Under 30s rail holidays in Europe


That’s the consensus for many travellers on under 30 rail holidays in Europe. There are plenty of environmental reasons to travel by train, of course (a casual 75 percent cut in planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions, for instance), but really that’s a mighty big bonus on top of discovering that travelling by rail is easy – and really, really fun. There’s a reason why Interrailing around Europe in the 1970s was the original backpacking route.
“For me, it just all seems to fit together and really make sense,” says Scott. “Because not only are you doing a good thing for the environment by taking a public mode of transport that creates fewer emissions, but you are getting a genuinely more positive experience out of travelling as well.”
Our Under 30s Holidays
Southern Europe rail tour, 16 days
Tour through the best of Southern Europe in 3 weeks!
Central Europe rail tour, 15 days
An exciting trip around the continent's fairytale cities
Eastern europe by train, the Iron Curtain tour
Whizz around Europe's lesser-visited cities by rail!
Trans Siberian 13 day tour, 18-35
Want an epic journey across three countries & 7 time zones?
Trans Mongolian 21 day tour, 18-35
Explore further & dive deeper on an adventure of a lifetime.
Beijing to St Petersburg overland winter tour, 18-35
A frosty foray into the winter wonderland of Russia!
Italy by rail highlights tour
Small group tour that discovers the highlights of Italy by rail
Mediterranean group tour
Enjoy the sunshine on this 29-day Mediterranean Adventure!
18-25 Trans Mongolian tour, 21 days
An epic 3 weeks on the ultimate Trans Mongolian journey.
Spain and Portugal 11 day tour
All the paella and port you could want on this 11 day tour!
St Petersburg to Beijing winter tour, 18-35
An epic winter adventure that's not for the faint hearted!
Trans Siberian rail tour for 18-35
Want to hit the highlights without breaking the bank?
European rail tour, 29 days
Tour Europe's best cities on this 29-day adventure!
Where in the world?
Rail holidays run by train travel specialists make you realise that trains can be an easier way to explore the world. Europe is the most popular stop, thanks to its expansive, effective network. You could city-hop between London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Vienna, swoop up through Sweden, or sink south to sand-swept Portugal. This is where travelling with a train specialist comes in handy: they’ll swap the more unreliable timetables of the Balkans and Baltics for buses and ferries.Scott prefers to focus on the countries that escape most Instagrammers’ attention. Much of Europe makes it easy for you, with even tiny mountain villages equipped with a train station. “I was away for two-and-a-half weeks going through the Balkan countries on my last trip,” says Scott. “I started in Greece and saw all of them along the way: Albania; Serbia; Kosovo; Croatia; Slovenia. I saw the whole works. And then I went from there up to Brussels, visited Luxembourg for a day, and came back to Manchester from there. It was an incredible trip.”


Scott agrees: “Sometimes, you’ll get such dramatic landscapes right outside the window, especially when you’re going through countries like Switzerland. I couldn’t imagine travelling by any other method in places like that. I feel like you’d really be missing out if you didn’t.”
Social & local
Trains are more sociable by nature, too. You and your mates won’t be seated at opposite ends of the plane. You can share a picnic on-board or sit around a table with a deck of cards and discover who’s got the best (and worst) poker face. A growing number of young travellers want to break free from the confines of a bus and meet people on the rails. After all, in most European countries the trains are filled with local people on their way to work, to see their families, to funerals, weddings and music or religious festivals.


Our top Under 30s Holiday
Southern Europe rail tour, 16 days
Tour through the best of Southern Europe in 3 weeks!
2021: 6 Jun, 11 Jul, 15 Aug, 19 Sep


A breeze
It’s all enough to change a frequent flier’s ways. “I think the first time that I decided to make the switch was the best train trip for me,” says Scott. “Classically, I was one of those people who would fly from destination to destination – even when sometimes I could’ve just got the bus or train instead... I remember it being a bit of a game changer when I realised that this is so much easier and it’s better for the environment. Ever since then, I’ve been travelling as sustainably as possible. Flying is very much a last resort now.”
Like many first-time train travellers, that first trip shifted Scott’s perception of train holidays. “I think people’s views get tainted by past experiences… and they just think, ‘Oh, there’s no way I would want to be messed about with a train cancellation if I was in the middle in Sweden.’ When in reality you would very rarely have to deal with something like that and, if you did, the customer service really does back it up. I’ve had a train cancel on me before, and it took less than five minutes to find a representative, and then I was on a different train. So it’s still very, very easy if things do go wrong.”
Flygskam vs. tagskryt
But flygskam – flight shame; one of the trending words of 2019 – is a real issue for under 30s, says Scott. “They don’t want to feel bad or receive the flak from other people by travelling by a method that’s so disproportionately bad for the environment... They’re thinking about that environmental aspect more around the age of 20-25… I think the publicity in the media has come a long way in recent months in terms of making sure people are switched on and engaged; that they’re being considerate in their own personal choices when it comes to travelling.”


“Some people will go because they’ve seen their friends go,” says Scott. “Some people will go because they enjoy train travel. But we’ve just seen an increase in people travelling specifically because of the sustainability aspect, which we think is absolutely great.”