Dear fellow travellers,
We have news! A new edition of our Europe by Rail book was published last month. It seems like only yesterday that we published the final issue of hidden europe magazine, but it was in fact in July 2023 that hidden europe 70 appeared. Three years on, we are as busy as ever and there’s something of the spirit of hidden europe in the 19th edition of Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide. It’s a great read and makes a fine gift. Find out more on the book's dedicated website.
The book evokes that same sense of place and spirit of landscape which underpinned hidden europe magazine. It also reflects our enduring interest in slow travel and in crafting creative itineraries which follow secondary rail routes rather than high-speed lines.
For this 19th edition, we have included new routes in Austria, Italy, the Baltic States and the Balkan region, in some cases anticipating the reopening of rail routes which have been closed for many years. It’s brilliant that one can now travel from Warsaw to Helsinki by train and ferry with just one overnight stop along the way – and your best choice for that stop is at the relatively unknown town of Kėdainiai in Lithuania, which we discovered has some improbable Scottish connections. Of course that route from Poland to Helsinki is better if you give it more time. Many of the routes in Europe by Rail are far more rewarding if you take them slowly.
We decided to reintroduce Serbia to the 19th edition – a little nervously it has to be said, as rail services in the Balkans are woeful. Cast back ten years and we had routes in the book leading from Belgrade across Serbia’s borders to Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. These all disappeared, but the prospect of train services resuming between Budapest and Belgrade prompted us to reinstate that route. There’s still talk of the trains starting to run again later this year with fast trains from Budapest and even a twice-daily Eurocity service from Vienna to Belgrade.
With the new Koralm Railway transforming travel in Austria (and between Austria and Italy), a new cross-border regional rail link between Sweden and Finland, and daytime trains now reinstated on the Nordland Railway to Bodø in Norway, readers of Europe by Rail will find a better choice of rail connections than ever.
This is a book which tells stories about every route. As one reviewer comments, it tells the history of Europe in over 50 rail routes. We don’t just tell you to change trains at Mockava; we relate a story about why changing trains at Mockava recalls political and cultural divisions in Europe that go back decades.
The 19th edition of Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide is available through good bookshops and online sales channels. You can see a list of stockists here, though it’s probably far from complete. The ISBN is 978-3-945225-05-9.
Enjoy your summer travels,
Susanne Kries and Nicky Gardner
