Insight Guides Great Railway Journeys of Europe (Travel Guide eBook)

Insight Guides

Description

Insight Guides: all you need to inspire every step of your journey.

From deciding when to go, to choosing which routes to travel, this guide is all you need to plan your trip across Europe by rail, with in-depth insider information on the best journeys to make the most of this scenic continent. 

·       Insight Guide Great Railway Journeys of Europe is ideal for travellers seeking immersive railway journeys across the continent
·       In-depth on the history of European train travel: enjoy special features on new technologies and station architecture, all written by local experts
·       Invaluable maps, train routes, travel tips and practical information ensure effortless planning, and encourage venturing off the beaten track
·       Inspirational colour photography throughout - Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books
·       Inventive design makes for an engaging and inspiring reading experience


About Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

Sujets

• Reino Unido
• Travel
• United Kingdom
• Spain
• Italy
• My Last Duchess
• Great Britain
• Spain (groupe)
• Germany
• London
• Eurostar
• Royaume-Uni
• France
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Apa Publications
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781789193282
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book
This Insight Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to Great Railway Journeys of Europe, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editor’s Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in Great Railway Journeys of Europe. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.
In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.
Maps
All key attractions and sights in Great Railway Journeys of Europe are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.
Images
You’ll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Great Railway Journeys of Europe. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.
About Insight Guides
Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.
Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

© 2019 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd




Table of Contents
Editor’s Choice
Introduction: European Rail Travel
Decisive Dates
The Growth of Rail Travel
The Pursuit of Speed
Heritage
Introduction: Journeys
Crossing the Continent
Great Britain and Ireland
Travel Tips: Museums and Heritage Lines
France
Travel Tips: Museums and Heritage Lines
Spain and Portugal
Travel Tips: Museums and Heritage Lines
Switzerland
Travel Tips: Museums and Heritage Lines
Italy
Travel Tips: Museums and Heritage Lines
Austria
Travel Tips: Museums and Heritage Lines
Germany
Travel Tips: Museums and Heritage Lines
Scandinavia
Travel Tips: Museums and Heritage Lines
Other European Routes
Travel Tips: Museums and Heritage Lines
Travel Tips: European Rail Travel
Travel Tips: Country by Country A–Z
Travel Tips: Further Reading


Editor’s Choice



Classic Journeys

Settle–Carlisle . Britain’s most spectacular main line, through wild, hilly countryside with great walks from stations. For more information, click here .
Seville–Madrid . The dash across the southern meseta , Spain’s central plateau, lined with olive groves, ends in the splendid station of Atocha with its tropical garden. For more information, click here .
Geneva–Milan . The train is the best way to enjoy the northern shore and vineyards along Lake Geneva, special enough to be a Unesco World Heritage Site. For more information, click here .



Train passing Lake Geneva.
Alamy


Luxury Trains

The Royal Scotsman . There’s no more stylish way to see Scotland than a journey aboard this sumptuous train. For more information, click here .
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express . Its history, immaculate period carriages, outstanding food and perfectly delivered service make this the most romantic of trains. For more information, click here .
El Transcantábrico . Luxury on the narrow-gauge railway along the Bay of Biscay on Spain’s northern coast. For more information, click here .



Grand suite on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.
Belmond


Scenic Byways

Shrewsbury–Swansea . Linking a succession of spa towns, this line traverses some of the finest landscapes in Wales. For more information, click here .
Clermont Ferrand–Nîmes . This meander through the Cévennes Mountains and the valleys of the Massif Central called for impressive engineering works. For more information, click here .
Trier–Koblenz–Giessen . Both parts of this journey astride the Rhine follow rivers but the landscapes are very different. For more information, click here .
Sweden’s Inlandsbanan . Few railways in Europe traverse such remote country as this seasonal line up the spine of the country. For more information, click here .



Garabit Viaduct, France.
Shutterstock


Island Railways

Corsica . An efficient metre-gauge railway runs through spectacular mountains and valleys, and is the best way to see the island. For more information, click here .
Mallorca . The island has a developing and efficient railway system, but the most scenic journey remains the link between the capital and Sóller. For more information, click here .
Sardinia . The astonishingly circuitous 4.5-hour journey between Arbatax and Cagliari takes you through the tangled macchia and ancient woods of the Seulo Mountains. For more information, click here .



The Soller Tramway, Mallorca.
iStock


Mountain Railways

Le Train Jaune . Yellow narrow-gauge trains clatter across the hills of the Cerdagne with the mountains of the Pyrenees seldom out of sight. For more information, click here .
The Glacier Express . Europe’s finest mountain railway journey, between Zermatt and St Moritz, is extremely popular, so booking is vital. For more information, click here .
The Harz Mountains . The narrow-gauge network, made up of three lines, that threads the historic landscapes of the Harz is one of the most characterful in Europe. For more information, click here .



The Brocken Railway runs through the Harz Mountains.
Alamy





The Thames-Clyde Express, hauled by The Duchess of Sutherland locomotive, crosses the Ribblehead Viaduct in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Alamy




Cogwheel railway with Mount Schynige Platte in the background, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland.
Swiss Travel System




The AVE high-speed line passes La Pena de los Enamorados (Lover’s Rock), in Andalucía, southern Spain.
Alamy



The Falkenstein Bridge passes over the Niederfalkenstein Castle, Austria.
Getty Images


Introduction: European Rail Travel

The magic of train travel lies in its ability to provide an endlessly changing procession of landscapes and cultures

‘Dear Victoria, gateway to the world beyond England. How I love your continental platform, and how I love trains anyway. Snuffing up the sulphurous smell ecstatically, so different from the feint, aloof, distantly oily smell of a boat. But a train, a big snorting hurrying, companionable train with its big puffing engine, sending up clouds of steam and seeming to say impatiently, “I’ve got to be off, I’ve got to be off, I’ve got to be off”, is a friend.’



Train track runs along the coast in Calabria, Italy.
iStock
This book is for those who can identify with these words, written by Agatha Christie, or who think they might be able to, given the chance. Of the various modes of travel, only sailing ships and the grand liners have rivalled the train in the affections of their users and the wider public. For a century and a quarter, their appeal was bound up with the atmosphere and character of the steam railway, which artists, composers and novelists sought to capture. Yet even today, with the romance of steam confined to heritage railways and the occasional forays of museum locomotives, railways continue to exercise an immense appeal.
Even at its most basic, the train remains one of the most civilised forms of overland transport. The freedom train travel gives to work, read or stare out of the window with one’s thoughts is, for millions each day, unrivalled. As the playwright Stephen Poliakoff said, one of the joys of train travel is the way the landscape rolls past the window like a film at the cinema.



ICE train in Diersfordt, Germany
Deutsche Bahn AG
For travellers intent on exploring and experiencing a country, train travel has its rewards. Robert Louis Stevenson said that the best way to see a country was from the window of a train. After all, what can you learn from the window of a pl