In the new 2026 travel plan that started on December 14, the Deutsche Bahn routes in cooperation with SNCF are as follows:
Paris - Munich: 1/day, 5:45h (TGV)
Paris - Berlin: 1/day, 3:15h (ICE)
Paris - Stuttgart: 5/day, 3:15h (TGV)
Paris - Frankfurt: 7/day, 3:50h (TGV/ICE)
Paris - Karlsruhe: 8/day, 2:30h (TGV/ICE)
Marseille - Frankfurt: 1/day, 7:45h (TGV)
Today, I had the pleasure of taking a quick train ride on a refurbished French TER (Transport Express Rรฉgional). Unfortunately, being around noon, it wasn't quite empty, so only one interior picture.
#trainstr
The BR 01 locomotive, built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft between 1926 and 1938, was the first standardised express passenger steam locomotive (Einheitsdampflokomotive).
#trainstr
https://video.nostr.build/e171d660f099aca6fc67b85146e6c5ba304707d8ccad3f62f08eb6c23e9eeea1.mp4
If anyone is interested, you can already book the night train Paris - Berlin from European Sleeper, starting March 26.
On the second day, Verona to the South of France
I started with a quick 1h13m ride with Frecciarossa between Verona Porta Nuova and Milano Centrale. It was coming from Venice, so a 10-minute delay was somehow understandable, while having multiple bookings on the same seat wasn't, but the train was pretty empty, so it wasn't a headache.
In Italy, take an hour between trains because it's a rare event to have them on time.
The next train was from Milano Centrale to Ventimiglia at the French border and the trip took 3h44m with a regular InterCity.
For the French train, I buy the tickets right before boarding because the price doesn't fluctuate, being a regular TER, and I prefer to hop on at a convenient time.
From here, it takes a few minutes to get to Menton, as in my previous example, but you can get to Monte Carlo, Nice, Antibes and Cannes, among many other places. The longest ride, for a little over two hours, is to Grasse, also known as the World's Capital of Perfume, which I highly recommend at least for a day trip.
#trainstr
The first day, I travelled from Vienna to Verona with a stop in Innsbruck. While the trip from the Central Station to Innsbruck takes about 4h15m, my trip from the secondary train station was about 8 minutes shorter. This trip was with the regular RailJet train (my autocorrect modified it to RegioJet a few times, but this is correct), nothing out of the ordinary. After a 1h46m break in Innsbruck, we got into the new generation RailJet, which was en route from Munich to Venice. I attached only one interior picture because the train was packed, but even the 2nd class looks great. Time-wise it was 3h26m.
We had an overnight stay in Verona, and the next days I'll come back with the Verona to the South of France route.
#trainstr
By chance, I took the route that I previously proposed, from Vienna to Menton, but I went a bit further away, and with some changes.
The starting point wasn't Vienna Central Station, but a secondary station in Vienna called Meidling Bahnhof. It was recently renovated and I was curious about the results.
I'll start posting brief notes in the next days. Until then, here's Meidling Train Station. Small but nice and more peaceful, rarely with tourists.
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There's a promo these days for Paris & Montpellier to Barcelona. I attached two screenshots for January.
SNCF has a nice Flash Sale for TGV INOUI until December 4. You can buy tickets for โฌ19 from Paris to Marseille, Avignon and a few other destinations, with travel dates from January 6 to February 5.
I took a peek and it looks like there's a lot of availability, sometimes even cheaper.
I was writing about some cancelled routes for the night trains but also about some good news. Since I'm starting to make sense out of the new changes, I will start to present them, in no particular order.
The first one, probably useful only to me, is the shorter route towards Italy.
While right now it takes almost nine and a half hours to get from Vienna to Trieste, starting December 14, it will take around six and a half hours. Price-wise, โฌ52,60 for two adults and our kid, one way with seat reservations.
While Trieste might not be the best place to start exploring Italy, it definitely is an interesting one.
Next, I will (probably) focus on Vienna to Paris, since the direct night train was cancelled.
