You Can Travel Across Europe Via Train For Just US$490—Here’s How

All aboard!
by Mandy Decena | January 20, 2020

We all dreamed of touring Europe at least once in our lives. And when we do, we tend to think of cruises and airplanes, which can cost quite a fortune.

But there’s a cheaper and easier alternative: You can travel across Europe for eight days via 13 separate trains and it will only cost you a total of $491.90 which is only around Php 25,000. Pretty neat for a continent-wide tour, right?

Here are some tips to remember if you decide to go on this trip!

Plan your route

Need some assistance in planning? The Man in Seat Sixty-One is an easy-to-use website where you can find information about timings, connections, estimated prices, and even reviews about almost any country in the world.

It’s also more convenient if you write an itinerary down. Include the stations, the trains’ departure and arrival time and your hotel addresses. Make sure you allow some allowance time in between connections

Booking

After you’ve planned your itinerary, you can start booking trains and hotels. While you can book most of your train tickets online there are some stations where you have to buy your tickets in person, which is why it’s essential to have some time allowance.

There are some old railway hotels such as the Pera Palace, but they can be quite expensive, pricing up to $280 (Php 14,200) per night.

 

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If you’re not willing to spend a fortune for a night in such a luxurious hotel, you can always find good bargains such as the Hotel Moskva which only costs $115 (Php 5,900) per night.

 

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A post shared by Hotel Moskva (@hotelmoskva) on Jan 16, 2020 at 8:04am PST

Prep for the trip

Some of these train trips are bound to last for a couple of hours so it is advisable to have some essentials at hand like your toiletries, your own snacks (since meals in the trains can be pretty pricey) and entertainment (especially since free WiFi ain’t everywhere).

Also, not every state has the same policy so make sure to check the requirements of every country you’re going to visit and have your required documents prepared ahead of time.

For more information on how such a trip would go, check out Ben Mack’s detailed retelling of his experience.

 

Do you enjoy traveling by train?