As a European who enjoys a scenic train ride and has never really seen anything of his continent’s mainland, travel books like DK Eyewitness’ Europe by Train invigorate my ever-growing desire to see around this cultured, stunning and historically successful landmass. Hence, I picked this book up and could barely put it down once I had.
Fortunately, whilst readers will be sat at home leafing through this publication, the concept of ‘seeing’ around Europe is quite possible, albeit in a vicarious fashion. DK’s Eyewitness series is what I feel most travel guides should be like, focusing more on providing a myriad of gorgeous photographs to assist readers with envisioning their journeys to, and around, the mentioned locales. Thankfully, Europe by Train is no different, containing over a hundred colourful pictures of the continent’s various urban and rural scenes.
Shifting the focus over to the written content, this particular book details fifty trips one can make around the European continent via rail, as is denoted by its small, unmentioned subtitle. Each journey is broken up by key destinations, meaning trips are segmented by stoppages at what the DK Team consider as must-see cities or towns, resulting in digestible trips that seem less daunting to inexperienced travellers.
Each key location is gifted up to three condensed paragraphs that offer a brief history of notable events and dates, alongside some suggestions on what sights to see or activities to partake in. Somewhere within all this, there is often mention of what the destination is famed for—divine landscapes, marvellous architecture, great museums, lovely galleries, impressive castles, cobbled streets, shimmering canals, packed harbours, expansive shorelines, adventurous hikes, lush vineyards, delicious food, interesting culture, entertaining venues, evident prosperity, buzzing nightlife, growing environmentalism, or the simple promise of pleasant weather.
Although some readers may prefer a bit more information to go off, my advice would be to treat this publication as a palette of samples, since you can finish reading about each trip in ten minutes or less. Across each of its uniquely rail-linked journeys, Europe by Train mentions hundreds of destinations, so I am sure most readers can understand that it is somewhat infeasible for each to be covered in extensive detail whilst trying to keep the page count down and needless trivia to a minimum.
Overall, DK’s writers do a good job at emphasising the best parts of each locale (which is the most essential part of travel writing), so interested readers can definitely do some online research or pick up another book if they would like to learn more about specific cities or regions. The standout locations are often the ones afforded a large, visually pleasing photograph to indicate their noteworthiness, so keep that in mind if you are intending to research the best of the best. Handily, regardless of where you intend to go, DK also include nine maps with information about the train providers, railway routes, rules, and purchasing tickets within the detailed region. It’s not groundbreaking, but definitely a handy starting point to begin researching prices, timetables, and maybe even booking some tickets.
You certainly could not do your own research for every place mentioned; the coverage of this book is vast and references almost every European country, including some that barely reside within what we typically classify as Europe. The complete list of countries featured are as follows:
British Isles: Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales
Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark
Western Europe: France, Monaco, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Austria
Eastern Europe: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, (Westernmost) Turkey
Southern Europe: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece
Of course, the touristy standouts are probably France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and maybe England or Germany, where most from outside Continental Europe venture for a warm or scenic summer getaway.
To anyone overwhelmed by the amount of included nations, please don’t be put off. As alluded to, this book is great for leafing through or leaving on the coffee table in the living room or sun room. Its accessible layout promotes reading it slowly across weeks, learning about a few new routes and cities with each day of leisurely reading, savouring the slight thrill of potentially packing up and following along with one of these guides. Moreover, I would almost encourage you to leave it sitting out in the open, as its retro-styled cover art is very pleasing, to the extent I almost wish I had a poster, or postcard, styled similarly. These sort of works are a culmination of aesthetic talent, and I feel this is an overlooked aspect of many non-fiction releases.
Let’s get back on topic: if you are the sort of person looking for a long escape from your home or nation, the DK Team’s compilation of trips vary from less than a week in length to almost month-long adventures (when accounting for sightseeing and more relaxed pacing). There are definitely some options in here that are a perfect romantic escape for couples wanting to celebrate an anniversary or special occasion, so keep that in mind if you have a special someone who loves to travel.
