5 ms·

I’m an American who recently took a train in Europe from Paris to Brussels. Some brief thoughts: - It was so fast! Under 90 minutes for a journey which would

I’m an American who recently took a train in Europe from Paris to Brussels. Some brief thoughts: - It was so fast! Under 90 minutes for a journey which would have taken a few hours by car. Clearly much faster than a plane on this particular route, due to extra waiting and security in airports. - It was also a very comfortable mode. If you’re traveling with friends, it’d be very easy to socialize around a table. Quieter than a car or plane as well. - Love being able to hop on/hop off without a huge ordeal or waiting in a long line. - Too expensive for the route. I would have to book much further in advance to think it was worth it. I think maybe 6x the cost of driving, if I compared to a similar route in the US. - Obviously this is a high speed route. That doesn’t exist between all cities. - Looking at other tickets, connecting between two routes can be tricky. For example, if I wanted to go from Amsterdam to London, I’d might transfer to a different train in Paris. That adds a huge amount of time. I mean, compared to the US, it’s a delight! For a similar city-to-city distance (Portland to Seattle), I’d love a 90min transit mode, especially if it was relatively cheap. Obviously there are still some route and cost drawbacks, but there just isn’t much comparable in the US. It’s a much better system, obviously, even if it’s not perfect. At least they have high speed rail!

avianlyric 5y ago
On this specific example > Amsterdam to London Eurostar runs a direct route, with passport control in Amsterdam. But looking at any link from Europe to London that isn’t directly served by Eurostar (i.e. any city except Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels) is going to suck.
- laurencerowe 5y ago
  I've taken Eurostar from London and changed in Paris for Grenoble and Brussels for Amsterdam (before the direct train.) It was completely fine. No different from any other train journey with a change. I think it may have taken a while to get from Brussels to Amsterdam because that line hadn't yet been upgraded at the time but the journey time wasn't far off what it would have been getting to and flying from Heathrow/Gatwick/Stansted.
- prennert 5y ago
  Depends what you optimize for. I used to travel from Germany to London and had to change in Brussels. Yes you have to wait a bit, but not like at an airport. The walking distances and wait times are very small and the trains connect timewise so it is fairly stress free. If you want to play it super save, you can stop for a good meal in Brussels as you are taking a break in the middle of a city, rather than hanging around in an airport.
mynameisash 5y ago
> I mean, compared to the US, it’s a delight! For a similar city-to-city distance (Portland to Seattle), I’d love a 90min transit mode, especially if it was relatively cheap. Fully agree. Years ago, I took Amtrak from Minnesota to Seattle, and it was 36 hours. I enjoyed most everything about it except that it took. So. Long. I rarely drive down to Portland, but if we had a ~1.5hr train, I'd probably do it several times a year. Same for Seattle to BC. I may have a rose-colored perspective of Europe's rail, but I also really enjoy Paris <-> Caen or <-> Versailles. My kids loved the night train from Paris to Venice, too. And having just flown from the Midwest to Seattle with a layover, I would GLADLY trade that ~11 hour travel day (from arrival at the airport to getting picked up at SeaTac) for an ~18 hour cross-country TGV. It'll never happen, but I can dream.
- yywwbbn 5y ago
  Minneapolis to Seattle is around the same distance as Madrid to Warsaw. And for that trip you’d need ~4 transfer and it would take ~30 hours in total. So it doesn’t seem that much better.
- wolverine876 5y ago
  > It'll never happen, but I can dream. Sorry, but people give up too easily. This isn't a fusion power plant. We only have to vote for it.
  - aembleton 5y ago
    You also have to persuade everyone else to vote for it
    - wolverine876 5y ago
      Yes! It's been done, many, many times.
rootusrootus 5y ago
> Too expensive for the route That's the one that surprised me the most. I shouldn't have been surprised, I suppose, given that even Amtrak is quite expensive compared to air travel, but I was a little shocked at just how expensive trains in Europe can be. Especially the good ones.
- jounker 5y ago
  If you are a german resident, and you make two or more long distance rail trips a year, then you a buy a bahncard 25 or bahncard 50 which give you (respectively) 25% or 50% ticket discounts.
ghaff 5y ago
The capital of the EU to the capital of France in an adjacent country is pretty much the definition of good train travel in Europe. Also anything TGV in France. As sibling noted, Eurostar from London is also great. Various other routes are pretty good. Prices are pretty high by and large especially if you haven't booked well in advance. As someone else mentioned, very fragmented in Europe generally. I actually try to take trains in Europe but not always a great option especially when traversing multiple countries.
recuter 5y ago
Eurostar runs direct trains from London to Rotterdam & Amsterdam, 3.5 and 4 hours respectively. You can't really compare to a similar route in the US because there are hardly any and hardly anybody uses them. The train routes in EU are busy and frequently full, just like planes. Obviously booking ahead is cheaper, how else could you do it? Top tip, plan a head and read up a little bit on seat61: https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/london-to-amsterdam-by-eurostar.htm https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/london-to-amsterdam... Top tip 2: Overnight trains is one of the best ways to see Europe as a backpacker on the cheap. The routes are often scenic and the cost is frequently cheaper than anything else since you don't have to pay for accommodations. Buses are a thing too. And they are not greyhound bad, but definitely not as good as trains.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  We have the same buses as you these days. Megabus exists to connect many larger metropolitan areas. More or less the same vehicles as you'd find for similar services in Europe. Sadly, none of the "sleeper bus" variety that have existed (from time to time) in Europe.
  - doix 5y ago
    I took a Megabus from Houston to Austin one time, it was honestly the worst bus journey I have ever taken in my life. A man sat down next to me, talking to himself, rocking back and forth holding a screw driver. There were a lot of other "interesting" characters on the bus as well. When I arrived in Austin and told the story, my colleagues told me that the different cities would buy bus tickets for homeless people to move them from city to city. I don't know if that was the case here or not, but my guess would be that at least a large portion of the passengers had mental health issues. At the time, I was concerned with my personal safety, but afterwards I was wondering if there was something I could have done to help :(.
- gbear605 5y ago
  Long distance trains in the US are frequently full, they just don’t run as often. And the US does the same thing where it’s cheaper in advance.