Since my main travelling countries are Austria, Italy and France, I want to present ways to reduce prices for families. It's one thing to buy a ticket for yourself, but the prices hit differently when you need to pay three or four times that price.
In Austria, I recommend the รBB "Vorteilscard Family". You can buy it online for the price of โฌ19 for an adult and its validity is one year. If the price isn't discounted (Sparschiene Ticket), the adults pay 50% while the kids travel for free. You still have to pay โฌ3 to reserve the seats for adults when it's the case.
As a practical example, our family of two adults and a child travels for the price of one adult.
In France, you can use "Carte Avantage Adulte TGV INOUI", where it is enough to be purchased by only one of the two parents, for โฌ49. It gives a 30% discount for you, 30% for an adult who accompanies you, and a 60% discount for kids. It also puts a cap on maximum prices that you can pay, so you should check it out before travelling to France. They also have a lot of regional solutions.
With Italy, it's simpler because there's no need to pay extra. The family options are included in the total price if you search for them in advance because they apply for a limited time (eg, no less than 15 days for FRECCIAROSSA tickets).
Also, here's a random Italian regional train.
I've been quiet lately because starting December 14, when the 2026 train schedule kicks in, there are some changes. Some bad, some good.
We'll have a few routes cancelled for the night trains (Vienna - La Spezia, Vienna - Paris), but also better times towards the South since Koralm Railway will be ready by then, and it will allow quicker and more convenient routes, but also a rise in frequency.
We have other good news from other countries, like Switzerland, for example, where the French TGV Lyria will have direct routes from Lausanne and Geneva to Marseille, but that will start in April.
Other than that, if you are curious about a route and you have some rough dates, I should be able to help.
Right now, I'm slightly interested in a trip to Italy, but in smaller cities like Rimini, Civitavecchia, Santa Marinella, etc.
In the next days, I'll write something about cutting prices while travelling in/through Austria, especially with kids.
By chance, I took a few exterior pictures at some point with the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. It was in a smaller train station in Vienna, with no customers, so most likely for cleaning, food supplies, etc.
For those who don't know about it, it's a luxury train that runs mainly on the Paris-Venice route, and it's composed of restored Art Deco carriages from the 1920s.
Well, the circle is full! Now you follow all three of my accounts. ๐ But this one will be more for routes in Europe.
I guess some enjoy even my bad pictures. ๐คฃ๐
Here's a regional train (S-Bahn) from Austria.
And, of course, my profile picture with two Italian Frecciarossa trains in Milano Centrale.
I've been asked about the train pictures. As I posted, my intention isn't to get into reviews. First of all, I take ugly pictures. Second, I avoid taking pictures with other people. Third, I'm not a dude who travels alone with minimal luggage, and my attention is mostly on my family and on making sure I get on the train with all the bags.
That said, I have a few bad train pictures, and I will post them once in a while.
This is with a regional Italian train, probably from Verona. I liked the print, obviously.
Here's a pretty train for you. ๐
It's from Italy.
I never tried because every single time I looked for it, it was more expensive than the tickets. I'll take a look for the winter holidays, when the tickets are pricey, and see if they would be a better option.
Copy/paste:
"I won't focus on train reviews, the YouTube is full of them"
Starting today, you can book SNCF tickets for January 9 to March 29.
I will present to you a sample route, but I might come back with other examples since I'm interested in a few more destinations.
Paris (Gare de Lyon) to Cannes
The journey begins at 08:22 and after 5h06m arrives in Cannes at 13:28.
The train has two more stops at no extra cost: Antibes (at 13:41) and Nice (at 14:06).
โฌ19 for an adult, โฌ8 for a child.
For us, two adults and a child, it costs โฌ46, but I prefer to pay โฌ3/adult extra to reserve the seats with a table on the upper deck. Kids' reservation is free, and on the lower deck is โฌ7 for an adult.
PS: Trenitalia offers Paris to Milan too, and it's a little shorter (with about half an hour or so).
There will be better prices too. First-come, first-served. More exactly, those should be the best prices, right when they open the sales.
SNCF opens tomorrow the ticket sales for January 9 to March 29. But London to Verona is quite an interesting route.