the UK to either Norway or Sweden, after
over a hundred years. The alternative to Norway is now a
round-about train journey via Brussels, Cologne and
Copenhagen.
Now train travel within these two popular European countries
is covered, with step-by-step instructions on how to buy
tickets cheaply direct from the relevant operator's website.
Hopefully, Spain will follow...
'The Man in Seat 61' book is on its way...
I've now written a book based on this site, which is due to be
published by the Bantam Press on 30 June 2008. It's an
essential handbook for train travel from the UK to Europe,
with all the tips, resources, suggested routes, train times,
how to buy tickets and approximate fares, but in convenient
printed 'browse-in-your-armchair' form.
You can pre-order it at Amazon.co.uk. A second book,
this time on worldwide rail travel, is due out next year.
New online booking system at Rail Europe UK...
The team at Rail Europe (www.raileurope.co.uk)
have been getting as fed up as you have with the unreliability
and quirks of the French Railways (SNCF) online booking
system. So they told SNCF (which happens to be
their parent company) that they are breaking away and creating
their own system. The new system went 'live' on Monday
21 April 2008, and it's now easier to use, more reliable, and
more capable, booking more trains on more routes in more
countries than the old SNCF system. It's a huge
improvement, making European train travel much simpler to book
for us Brits!
London to Dhaka overland, anyone...?
There have been several news articles lately about train
travel from Europe to India or even Bangladesh, prompted by
Calcutta-Dhaka trains resuming after 40 years and the planned
completion later this year of the final gap in the rails
between Bam and Zahedan in southeast Iran. It's true, if
and when the Bam-Zahedan section is finally completed (it's
been allegedly "under construction" for decades) the rails
will indeed stretch all the way from St Pancras to Dhaka, with
just a mile or two gap across the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
Such a two- or three-week trip should not be undertaken
lightly, as it will take a lot of D.I.Y. organisation with all
the bureaucracy involved in getting an Iranian visa, and there
are security concerns with bandit attacks in southeast Iran.
But if you want to try it, see
the new Europe-India overland page.
It's been asked for several times, so here it is, a page with
information for train travel within Namibia on its 'StarLine'
passenger trains and the tourist-orientated Desert Express,
and for train/bus travel between Namibia and South Africa,
Zimbabwe & Zambia.
Take your bike on Eurostar...
At last, from 7 April 2008 you'll be able to call Eurostar and
pre-book one of their bicycle spaces on the same train as you
from London to Paris, Lille or Brussels, for £20 each way.
A major improvement over the previous two options, either
dismantling your bike and putting it in a bike bag, or sending
it as registered luggage when they won't guarantee it will be
avaiolable for collection until 24 hours after you check it
in! See the bicycle
section on the Europe page.
Half a million visitors....
January saw over 500,000 visitors to seat61 for the first
time.
Up the Jungfrau: Altitude 11,333 feet by train...
There's now a short section on Europe's highest railway, the
famous Jungfraubahn up the North Face of the Eiger to the
Jungfraujoch, just below the Jungfrau summit.
See the new
Jungfrau section on the Switzerland page.
Better photos & information for City Night Line sleeper
trains...
A
recent trip to Switzerland aboard the City Night Line
'Pegasus' has allowed me to improve the photos of the
couchettes and double-decker sleeping cars used on all the
City Night Line sleeper trains, not just on the
Austria &
Germany pages, but on the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Romania, Denmark, Greece & Turkey pages.
New Eurostar through fares from 68 UK towns & cities...
You can now book through fares from 68 UK towns & cities to
Paris, Lille or Brussels online at
www.eurostar.com. This makes it both easier and
cheaper to travel by train from outside London into Europe.
And if your UK train arrives at Euston, Kings Cross or St
Pancras, interchange with Eurostar is easy, you don't even
need the Underground or bus or a taxi.
New timetable from 9 Dec 2007...
A new Europe-wide timetable was introduced on 9 December.
A highlight is that a whole range of overnight trains from
Germany to Prague, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Moscow & Vienna have
been extended to start in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is now
better connected to the rest of Europe by train than it has
been in years. DB Nachtzug (German Railways sleeper
trains) and CityNightLine (German-owned operator of
international night trains crossing Germany) have merged and
been re-branded as City Night Line. They offer amongst
the best night trains in Europe, so this is good news indeed.
Eurostar in big switch to St Pancras on 14 November...
The
very last Eurostar left London's Waterloo station on 13
November. On 14 November, the new St Pancras
International station opened, along with the final section of
UK high-speed line that has shaved another 20 minutes off the
London-Paris and London-Brussels journey times. Journey
time to Paris are now as little as 2 hours 15 minutes, to
Brussels just 1 hour 51 minutes. The Man in Seat
Sixty-One was on board that first commercial Eurostar to
Paris, the 12:30 on 14 November, naturally in seat 61 (car 8).
Information about
the move to St Pancras & new timetable on the Eurostar website.
Click here for a .PDF format timetable for the new Eurostar service from
November 2007 to July 2008.
Seat61 has now been updated to show the new Eurostar service
from St Pancras, and photos showing the breathtaking new St
Pancras International station now feature on the
Eurostar page. Most
European pages have also been updated to show the new Dec 2007
to July 2008 timetable, and remaining pages will updated
shortly.
New
through fares from UK towns & cities to Paris & Brussels...
At
long last, Eurostar are arranging through fares from many UK
towns & cities to Paris & Brussels, in conjunction with the UK
train operators. From 14 November, these can be bought
from Eurostar's telesales line on 0870 5 186
186 to buy these through tickets, but from December 2007
they should be available online at
www.eurostar.com.
Click here to see the range of UK places served by the new
through tickets, and cheapest prices.
New
Eurostar one-way fares...
One-way fares for Eurostar have always been a problem, with
cheap returns starting at £59, but official one-way fares
costing £155. At long last, Eurostar has introduced a
trial £44 one-way fare, at least on a trial basis, for
journeys from January until May 2008. Keeping up with
the best dodges to get affordable one-way fares has been an
effort! Advice on one-way
Eurostar fares.
Improved France page...
Travel broadens the mind, and it also means better information
for seat61.com... A recent trip to Nice has allowed the
France page to be updated, with better TGV information
including illustrations of the impressive double-decker TGV
Duplex, information about changing trains at Lille Europe, a
better account of the TGV journey to the South of France, and
info on extra destinations such as St Tropez, Villefranche sur
Mer, Beaulieu sur Mer.
Amsterdam better connected from December...
Long-distance international trains to/from Amsterdam were cut
back a year or two ago, but German Railways is bringing them
back with a vengeance. DB will extend the Cologne-Vienna, Cologne-Prague,
Cologne-Milan, Cologne-Copenhagen and even the Polish Cologne-Warsaw/Moscow sleeper
trains to start/finish in Amsterdam, as from 9 December 2007.
Changes to German sleeper trains from December...
From the timetable change on 9 December, German Railways 'DB
Nachtzug' sleeper trains and CityNightLine sleeper trains (in
which DB is the major shareholder) will be combined under the
brand 'City Night Line'. A key change to reservation
arrangements is that it will no longer be possible for solo
travellers to book individual berths in a 2 or 3 bed sleeper
compartment and share with other passengers of the same sex.
Solo passengers will only be able to book a single-bed
sleeper, or trade down to couchettes (in which passengers will
still be able to book berths in shared 4 & 6-berth
compartments). This will include DB's international
sleepers from Paris & Brussels to Hamburg & Berlin, and from
Paris to Munich.
New seat61 guestbook...
The original seat61 guestbook provider decided to withdraw its
guestbook service, so I've switched to another provider.
It hasn't been possible to transfer the existing guestbook
entries, so it means starting a new guestbook from scratch.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed over the last few
years.
Link to the new guestbook.
Link to the old guestbook.
New destinations...
London to Santiago de Compostela, Vigo and A Coruña have been
added to the Spain page. London to Ravenna and Modena
have been added to the Italy page. If there are other
key tourist destinations that you think could usefully be
shown on seat61.com,
let me know!
Christmas train bookings...
As usual, the normal 90 day advance booking period is squeezed
to just two months before the timetable change on 9 December,
just as people want to book trains for Christmas.
Reservations for trains within France and from Paris to Spain,
Switzerland and Italy for the period 9 December 2007 to 22
January 2008 should now open on 11 October. Bookings for
this period within or via Germany should open on 1 November.
Just remember that no-one else can book before bookings open,
either!
Improved and updated Italy page...
As the first benefit of running seat61 full-time, I've been
able to hop on a train down to Italy for a quick trip to
Florence, Siena and Rome. The London
to Italy page has now been revised, with new photos and
updated information about the 'Artesia' overnight trains from
Paris to Italy, as much had changed since the original
information was collated.
Seat61 goes full-time...
Having been run as a hobby, sandwiched between a day job and
busy home life, seat61 became a full time job on 18 September.
This should at last give me the time to keep the site properly
updated, and expand it..!
Over 405,000 visitors in July...
Another record broken!
New hotel booking system...
HotelsCombined.com searches all the major hotel booking
websites, so you don't have to. Not only this, but at
last there's a booking site that actually features many of my
own favourite historic/atmospheric hotels, such as the Pera Palas
in Istanbul, Windamere in Darjeeling, Continental Hotel in
Saigon, Strand Hotel in Rangoon, Raffles in Singapore
- although the Baron's Hotel in Aleppo has yet to be added!
