Overland Europe: Journeys by Public Transport

These are point-to-point journeys by public transport connecting some special places in Europe. All are based on trips I’ve taken myself, and I’ll keep adding more

Most travel content focuses on destinations — the places you arrive at. These posts are about the journeys in between, because sometimes the train ride, the overnight sleeper, or the cross-border bus route is the experience itself.

Europe is extraordinarily well-connected by public transport, but not all of that is obvious from guidebooks or standard travel sites. Sleeper trains that few people know exist, bus routes that cross four countries in a day, scenic rail lines that bypass the tourist crowds entirely – these are the journeys that tend to stay with you longest.

Every route here is one I’ve taken myself, usually working out the logistics from scratch because the information wasn’t easily available elsewhere. That’s exactly why I write them up. All are car-free, most are budget-friendly, and several connect places that most travellers assume you need to fly between.

Below you’ll find both multi-country adventures and single-country journeys worth taking for their own sake. More will join this list – I have a long queue of routes still to write up, and a few more still to take.