Additionally, for travellers who are daunted by lengthy transnational trips and would rather commute around singular nations, this book has plenty of suggestions for country-specific travels—there is no need to be deterred from picking up Europe by Train if you prefer to keep things simple and self-contained. In particular, the DK Team’s ‘Essential Spain’, ‘Quintessential England’, ‘Rhineland by Rail’, ‘Tuscan Treasures’, ‘Picturesque Poland’, and the ‘Best of Portugal/France/Italy/Northern Ireland/Norway/Switzerland’ are all solid considerations for localised explorers, but are not the only one-nation trips advertised. Instead, these trips highlight the most touristy and popular locales that most visitors want to explore, meaning they will generally appeal to the majority of readers wanting to keep within the footprint of one European country. For those on a budget, definitely take a gander at DK’s outlining of one- or two-nation trips in Eastern Europe.
Also aiding readers, whether daunted or eager to explore, is the helpful summary each trip is given upon its introduction. For almost every full-length venture, DK provide bulleted insights on the stating locale, ending locale, where and when to book or buy train tickets, the approximate time (in days) needed to do everything listed, and the approximate distance covered (in both kilometres and miles) from start to end. There is also a handy breakdown of each stopping point, alongside the the time (in hours and minutes) it takes to commute between these key destinations. And, just to ensure its worth reading about that particular trip, there is a very brief summary on the journey’s contents and unique focus—the ‘Slow Food Italy’, for example, entices gourmet readers with: ‘Speed between the region’s foodie cities on this two-week rail trip, savouring dishes at each stop.’
With so much content and information, plus enchanting pictures, it is clear that this publication is a labour of love. I cannot imagine the amount of man-hours put into each city’s few short paragraphs, and I’m willing to bet this work was a nightmare to edit and condense down to its most integral locations. It does a very good job of straddling a balance between fairly informative and visually mesmerising, without overloading the reader or skimping on too many details. And I think that love and desire to say more is best indicated in the little boxed scattered around, entitled either ‘Detour’ or ‘Extend Your Trip’ to push interested readers to look into other great locations and landmarks that DK simply couldn’t compress into their rail journeys.
Still, there are some detractors that keep this great read outside of the five-star club. For one, the book does favour Western and Central Europe more than anywhere else. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland feel a tad dismissed, some countries in Eastern Europe only get mentioned once or twice (whilst the centralist nations get plenty of coverage), and much of Scandinavia’s coverage is thrown in at the end to make up the last six or so trips covered. The expansive Ukraine is also absent, presumably due to being enrolled in war against the Russia, which is understandable.
Yet, not only am I a tad miffed as a (Northern) Irishman, without our modest little towns and cities being largely overlooked, but also curious about how many other stunning and worthwhile places were overlooked in favour of mentioning the same well-known, tourist-heavy Central European locales again and again.
And I really do mean ‘again and again’, as various cities—London, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Venice—get repeated coverage across multiple trips that pass through the relevant counties. In truth, the writers at DK do try to mitigate this by mentioning more history and new sights each time these cities reappear, but when you see them for the third or fourth time, it is hard to not gloss over their latest cameo to read about a debuting locale that has yet to be discussed. Ultimately, this is not a major issue, and hard to avoid when writing about such a condensed, intersecting continent… I just think it represents a slight tourism bias that DK is subtly helping to perpetuate, despite them often advising readers to venture off the beaten path or relish other locales that are yet to swamped by tourists.
Although I accept this next point might be beyond the intended scope of this publication, when writing a book that focuses on long, transnational commutes via train, it would be great to know more about the quality and comfort of each transit system. DK make no mention of these facets regarding the typical public rail systems, yet are fairly happy to talk about celebrity trains and routes like the Jacobite, Orient Express, Glacier Express, Golden Eagle Danube Express, and El Transcantábrico Gran Lujo and detail the luxury of these commercialised, more privatised options. It feels a bit snobbish and not entirely considerate of readers who may have to budget heavily and would like to know the risks and quality of the more affordable networks they’d be sticking to. Even just a little star rating to highlight the general quality, punctuality, and comfort of each country’s networks would have been more than serviceable.
Still, despite these few complaints and wishes, I can confidently say that if DK Eyewitness’ USA National Parks: Lands of Wonder showed me how incredible and diverse the landscapes of North America are, then Europe by Train has affirmed my view of this brilliant continent as the planet’s most cultured, beautiful, and historic collection of countries. On that basis, I think it is absolutely on the fringes of being a must-read book (and certainly a must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in sightseeing around Europe). Moreover, in this finite venture we call life, I feel that everyone should journey along at least one of the fifty trips DK have loving helped to plan out across this entertaining, informative travel guide. So, absolutely, I do recommend this book despite its niggling downsides.
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