I've recently tried it out myself to arrange hotels in Italy,
and I've been sufficiently impressed to add a
hotel booking page.
New:
Seat61 Ferry Shop...
Seat61 now includes a Ferry Shop,
where you can book almost any UK or European ferry route and
operator, all in one place. Great for comparing
operators, or finding out what ferry routes go where.
However, Seat61 will continue
to show the ferry operators' own website addresses, and you
can book through either.
New
page: Glacier Express, Switzerland's most scenic train
ride...
The
new Glacier Express page sets out all you need to know about
Switzerland's most scenic train journey, with times, fares,
photos and an account of the trip.
Train & ferry passengers increase as passengers switch from
flights...
Eurostar have announced that the number of passengers
travelling by train to destinations beyond Paris such as
Perpignan, Bordeaux, Marseille and Nice increased by a
staggering 39% in 2006, as people switched from flights.
DFDS Seaways have just announced that ferry passengers from
the UK to Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands are up 17% on
last year, as people switch from flying. Virgin Trains
have reported a 55% increase in train ticket sales between
London & Glasgow in 2006/7, as air travel between those cities
fell for the first time in years. Both environmental
pressures and the sheer hassle and frustration of modern
short-haul air travel seem to be driving this trend...
New Calcutta-Dhaka train service...
A trial run with officials has been completed successfully,
and direct Calcutta-Dhaka train service is due to start in
late August or September 2007. When known, details will be
posted on the Bangladesh page.
New Zealand page updated, extended and improved...
A trip to New Zealand in May has allowed a major update and
expansion of the New Zealand page, with information on the
superb train journeys between Auckland, Wellington,
Christchurch and Greymouth, and bus connections to Dunedin,
Invercargill and Queenstown.
New European Timetable from 9 June 2007...
European railway timetables change on 9 June. All the
seat61 European pages are now being updated, please bear with
me. A major change is the opening of TGV-Est, with new
high speed trains between Paris and Strasbourg, Basel, Zurich,
Luxembourg, Stuttgart, Munich and Frankfurt. A major
downside is the withdrawal of the Paris-Vienna,
Paris-Frankfurt and Paris-Zurich sleeper trains.
New Tallinn-St Petersburg train...
The
Tallinn-St Petersburg sleeper train was withdrawn in 2004, a
victim of bus competition. But a new daily daytime train
is due to start from 31 March 2007, with competitive timings
and a fare of 350 kroons (£15).
Seat61.com wins "Best Travel Website" in Wanderlust Travel
Awards 2007...
The
Man in Seat Sixty-One has been voted "Top Travel Website" by
readers of
Wanderlust Magazine in the prestigious Wanderlust Travel
Awards 2007. I'm delighted that the site has been
recognised in such a high-profile way, and am very grateful
indeed for everyone who voted for the site. I'm
also delighted that the results seem to show a
remarkable shift in the way people are thinking about their
travel. In last year's Wanderlust awards, four airlines
featured in the list of top ten best travel websites.
This year Seat61 is in first place, followed by the (in my
opinion, at any rate!) attractive and imaginatively-written
Eurostar.com in second place. Only one airline (Flybe.com)
now makes it into the list, at number 10. Could the
shape of travel really be changing towards more
environmentally-sound and rewarding ways to go..? I hope
so..!
Record 364,000 visitors to Seat61.com in January...
Easily a record, beating the previous best (267,000 in a
month) by a huge margin. The most popular pages are (in
descending order of popularity) the home page, London to
Europe general information page, London to Italy page, UK
travel page, Train
travel in China page, Train Travel in Malaysia page, Train Travel in India page,
Trans-Siberian page, Train
Travel in Thailand page, London to Spain page, London to
France page, London to the Netherlands page, London to Germany
page.
Travelling to Europe from somewhere other than London?
The UK to Europe page
now offers advice for buying special UK train tickets to
connect with Eurostar if your journey starts from a UK town or
city other than London. Special Saver fares to a
destination called 'London International CIV' allow you to
travel at the affordable Saver rate, with no time restrictions
even on Monday-Friday mornings, if you're connecting with a
Eurostar or rail+sea ticket via Harwich-Hoek. Other
options are featured, such as direct cruise ferries from
Plymouth, Poole or Portsmouth to France followed by a domestic
French train to Paris, or using direct ferries from Scotland
or the north of England to Europe, such as the overnight
cruise ferries from Edinburgh to Zeebrugge, Hull to Rotterdam
or Newcastle to Amsterdam.
Helsinki or Tallinn, anyone..?
The Finland and Estonia pages have been extended to show the
option of travelling by Eurostar and sleeper train to
Berlin, then via the direct Superfast Ferry from Rostock in
northern Germany to Helsinki and Tallinn. The ferry has
cabins, bars, restaurants, even a health club with sauna and
jacuzzis. This non-flying thing is hell, isn't it..?
Eurostar goes from strength to strength...
Eurostar have announced that the punctuality of their
London-Paris and London-Brussels trains reached an all-time
high of 91.5% on time or within 15 minutes during 2006.
This compares with typical performance of 70%-79% on time or
within 15 minutes for competing short haul airlines.
Eurostar carried 28% more passengers in 2006 than in the 12
months before the first section of UK high-speed line opened, and
after the first 11 months of 2006 had cornered 69% of the
London-Paris air/rail market. With Heathrow closed due
to fog in December, this is likely to exceed 70% for the whole
year. Eurostar are now
looking at how to capitalise on the move to St Pancras in
November 2007, when journey time will be cut to 2 hours flat,
London to Paris. Better through booking from UK cities,
and better through booking to destinations such as Amsterdam
and Cologne are also being looked at. A London-Amsterdam
journey time of 4 hours 10 minutes (city centre to city
centre) is only a couple of years away. Eurostar now
think that with airline security problems, extended check-ins
and lower on-time performance, train can compete head-on with
air travel for journeys of up to 4 hours or so. Eurostar
have also announced their best ever skiing season, with
bookings for the direct ski train to the Alps up 43%.
TGV Est opens June 2007...
The new TGV Est high-speed line will open on 10 June 2007,
slashing Paris-Strasbourg journey time from 4 hours to just 2
hours.
It will also slash Paris-Basel journey time from 5 hours to
3.5 hours, and Paris-Stuttgart to 3.5 hours too. Advance
train times are now shown in the relevant sections on the
London-Switzerland and London-Germany pages. Sadly, the
new TGV services mean the demise of both the Paris-Vienna
'Orient Express' sleeper, the Paris-Frankfurt sleeper, and the
Paris-Zurich-Chur sleeper.
Seat 61 shortlisted for "Best Travel Website", Wanderlust
Magazine Travel Awards...
Coming soon after winning 'Best Personal Contribution' in the
Responsible Travel Awards 2006, Seat61.com has been
shortlisted for the category of 'Best Travel Website' in the
annual travel awards run by Wanderlust Magazine, based on
votes by Wanderlust readers. The winner will be
announced at The Times Travel Destinations Show, Earl's Court,
London, on 1 February. Fingers crossed! I'm
delighted the site has been shortlisted, and I'm very grateful
to everyone who voted for seat61.
UK to Spain, by trainhotel...
A week in Spain allowed my wife and I (and 8 month old Nate)
to sample Gran Classe on the excellent Trainhotel from Paris
to Madrid. Gran Classe features 2-berth rooms with
private shower and toilet, evening meal with wine and
breakfast included, for a fare of £107 per person each way.
There really is no better way to travel to Spain. The
London to Spain page has now been
updated with illustrations and information about train travel
from the UK to Spain.
In our case, taking Eurostar and the trainhotel to Spain was
not only more relaxing than flying, it was actually faster.
On the day we left London, Heathrow was fogged in and all
flights were cancelled. We reached Seville by train from
London 6 minutes ahead of schedule and ahead of most air
passengers, a modern day case of the tortoise and the hare.
And we still have all our luggage!
New timetables across Europe from 10 Dec 2006
Pages are now being updated for the new timetables starting on
10 December in all European countries. There are no
major changes to report, though significant changes are
expected at the next timetable change in June 2007, when the
new TGV-Est high-speed line opens between Paris and
Strasbourg. This will allow new high-speed services
between Paris and Basel, Zurich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt &
Munich. The downside is the planned withdrawal of the
Orient Express Paris-Vienna sleeper train, and the
Paris-Zurich-Chur sleeper train. 2007 could be the year
when the name 'Orient Express' really does disappear from the
timetables...
New seat61 'Rail Shop' to sell railpasses and world train
travel...
Seat61 has teamed up with International Rail to provide the
Seat61 RailShop, for easy online access to European
railpasses and tickets, and railpasses for the USA, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand and Japan. At present, there is
only a UK-based railshop, but similar railshops for residents
of North America and residents of Australia are planned.
Travel from London to Germany
can now be booked online...
At
last, the
Eurostar website now allows online booking from London
to Cologne. As the
German
Railways website already allows easy online booking of
trains onwards from Cologne to any destination in Germany,
it's suddenly become possible to book daytime trains from
London to anywhere in Germany online. See the
London to Germany page for details.
