The 16 Ultimate European Journeys by regular Express Trains

This guide to Europe’s most wonderful express train routes, taken by direct regular trains between fabulous cities, inevitably features easy to access journeys; likely to be on many exploring Europe by train itineraries.

Other guides to Europe’s most scenic journeys tend to include special trains, such as The Glacier or Bernina Expresses along with journeys slightly off the beaten track; because spectacular landscapes don’t tend to be compatible with fast express train travel.

But in Europe some regular express trains can’t avoid mountains or coasts, or have to follow routes through deep river valleys, so it's those we have focused on with this list!

What also makes these guides different from the norm, is that the images aren't of the trains taking these routes, instead they were taken from the train, so give an insight into the journey experience.
Plus each of the journeys guides also have access to the practical info you'll need to take these trips yourself, such as the station, train and ticket details.

Oh and the context for left/right is facing the direction of travel.
Most of these journeys can of course be enjoyed in either direction, so flip the left/right advice if you will travelling in the opposite direction.

Where were the images captured?

From clockwise top left, they were taken at;

• Heading through the Brennero Pass on a München/Munich - Venezia/Venice journey
• Near Flam station on the Oslo - Bergen journey
• Between Bad Gastein and Spittal on the Salzburg - Zagreb journey
• East of St Raphael on the Marseille to Genova/Genoa route
• Travelling by the River Sava on the Wien/Vienna to Ljubljana route
• The bridges over the Tyne on the York - Aberdeen journey
• Passing the Wallensee on the Zurich - Graz journey
• Through the foothills of the Italian alps on the Paris - Torino/Turin route

All the journey details

Three fast trains per hour spend close to two hours passing through a dramatic landscape.

All the journey details

Britain's most spectacular westward rail journey features rolling countryside, sea views and some fabulous views from spectacular bridges and viaducts.

All the journey details

The only rail journey that travels through both the Rhine Gorge in Germany and on the incredible Tauern route in Austria.

All the journey details

Five hours of rushing across the landscapes of Spain on Europe's most thrilling high speed rail journey.

All the journey details

Travel by both Lake Maggiore and Lake Geneva and through the mountain valleys in between.

All the journey details

Featuring spectacular views of no less than five Swiss lakes.

All the journey details

More than three hours of spellbinding views including the passage through the Brennero Pass.

All the journey details

Plateaus in the mountains above the tree line, crystal lakes, rivers and fjords; this journey has them all!

All the journey details

The only journey by train which features both a high speed section and a stunning passage through the Alps.

All the journey details

With more than four hours of sea views, this is Europe's ultimate coastal train journey.

All the journey details

End-to-end incredible scenery, featuring the Tauern route in Austria, beautiful Slovenia and the Sava River gorge.

All the journey details

The only route which includes both the The Semmering Railway and the River Sava gorge.

All the journey details

More than three hours of glorious Austrian scenery plus Italian mountain peaks and the lovely arrival at journey's end.

All of the journey details

Four of the world's best views from railway bridges and more than three hours of coastal landscapes.

All the journey details

Through the stunning valleys in Slovenia and then over the Semmering Pass in Austria.

All the journey details

The 'Transalpin Express' is the only train that travels over the epic Arlberg route and then through the mountains east of Innsbruck.

The inclusions above aren't quite a comprehensive list, as ShowMeTheJourney wanted to illustrate each journey with recently captured images and videos.

So at a future date, we plan to add these fabulous express train routes to this guide:

• Rimini <> Bari (though SMTJ has travelled the northern part of this route).
• Athens <>Thessaloniki
• Beograd <> Bar
• Zagreb <> Split
• Sanremo <> Roma (though SMTJ has travelled on the most spectacular part of this route).

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