Euro Rail Travel, where to Start!

I'd love to have a go at travelling around Europe by train but not sure where to start with it, my apologies I'm a complete beginner, (coming from a family who only insisted on holidaying inside Britain). I'm Looking for websites that are the european equivalent of Trainline.com for good cheap fares. As well as recommendations for good journeys/relatively easy for a beginner international traveller. I was thinking London to Marseille or London to Cologne stopping overnight at Brussels.
London to Paris will likely be my first journey but looking for ideas beyond that.

My stipulations are, must be achievable to do there and back within a weekend, IE leave on a Friday evening and return on a Sunday and I'd like the destination to have something interesting, IE a Rail trip to something like the Volklingen Ironworks, Wuppertal Suspension Railway, art galleries museums etc and lastly the more inexpensive the better.

Seat61 is THE place to go for the basics, and links to ticket sites etc

For booking you can actually use https://www.thetrainline.com/ as they also have a European site on which you can book most trains in Western Europe. It’s not guaranteed to be the best price I think in case of discounts and (in my experience) wants to use a new ticket after every change of train while a ticket can be valid for more than one train.

Personally, I would use the DB (bahn.com) site for planning as it contains nearly all trains in Europe, also those in the UK. As I’m Dutch I use then the Dutch railway site to book, but that isn’t necessarily the best website to book with.

I have done quite a lot of European rail travel but mainly for trips of a week or more. E.g. we have just come back from a 2.5 week holiday in Austria, getting there by sea and rail via Amsterdam and back direct via Brussels.

There are only limited opportunities for Friday evening travel unless you live near London and can get a Friday evening Eurostar or use an overnight ferry to arrive on Saturday morning. For weekends you are probably confined to northern France and the Low Countries (unless of course you are in Northern Ireland in which case Dublin is the obvious choice).

I have always used the train operators websites for European bookings (but I don't use Trainline here either).

I cut my teeth travelling around Holland. Easy rail system to understand, no linguistic difficulties either as it’s comparatively rare to find a Dutch person who doesn’t speak English. Out Friday night lends itself to the Harwich - Hoek ferry that leaves Harwich at 23.00. Many times I have come back on Sunday night as well and gone straight to work in London Monday morning to maximise the weekend time away. Just be aware the night sailings are popular, especially just now so booking in advance essential.

For normal trips ´IN and OUT´ cannot beat seat61.com
If intending longer trips via more countries: INterRail. community.eurail.com. But be aware this ticket (for unlimited travel during a certain period or for a nr. of days in 1 or 2 monthes OUT of own country) does have many possible pitfalls-preparation is essential. Mostly for essential reservations for the hi-speed trains: across tunnel and mostly in France, italy and even more Spain.
For a try out and a shorter trip/weekend break to Belgium and/or Nederland is likely best to put toe in the water.

Another vote from me for the Netherlands as a recommendation for a first-timer - in my experience trains are clean and punctual, and IMO Dutch electronic departure indicators are the best in Europe for clarity. Food and drink can be very easily obtained from Albert Heijn convenience stores which can be found on many stations. As others have said English is spoken by just about everyone.

On a couple of occasions I've just gone to a ticket machine and bought a day ticket for the network (current price is 55.80 EUR for 2nd class) which you can simply buy it as a paper or an e-ticket, you don't need to hold a 'chipkaart':
https://www.ns.nl/producten/en/onbeperkt-reizen/p/dagkaart (in English)

Another vote for Man in Seat 61, travelling by rail around Europe caught me as a bug in late 2018 and have done multiple trips since.

DB Navigator Website/App is very very good for finding itineraries.

I have used an interrail pass twice and would recommend it but plan first, some countries it is often better to just buy the tickets point to point. France and Spain are good examples.

Holland/Germany both very easy countries to navigate by rail for English speakers.

YorkshireBear said:

DB Navigator Website/App is very very good for finding itineraries.

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Yes, my default for planning and ticketing within Europe is DB, with their website being https://www.bahn.com/en and their mobile app "DB Navigator".

You don't have to use Eurostar either. The Stena Line Dutchflyer would be a sensible option for a weekend trip to NL, even better value if you can come back on the Sunday night ferry.

Not as cheap as it was, and can now be fully booked days in advance as a friend discovered recently.

The Netherlands and Belgium were where I first started out at 18/19 doing solo travel abroad.

I can echo the sentiments of others that the Netherlands is the best place to start. Plenty English spoken, clockface timetables and plenty Albert Heijn shops for supplies.