New routes and destinations for the London-France page...
The
London to France page has been updated and improved, with
train times added for London-Nice or London-Marseille via
Paris, and for London to Limoges, Brive and Toulouse.
Seat61 wins "Best personal contribution" in the Responsible
Tourism Awards 2006...
I'm delighted (and still stunned) that seat61.com is this
year's winner in the 'Best personal contribution' category in
the
First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards 2006, sponsored by ResponsibleTravel.com, The Times newspaper and Geographical
Magazine. The winners were announced at the World Travel
Market event at London's Excel exhibition centre on 8
November. Thank you to everyone who nominated
seat61.com.
New webhosting provider...
Webhosting for Seat61 is now provided courtesy of Ultraspeed.
Seat61 was switched to the new servers on 19 November, and the
new hosting service should make the site more reliable.
Some emails may not have got through during the changeover
period, I apologise if you haven't had a response, please try
again now.
Seat61.com shortlisted for the First Choice Responsible
Tourism Awards 2006...
This website has been shortlisted for an award in the First
Choice Responsible Tourism Awards 2006, sponsored by First
Choice holidays, The Times newspaper and Geographical
magazine. The award ceremony will be held at the World
Travel Market exhibition at Excel in London's docklands on 8
November. Fingers crossed..!
Shosholoza Meyl re-instate sleeping-cars to East London,
Messina, Komatipoort...
In July, South Africa's Shosholoza Meyl passenger trains were
split into two types. Some routes (Johannesburg to Cape
Town, Durban & Port Elizabeth) got a Tourist class train with
sleepers and restaurant plus a separate Economy class train
with economy seats. Other routes (such as Johannesburg
to East London, Komatipoort & Messina) just got an economy
class train with seats, ending all civilised sleeper service
to these destinations. It's good to report that
Shosholoza Meyl have seen the error of their ways and will
reinstate sleepers on these routes from 1 November 2006.
Major rescheduling of trains in Burma (Myanmar)
All mainline trains between Rangoon and Mandalay have been
rescheduled to run by day rather than overnight as before.
The new times are now shown on the Burma
page, thanks to Sanay Travel of Rangoon. It's not
clear whether this is permanent or temporary. It's also
now been confirmed that the Thanlwin bridge is open to train
traffic and the new Moulmein station is now open. Trains
are now running direct Rangoon to Moulmein, previously the
railway terminated at Moatama for a ferry across the river.
Irish Ferries & Stena Line reschedule Holyhead-Dublin ferries...
Irish Ferries has changed its sailing schedule between
Holyhead and Dublin, and the London to Dublin timetable on the
Ireland page has now been revised to reflect this. With
Stena Line now offering only one 'HSS' service a day and none
on Sundays, Irish Ferries is now easily the best choice to
Dublin, and it now comes before Stena Line on that page with
its Ulysses cruise ferry and Dublin Swift fast ferry both
offering daily rail connected sailings. Stena Line has
also made a 30 minute change to one of it's sailings.
Taftan Express Iran-Pakistan suspended...
You can travel all the way from London to Bombay by train,
with just a short gap at Istanbul (where you cross the
Bosphorus by ferry) and in Iran where there's still a gap in
the rail network between Kerman and Zahedan.
Unfortunately, it's been reported that the gap has just got
bigger. The twice-monthly 'Taftan Express' from Zahedan
in Iran to Quetta in Pakistan has been suspended because of
repeated bomb attacks on the line. Buses remain
available as an alternative.
Web hosting problems...
I changed web hosts in August, switching seat61.com from
shared hosting to a Virtual Personal Server with a UK IP
address at interhost.co.uk. The good news is that Google
now knows that seat61 is a UK site, so it shows up in searches
for 'UK sites only'. The bad news is that I've had some
downtime problems in the month since then, including an outage
all afternoon on Sunday 24 September and the site going down
for brief periods on several other occasions. I'm
keeping an eye on the site and contacting InterHost.co.uk as
soon as I see a problem, but please bear with me. If the
site disappears, it won't be permanent, seat61 will be back as
soon as I can get the problem sorted. If the problems
persist, I will need to rehost again. Note that if the
site goes down, my email goes down with it..!
Good news: The Auckland-Wellington "Overlander"
reprieved at the eleventh hour...
New Zealand's "Overlander" train between Auckland and
Wellington has been reprieved at the eleventh hour, within
days of its intended closure. All train service between
NZ's two most important cities was due to cease on 30
September 2006 with the withdrawal of this last remaining
train. Such was public support that the service has been
saved, albeit running 3 times a week in the off-season, daily
during the Christmas, Easter and summer high-season periods.
Details on the New Zealand page.
Photos of the wonderful new train journey to Tibet...
Many thanks to Keith Crane for allowing use of some excellent
photos from his recent trip on the
train to Lhasa.
DFDS Seaways closes Newcastle-Gothenburg ferry service...
Sadly, DFDS is closing down its long-standing
Newcastle-Kristiansand-Gothenburg ferry service in early
November. DFDS has bought Fjord Line's ship 'Fjord
Norway' and will take over Fjord Line's Newcastle-Norway
service, but this leaves Sweden with no direct ferries to and
from the UK. This is a shame, it would have been far
more sensible to have dropped the Fjord Line route and
maintained a link with both Norway and Sweden, as Gothenburg
is a far more convenient arrival point with direct trains to
Stockholm every hour taking just 3 hours, for onwards ferries
to Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Dumping passengers in
Norway, a difficult train ride away from Stockholm and its
onwards connections, is not helpful and it leaves a nasty hole
in the 'non-flying' European transport network... The
Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Finland pages have been
updated with news of the withdrawal, more information about
alternative routes will be added in due course.
New page: Train travel in Taiwan...
The new seat61 Taiwan page has links
for train information in Taiwan, and details of the ferry
service connecting Taiwan with Japan. If you can help
supply more information or photos to develop this page,
please email me..!
Online booking for trains in Turkey...
Thanks to Philip Dyer-Perry whose Turkish is rather better
than mine, the Train Travel in Turkey
page now features step-by-step instructions for
non-Turkish speakers to use the Turkish-language online
booking system on the TCDD (Turkish Railways) website.
Trains make a great way to get around Turkey cheaply
and in comfort and enjoying the fabulous Turkish
scenery at ground level, and it's now easy to book tickets
online, too.
19,000 visitors in one day...
A new record for a single day was set on 4 September, following articles featuring
seat61 in the Financial Times, Mail on Sunday, Italy's La Republica and an article written by Robert MacPherson
syndicated in Yahoo and papers around the world.
Over 267,000 visitors in August... Airport chaos...
A new record. Last month, China ousted Malaysia as the
most popular page on the site after the home page, almost
certainly driven by people looking for information on the new
line to Tibet. This month, the
London to Italy page went into the lead for the first time
ever, probably driven by UK travellers eager to reach Italy in
spite of the air travel chaos. On Thursday 10 August
when the UK's airports virtually came to a standstill, seat61
received over 12,000 visitors against around 7,000 on a
typical Thursday.
TGV Est opening 2007... Withdrawal of the Orient
Express...
The new TGV Est high speed line from Paris to Strasbourg opens
next year. German ICE trains will link Paris and
Frankfurt in just 3 hours 45, French TGVs will links Paris and
Munich in about 4 hours 45. Two daily trains will link
Paris & Zurich in 4 hours 45. On the down side, the
Paris-Frankfurt sleeper train will cease, and so will the
Paris-Vienna Orient Express, finally
removing this famous name from the timetable after 120 years.
Bad news from New Zealand: No trains from Auckland to
Wellington from 1 October 2006...
The Overlander from Auckland to Wellington is
being withdrawn permanently on 30 September 2006. This
follows the withdrawal of the overnight 'Northerner' last
year, and it means that from 1 October 2006 there will be NO TRAINS AT
ALL between Auckland & Wellington, the two most
important cities in a supposedly developed country. Your
only option is then to be strapped to a seat on a plane or
stuck all day in a bus seat. Perhaps you should visit a
more developed country instead, like Australia..!
New page: Nepal
A new Nepal page now shows information
about train travel from London to Kathmandu, and overland
train/bus travel from Delhi and Varanasi to Kathmandu.
It's not a journey I've yet made myself, so feedback (or
photos) from travellers would be very welcome..!
London-Amsterdam by train+ferry from January 2007...
It's reported that Stena Line will withdraw their
Harwich-Hoek van Holland HSS fast ferry service from Jan
2007, as budget airlines have reduced the number of people
taking their car abroad by ferry. However, they plan
to upgrade their existing daytime and overnight conventional
ship sailings (at present mainly used by cars & freight
vehicles rather than foot passengers). It's not yet
certain whether train+ferry tickets will continue on this
route using the conventional ferries, but hopefully they
will. Details will be shown on the Netherlands page as
soon as they are confirmed.
Thanks to everyone who's helped...
Once again, a big thank you to everyone who's e-mailed me
with updates, travellers' reports and extra information.
It has really helped to keep the site updated for future
travellers.
New Railway to Tibet...
