Europe By Train, Again

We’ve lately come to the conclusion that train travel is back as a way to travel in Europe. It used to be, in the hippie days of wandering around Europe, that a Rail Pass was a budget traveler’s best friend. Then, the low-cost airlines (easyJet and Ryan Air the two best examples) made it more practical for many to just hop on a plane across Europe. Now, with the new French high-speed train; the speeded-up Eurostar from London to Paris; and the soon-to-be-opened Loetschberg tunnel in Switzerland, train travel is reviving. As we noted before, what with luggage restrictions, airport security, and crowded skies, the train makes more and more sense. The new Loetschberg tunnel is said to cut many cross-Switzerland times nearly in half (the trip from Bern to Visp – near Zermatt – is reported to be reduced from 110 minutes to 55).