Win a copy of Platform Europe + an Interrail Pass! (closed)

A self planned trip from Brussels to Istanbul a couple of years ago. With stops in Vienna, Budapest, Brasov, Bucarest, Sofia and ending in Istanbul. We stayed 4 days at each stop with nice trips. Fantastic experience. 

pula to ljubljana. small train on single rails. 

Ich lieeebe Zugreisen. Die längste von Berlin - Lissabon. Auch Berlin - Paris - Barcelona fand ich premium, weil man da wirklich unkompliziert hinkommt (Lissabon is schon komplizierter).

Berlin - Italien (Venedig, Bologna, Verona), schönstes Panorama. 
In Europa versuche ich nur Bahn zu fahren, Ein Ticket zu gewinnen wäre so toll

I wish to enter the Platform Europe ‘Giveaway’.    

Switzerland to Moscow, then onto the TransSib.

6th Feb

Decided not to presume on the infallibility of the Pope or Swiss Railways and left an hour earlier than originally arranged.  Bit stupid to risk screwing up 13000+ Kms by missing the first local connection.

Arrived in Basel and called my best friend’s wife to wish her a happy birthday.  There were so many fellow travellers around and the line was so bad that my friend, who answered the phone, wanted to know who wanted to speak to his wife!

The German ICE arrived in Hannover on time, leaving me 3 hours to enjoy a 'genuine' Turkish donner kebab (curry flavoured!!).... and a really wonderful freshly pressed mango, banana and blood orange chaser.   

Caught the Moscow sleeper on time just after 11p.m..

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7th Feb

Woken by train loudspeaker blasting out Englebert Humperdinck's "Please Release Me".   

We stayed in Warsaw for nearly 4 hours, but no-one could tell me when we were actually going to move, so I didn't risk poking my nose outside the station (getting off a train that should already have left!).

Thinking about the forthcoming TransSiberian.... part of me is looking forward to hooking up with whoever is on the train/in my carriage/in my compartment.... another part would quite appreciate behaving like an adolescent slob and dumping my baggage wherever feels convenient (tomcat pissing in every corner).   We shall see...

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7th Feb (cont.)

3pm. Still using Swiss time.

Brest, on the Belarussian-Polish border.  Beautiful sunshine, but we can’t actually see the town, which is a shame.   

The customs people and the immigration people were very nice… One of them was a little bit sharp with me, but that was because he presumed I was Russian.   After I’d spoken to him in English, then German… and French then finally Italian, he burst out laughing… and offered me a swig from a leather-covered hip flask.   I gratefully accepted, because even though it’s brilliant sunshine, it’s still brass-monkey weather!

They are changing the wheels, as Greater Russia (and Mongolia) have a different gauge from the rest of the continent.   The carriages are separated from each other (a bit like the 1960s ‘Rome Express’ going onto the Boat Train, or the present-day trains going onto the ferry between Reggio di Calabria and Messina in Southern Italy).   They are then lifted up hydraulically, after which, everything seems to be done by hand (in -21°C conditions!).   The workers are under the carriages, fiddling with just about everything with their fingertips... no gloves possible.  The sleeping-car attendant tells me in German that the accident rate (death for those under the carriages, amputated fingers for those doing the fine-tuning) is very, very, high, but that the Belarussians are fatalistic (FACT from my 'Welcome to Minsk' handbook: over 25% of the Belarus population were killed during WWII).

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Feb 8th

Arrival in Moscow.... and no-one there to meet me (I'd arranged a 'transfer' from one station to another, plus the company of the person, Mila, who had dealt with my TransSib bookings in Moscow).   I have no information about how to get my phone to work in and from Moscow.   Piece of feedback for the agency when/if Mila eventually turns up.....

…how to pass the 12 hours in Moscow (Moskva)......

8th Feb (cont.)

Mila had overslept, but arrived nevertheless rather laidback and then proved to be good company for the day... for most of which we spoke French.

After coffee in GUM (which was so much more elegant than I imagined and than the name suggests in English), I took a few photos: Lenin's Tomb, St Basil's with Mila in foreground, the very shallow and very frozen Moscow River, Pushkin's statue and also his favourite park walk.

Then I offered Mila lunch... a Tex-Mex bar that sold draft Guinness was not necessarily what I would have chosen, but the Meal of the Day was very pleasant... as was the Dublin flavoured Guinness.

After lunch we had to find an Internet cafe, so she could access and download the essentials about the people who will be meeting me in Beijing... better late than never?

A couple more visits to Underground stations to appreciate the artwork (not too many because people are still quite nervous about bomb threats), then another stroll along a rapidly darkening boulevard, before popping into the Salvador Dali Coffee House, where we ate savoury and sweet pancakes.   Then off to pick up my luggage, buy some groceries and stand in the snow and ice waiting for the train.

A friend had made me promise to buy some vodka, but you can't buy vodka ON the Moscow stations, only OUTSIDE.  Result, there was a queue 250 metres long from a liquor store just outside the station precincts.   But the queue snaked across the road to within 2 metres of a store that only sold 'soft' booze... right next to the TransSiberian train. 

I watched my luggage, while Mila queued for the vodka.

Which we took onto the train.  

At this point there was a certain amount of confusion, as all of the train attendants were Chinese who didn't (or refused to) speak Russian.    There are 4 of us in our carriage, plus 2 Chinese attendants looking like 3 star generals at least.

The other three occupants spoke to the attendants in English, so Mila thought/hoped they might prove useful to me in translating from Chinese.   But even I could see that they were Japanese.