avianlyric 5y ago

On this specific example > Amsterdam to London Eurostar runs a direct route, with passport control in Amsterdam. But looking at any link from Europe to London that isn’t directly served by Eurostar (i.e. any city except Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels) is going to suck.

laurencerowe 5y ago
I've taken Eurostar from London and changed in Paris for Grenoble and Brussels for Amsterdam (before the direct train.) It was completely fine. No different from any other train journey with a change. I think it may have taken a while to get from Brussels to Amsterdam because that line hadn't yet been upgraded at the time but the journey time wasn't far off what it would have been getting to and flying from Heathrow/Gatwick/Stansted.
prennert 5y ago
Depends what you optimize for. I used to travel from Germany to London and had to change in Brussels. Yes you have to wait a bit, but not like at an airport. The walking distances and wait times are very small and the trains connect timewise so it is fairly stress free. If you want to play it super save, you can stop for a good meal in Brussels as you are taking a break in the middle of a city, rather than hanging around in an airport.

mynameisash 5y ago

> I mean, compared to the US, it’s a delight! For a similar city-to-city distance (Portland to Seattle), I’d love a 90min transit mode, especially if it was relatively cheap. Fully agree. Years ago, I took Amtrak from Minnesota to Seattle, and it was 36 hours. I enjoyed most everything about it except that it took. So. Long. I rarely drive down to Portland, but if we had a ~1.5hr train, I'd probably do it several times a year. Same for Seattle to BC. I may have a rose-colored perspective of Europe's rail, but I also really enjoy Paris <-> Caen or <-> Versailles. My kids loved the night train from Paris to Venice, too. And having just flown from the Midwest to Seattle with a layover, I would GLADLY trade that ~11 hour travel day (from arrival at the airport to getting picked up at SeaTac) for an ~18 hour cross-country TGV. It'll never happen, but I can dream.

yywwbbn 5y ago
Minneapolis to Seattle is around the same distance as Madrid to Warsaw. And for that trip you’d need ~4 transfer and it would take ~30 hours in total. So it doesn’t seem that much better.
wolverine876 5y ago
> It'll never happen, but I can dream. Sorry, but people give up too easily. This isn't a fusion power plant. We only have to vote for it.
- aembleton 5y ago
  You also have to persuade everyone else to vote for it
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    Yes! It's been done, many, many times.

rootusrootus 5y ago

> Too expensive for the route That's the one that surprised me the most. I shouldn't have been surprised, I suppose, given that even Amtrak is quite expensive compared to air travel, but I was a little shocked at just how expensive trains in Europe can be. Especially the good ones.

jounker 5y ago
If you are a german resident, and you make two or more long distance rail trips a year, then you a buy a bahncard 25 or bahncard 50 which give you (respectively) 25% or 50% ticket discounts.

ghaff 5y ago

The capital of the EU to the capital of France in an adjacent country is pretty much the definition of good train travel in Europe. Also anything TGV in France. As sibling noted, Eurostar from London is also great. Various other routes are pretty good. Prices are pretty high by and large especially if you haven't booked well in advance. As someone else mentioned, very fragmented in Europe generally. I actually try to take trains in Europe but not always a great option especially when traversing multiple countries.

recuter 5y ago

Eurostar runs direct trains from London to Rotterdam & Amsterdam, 3.5 and 4 hours respectively. You can't really compare to a similar route in the US because there are hardly any and hardly anybody uses them. The train routes in EU are busy and frequently full, just like planes. Obviously booking ahead is cheaper, how else could you do it? Top tip, plan a head and read up a little bit on seat61: https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/london-to-amsterdam-by-eurostar.htm https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/london-to-amsterdam... Top tip 2: Overnight trains is one of the best ways to see Europe as a backpacker on the cheap. The routes are often scenic and the cost is frequently cheaper than anything else since you don't have to pay for accommodations. Buses are a thing too. And they are not greyhound bad, but definitely not as good as trains.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
We have the same buses as you these days. Megabus exists to connect many larger metropolitan areas. More or less the same vehicles as you'd find for similar services in Europe. Sadly, none of the "sleeper bus" variety that have existed (from time to time) in Europe.
- doix 5y ago
  I took a Megabus from Houston to Austin one time, it was honestly the worst bus journey I have ever taken in my life. A man sat down next to me, talking to himself, rocking back and forth holding a screw driver. There were a lot of other "interesting" characters on the bus as well. When I arrived in Austin and told the story, my colleagues told me that the different cities would buy bus tickets for homeless people to move them from city to city. I don't know if that was the case here or not, but my guess would be that at least a large portion of the passengers had mental health issues. At the time, I was concerned with my personal safety, but afterwards I was wondering if there was something I could have done to help :(.
gbear605 5y ago
Long distance trains in the US are frequently full, they just don’t run as often. And the US does the same thing where it’s cheaper in advance.