If you’re lucky enough to be planning a holiday abroad this year, you can reduce the impact on your carbon footprint by joining the increasing number of people going by train, which grew by 50% over the last decade. The following journeys should give you a taste for what is out there – unfortunately, the travel agents didn’t ask EcoCounts to test them out:
- Strasbourg (1 change) for city culture, vineyards, food, canals
- Aix en Provence, France (1 change in Lille) for food, art, landscapes
- Lake Geneva, Switzerland (only 1 change), for Lausanne, Montreux, the Swiss Alps
- Sicily (two changes – Paris & Milan or Turin / 24 hours with sleeper) for Roman ruins, hilltop villages, beaches and volcanoes
- Andalucia, Spain (3 changes – Paris, Nimes, Madrid) – make use of those Duo Lingo lessons
- Austrian Tyrol (2 changes – Paris, Zurich) Innsbruck for mountains
Either use the Man in Seat 61 https://www.seat61.com/ to get the low-down, or spend a bit of holiday money on a travel agent like Rail Europe to take the pain and frustration out of the booking process.
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- the Lille connections are sometimes limited
- the connection in Paris involves going from Gare du Nord, normally to Gare de Lyons or Gare de l’Est so you have to find the actual station, not just the platform