Passenger trains start running from Beijing to Lhasa in Tibet
on 1 July 2006, over the world's highest railway. Fares
start at just $102 for a hard class sleeper, though trains are
booked solid already for the first few months. Details
are now on the China page. A
direct train from Guangzhou to Lhasa is now on the cards for
October.
Seat61 in the papers: The Times, The Guardian
Short travel articles written by yours truly, The Man in Seat
Sixty-One, are due to be published this month in both the
Times and the Guardian travel sections... The Guardian
article is the start of a monthly column.
261,000 visitors in May
A cool quarter million, and a new record.!
European timetable change, 28 May
All European pages are now updated for the May-December
European timetable. Very few major changes have taken
place, although the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof station has now
opened as the main Berlin transport interchange, and all long
distance trains now stop there.
Cape Town-Johannesburg by train...
The hitherto daily 'Trans-Karoo' from Cape Town to
Johannesburg & Pretoria has been cut back to run Cape Town to
Johannesburg only, and the sleepers will run only 4 times a week from July.
But it's still a bargain, at £30-40 one way including
sleeper..! On the positive side, South African railways
have doubled the affordable deluxe 'Premier Classe' service
from Cape Town to Johannesburg from once a week to twice a
week. It is no longer attached to the Trans-Karoo, it
now runs as a separate train in its own right, with increased
passenger capacity and lower fares (from £137/$240 one way
including meals). See the
South Africa page and look for
'Premier Classe'.
Updates....
-
Stena
Line has trimmed back its Monday-Thursday sailings Holyhead to
Dun Laoghaire in Ireland, and the London
to Ireland page has been updated to show this.
However, the London to Ireland page has also
been improved to show the Irish Ferries fast seacat 'Dublin
Swift' as well as their conventional ship sailings, making the
Irish Ferries option probably the better of the two for
London-Dublin journeys, which cost just £24 one way, £48
return.
-
The
Northern Ireland page has
now been updated to show details of the cheaper route via
Holyhead & Dublin. London to Belfast costs just £32.30
one-way, £64.60 return, centre to centre, with unlimited
availability at that price..! London to Londonderry
costs just a couple of pounds more.
-
On
the Train Travel in Thailand page, there's now
better info on the excellent train+ferry service from Bangkok
to Ko Samui, and on ferries to Ko Tao and Ko Phangan.
-
On
the London to Spain page, I've added
times and approximate fares for travelling from London to
Barcelona in a single day. Although not as convenient
and more expensive than the overnight Eurostar+trainhotel
option, some people may prefer daytime travel.
The
Observer's Guide to Rail Travel, Sunday 9 April...
Watch
out for 9 April edition of the Observer, which will feature a
guide to rail travel to Europe written by yours truly, the
Man in Seat Sixty-One...
243,000 visitors in March...
A new
record, and it's still only March - perhaps over 2 million
visitors in 2006? We'll see..! In the meantime,
please keep your feedback coming, as up-to-date information
from recent travellers really helps keep the site updated.
I try to reply to all emails, but it can sometimes be
difficult..!
New
page: Bangladesh
With basic train travel info for
Bangladesh, including Dakha-Chittagong trains.
Feedback from travellers to add to this page would be
particularly welcome.
In the papers this
month...
Seat61 featured in
Lighter
Life magazine,
Adventure Travel Magazine and Cornucopia magazine this month.
Also in 'Rail
Travel' by Ginny McGrath in The Times Online, and on
CNN Online in
Ultimate train journeys - The Orient Express.
New
page: Motorail
People often ask about 'motorail' car-carrying trains in
Europe, so the information has been expanded and given its own
page. A new weekly overnight motorail from Brussels to
Bologna and Alessandria in Italy starts in June this year,
which is bound to be popular.
220,000 visitors in January...
Thanks for everyone's support - January 2006 has been the
busiest month for the site yet. Please keep the feedback
coming in - travellers' reports and suggestions help keep the
site updated. I'd be glad to hear from you..!
New page:
Laos
A new
Laos page has been added, covering
overland travel to Laos, including the rough but scenic Hanoi
to Vientiane bus. Feedback from travellers to add
to this page would be particularly welcome.
1.7 million
visitors in 2005...
It's
been the busiest year since the site started in 2001.
The Malaysia page remains the most popular after the home
page (with Singapore to Bangkok the train trip everyone wants
to make, 1,200 miles in 48 hours for just £35/$50 with
sleepers..!) , with the Rail Travel to Europe page next, then Thailand,
Trans-Siberian, France, India, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and
Russia.
Timetable update...
European pages have now been updated for the new timetable
that came into effect in all European countries on 11
December.
Syria and Jordan
A few
extra photos have been added to the Syria
and Jordan pages to show some of the
sights that can be seen there.
172,000
visitors in October...
A new record, up from 159,000 in September, but in a month
where summer travel season should be over. Top page
after the home page is Malaysia, then Thailand, France, India,
Europe, Trans-Siberian, China, Italy, Netherlands, Spain,
Australia... The least-visited pages are Botswana,
Moldova, Andorra, Gibraltar, Malta and Iceland...
New page: Sri
Lanka
By popular demand, a page about train
travel in Sri Lanka has been added. It features
train times for the most popular Colombo-Kandy route and links
to other sites for more information. Comments and help
with developing this page would be very welcome.
New page:
Pakistan
Also by popular demand, a page about train
travel in Pakistan has been added, with basic information,
train times for key routes.
Google Adsense...
I've added some Google-generated adverts to most pages on the
site to help fund both site costs and to support the
travelling that generates the information. The site
remains a hobby, and I hope the ads aren't too obtrusive.
This site has always been provided free to travellers to help
and inspire their travels,
and it will continue to be free.
Improved page:
London to Greece
It's easy to reach Greece without flying, in comfort by train
and ferry in just 48 hours. My wife and I travelled to
Greece this way for a friend's wedding in August, and the London to
Greece page now has more info and photos to tell you how
to plan and book this trip. A wonderful way to get
there..!
Improved page:
London to Istanbul
If you've ever wanted to travel from London to
Istanbul by train, the London to Turkey page
tells you how... I returned from Istanbul to London
a few weeks ago, and I've now updated this page with the
latest
information and photos of what the journey is like. The
new Romanian sleeping-cars running from Istanbul to Bucharest
and from Bucharest to Budapest are excellent. They were
bought second-hand from Germany, and they make this journey
surprisingly comfortable. Just make sure you always book
a sleeper for a journey like this, and not just a basic
sit-up-all-night seat. The sleeper supplement is just 15
euros per person to share a 3-berth sleeper, so there's just
no need to rough it..!
Improved page:
Jordan
After a recent trip by train from London to Petra in
Jordan and back, I've been able to revise the
Jordan page,
with practical info and photos for the wonderful
Damascus-Amman train journey along part of the old Hedjaz
Railway (as blown up by Lawrence of Arabia - the passenger
coaches looked as if they HAD been blown up by Lawrence...).
I've also added bus info Damascus-Amman (as these operate
daily) and for Amman to Petra and Aqaba.
Improved page:
Syria
The
trip to Jordan again took me on the weekly 'Toros Express'
from Istanbul to Aleppo, 868 miles for £29 including sleeper
berth. I've updated information about the journey on the
Syria page, with
photos, and also improved information on the Aleppo-Damascus
trains which are an excellent way to do this journey.
Contrary to (uninformed) popular opinion, Syria is one of the
safest and most interesting countries to visit, with some of
the most hospitable people you will meet anywhere...
158,000 visitors in
August...
A new
record... It's also becoming increasingly common for
environmental reasons to be given as a reason by people
researching train travel to Europe. Short haul flights
are, after all, one of the most polluting forms of transport
known to man, and they put the pollutants right where they can
do most damage. Is this the start of a budget airline
backlash..?
New sleeper train
Thessaloniki - Istanbul
From
8 July 2005, a new air-conditioned sleeper train started up
between Istanbul and Thessaloniki. At just 48 euros per
person sharing a modern 2-bed sleeper, it's a comfortable,
time-effective travel option which saves you a night in a
hotel, too. See the Train Travel
In Turkey page, now updated from personal experience.
New page:
Indonesia
Several correspondents
have commented on the lack of a page on Indonesia...
I've now added an Indonesia page,
although it's still in development. If you can help with
information or suggestions for this page, please let me
know..!
151,000 visitors in
May...
Larger text on all
pages...
I've
finally managed to revise the whole site with larger text in
an easy-to-read font. Let me know if you like it ..!
London to Ireland by
train+ferry:
-
cheaper and simpler fares from 12 June 2005...
London to Dublin by train+ferry is now £24 one-way £48 return,
valid any time, any day, except in July & August when it's £27
one-way, £54 return. These aren't limited-availability
special offers: these are the regular flexible fares,
with unlimited availability, you can buy them any time even on
day of travel, and leave the return open if you like.
And it's exactly the same price from any rail station in the
South East, East Anglia, Devon and Cornwall, wherever.
It's just a shame that EasyJet, Ryanair and even Eurolines are
advertised everywhere, but these train+ferry fares are a
well-kept secret..! Fares are available from ANY
mainland UK station to ANY Irish station. See the
London to Ireland page for times and
fares. When comparing with air fares, remember to add
£12 one-way or £24 return to the air fare to allow for the
train ride from London to the airport..!