Staff I also found to be fantastic. Had some fascinating conversations with NS conductors, including one who staffed the final Mat 64 "Hondekop" operated service.

Beebman said:

and IMO Dutch electronic departure indicators are the best in Europe for clarity.

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There's enough to complain about passenger info by NS, but the team responsible for those displays indeed does an excellent job. Like this recent addition to the information on them.

However, just for awareness: there is a significant risk for strikes of NS staff in the autumn. No details are available yet, deadline of the unions for a better offer by NS is tomorrow.
(And timetables might be a little less clockface at the moment due to staff shortages)

Definitely the Netherlands. It’s easy to do of a weekend, you don’t need to prebook in advance, no language difficulties, super frequent trains everywhere. and plenty of interesting ‘cities’ to check out every 30 mins or so along the lines. Ok you won’t get stunning alpine scenery but many of the towns, cities, water features and beaches are fantastically pretty and everywhere interesting is either on the train network or well connected to it

One thing to consider is do you need to leave the UK via Eurostar or Ferry? My trips often start with looking where the cheap flights are to/from and then trying to link the two ends via train visiting interesting places on the way.

If you want to plan your trip in a fair amount of detail and see the various possible destinations and alternative routes there is the European Rail Timetable, which is (I think) available in both book and digital formats. You can use it to work out your out and back trips, look at alternative routings, possible short day trips, etc. It is in English, so no worries about staring at departure boards wondering what that word means. (Or getting to a destination on a Saturday and finding that the train you planned to return on is Not Saturdays.) If you do get it, it is best to spend an hour or two familiarising yourself with its layout and symbols. It doesn’t cover every line in Europe, but it is amazing how much it does cover.

.europeanrailtimetable.eu

Gloster said:

If you want to plan your trip in a fair amount of detail and see the various possible destinations and alternative routes there is the European Rail Timetable, which is (I think) available in both book and digital formats. You can use it to work out your out and back trips, look at alternative routings, possible short day trips, etc. It is in English, so no worries about staring at departure boards wondering what that word means. (Or getting to a destination on a Saturday and finding that the train you planned to return on is Not Saturdays.) If you do get it, it is best to spend an hour or two familiarising yourself with its layout and symbols. It doesn’t cover every line in Europe, but it is amazing how much it does cover.

.europeanrailtimetable.eu

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Yes - my starting point when planning rail travel in Europe (unless it's a very straightforward point-to-point journey I've done before) is generally a combination of the latest ERT plus relevant tips from Seat61.

There's no one best place for getting the tickets, given the lack of integration of services and the competitive nature of rail companies these days. But if you don't have much experience, then just follow Seat61's advice, which includes suggestion for best places for ticketing for various places. If you're just getting a Eurostar ticket, plus odd local ones at your destination, then of course the Eurostar tickets is to be got from them, and the other odds and ends when you're there.

If you're not leaving until the Friday evening, then you're pretty much stuck with only reaching Paris or Brussels, or somewhere quite close to them, that night, and then having to get to anywhere else you want to actually be on the Saturday morning. Which cuts out some of your weekend. (Also, as has been said, there's also Harwich-Hook on the overnight boat, which means you could get to many places in the Netherlands easily during the Saturday morning.)

You mentioned the Wuppertal Suspension Railway - which is indeed an interesting experience. I was thinking if you went to Brussels, and then hopped over to the German border, say to the first place (Aachen), on the Friday night, you could explore that region of Germany (including Wuppertal) all day on Saturday. The problem is that the evening London-Brussels train on the Friday would miss the last connection to Aachen (either on the intercity, or on the local cross-border connections), so you'd either have to go only part of the way, and stay in a smaller place in Belgium towards the German border, or you'd have to leave London in the afternoon so you could get into Germany on the Friday evening. (Aachen isn't much more than an hour from Brussels on the faster trains.)

English is pretty widely spoken in main places in that part of Germany; Aachen itself is a nice smaller city; and you have the opportunity to hop over into the adjacent corner of the Netherlands too. If you were spending a couple of days based there, then there are regional travel-where-you-want transport tickets which are good value. (And of course, right now, the are Euro9 tickets for the whole of Germany lasting until the end of August. But I guess the trip isn't that soon!) Note that if you're looking to travel inexpensively, and want to use a Eurostar train on a Friday, you need to book a long way ahead!

