Almost 30 years old, but disappointing so far. No, not me: Eurostar. I love the fact that you can board a train in London and travel in civilised comfort to the three nearest Continental capitals: Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. You hop off the train and saunter unimpeded to the Louvre, the Grand-Place or the Van Gogh Museum. So much better for the traveller and the environment than flying. Yet time and again the international rail firm's fares (a minimum of £318 next weekend to Paris and back) look like sheer trans-European excess. I am sorry to say I opted on my last few trips for the plane at a fraction of the price.
I don't blame Eurostar for energetically exploiting its rail monopoly. After trains began running between London and Paris in December 1994, the prediction was for more than 21 million passengers each year within a decade. Eurostar is still 10 million passengers short of that number – largely because the budget airlines blossomed and made travel to Continental Europe simple and affordable. With quick, cheap flights on offer, the dream of taking passengers by direct train from Edinburgh to Brussels and Manchester to Paris never materialised. Even between London and Paris, airlines did not fly off into the sunset as predicted: today two dozen flights will take off each way between the two capitals, compared with 16 Eurostar trains. Covid – and the often-laughable travel restrictions that accompanied the virus – harmed Eurostar more deeply than other transport operators. Brexit has done plenty of damage too: limiting the number of passengers that can be boarded at the hub, London St Pancras International, because of the tougher border checks the UK demanded for British passport holders. A route network that once included two stations in Kent, Disneyland Paris and gares from Calais to Marseille, has been pruned to just the three capitals plus Lille and Rotterdam. The smaller the network, the bigger the profits. But there are signs of a rail renaissance ... | |
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| Happily, cheap Eurostar fares are making a comeback. The cross-Channel rail firm has come up with with a shrewd and, I hope, permanent promotion that rewards flexibility with low fares. Eurostar wants to fill its trains to the brim without "cannibalising" existing customers (this term has nothing to do with passengers appearing as items on the buffet – it describes people who avail of cheaper deals despite being prepared to pay higher fares). So the rail firm has brought back a concept from 2016-17: heavily discounted "Snap" tickets. If you like to plan trips well in advance, this is your worst nightmare. You can book only between one and 14 days ahead of your chosen day of travel. After you pick the day, Eurostar reveals 48 hours before departure which train you will travel on. It could be any time from 6am to 8pm. For those who are undeterred, think of Snap as a distant cousin of the standby ticket. With some fares at 60 per cent below standard prices, I am back as a buyer at a time when European rail travel is blossoming. From December you can board the Baltic Express. This pioneering rail link connects Prague with Gdansk in nine hours from December. The new fast train will cut around three hours from the current indirect options, and call at Wroclaw and Poznan – allowing travellers to experience four distinctive cities for as little as £50, in first class comfort. Better still, the inspirational guide you need to plan your next Continental rail adventure is out at the end of the month. Europe by Rail has reached adulthood, or at least its 18th edition, with a revelation on every page. In the latest, authors Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries have expanded their repertoire from the Loire Valley to the Black Sea. After my adventure travelling from the deep south to the far north of Switzerland in a day this summer, one particular location caught my eye: Grandvaux, on the Swiss side of Lake Geneva. "We go there a couple of times each year because we love the Auberge de la Gare there," Nicky tells me. "Lake views, brilliant food, good walking and plenty of trains too. I first stayed there while retracing the route of the direct Moscow to Madrid sleeper." Like you do. Travel Smart: Rail across Europe | |
| Grand Egyptian Museum finally opens... | The Grand Egyptian Museum, west of Cairo, has finally opened most of its galleries. A 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses II (above) greets visitors to GEM, as it is known – a dazzling new structure close to the Pyramids in Giza. It houses many of the most prized antiquities on earth, charting Egypt's millennia under the pharaohs. The new museum, which was originally due to open 11 years ago, is intended largely to replace the existing Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square in central Cairo, which is showing its age. But the Tutankhamun collection will remain in the original Egyptian Museum for the time being. | Many of the 90,000 or so daily passengers at Stansted airport travel by train to or from London Liverpool Street. But this Sunday, 20 October, Stansted Express is warning of "severe disruption" due to engineering work on the line. The company urges: "Use alternative transport (eg car, coach or taxi)." Stansted Express tickets will be accepted for journeys between London King's Cross and Stansted with a change of train in Cambridge. But even if the connections work well the journey is a good 90 minutes – twice the usual journey time.
National Express has added almost 2,000 additional seats on its coach links between London and Stansted on Sunday. Advance booking is essential. Stansted's secret movie stardom | |
| Over the years you have been positive about Krakow. We are staying for two full days in early December. What should we try to see? |
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| Krakow's lively city-centre Christmas market fills part of the vast main square, Rynek Glowny – one of the most alluring plazas in Europe. Part of the December tradition involves horse-drawn carriages for tourists, adding to the fairytale ambience whether or not you decide to try one. Visit the exquisitely ornate St Mary's Basilica at the western corner of the square. Wawel Hill, south of the Old Town, is home to both the Royal Castle and Krakow's 14th-century cathedral.
Beyond the Old Town, the horror of the holocaust during the Second World War is set out in two contrasting locations. Go first to the Galicia Jewish Museum, which describes the vibrant community that thrived in the area known as Kazimierz until the Nazi genocide began. Then visit Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory, to understand how the Nazi spy-turned-industrialist saved the lives of 1,200 Jewish people. The story is told in Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List, much of which was filmed in Kazimierz.
Krakow's environs have much to offer, too. The Wieliczka Salt Mine is a Unesco World Heritage site that provides an unmatched experience of the underworld. Part of the tourist offering explains how this part of Poland was hollowed out, but a visit is memorable mostly for the mix of natural and man-made saline creations – culminating in the intricate Chapel of St Kinga. The train from Krakow's main station takes 22 minutes; no need to pay for an expensive bus tour. One suburb of Krakow I believe deserves more attention: Nowa Huta, to the east (easily accessible by tram). The name translates as New Steel Mill, and it was built during the communist era as a magnificent planned city. Visit Nowa Huta Museum and Nowa Huta Underground (a former bunker) to learn more. Krakow City Guide |
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