Cheaper ways to
Warsaw, Moscow and Prague...
If
budget airlines are good for anything, they're good at getting
train operators to lower their fares to compete. Cheap
fares on the sleeper trains from Brussels to Warsaw and
Cologne to Prague (from just £28 one-way including couchette),
and a new cheap deal (starting at just £69 return) from London
to Cologne by Eurostar and connecting trains mean that train
travel from London to Warsaw, Moscow and Prague has never been
as affordable. London to Moscow, where there are few if
any cheap flights, can now cost as little as £138 one-way
including one night in a couchette and one night in a sleeper.
London to Warsaw or Prague costs from £115 return including a
couchette.
Romania & Serbia
join the European reservation computer network...
Trains within (and starting in) Romania and Serbia can now be
easily reserved from the UK via the computer systems used by
UK European ticketing agencies. Previously, reservations
could only be made when you got there. It's now easy to
travel to Istanbul (for example) using a comfortable and
secure sleeping-car all the way, as the Bucharest-Istanbul
sleeper can now be reserved from the UK. Similarly,
trains from Bucharest back to Budapest or Vienna, and from
Belgrade back to Vienna or Munich, can now be booked from the
UK.
Warsaw-Vilnius
sleeper train withdrawn...
Sadly, from 29 May 2005 the Warsaw-Vilnius overnight sleeper
will stop running indefinitely, the victim of bus competition
and cutbacks by Polish Railways, who run the train. So
much for them all joining the EU..! There remains a
daytime service of connecting trains, and the
Latvia and Lithuania page has been
updated to reflect this.
The
Man in Seat Sixty-One 'live' on air....
The
Man in Seat Sixty-One was interviewed 'live' on the Charlie
Jordan show on LBC Radio, London, on 15 May.
Istanbul -
Pamukkale sleeper train modernised...
In
April, the 'Pamukkale Express' from Istanbul to Denizli was
modernised, and given brand-new 'TVS 2000' air-conditioned
sleeping-cars, couchette car, reclining pullman seats and
restaurant car. This train is now the clean, comfortable
and modern way to travel cheaply and time-effectively
from Istanbul to see Pamukkale. Guidebooks directing
travellers towards cramped and basic long distance buses had
better wise up..! There are now photos of the sleeper on
the Train Travel in Turkey page.
Cambridge University Railway Club - 29 April
I gave a talk about the
creation of 'seat61.com' at Cambridge University Railway Club
on 29 April 2005, at the Gordon Cameron
Lecture Theatre, Fitzwilliam College. All are welcome -
see
www.cam.ac.uk/societies/curc/termcard.htm.
125,000 visitors in March
Another record, with
125,500 visitors in March, 271,000 page views. The most
popular pages remain (in descending order) the home page,
Malaysia page, Europe - general information page,
Trans-Siberian page, London-Italy, London-France, China,
London-Netherlands, London-Spain, Thailand, railpass page,
India, London-Germany, London-Russia, Vietnam, Egypt, UK
travel, London-Ireland. The least popular page is
Botswana..!
Myanmar (Burma) page...
Following a recent visit, the
Myanmar / Burma page has been
completely revised, to make it what I hope is the most
comprehensive guide on the internet to travelling around Burma
by train and river steamer.
New page: Silk Route
The other route between Europe and
China is now covered in a Silk Route
page... Feedback is welcome, as the page will be
developed further in the coming months.
New page - South America
It's only a summary of train
services in South America, but
it fills a gap and will be expanded in due course.
Hong Kong - Hanoi
I've lost count of how many people
have asked me about this journey - but with no obvious direct
train service, it's always been a difficult one to answer.
Details of what I think is the best option are now shown on
the Vietnam page. If you know of a better route, let me
know..!
European timetable change - Dec 12th
The timetable changes throughout
Europe on 12 December 2004. No major changes are
expected except for a reorganisation of the night-trains to
Italy, and some of these Paris-Italy changes have already been
introduced in September. The pages on this site will be
updated shortly. In the meantime, please use the current
times as a guide and double-check exact departure times when
you book.
Improved page: Andorra
New photos and information from a
recent trip have meant a better account of the train and bus
journey from London to Andorra.
New page: Iceland
I've finally added another
'missing' page, this time for Iceland. The sea journey
from the UK to Iceland isn't the shortest or easiest of
routes, but it's quite possible, changing ships at the
Shetland Island onto Smyril Line's weekly service en route
from Denmark. Well, now you know...
Still over 100,000 visitors a month, even in October...
Seat61 registered over 105,000
visitors in October, even beyond the end of the summer season.
It seems that as trips from the UK to Europe reduce after the
summer, people start planning their trips to SE Asia, India
and so on...
New page:
Moldova
By popular demand - well,
following at least one email - I've added a page on Moldova,
one of the few remaining countries in Europe not already
covered by the site. Maybe an Iceland page will follow
in due course..! I'd like to thank Pieter Beelen of the
Netherlands for permission to use his photographs of the
Bucharest-Chisinau sleeper train to illustrate this page.
Improvements...
The emails I get drive
improvements to the site, so keep them coming. After a
steady trickle of emails about getting to Langkawi Island in
Malaysia, I've added a Langkawi paragraph to the Malaysia page
with a link to the Langkawi ferry company. After regular
emails about the ability to 'stop off' while making a
Singapore to Bangkok or Hanoi to Saigon journey, I've made
this clearer on the Malaysia and Vietnam pages. After
several emails about how to book a table for dinner in the
restaurant car of the Paris-Italy sleeper trains, I've added a
line about this is the 'guide to onboard accommodation' on the
Italy page.
Korea - new page...
A new Korea page has been added,
covering train travel within South Korea, sea travel between
South Korea and both China and Japan, and train travel between
North Korea, Moscow and Beijing. Thanks go to Shigeyuki
Kaneko of Japan for advice and for photos of the new
high-speed KTX from Seoul to Pusan.
Cuba - better photos and fares
information...
Thanks to Gregory Moreton and
Peter Jackson, the Cuba page now shows good photos of what the
new 'Tren Frances' is like between Havana and Santiago.
A range of fares from Havana to most main destinations is now
shown.
Over 100,000 visitors again in July...
Seat 61 had 103,946 visitors
and over 223,000 page views in July. Most popular pages
are (most popular first) the home page, Malaysia, Europe
(general information page), France, Netherlands,
Trans-Siberian, Italy, Thailand, Spain, Railpass page, UK
travel, India, links page.
Over 100,000 visitors for the first time...
Seat 61 had 100,828 visitors
and over 211,000 page views in June, a new record.
European timetable change...
European timetables changed on 13
June. All pages have now been updated. The one
major change was the extension of the Cologne-Warsaw-Moscow
train to operate Brussels-Warsaw-Moscow. The London to
Poland and London to Russia pages have been updated to show
the new service.
Numerous improvements...
Numerous small improvements
continue to be made, in many cases following your feedback, so
keep it coming.
The Turkey page has now been
separated into a London to Turkey page
and a train travel in Turkey page,
the latter now including timetables as the official Turkish
website is now unfortunately in Turkish only.
The London
to Ireland page has been improved and now includes more
photos, more journey details, clearer timetables for London -
Dublin services via Stena Line and via Irish Ferries, and a
complete set of fares from any station in the UK to Dublin.
The London to Northern Ireland page has also been improved
with a full range of fares from any UK station to Belfast.
Numerous new links have been
added, for example a link to the Hong Kong - Macau jetfoil
operator on the China page, to a map of the new Bangkok metro
on the Thailand page, and so on. Relevant suggestions
are always welcome..!
New page - Burma / Myanmar...
Although there are arguments for
and against visiting Burma (which I won't attempt to tackle on
this site), Burma has an extensive rail network yet no
official national rail website. The new page has train
times and approximate fares for the main routes.
Another record...
'Seat61' clocked up 89,288
visitors and 209,164 page views in March, a new record.
BBC World...
The site made BBC World with a
mention on 'Click Online' on 11th March. It was also
mentioned in The Times on 13 March.
As
seen on TV...
Seat61.com
made prime-time TV for the first time on 2 February when it
was recommended on BBC TV 'Holiday 2004'.
Record
visitor numbers to seat61.com..!
In
January 2004, over 61,000 visitors looked at over 144,000
pages on seat61.com, the highest numbers yet. The most
popular pages (after the home page) were the Trans-Siberian
page, Europe (general information) page, Malaysia page, Thailand page,
Italy, France, Netherlands, India, Spain, Russia, Egypt, UK
travel page, links page. The site was recommended in 'Rail'
magazine, in 'ComputerActive' Magazine, and in the travel
section of The Observer.
New
pages - Zambia & Botswana
New
Botswana and Zambia
pages have been added, showing national and (where relevant)
international train services in those countries. If you
have any further information that would improve these pages,
or any suitable photographs to illustrate train travel in
these countries, please drop
me a line..!
European
timetable change
A
new European timetable starts on 14 December 2003, and most
pages have now been updated to show the new times. The
biggest change is that the overnight Brussels-Vienna train
(which in one form or another has been in the timetable for
over a century) has been withdrawn, as has the
Brussels-Switzerland night train.
