What My Daughter’s InterRail Summer Taught Me About Seeing Europe by Train

This summer, my youngest, 19-year-old Juliëtte (and her boyfriend) did something I never did at her age: she bought an InterRail pass and set off across Europe. Seven countries and cities such as Nice, Monte Carlo, Cannes, Milan, (Lake) Como, Interlaken, Zurich, Vienna, Prague, and Berlin. All in one trip, entirely by rail.

A Summer of European Rail Adventures

She’s the daughter of a luxury travel advisor, so of course this wasn’t quite as improvised as it might sound: reserved seats booked well ahead (a near-necessity on Europe’s busier routes if you actually want a seat), and hotels with air conditioning each night rather than hostels.

Not that it all went smoothly. Juliëtte and her boyfriend missed their train from Paris to Nice and were handed a voucher for the next departure, only to find it fully booked, seats and all, leaving her to make the journey from the restaurant wagon. The same thing happened on the way home: Their train from Berlin back to Amsterdam left earlier than planned, and once again they ended up in the restaurant car. Not exactly the plan, but as Juliëtte put it, at least it wasn’t the floor.

Solo Interrail

My 18-year-old niece did the same thing, but solo, with her own route through Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. She’d originally planned to reach Portugal by train as well, but found those connections more challenging than expected. So she rerouted and took an overnight boat from Barcelona to Civitavecchia instead. Weaving sea travel right into her rail itinerary. Unlike Juliëtte, she kept things backpacker-style and stayed in hostels along the way.

A Different Culture Every Few Days

As I watched their photos roll in over the summer, I found myself genuinely amazed. Not just at how much ground they covered, but at how connected it all felt. No transfers to and from airports, just city center to city center, watching the landscape change from the Riviera to the Alps to Central Europe, one train at a time.

What struck me most, though, was the sheer range of culture packed into a single trip. She’d talk about how different each place felt from the one before. The French glamour of Nice and Monte Carlo, then a few days later the buzz of Milan, and Como with the lake right outside her window. Then the crisp Alpine air of Interlaken, Vienna feeling almost imperial, Prague like a fairy tale, and by the time she reached Berlin, a completely different energy again. On the train, she felt Europe actually change beneath her.

Maybe It’s Time To Rethink the Train

As a family, we’ve used trains in Europe almost exclusively as a point-A-to-point-B tool. Eurostar from Amsterdam to London or Paris for a long weekend. Practical, comfortable, efficient, but never as the itinerary itself, just the way to get to a destination.

Juliëtte and her cousin’s trips showed me how much of Europe is genuinely stitched together by rail, and how differently that lets you experience a region. You don’t fly over the Swiss Alps between Milan and Interlaken; you watch them rise up around you. You don’t lose Como to a transfer at an airport an hour outside the city; you simply get off the train, and you’re there, lake right in front of you.

Other Train Journeys Through Europe

It got me thinking about how a family (especially with teens) could take this same idea: multiple countries, one continuous journey, but shaped around a slower, more comfortable pace. Europe’s rail network has some great options worth exploring for a family trip:

• Scenic mountain routes like the Glacier Express or Bernina Express through Switzerland, where the journey itself is the destination
• Night trains, which are having a real revival across the continent, turning a long transfer into part of the adventure
• A slower Riviera-to-Alps-to-city, echoing Juliëtte’s route but at a pace built for a family
• The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express or La Dolce Vita, for the rare occasion that calls for rail travel as the entire event, not just the transport

A Family-Friendly Train Journey

I don’t have a finished plan yet; this is me thinking out loud after a summer of being inspired by my own daughter’s trip. But it made me want to take a serious look at rail-based itineraries.

It’s not entirely new territory for me, either. I’ve already had clients traveling with teens take the train between Florence, Rome, and Naples, and it worked beautifully. Easy, scenic, city center to city center, with none of the hassle of domestic flights between three cities that close together.

If Juliëtte and her cousin could see that much of Europe with a rail pass and a sense of adventure, I have to think there’s a more comfortable, family-shaped version of that same idea waiting to be built.