I have to second the Netherlands. Reasonably priced railways, there's day tickets available, though if off peak the misleadingly named Holland travel ticket is cheaper and includes all public transport in the Netherlands. No face mask requirement any more, good intercity classes as well as some curiosities from the private operators. Be careful to check in and out your ticket with each operator. This is due to revenue allocation as Dutch law doesn't allow for an equivalent of ORCATS. Not checking in and out may lead to a penalty fare. A wide range of main and secondary routes and one of the few European countries with a level of frequency similar to the UK.
If you get time I'd recommend a visit to Utrecht, where there is an excellent railway museum, albeit some walk from the station. Went in 2020 and the guides were super good at explaining things too. I'm hesitant to say this but I have to confess it's one of the best railway museums I've been too, possibly better than York.

English is widely spoken though I've found that unlike Germany even if the locals speak perfect English they appreciate you having a go in Dutch no matter how imperfect (there's no requirement whatsoever for this - but Germans seem to get frustrated by bad German, which leaves you in the awkward position of guessing how well they speak English before the conversation!)

mikeg said:

I have to second the Netherlands. Reasonably priced railways, there's day tickets available, though if off peak the misleadingly named Holland travel ticket is cheaper and includes all public transport in the Netherlands. No face mask requirement any more, good intercity classes as well as some curiosities from the private operators. Be careful to check in and out your ticket with each operator. This is due to revenue allocation as Dutch law doesn't allow for an equivalent of ORCATS. Not checking in and out may lead to a penalty fare. A wide range of main and secondary routes and one of the few European countries with a level of frequency similar to the UK.
If you get time I'd recommend a visit to Utrecht, where there is an excellent railway museum, albeit some walk from the station. Went in 2020 and the guides were super good at explaining things too. I'm hesitant to say this but I have to confess it's one of the best railway museums I've been too, possibly better than York.

English is widely spoken though I've found that unlike Germany even if the locals speak perfect English they appreciate you having a go in Dutch no matter how imperfect (there's no requirement whatsoever for this - but Germans seem to get frustrated by bad German, which leaves you in the awkward position of guessing how well they speak English before the conversation!)

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I know some German and once got chatting to a bloke in a Rosenheim pub. After several minutes of German talk we found out that we were both English, me from Lancashire and he from Nottingham. We continued our conversation in our mother tongue!

mikeg said:

If you get time I'd recommend a visit to Utrecht, where there is an excellent railway museum, albeit some walk from the station.

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Walking (or taking the local bus route 8) is indeed the fastest way to get there, but part of the experience would be to actually take the train there. On days the museum is open (Tuesday till Sunday) there's an hourly shuttle train between Utrecht Centraal and Utrecht Maliebaan (the former station housing the museum).
The train will take you there in 17 minutes. Coming from Utrecht Centraal it reverses at Blauwkapel junction prior to entering the part of the route currently only used by the museum shuttle train.

DanielB said:

Walking (or taking the local bus route 8) is indeed the fastest way to get there, but part of the experience would be to actually take the train there. On days the museum is open (Tuesday till Sunday) there's an hourly shuttle train between Utrecht Centraal and Utrecht Maliebaan (the former station housing the museum).
The train will take you there in 17 minutes. Coming from Utrecht Centraal it reverses at Blauwkapel junction prior to entering the part of the route currently only used by the museum shuttle train.

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Thanks I'd forgotten about that. I believe the shuttle train wasn't operating last time I went there. I think there was some reason I didn't take it if it was.

I remember reading a book some time ago, called "tales from the fast trains"

I seem to think it offered suggestions for quick weekend trips starting with Eurostar from London each time.

Tales-Fast-Trains-Europe-

I may be wrong, but I have found trainline to be okay for European train tickets. May well be cheaper and better options though?

SeanG said:

One thing to consider is do you need to leave the UK via Eurostar or Ferry? My trips often start with looking where the cheap flights are to/from and then trying to link the two ends via train visiting interesting places on the way.

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For me based in the north west, Eurostar is impractical and expensive to start short rail trips to the continent, though I used it often enough when based near London.
Apart from the ERT and seat61, I start with the LCC schedules (easyJet, Ryanair etc) from Manchester/Liverpool (and potentially Birmingham), looking for handy mid-day flights each way to a gateway airport allowing train to/from the airport at both ends.

Fares are on the increase, but I generally reckon to reach middle-Europe (eg Geneva, Munich, Budapest, Madrid) and back for less than £100, and you save a day/night each way compared to Eurostar and connections.
Booking 6-9 months in advance gives you the lowest air fare, but sometimes you have to trust that the railway will still connect with its shorter booking lead times.

Start in Tremadog, North Wales. You could try booking through Ffestiniog Travel, many years of experience with selling tickets across Europe and further afield.