New
sleeping-cars Brussels-Berlin and Brussels-Hamburg
On a positive note,
brand new sleeping-cars have now been introduced on the
Paris-Brussels-Berlin and Paris-Brussels-Hamburg night
train. Three compartments in each of these sleeping-cars
have en suite shower and toilet.
Improved
page: Lithuania
Following
a recent trip, new photographs and information have been added
to the Lithuania page.
Withdrawal
of the Brussels-Munich-Vienna 'Donauwalzer'
A
direct Brussels-Vienna sleeper train has existed for over a
century, but this useful train (currently called the
'Donauwalzer') will be withdrawn as from 14 December
2003. It will still be possible to travel from London to
Vienna with just one change, taking Eurostar to Paris then the
Paris-Vienna 'Orient Express' (the real one, not the expensive
tourist one). The Austria page now also includes times
and fares for an alternative service with two changes (at
Brussels and Cologne) using the excellent (and recently
personally experienced) 'CityNightLine' hotel train from
Cologne to Vienna.
Special
fares from London to Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich...
I
now have details of German Railways' special inclusive fares
from London to Hamburg, Munich and Berlin using Eurostar plus
a connecting overnight train from Paris or Brussels.
These are a significantly cheaper than buying separate
Eurostar and night train fares - London to Hamburg starts at
£153 return including Eurostar to Brussels and a couchette on
the night train from Brussels to Hamburg, London to Munich or
Berlin starts at £159 return including a couchette.
These fares are taken from a current German Railways Night
Train leaflet, converted from Euros to at an estimated rate of
exchange - actual fares charged in the UK may be slightly
different from those shown, which are only intended as a
guide. The special fares also make it cheaper to travel
from London via Germany to Poland, Austria, Denmark, and so
on.
Vilnius,
Latvia...
A
recent trip by train from London to Vilnius and back has
allowed more detail to be added to the Latvia
page. The overnight sleeper journey on the 'BALTI'
from Warsaw to Vilnius was a very comfortable and pleasant way
to reach Lithuania. Photos will be added shortly...
Online
train times and fares for Japan...
The
excellent Japanese 'hyperdia' website giving train times and
fares for Japan has stopped providing this information in
English. If anyone knows of a English-language
replacement, please let me know..!
London
to Iran by train...
Thanks
to Arjan Veersma of Amsterdam, the London
to Iran page now has photographs illustrating the journey
from Istanbul to Tehran on the Trans-Asia Express.
Eurostar
times from 28 September...
The
first section of the new UK high speed line through Kent will
open on 28 September. Journey time to Paris and
Brussels will be cut by 20 minutes, to just 2 hours 40 minutes
London-Paris and 2 hours 20 minutes London-Brussels. The
times shown on this website have now been updated to show the
new Eurostar timetable as from 28 September.
Sleeping-cars
on France-Germany night trains
It's
good to report that the night trains Paris-Brussels-Berlin,
Paris-Brussels-Hamburg and Paris-Munich once again have
comfortable sleeping-cars as well as the more basic
couchettes. The sleeping-cars were temporarily withdrawn
following a fire on a sleeping-car in December 2002.
Brand-new sleepers, some compartments with en suite shower and
WC, are due to enter service on these trains in October.
New
timetables in Vietnam, Thailand, Kenya, Morocco...
New
timetables have been introduced in these countries over the
summer, and seat61 has now been updated. In Thailand,
the 'International Express' has been speeded up and now
arrives Bangkok at 09:55 instead of 12:10. In Morocco,
Tangier sees a 50% increase in trains to the South, from 4 a
day to 6, and there is now a fast air-conditioned 'rapide'
every two hours on the main line Marrakech - Casablanca -
Rabat - Meknes - Fez, making it easily one of the best train
services in Africa.
Updated
Kenya page...
The
Kenya page has been updated with
photographs and travel advice. Thanks go to David Pinney
for providing the photos of the Nairobi-Mombassa train, both
inside and out, and for useful tips on travelling with Kenya
Railways. Unfortunately, it is now reported that the
overnight Nairobi-Kisumu train may no longer run.
New
Northern Ireland page...
Travel
information for London to Belfast and Northern Ireland has
been given its own page, separate from the main UK travel
page. This should make it easier to find..!
New
pages: Kenya, Senegal & Mali
Neither
the Senegal - Mali (Dakar-Bamako) or Kenya (Nairobi-Mombassa)
railways have official websites, so a new Senegal & Mali
and Kenya pages have been added. Admittedly only basic
information is provided at the moment, and I can't add
anything from personal experience, but I hope to add to the
information available in due course. Feedback (and
photos) from anyone who has travelled on these services would
be very welcome.
New
European timetables from 15 June
The
European railways changed their timetable on 15 June, and I
have now updated most pages. There have been relatively
few changes of any significance, although the withdrawal of
the Cologne-Prague night train means a re-routing of UK-Prague
passengers via either Frankfurt or Berlin.
Online
train times, fares & booking for UK trains
An
online form for checking UK train times and fares and for
booking UK train travel has been pout on the UK
page, thanks to TheTrainline.com.
Irish
fares...
The
London to Ireland page has been improved, with much more
information about fares to Ireland, both from London and other
cities in the UK.
More
improvements ...
Numerous
pages have had extra photos added to illustrate the journeys,
more links have been added, and missing fares information
added here and there. Keep the feedback
coming..!
A
new look for 'seat61'...
After
two years, it was time for a bit of a make-over... I
hope you like the new look, it should make the site easier to
navigate, with the country-specific pages in the vertical
menu, the site-related pages across the top. Let me know
what you think..!
The
most wonderful train in Britain..?
Without
a doubt, the best train journey in Britain is London to Fort
William on the Caledonian Sleeper. Find out why in the
new 'London to Scotland by overnight
sleeper' section on the UK Travel page. The most
civilised, romantic and time-effective way to travel from
central London to the Highlands of Scotland..!
'Seat61'
successfully re-hosted...
You
may have noticed 'seat61' go off the air for a few days 22-24
March. My previous host could not cope with the
bandwidth (the traffic caused by the sheer number of visitors
to 'seat61') so I have had to move it to a new web-hosting
company on a 'business' account that allows more
bandwidth. It has taken some time, but they finally
moved the domain name on 22 March. This meant that when
you tapped in 'www.seat61.com' you saw the new host's server
with no pages on it and got a strange message - the domain
name was changed to point at the new server just as I went
away for the weekend, but I have now uploaded my site to the
new server. Thank you for your patience. Hopefully
the new host will make 'seat61' both faster and more robust.
Eurostar
cuts fares: London to Paris / Brussels £59 return...
Eurostar
has made its promotional fare of £59 from London to Paris /
Brussels permanent, making it the cheapest regular Eurostar
fare. There is no advance booking deadline, so you can
book the day before if you like, but book as early as you can
because only a limited number of seats will be sold at this
price. You must spend a Saturday night away. The
long-established £79 'leisure apex' returns remain on sale
with lots of seat availability, but they must be booked at
least 14 days in advance.
UK
to Spain by train...
It's
easy to travel from London to Spain using Eurostar and the
overnight 'trainhotels' from Paris to Madrid and
Barcelona. Thanks to a recent long weekend to Madrid and
Salamanca, I've been able to update the London
to Spain page with more photos and details of what it's
like to leave the cheapo flights brigade behind and take the
civilised, overland 'trainhotel' to Spain... Oh yes, and
the Rioja and the smoked salmon in the
restaurant car aren't bad, either...
Buying
train tickets for China
The
UK agency www.chinarailtravel.com,
which up till now has been recommended on seat61 for anyone who needs to
make a Chinese rail reservation from outside China, has set up
a special website specifically for people who want to buy
Chinese rail tickets - www.china-train-ticket.com.
Bookings will be handled by its Beijing office, and although
tickets cannot be posted abroad, they can be delivered to your
hotel so you can pick them up when you get to China. The
main UK agency, Chinarailtravel.com, will concentrate on
inclusive tours by train, and will no longer do rail-only
bookings.
New
timetable in Cuba
The
Cuba page has been fully updated for
2003, and extra information added. Thanks go to Oscar
Jalice of Miami for information on the new timetable now
in operation in Cuba.
New
page - New Zealand
A
gross omission has been resolved..! Information
on train and ferry services in New Zealand can now be found on
the new New Zealand page.
Server
problems...
You
may have tried to access 'seat61' recently (around 14-16
January) and found that the site was unavailable - a blank
page with 'access forbidden' came up. The high number of
visitors which 'Seat61' is now getting has caused problems for
my web host, leading to a fault. I am moving to a new
host with greater capacity, but this is taking a little
time. Please bear with me - if 'seat61' goes down again,
rest assured it will be back as soon as I can sort out the
problems.
Site
map
To
help you find your way round the site, I have now added a site
map.
European
timetable change 16 December 2002
The
site's European pages have now been updated to show the new
timetables introduced by most European railways on 16
December, and running until June 2003.
India
The
'Rail Travel in India' page has now
been comprehensively updated with more information and
illustrations about how to travel round India by train.
China
A
new 'Rail Travel in China' page has
been created to bring together the information about Chinese
rail travel previously hidden away on the Trans-Siberian
timetable page.
Egypt
and Morocco
New
timetables have been introduced in Morocco and Egypt, with a
few significant changes. Both pages have now been
updated with the new times.
