Traveling Through Europe on the Train

I've traveled by train in four European countries, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and France since 1999. In all the years since I started riding the trains through Europe I've only had one cancellation and no delays at all. For the most part, the passengers have been friendly and often helpful. The same is true of the personnel in the train stations and on the trains. They were careful that I didn't get lost.

The first European country where I traveled by train was Italy. It was also the first time I'd ever ridden a train. It would have been difficult if we'd been on our own, since most of the Italians we met wouldn't speak English and wouldn't respond to English. My brother escorted us on the train in both directions.

Although it's been a few years since we were in Italy, I would suggest that you learn a little Italian, or else you may find it difficult to get around on the trains. We took the train from Milan into Verona, except for the language barrier it was an uncomplicated trip. My brother bought our one way tickets at the station, then we boarded the train when it was time to leave. It was a straight shot with no transfers.

The only difficult thing I encountered on the entire trip was that when I went to use the toilet. The wall was solid from my chest down and clear glass from my chest up. When I stepped into the room all I saw was an open grated, brass floor with the train tracks and wheels clearly visible to me. There was nothing else in the room. I decided to wait until we arrived at the station. Perhaps this train was an exception.

Some of the sites listed in this guide offer a great deal of helpful information, some with links to the railway sites. Other sites listed represent the various railways and offer helpful information as well as the opportunity to make reservations or advice on where to do so. The national trains listed for the different countries don't require reservations although you can purchase different kinds of rail tickets directly from the sites. Their websites can also give you the schedules, connections and destinations as well as other important information.

You will find help at the Go Italy.com website as well as on the Seat61 page. They have a lot of helpful information on trains in Italy. Italian Trips is another helpful website on all kinds of travel in Italy and you can find information on the Italian train system at the website for Italian Railways.

I took a train from Amsterdam to Brussels and a train from Paris to Brussels. The trips took longer than expected, but otherwise, the trips were pleasant and uncomplicated. I rode the trains straight from the airports to Brussels.

The train I traveled on from Paris to Brussels was the high speed TGV which goes from France to Belgium. I wasn't required to make any transfers until I got to the Brussels train station. France also has the SNCF train line which can take you all over France.

The train I rode on from Amsterdam to Brussels was probably the NS Hispeed. The airport sent me to Brussels since that was the destination on my airline ticket although the train could have taken me directly to Antwerp. I didn't have to make any transfers until I got to Brussels.

The NS Hispeed website covers a whole list of intercontinental train companies as well as trains that go into London. They are all in partnership with each other. You will find NS Hispeed, FURA, ICE International, Eurostar, TGV and Railteam. Railteam is a partnership of Europe's high-speed train companies. It includes DB from Germany, SNCF in France, SBB from Austria and NMBS from Belgium as well as sister train companies Thalys and Lyria.

A website that would help you find information on Dutch trains would be the NS website. Another website that has helpful information on trains going through the Netherlands as well as all kinds of helpful information on travel to and around the Netherlands would be the Holland website on about.com.

Holland Travel Guide is a well explained website which has very good, clear instruction on how to use the Dutch trains. This information would also apply to the Belgian trains, except the tickets are mainly bought at the ticket counter in Belgium. The Belgian train stations I've been in don't have ticket machines like the stations in the Netherlands. They also don't require you to validate your ticket before boarding the train. This website also covers other areas of travel to the Netherlands.

The B-Europe site is the main site to go to for international travel connecting through Belgium. You can find the ICE which takes you from Brussels to Frankfurt, Treski which will take you to Austria and Thalys which goes from Belgium to France, the Netherlands and Germany. You will also find Eurostar which can take you to London and Fyra which goes from Brussels to Amsterdam. The website also lists InterCity which runs from Belgium to the Netherlands while a partner, EuroCity, goes from Brussels to Switzerland, Luxembourg and the eastern part of France. The company also offers Overnight which has several trains that will take you all over Eastern, Central and Western Europe and TGV which goes from Brussels to anywhere in France.

Go to the SNCB website if you're planning to travel anywhere within Belgium.

The EuroRails site is a source for France Rail passes and the TGV reservations. They offer different options throughout Western Europe. Reservations are required for the TGV trains. You can make the reservations on this website, at major French train stations or at the airports. The prices are quoted in dollars.

The Rail Europe website deals with European train tickets for Eurostar and InterRail passes. The prices are listed in pounds. Another very good site to find out more about the different trains and destinations all over Europe is Eurail.

On European Rail Guide you will find all these wonderful maps of railway connections in different European countries. They are color coded for the different types of train service in each area. This page also has very good information on different kinds of European rail passes, city guides, tickets and other important travel information.

Sources:
http://goitaly.about.com/od/italytransportation/a/trains.htm
http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm
http://www.italiantrips.com/italy-trains.htm
http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage.html
http://pro.tgv.com/
http://www.sncf.com/en_EN/flash/
http://www.nshispeed.nl/en
http://www.ns.nl/cs/Satellite/travellers
http://goeurope.about.com/cs/holland/l/bl_holland_map.htm
http://www.holland-travel-guide.com/trains-netherlands.html
http://www.b-europe.com/Travel
http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/
http:/www.eurorailways.com/products/trains_passes/single_country/france.htm
http://81.3.125.97/
http://www.eurail.com/home
http://www.europeanrailguide.com/