Your next trip abroad by train?

[Gadget88]

What will your next trip by rail be in 2021 or 2022 when things improve?

 

[StephenHunter]

The one to Munich I was supposed to be taking in September. I still have the Interrail pass and have up to May to exchange it for up to 12 months after that.

 

[Shinkansenfan]

Japan to ride endangered rural branch line trackage.

The threats posed by myriad of natural disasters, depopulation, declining railway ridership and aging assets--and now the whammy of the pandemic--may push many rural private railways over the edge.

 

[Polarbear]

I'm currently sitting on two Inter Rail passes that I need to exchange for dates in 2021, but am loath to commit to revised dates at the moment. In conjunction with at least one of those, I have hotel vouchers for Berlin, Chur, Essen, and Innsbruck so at least one of my passes will revolve around stays at those locations.

As for the other one - no plans at present. It was enough hassle cancelling hotels & obtaining credit vouchers last time & until things become a little more certain, I would rather not repeat that stressful experience.

 

[StephenHunter]

I'm currently sitting on two Inter Rail passes that I need to exchange for dates in 2021, but am loath to commit to revised dates at the moment. In conjunction with at least one of those, I have hotel vouchers for Berlin, Chur, Essen, and Innsbruck so at least one of my passes will revolve around stays at those locations.

As for the other one - no plans at present. It was enough hassle cancelling hotels & obtaining credit vouchers last time & until things become a little more certain, I would rather not repeat that stressful experience.

The hotel in Munich will honour my reservation for 2021 as well. I just lost some of the reservation charges. Thinking second half of the year at the moment, with a UK domestic trip in June if restrictions are over by then.

 

[Beebman]

I'm overdue a return to Switzerland so now that the Ceneri Base Tunnel is open I intend to give priority to doing that and the new Gotthard one. I've done a few trips to Japan over the past decade and I'd love to go there again but I think that might be unfeasible next year, so when things start to open up in 2021 I'll try and tick off a few things on my European 'to do' list.

 

[Esker-pades]

I had Eurostar tickets for the Amsterdam service. I was supposed to spend New Year with friends in The Netherlands. I'll just keep re-planning to visit those friends until we hit a time that we can. World Pride happens in Copenhagen next August, so I'll combine that with a bit of Scandinavian rail travel.

 

[burns20]

To do a circular of UK-Kharkiv-Baku-Tblisi-Yerevan-Batumi-Kars-Ankara-Istanbul-Sofia-Bucuresti-Chisinau-Tiraspol-Kiev-Budapest-Vienna-Brussels-UK

Also to do the near complete Artic Circle from Helsinki to Narvik via Haparanda

 

[Ianno87]

Have flexible Eurostar tickets for a trip to Amsterdam (and back from Brussels), with hotel vouchers for Amsterdam, Zurich and Brussels.

 

[nlogax]

Been pricing up options from NYC to Seattle via the Capitol Limited or Lake Shore Limited and then onto the Empire Builder. Still need to tick off a couple of those sleeper routes, and with Penn's Moynihan extension opening soon 2021 could be the year to do it.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I'm going to book something as soon as I can be reasonably confident that things won't take another turn... can't quite decide where though. Vienna is an option, as is Lisbon. Also considering Athens but getting through the Balkans is quite time consuming so I'd probably go one-way by train and fly back in that case.

 

[Richard Scott]

Want to go to Moldova and do the train to Bucharest. Even if could get there train doesn't seem to be running at the moment, not sure when it last run or they plan to start again.

 

[ricohallo]

Honestly whichever country opens up first. High on the list are Ireland, Strasbourg area in France for the last RRR, Milan, Slovenia, Japan and lastly a trip to the Montreal area, taking the Adirondack to NYC and a visit to Philadelphia.

 

[317666]

Well, I'd like to go back to NRW in Germany - finishing off a trip I had to abandon halfway through in March!

But as ricohallo says, it'll probably be to wherever opens up first.

 

[superalbs]

Wherever I am allowed to visit first, where I am also allowed back home too.

I'm not too fussy.

 

[popeter45]

Deffo gonna try to finally do my summer London- Amsterdam- Hamburg- Copenhagen- Malmö rail trip I had to cancel This year

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

We have Eurostar vouchers valid until just before September from a very unfortunately cancelled trip to Brussels, Bruges and Aachen; I imagine we’ll use them for Belgium after travel stops being so difficult, as we’re not particularly keen on returning to Northern France or Amsterdam. It’s a shame Eurostar aren’t running nice direct trains to Marseille at the moment.

I’d love to go back to Sweden and take a nice trip to the North. It’s my favourite country and I’ve been to Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö but want to see the more rural half of the country too. My dad and I discussed taking the overnight train from Stockholm to Abisko for last Easter, before COVID-19 ruined the plans of course. We’ll have to time it so that the Northern Lights are visible

I’m a big fan of Swiss railways too - our most recent trip to Switzerland involved Geneva - Bern - Interlaken - Lucerne - Zürich and went completely without a hitch. The trains are punctual, clean and comfortable, with the scenery second to none. It’s an ambition of mine to do the Glacier Express in the Emirates-esque Excellence Class someday soon. Not sure I’d be thanking myself for forking out the rather hefty ticket price when I’m at University later in the year though. We’ll have to see.