Ukraine
& Russia
The
Russia and Ukraine
pages have both been thoroughly updated, with more information
and photographs about travelling by train to and within Russia
and Ukraine.
Updates:
Malaysia & Thailand
New
timetables have been introduced in Thailand and Malaysia, and
these pages have now been updated.
Trans-Siberian
picture gallery
To
give you a better idea of what a journey on the Trans-Siberian
Railway is like, a new picture
gallery has been added with photos of what the trains are
like inside and out, and the sort of scenery you are likely to
see from the train.
Guestbook
The
Seat61 guestbook has up until now been provided as a free
service by BeSeen.com. BeSeen have now stopped providing
this service, and I have had to find another guestbook
provider. My new guestbook can be reached through the
link on the home page, but until I
can update all the other pages, the guestbook link may give
you a 'page not found' error. Please bear with me, and
use the home page guestbook link, until I can sort this
problem out.
Why
not visit Albania..?
OK,
so it's not everyone's first choice for a holiday
destination. But Albania is well worth a visit, and it's
now quite safe to visit (except for some border areas, and
areas in the North), easy to get to and easy to get into - EU
citizens don't even need a visa. Remember, this was the
most mysterious country in Europe, almost completely closed to
the outside world until the fall of its Stalinist government
in 1991. See the newly updated Albania
page for details of how to visit Albania, and what you
might see there..!
www.seat61.com
'The
Man in Seat Sixty-One' has now been successfully re-hosted,
with room to expand further. The internet address is now
www.seat61.com, and the
old freespace.virgin.net/markgideon.smith/ address (phew, what
a mouthful..) is now redundant. Please update your
bookmarks if necessary.
Amtrak
passes
You
can now book Amtrak railpasses for the USA online using a
direct link to RailChoice Ltd from the 'seat61' USA
page. This is a great way to see the States at
ground level, in comfort..!
The
Orient Express...
The
'Orient Express' page has
been updated. Learn the facts behind the hype about the
world's most famous train..!
Buying
InterRail and Eurodomino online
As
well as InterRail passes, you can now buy Eurodomino
railpasses for individual countries online by clicking the
button on the 'Rail passes' section of the Rail
Travel to Europe page. This is provided in
association with RailChoice.
June
16: European timetable change
Most
European countries changed their timetables on 16 June 2002,
and I have now updated all the European pages to reflect the
changes. There are very few major changes:
Eurostar times, especially at weekends, change slightly, the
Cologne-Moscow sleeping-cars now leave Cologne one hour
earlier on Saturdays and Sundays (but arrival time in Moscow
is unchanged), and the Istanbul-Budapest through couchette car
is attached to a later train from Bucharest to Budapest (which
should make both it and the train it used to be
attached to more punctual (!). Arrival in Budapest is
now about 2 hours later)
New
page: Rail travel in Cuba
There's
very poor little information currently available on the web
about rail travel in Cuba. To try and resolve
this, I've added a Cuba page,
with basic train times and information.
New
page: Rail travel in Japan
The
journey from London to Japan has been covered by the
'Trans-Siberian' page for some time. However, whether
you use the Trans-Siberian or fly, the Japanese rail system is
the way to get around Japan. Rail travel in Japan
now has its own Japan page, with links
to online fares and train times. Let me know what you
think..!
Taking
your bicycle on the train to Europe
'How
do I take my bike...?' is a question which crops up
regularly. So I've improved the 'bicycles' section of
the 'Rail travel to Europe'
page. I hope you find it useful. Thanks go to my
brother Julian (a keen cyclist) for explaining exactly what a
'bike bag' is, and for telling me (at some length, and on
numerous occasions...) just how much of a pain it is to lug
one across Paris on the Métro.
How
to buy InterRail passes online
An
agency called RailChoice can now sell you an InterRail pass
online. InterRail passes are the famous Europe-wide
railpass available to us European residents, both under and
over 26 years of age. In conjunction with RailChoice,
I've added a direct link to their online
InterRail sales page. See the 'InterRail' section on
the 'Rail travel to Europe' page for
details of the types of InterRail pass available, what they
cover, how to use them, and prices.
Timetable
change in Europe 16 June 2002
Many
European train timetables change on 16 June 2002. With
one exception, no
major changes are expected, and the suggested journeys shown
on this website will not change much (if at all) after 16
June. However, please check your train times carefully
if travelling after this date, as there may be small changes
here and there, including to Eurostar times. The
exception is Calais to Paris trains. All direct trains
from Calais to Paris (other than TGVs) will be withdrawn from
16 June, and replaced by local trains between Calais and
Boulogne, connecting with express trains between Boulogne and
Paris. This will greatly affect the London to Paris
rail-sea-rail service shown on the London to France
page. I will revise the relevant timetables when I have
details.
Cheaper
fares in Vietnam
Vietnamese
Railways have now abolished the practice of charging much
higher fares to foreign visitors. This makes rail travel
in Vietnam much cheaper. Sample fares at the new rates
are now shown on the Vietnam page,
thanks to information provided by Jon Hewson of www.wompom.ca.
The
Sunday Times...
'Seat
61' was featured in the 'Doors' internet section in the
Culture Magazine of The Sunday Times on 7 April 2002.
Thanks go to Matt Wall who wrote the article, Adam Hearn who
organised the photoshoot at Waterloo International and
photographer Mark Bourdillon. Two of the photos taken on
that photoshoot now appear on the 'about
me' page.
Booking
European trains online
Rail
Europe's online
reservation system can be quite a good way to book rail
travel from London to Italy or Spain. I've added links
and instructions for booking the Paris-Italy night trains and
the Paris-Spain 'trainhotels' to the 'Italy'
and 'Spain' pages. I have not added these
links to all European pages, as the system has some drawbacks
for other destinations. For example, in the case of
London to France, it doesn't hold information on the special
inclusive through fares such as the special £115 return from London to Nice. For most journeys booking by telephone is still
the best bet.
Rail Europe - now even easier to book European trains by phone
Rail
Europe (www.raileurope.co.uk)
have increased the opening hours for their telephone
lines. You can now book rail travel from the UK to
Europe from 08:00 to 21:00 on Mondays to Fridays, and from
09:00 to 18:00 on both Saturdays and Sundays. The
telephone number is 0844 848 5 848.
Freedom
Rail
A
highly-recommended UK agency selling rail tickets to Europe,
'Freedom Rail' has regrettably now limited its sales to
tickets for groups (5 people or more), but it will still sell
railpasses or tickets for journeys wholly within Italy to
individual travellers. The 'how to book' sections of
this site have been amended to reflect this. Alternative
agencies include the excellent Ffestiniog Travel, on 01766 512
340.
Russian & Trans-Siberian train times online at 'Seat 61'
6
April: Thanks to www.poezda.net,
'seat61' now offers online timetable enquiries for Russia and
the ex-Soviet republics, including both domestic and
international services via the Trans-Siberian Railway.
The system can be found on the London to
Russia and Trans-Siberian
Timetable pages. I've also added details of a
Russian agency, Svezhy
Veter, who will book Russian trains for you for a small
commission. I have no experience of using this agency
myself, and feedback would be welcome.
New
page: Latvia & Lithuania
16
February: The new Latvia & Lithuania page fills a
long-standing gap in the range of countries covered so far.
New
page: Egypt
20
January: A new 'Egypt' page has been added, to show both
the rail & sea options from London to Egypt (sadly
diminished with the demise of the Adriatica Line service from
Venice, and the recent suspension of the Piraeus-Israel-Egypt
ferry), and information about rail travel in
Egypt.
Egyptian
Railways does not appear to have a website, making this site
one of the only sources of up to date Egyptian train times on
the web (unless you know differently - if you do, please e-mail
me, I'd be glad to hear
from you!)
New
page: Australia
13
January: By popular demand (it's one of the most common
searches on my site...) I have added an Australia
page. Although your chances of getting to Australia
without flying are a little slim (unless you've £10,000 to
and several months to spare, that is...) you certainly don't
have to fly around Australia when you get there. This
page shows you where the trains run, when they run and what
they're like.
New
page: Canada
9
January: Canada now has its own
page, with more information about travelling across Canada
from Toronto to Vancouver on 'The Canadian'.
United
States:
7
January: The Trans-Atlantic
page has been revised, with more information about
travelling by train in the USA, an Amtrak route map, and extra
photos.
Vietnam
and Thailand: Booking trains from the UK
Details
of two agencies with internet sites able to accept e-mail
bookings for trains in Vietnam and Thailand respectively have
been placed on the Vietnam and Thailand pages. These
agencies might be very useful for anyone with limited time
needing to be certain of a train booking before leaving the
UK. I have not used these agencies myself, and would
welcome feedback from anyone who has.
New page:
Zimbabwe
17 December: A new
Zimbabwe page provides information
on the excellent trains between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls,
and between Bulawayo and Harare. It also describes the
overland options for travel between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
New page:
South Africa
15
December: A new South
Africa page provides information about rail travel in
South Africa, about the famous 'Blue Train' between Cape Town
and Pretoria, and about shipping companies offering sailings
between South Africa and the UK.
