Great Continental Railway Journeys

Madrid to Gibraltar

Turin to Venice

Dresden to Kiel

Copenhagen to Oslo

Prague to Munich

Bordeaux to Bilbao

Tula to St Petersburg

Rome to Taormina

Warsaw to Krakow

La Coruña to Lisbon

Haifa to the Negev

Lyon to Marseille

Sofia to Istanbul

Armed with his trusty 1913 Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, Michael Portillo travels east through the Balkans along

Vienna to Trieste

In Vienna, Michael Portillo encounters a pre-Cold War spy and learns about the concert that caused a riot in 1913. He th

Pisa to Lake Garda

Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide in hand, Michael Portillo visits Italy, where he experiences first-hand the na

Athens to Thessaloniki

Armed with his 1913 Continental Railway Guide, Michael Portillo embarks on a Greek odyssey from Athens's port of Piraeus

The Black Forest to Hannover

Armed with his 1913 Continental Railway Guide, Michael Portillo ventures deep into the Black Forest on a quest to discov

Barcelona to Mallorca

Steered by his 1913 Bradshaw's Guide, Michael Portillo returns to Spain to trace the early 20th-century roots of the Spa

Transylvania to the Black Sea

Zermatt to Geneva

Tangier to Marrakech

Genoa to the Brenner Pass

Riga to Tampere

Rotterdam to Utrecht

Kiev to Odessa

Batumi to Baku

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Salamanca to Canfranc

Michael Portillo sports a strikingly modern edition of his Bradshaw’s Continental Handbook, dated 1936. His destinatio

Orleans to Reims

Michael Portillo travels from the chateaux of the Loire Valley to the heart of the Champagne region at Reims. Beginning

Berlin to Stuttgart

Michael Portillo embarks on a rail journey through Germany, steered by a Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide publishe

Palermo to Mt Etna

Michael Portillo’s 1936 Bradshaw’s Guide brings him to the Italian 'treasure island' of Sicily, full of natural beau

Linz to Bratislava

Michael Portillo travels by train through Austria and the Czech Republic, following his Bradshaw’s Continental Railway

Stockholm to the Arctic Circle

Michael Portillo embarks on a scenic, thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the n

Pula to Pazin

Michael Portillo mounts a valiant defence against fierce latter-day Roman gladiators in Pula's amphitheatre as he begins

Buzet to Pag

Ably assisted by Lila, an expert labrador, Michael Portillo hunts for truffles in the Istrian countryside near the hillt

Knin to Split

Michael Portillo’s railway adventure reaches the Dalmatian coastal city of Zadar, once an important Venetian trading h

Sarajevo

In Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia, Michael Portillo traces the fateful last journey in 1914 of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Mostar to Dubrovnik

Michael Portillo enjoys a journey on the historic line from Sarajevo to Mostar, descending 600 metres through the Dinari

Bergen to Flåm

Michael Portillo embarks on a Scandinavian railway adventure from the Norwegian port of Bergen to the Danish capital, Co

Myrdal to Heddal

Michael Portillo’s rail journey continues on the Bergen Line, heading towards the Norwegian capital of Oslo, with its

Larvik to Holstebro

Michael’s saga resumes in Larvik on Norway’s southern coast, where he investigates the city’s prized natural resou

Aarhus to Odense

Michael Portillo’s Scandinavian rail adventure reaches Denmark’s second city, Aarhus, an architectural playground wi

Roskilde to Copenhagen

Michael Portillo concludes his epic rail journey across Norway and Denmark, crossing an 18-kilometre box girder bridge b

Maienfeld to the Rhine Gorge

Michael Portillo is transported 150 years back in time to the tiny Alpine village home of Switzerland’s most famous ch

Sedrun to Schwyz

Michael Portillo ventures into the bowels of an immense hydroelectric dam to learn how the Swiss use their mountainous e

Zurich

In Zurich, Michael has a brush with the absurd in the anarchic paintings of the Dadaists and visits the Grossmunster Chu

Rotkreuz to Brienz

Michael Portillo scales the Swiss Alps on one of the the steepest cog railways in the world and visits the 19th-century

Zweisimmen to Lausanne

Aboard the Golden Pass Express, Michael Portillo wends his way in style down steep mountainsides from Interlaken to the

Nantes to Lorient

Michael Portillo’s rail travels take him to the north west corner of France, where he explores the beautiful regions o

Brest to St Brieuc

Michael Portillo’s railway journey reaches the naval port of Brest, home to France’s oceanographic fleet. He also le

Rennes to Mont Saint-Michel

Michael Portillo’s railway adventure reaches Rennes, capital of Brittany. At the Lycee Emile Zola, he hears how the sc

Bayeux to Argentan

In Bayeux, Michael Portillo admires the Bayeux Tapestry, the 70-metre-long work of art commissioned to record William th

Lisieux to Giverny

In the apple orchards of the Calvados region, Michael Portillo discovers how the classic digestif has been distilled sin

Cagliari to Porto Flavia

Michael Portillo embarks on a stunning railway adventure through the western Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsi

Mandas to Laconi

Michael Portillo’s railway tour of Sardinia heads inland towards the island's dramatic mountain landscapes, which he d

Nuoro to Macomer

Michael Portillo continues his Sardinian railway adventure, arriving into Mamoiada to investigate the town’s extraordi

Ajaccio to Vizzavona

Michael Portillo’s railway journey through the islands of Sardinia and Corsica sees him leave Sardinia and arrive into

Vivario to Corte

Michael boards one of Europe’s most dramatic railways, which winds through Corsica’s breathtaking mountainous landsc

St Pancras to Brussels

Michael boards the Eurostar at London’s St Pancras International, bound for the Belgian capital, Brussels.

Brussels to Ghent

Michael Portillo’s Belgian rail journey continues in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders. He discovers Antwerp's his

Knokke-Heist to Bruges

Continuing his Belgian tour, Michael Portillo heads to the beach resort of Knokke-Heist and the world’s longest coasta

Brussels to La Louvière

Michael Portillo’s Belgian journey takes him back to Brussels to examine a dark chapter in the country’s past: the b

Namur to Florenville

On the final leg of his Belgian journey, Michael Portillo travels to Namur, capital of Wallonia, to discover a citadel d

Sopron to Keleti

Michael Portillo begins his Hungarian adventure in the far north west of the country in the town of Sopron.

Budapest

Exploring Hungary's capital city of Budapest by tram, Michael Portillo travels to the extraordinary open-air museum of M

Huvösvölgy to Kobanya

Continuing his travels in Budapest, Michael Portillo begins in the small town of Huvösvölgy, where he encounters a sur

Szeged

At Budapest’s historic Nyugati station, Michael Portillo explores its sumptuous royal waiting room, built specially fo

Eger to Hortobágy

On the last leg of his journey, Michael Portillo arrives in the historic city of Eger. At its famous castle, he discover