We waved goodbye to Mila as the train pulled out on time and the 3 Japanese came to introduce themselves.   Not sure why, but I am sharing with the only one of the three who speaks very little English.

Tokyo University students, they had been in Moscow about 36 hrs.   They'd flown over for their holidays, especially to travel back on the TransSiberian.   One of them had 'done' the Glacier Express from St Moritz to Zermatt last year, another has gone coast to coast in Canada.   And one of them asked if the Lick(e)y Banker still trundled up and down, near my UK home town!   Members of a Japanese Trainspotting Club.... Oh Ian Allen, where were you now when I needed you? They thought it was quite unfair that I had 'copped' so many steam engines that no longer existed.

They have shared their Pot Noddles with me, I have offered them packets of my Instant Knorr Cup Soup (there is an ever-boiling samovar in each and every carriage.   All of them coal-burning).  See you in the morning.....

I personally prefer travelling through France, especially via Lyon, then continuing towards Marseille and along the Côte d’Azur. That route offers a perfect mix of beautiful landscapes, vibrant cities, good food,

and stunning coastal views, making the whole journey much more enjoyable.

We’re celebrating the release of Platform Europe, the latest book written by our longtime friend Bart Giepmans. Bart is an author, travel journalist, photographer and a passionate advocate for exploring Europe by train.

He is a true champion of slow travel and spends much of the year discovering Europe by rail, embracing historic stations, meaningful encounters and the stories found along the tracks. He wrote and photographed most of the journeys featured in Platform Europe!

😍Win a copy of Bart’s beautiful book AND a FREE Interrail Global Pass (7 days in 1 month)!

Participation is open to all persons 16+ living in Europe. The giveaway ends on 28 April 2026 at 12 pm CET. Five winners will be randomly selected and contacted via the community DM on 28 April 2026. The winners will receive 1x Interrail Global Pass for 7 travel days within 1 month (2nd class) and 1x Platform Europe book. The book will be shipped free of charge.

📄 Read the full Terms & Conditions, here.

How to enter the giveaway

Whether you are an experienced rail traveller or still dreaming about your first trip:

💬 Tell us your favourite slow travel train route – or the train journey that's next on your wishlist – and why.

Share your answer in the comments below to enter the giveaway👇

My favorite route was the trip from Biarritz/France to Faro/Portugal in 1982 - a wonderful trip all through Spain and an astonishing stopover at 2 am in Sevilla in a totally crowed station pub and met so nice people that I´ll never forget that night. An adventure you can only experience by Interrail

Travel from Tallinn in Estonia to Warsaw in Poland! The Baltic route, prior to Rail Baltica. 

I’d like to travel around Eastern Europe and visit my oldest schoolfriend in Croatia.  I went from Munich to Lucerne over the last Christmas holiday and it was a joy to see snow-capped mountains and  a beautiful route.

My favorite journey so far is Vienna to Innsbruk, loads of lovely mountains. This summer I am doing Sweden & Finland

so many good choices but my favourite has to be taking the slow train from Copenhagen to Stockholm a few summers back. endless forest, lakes, and beautiful summerhouses, so meditative. love a long journey where you get to see the sun set.

The Oslo Bergen route is next on the wishlist!!

The train route between Salzburg and Zell am See, as it goes through beautiful mountain valleys and along lake shores on my way home.

Myrdal to Flam switchback train, just awesome unforgettable 

My dream train trip would be through Scandinavia (Copenhagen - Göteborg - Stockholm - Östersund - Trondheim - Oslo). I've wanted to get a free interrail ticket to do it since I was 18... unfortunately it didn't work out, so now I'm waiting for either money or an opportunity(s). Why Scandinavia? Because of landscape, peace, sustainability, good connections, authenticity of experience ...

Munich to Amsterdam in the autumn !! 

Our favourite journey by train was by South Caucasus Railway from Yerevan via Tblisi and Batumi to Turkey travelling on by the Dogu Expres from Erzurum to Ankara and Istanbul. A travel along endless mountains, rolling hills, smiling people of old and modern communities.

love to take the TGV from Frankfurt to Marseille, alight at Avignon TGV, short strolld through the city gates you enter medival Europe at its core

Lisbon to Cascais. A very scenic and relaxing route to a treasured destination.

Fort William to Mallaig

I would like to go from Rome to Napoles, eat some pizza and maybe try to reach Sicily.

I would love a trip between Romania and Germany because it would be my first trip exclusive by train between countries. This will help me to learn more about the railway system by seeing different rolling stocks and different signal configurations (interlocking and ETCS systems) and also I can see practically the interoperability railway system which I know about it by reading in different railway books.

My favourite interrail trip was to Maastricht, which turned out to be such a lovely place. It showed me how getting a train will enable you to get to delightful places off the beaten track. There are so many trips on my wish list, but one I’d really like to do is Inlandsbanan in Sweden. If only I could convince my husband to brave the mosquitoes lol. 

On my next Interrail trip, I really want to travel to Sicily.

My next journey is the route from Vienna to Venice, because crossing the Alps between Austria and Italy offers some of the most beautiful landscape transitions. I want to watch the Austrian Alps slowly transition into the sunny vineyards of the Italian plains. 

I have travelled through France, Italy, Austria and Germany. I would like my next adventure to be attending the biennale in Venice, taking in other places on the way and way back.

Oslo to Bergen.

Stared out of the window transfixed for seven hours.  Fjords, rivers and never seen as much snow.

Breathtaking scenery