Slow train to Rome: the ultimate family interrailing adventure, The Times

“What can I do now?” the six-year-old asks ten minutes into our first train journey. “We’ll be in Italy soon,” the eight-year-old replies confidently. I don’t have the heart to correct him. I last went interrailing as a carefree twentysomething. Children do not appear in those hazy memories. Nonetheless, here we are, spending a week hopping on and off trains to Rome and Venice with our two.

It’s a trip I’ve longed for since the depths of the pandemic. Train travel conjures a sense of freedom and romanticism that airports crush with their conveyor belts, stale air and regulations. There’s the environmental factor too — aviation accounts for 2-3 per cent of global emissions, so taking to the skies every time wanderlust calls is incompatible with a clear conscience these days. Trains emit up to 90 per cent less carbon than flights.

Thankfully it’s getting easier to avoid travelling by air thanks to a growing number of tour operators offering overland options. We travelled with Byway, which specialises in flight-free adventures across the UK and Europe. Its founder, Cat Jones, has a young family, so I trust we’re in safe hands when it comes to a feasible itinerary.

The Byway team does a great job managing our demands to see Rome and Venice, and squeeze the most out of every stop in nine days. When it comes to the faff of timings, tickets and seat reservations, they take care of the lot. Our itinerary is even loaded on to an app.

After breezing under the Channel on the Eurostar, negotiating the Paris Metro at rush hour and hopping on a double-decker TGV east, we arrive at our first stopover in darkness. Having never heard of the Alsatian city of Mulhouse we are not exactly enthralled by its claim to fame as France’s automobile heartland.

First published in print. Read online here.