 

[duesselmartin]

It would have to be Duisburg to Oxfordshire visiting family.
Thalys to Brussels, EST to Pancakes and GWR to Hanborough.

 

[30907]

We were supposed to be joining an organised rail-based trip in Sicily last Easter - that might be on the cards but there are too many uncertainties ATM. And perhaps a trip to parts of Switzerland we haven't been to, and the Black Forest,....

 

[steamybrian]

Earlier this year had planned return trip Eurostar London- Paris, TGV Paris- Avignon with 4 days in Avignon.
Had to cancel and got full refund. Hoping to re-plan for 2021 but will not book until "normal" returns.

 

[JonasB]

I’d love to go back to Sweden and take a nice trip to the North. It’s my favourite country and I’ve been to Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö but want to see the more rural half of the country too. My dad and I discussed taking the overnight train from Stockholm to Abisko for last Easter, before COVID-19 ruined the plans of course. We’ll have to time it so that the Northern Lights are visible

If the northern lights are important reason for the trip, don't go too late. If possible a bit earlier than Easter is usually better.

 

[MarcVD]

To do a circular of UK-Kharkiv-Baku-Tblisi-Yerevan-Batumi-Kars-Ankara-Istanbul-Sofia-Bucuresti-Chisinau-Tiraspol-Kiev-Budapest-Vienna-Brussels-UK

Same. From Brussels, not from UK, and combined with a 2 weeks stay in Armenia and Georgia.

If not possible (BTK is still not open) then Saint Petersburg via the baltics and return via Helsinki

Also looking to Portugal via Northern Spain and Porto.

 

[rg177]

Probably a fortnight's Interrailing in June!

But we'll see, it depends whoever opens up first.

 

[alex397]

Well I did have Berlin booked last Easter, but obviously that was all sadly cancelled. It all involved train, starting and finishing at Ashford Intl, and also stopping at Hamburg and Dresden. I would like to do that later this year if possible, but might involve a plane if times are not as convenient, and sadly I won’t be able to start at Ashford (but won’t rule out travelling up to London for the Eurostar). I’d obviously have to check what times have changed for all the trains to.

I’d like to visit Ukraine, for Kyiv and Chernobyl/Pripyat (believe it or not it’s been an ambition since a child to visit Pripyat!). Might not be many trains involved in that though, but could try and train it to another city such as Lviv.

There are countries in the Balkans I’d like to see, such as Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia.

My main aim is to try and revisit Berlin (perhaps my favourite city I’ve ever visited), and try and go to somewhere in Central/Eastern Europe.

 

[52290]

I've always wanted to do the narrow gauge line all the way from Hendaye to El Ferrol in Spain. In the early 1970's I did the San Sebastian to Bilbao section behind a big green "crocodile" type electric loco. I think they were still building the far western end of the line using steam on construction trains. Today though, I wouldn't want to use the expensive "Cantabrian" tourist train. Has anybody been on this by the way?

 

[HS2isgood]

I've always wanted to do the narrow gauge line all the way from Hendaye to El Ferrol in Spain. In the early 1970's I did the San Sebastian to Bilbao section behind a big green "crocodile" type electric loco. I think they were still building the far western end of the line using steam on construction trains. Today though, I wouldn't want to use the expensive "Cantabrian" tourist train. Has anybody been on this by the way?

No, I haven't been in the "Cantabrian", but it seems like poor value (it's a luxury train with organised stops, but the problem is the line is very unreliable and it often gets messed up by bustitutions). The line is beautiful (I've been to it for all the Bilbao-Ribadeo stretch, not the last part till Ferrol (it's no longer called El Ferrol, but only Ferrol, and it's a politically sensitive issue here in Spain), and the service is split in multiple parts (there's no direct train all the way, and in any case, you'd want to do several stopovers).

The service is split into five parts:
1. Hendaye-Donostia/San Sebastián: operated by EuskoTren, it takes 40 minutes all the way and it's frequent.

WIP, later I'll state the rest of the sections.

 

[peteb]

I would like to do my cancelled 2020 trip which was Birmingham-Brussels-Cologne-Berlin-Goerlitz(D)-Liberec(CZ)-Cheb-Munchen-Fussen(D)-bus-Reutte-Innsbruck-Wien-Bled-Zagreb-Split-(fly)-Bergamo(I)-Tirano-Chur-Andermatt-Kandersteg-Lyon-Paris-Brussels via Aulnoye-Birmingham. Various excursions en route, and mainly seeking out loco haulage & avoiding plastic!

 

[43096]

First rule is, it will depend what's open!

I'd like to do the trip I missed* to the US last year: really keen to sample the Metro-North P32AC-DMs on the Hudson line again before their Siemens replacements arrive.

Most likely will be a short Benelux trip to start with, then see what is available. Czechia/Slovakia/Austria/Germany/Hungary all have their attractions.


* I was fortunate to be able to squeeze in a trip to Germany and Czechia instead.

 

[AverageTD]

I had plans to head to Split and back by train. One way via Munich, the other via Zurich but that was an offer only applicable for summer just gone. Also planning to get the RhB network done but I feel like that may expand to be a full Swiss rail experience. At this rate however, it looks more likely that a day trip to Lille would be the limit!

 

[route101]

Something in Europe, maybe Eastern Slovakia.