New page:
Travel within the UK
20
October: The new UK travel page
explains how to find out train times and fares for the UK, and
how to travel by rail and sea from London to Northern Ireland,
the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
30
September timetable change:
Most
European railways changed their timetables with effect from 30
September 2001. The European train times shown on this
website are now valid from 30 September 2001 until 15 June
2002.
New page:
London to the Ukraine
30 September: A new
London to the Ukraine page has been added, setting out the options for
comfortable rail travel from London to Kiev.
New page:
London to Estonia
29
September: A new London to
Estonia page has been added, setting out the options for
comfortable surface travel from London to Tallinn.
New page:
Rail travel in Malaysia / Singapore
22
September: A 'Rail travel in
Malaysia & Singapore' page has been added. Although
the new page mentions the possibility of overland travel from London to
Singapore via the Trans-Siberian Railway, it is primarily
designed for people who want to use the trains to travel
around Malaysia, and from Singapore to Malaysia and
Thailand. Includes a brief look at the Raffles Hotel..!
New page:
Rail travel in Thailand
16 September: A 'Rail
Travel in Thailand' page has been added. Like the
new Malaysia page, the new page mentions overland travel from London to
Thailand, but is primarily
designed for people who want to use the trains to travel round
this fascinating country. The page includes information
on rail travel between Bangkok, Malaysia and Singapore, and
has a section on the famous 'Bridge over the River Kwai'.
12
September: The London to Switzerland page has been
updated, with more destinations added, including Davos and Klosters.
Details of the rail service between London and Kiev (capital
of the Ukraine) have been added to the London to Russia
page. News just in is that the Toros Express from
Istanbul to Aleppo and Damascus has been further improved, and
now includes a proper sleeping-car all the way from the
Bosphorus to Syria (so make that overland trip to the middle
east now..!). Thanks to Gokce Aydin of Turkey - Seat
61's man on the spot - for confirming this information.
20 August: I've
added a link to the official RATP
(Parisian transport) site on the France, Italy, and Spain
pages and the 'useful links' page, to
help people cross Paris by bus or metro. The RATP site
has a good quality map of the Paris Metro and Parisian bus
routes. I am also indebted to Ulf of Germany for an
update on visa requirements for Belarus, now needed by
travellers to Moscow. This information has been added to
the 'Russia' page.
New page:
Rail travel in Vietnam
19 August: A
'Rail travel in Vietnam' page has now
been added. Although it's possible to reach Vietnam
overland from London via the Trans-Siberian Railway, this page
is also designed for people who are flying to Vietnam, but who
want to use the trains to travel around. A 'Thailand'
and a 'Malaysia/Singapore' page will follow in due
course.
The 'trainhotels'
from Paris to Madrid & Barcelona...
17 August:
With permission from Patentes Talgo SA (the manufacturers of
Talgo rolling stock), photos of the accommodation on board the
Paris-Madrid and Paris-Barcelona 'TrainHotels' are now shown
on the London to Spain page. In
spite of having travelled on these excellent overnight trains
half a dozen times, I found I had no photos of my own for the
site...!
Chinese
connections...
14 August:
Once you've reached Beijing all the way from London via the
Trans-Siberian Railway, you may well want onward connections
for, say, Xian (Terracotta Warriors), Shanghai, or Hong
Kong. Details of principal trains from Beijing to these
destinations are now shown on the Trans-Siberian
timetable page.
New 'search the
site' facility...
12 August:
I've added a site search facility, thanks to Atomz.com, so you
can quickly search the site for the destination you're
interested in, or indeed for any key words or phrases.
More links...
8 August:
Links to the websites for Brittany Ferries, P&O Ferries,
Irish Ferries, Superfast Ferries (Italy-Greece) and Hellenic
Mediterranean Lines (Italy-Greece, free for InterRail card
holders) have been added to the 'Useful Links' page.
More
destinations..
8 August: An
entry for Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri & Amalfi has been added
to the London to Italy page. An
entry for Le Mans, Angers, Nantes and Rennes (with just one
change from Eurostar to a fast TGV at Lille - no need to cross
Paris) has been added to the London to
France page.
Israel &
Cyprus
28 July: I
have improved both the London to Israel
and London to Cyprus pages, to give a
better idea of how to make these journeys. Setting aside
the current security situation, it's perfectly possible to
take just three weeks off work, travel to Israel and back by
rail and sea, spending 8 days in Israel and seeing Paris,
Venice and Athens on the way. It can all be booked from
the UK, and no airliner is required!
New page:
India
22 July: I
have been asked several times about overland travel to
India. I've now added a page briefly outlining the
route, although the Foreign Office currently warn against
visiting Southern Iran towards the Pakistan border because of
security problems.
However, even if
you fly to India, one of the best ways to see it is by train
using an IndRail pass. The new India
page explains the types of IndRail pass available, tells
you how and where to book your pass in the UK (a wonderful
family-run agency called S D Enterprises in Wembley), and
tells you a bit about Indian train travel. Let me know
if it's useful..!
Bicycles
17 July: By
popular demand, the 'Rail travel to Europe' general
information page now includes a section on how to take your
bicycle to Europe by train.
European Motorail
Also by popular
demand, the 'Rail Travel to Europe' page includes a very brief
summary of Motorail services from Calais and Belgium to the
South of France, Austria and Italy, with information on how to
book and links to key Motorail agencies.
Trans-Atlantic
sailing timetable
Southampton-New
York sailing dates 2001/2002 have now been added to the
USA/Canada page.
Country
information
30 June: The
country information panels have been redesigned, and
information panels added to pages that lacked them, to show
time zone, currency, tourist office website and other useful
information for each country.
Tourist
information
27 June: Links to
national tourist office websites have been added to many
country pages, although some are still to be done.
New European
Summer Timetable
14 June:
Pages have now been updated to reflect the European Summer
2001 timetable, which is valid until September 29.
Booking
information
9 June:
Although information on how to book European rail travel is
included in my 'London to Europe' page, it is easy to miss,
and I have often been asked about who to call to book trains
to Europe. I have now included a 'How
to make a booking' link on most European country
pages. The link brings up a pop-up window with details
about European rail travel agencies.
London to Italy
4 June: The fare
you've all been waiting for has now been added to the 'London
to Italy' page: The cost of taking your loved one to Pisa,
Rome, Verona or Venice in the 'suite
matrimoniale' of the de
luxe 'Excelsior' sleeping-car, complete with double bed,
TV/video, en suite toilet and shower, complimentary welcome
drink of champagne, and light breakfast... No, I'm not
going to tell you what it is here, you'll just have to look it
up on the Italy page...
London to Ireland
4 June: At last, I
have finally got around to adding times and fares from London to Dublin,
via train to Holyhead and 'HSS', via train to Holyhead and
Irish Ferries, and by overnight ship Liverpool-Dublin.
London to France,
London to Monaco Monte Carlo
1 June: If
you're thinking about travelling overnight to the South of
France, you can now see what French couchette accommodation
looks like.
London to Sicily
1 June:
Photos of the 'InterCity' trains from Rome to Sicily added.
Fares Rome-Sicily added on 4 June.
London to
Luxembourg
28 May: More
comprehensive timetables added for London to Luxembourg.
London to Germany
27 May: More
comprehensive timetables added for London to Cologne, Bonn,
Koblenz, Mainz & Frankfurt.
London to France
26 May: Feedback
suggests (not surprisingly, I suppose...) that France is a key
destination from the UK. The 'London
to France' page has been improved and updated with more
comprehensive timetable information on train travel to
Marseille, Toulon, Bordeaux, Lyon, Biarritz, Perpignan, Nimes,
Montpellier, Avignon and others.
London to Italy
25 May: The 'London
to Italy' page now includes an illustrated guide to
travelling on the Paris-Italy night sleepers, including the
new 'Excelsior' de luxe sleeping cars and the new
air-conditioned 'Comfort' couchettes. Train times
have been updated for the new Summer timetable from 10 June
2001. I can personally vouch for the effectiveness of
the 'Excelsior' en suite showers!
New page: London to Iran
24 May: With
the reinstatement in March this year of a direct weekly train
from Istanbul to Tehran in Iran, a 'London
to Iran' page has been added to the site.
London to Malta
23 May: The 'London
to Malta' page has been improved and updated, with a photo
or two, in the light of recent personal experience.
Details of the weekly year-round Grimaldi Ferries service from
Salerno to Valletta (which has been missed out by the Thomas Cook
European Timetable) have been added.
London to Greece
23 May: A few
improvements have been made to this page. Blue Star
Ferries now sail earlier (17:00) from Brindisi to Patras,
making rail connections difficult. I have changed the
recommended service to that of Hellenic Mediterranean Lines
(who offer a more sensible departure time later in the
evening), but please check times when you book.
London to India
I have had several
enquiries about the possibility of overland travel to
India. Although the journey is by no means
straightforward, I hope to add a 'London to India' page in the
near future, outlining the options. Any feedback from
anyone who has travelled on the London-Istanbul-Tehran-Kerman-Zahedan-Quetta
route in the recent past would be very welcome. There
remain a few problems on this route, including the need for an
independent tourist visa for Iran, and the odd Kurdish rebel
in parts of Eastern Turkey(!).
Best wishes, and
happy travelling,
Mark
Smith
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