This is the trip Livvy has been wanting to do for ages. A tour of Europe by rail visiting some of the great art galleries. The hardest part was choosing which ones to visit, and as I am not particularly an art aficionado I left that to her. I’m sure that, given a hundred people, there would be a hundred different itineraries. We hope you enjoy reading about ours.
Day 1 – Stockport to Brussels
Activated our first-class interrail passes and toggled our first train from Stockport to Euston. We arrived a bit early at Stockport and realised we could catch the earlier train. The beauty of the interrail pass is that doing a change on the fly is very easy. Just untoggle the original train, add the new one, and toggle that. I’ve said it before on a previous trip, but the food on the Avanti trains is very good. On our last trip. it was the best train food of all the countries in Europe we visited.
Arrived early at Euston, and even though it’s a short walk to St Pancras, we took the 390 bus using our national senior bus passes. This saved lugging the cases around. The Eurostar check-in was pretty busy, and I was worried we might have to queue for a while to get through the new EES immigration palaver, but it was just the usual cursory glance at passports and we were on the 19:30 train to Brussels.
I’m not overkeen on Eurostar food. Unless you are having breakfast, recently they have gravitated to supplying cold main courses. Livvy enjoyed hers but I’d anticipated their offering and enjoyed a Pret sandwich I’d bought earlier with a couple of glasses of Eurostar wine.
We arrived at Brussels bang on time and strolled across the road to the Ibis Gare Midi. I usually pick this as it’s reasonably priced and very handy for the station. The bar is nice enough and the breakfast is pretty good.
It had been a longish day, so it was off to bed after a nightcap.
Day 2 – Brussels
Today was our first gallery, the Magritte Museum. As it was a nice morning, we decided to do the thirty minute stroll there. Back in the 90s I worked in Brussels (on the Eurostar project) so I know it pretty well. It is still as scruffy as ever, littered streets and the Rue Blaes should be renamed the Rue Pis de Chat, because that’s what is smelled like.
Currently, it’s 13 euro entrance fee at The Magritte Museum, which we thought was a little steep, but fortunately we spotted the Senior discount and got in at the reduced rate. Magritte isn’t really my cup of tea, but at least I recognised some of the paintings. Livvy absolutely loved it though.
As we had started early, we still had the afternoon to spare. It was Belgium National day (21st July) and Brussels seemed to be full of military displays and army and navy recruitment stands. Worried that I might get Shanghai’ed, I suggested we took a thirty-minute train ride to Ghent. This turned out to be a good idea. Ghent was quieter and cleaner, and whilst there were still National Day celebrations, these took the form of eating and drinking rather than military showboating. It was very pleasant walking around the old town and stopping now and again for a beer or two. Having had the obligatory frites with mayo, we headed back to Brussels.
A recommendation for anyone staying at the Ibis. Next door is a little cafe called ‘Time Off’. It does break Bill Bryson’s first rule of eating out, “never eat where they have pictures of the food”, but we took a chance and it was excellent and very reasonably priced.
Day 3 – The Hague
It’s strange that two main cities don’t seem to be connected directly by rail. We had to get three trains from Brussels Gare Midi to The Hague. Firstly, to Breda in The Netherlands, then Utrecht and finally to The Hague. Took us the best part of three hours. There’s a quicker way via Amsterdam on Eurostar but that would have cost us 48 euro in seat reservation fees, whereas our three-train slog was free.
The weather had turned distinctly loury when we reached The Hague, but fortunately it was only a few minutes’ walk through yet more littered streets. Somehow, I’d expected the city to be much cleaner than Brussels, but the streets were full of Maccy D wrappers and fag-ends.
The Mauritshuis Art Museum is housed in a grand old building with a great selection of mainly Dutch old masters over two floors. It was 21 euro to enter, although there is a four-euro entry available after 4pm. I enjoyed the gallery, saw a few works that I actually recognised, but finished quite a while before Livvy, so I thought I’d try the Brasserie in the museum. Maybe I was just unlucky, but the service there was really slow. There seemed to be a lot of staff, but it all looked a bit chaotic, and it was 30 minutes before I got the menu, and another 30 to get a coffee, just as Livvy arrived and we had to go through the whole rigmarole again. Anyway, the art was worth it, but next time I’d go to one of the many cafes around the gallery.
After a reverse journey to Brussels via Utrecht and Breda, it was yet another meal at the excellent ‘Time Off’ and a quick nightcap at the Ibis.
Day 4 – Brussels to Cologne
We took the 10:25 ICE train from Brussels Midi directly to Cologne. DB punctuality is much maligned of late, but ours was on time, and the first-class coach we were in was practically empty. On ICE trains you can order to your seat via the app, that is once you have mastered how to get an English menu to display with the little ‘add to basket’ symbols. The service is good and saves you balancing beverages to and from the buffet car at the very high speed of these fantastic trains.
Normally I try to pick a hotel near the arriving station, but Livvy had arranged for us to stay at the Courtyard Marriott, which was a ten-minute walk away. It was worth it. A really nice hotel, big room with air conditioning (which was needed) and a great breakfast. They also let us check-in before 1pm, which was nice, as we were then able to get to our next Art gallery earlier than planned, The Ludwig.
The Museum Ludwig is around the corner from the great Cologne Cathedral. It’s housed in a fairly unprepossessing building, but to be fair, all the buildings around there were unprepossessing compared to the magnificent cathedral, the most visited landmark in Germany. The Ludwig is one of Livvy’s favourites, being one of the best galleries for modern art. I loved the Roy Lichtenstein works.
Afterwards, we strolled up Eigelstein, and decided to eat at ‘Nonna Napoli’. It was ok, staff were pleasant enough, but eating Italian in Cologne felt like a bit of a cop out. Fortunately, the evening after was to more than make up for this.
Day 5 – Cologne
Today was to be a day off art and trains. Livvy wanted to buy shoes, (that could apply to any day), so it was a U-bahn down to the main shopping street, Schildergasse. Whilst Livvy spent a pleasant hour or two in the German department store, Peek and Cloppenburg, I spent the time strolling around admiring how the centre of Cologne had risen the from ashes of WW2. The city of Cologne was one of the most bombed cities, with 90% of the city centre destroyed. Miraculously, the cathedral survived intact, in much the same way as St Paul’s in London did. Maybe bomber pilots are more pious than given credit for, or there was some unspoken agreement not to destroy these great buildings. Who knows, but I doubt it would be the same in the present times.
Livvy had arranged a boat ride for us on the Rhine, and to my delight, the boat was fully equipped with a bar. So, whilst I enjoyed an excellent couple of German beers, we sailed for 90 minutes up and down. Of particular note is the Hohenzollern bridge over the Rhine. Destroyed during WW2, it was rebuilt in 1946 and is the busiest railway bridge in Germany. It has thousands of ‘love padlocks’ attached where couples chuck the key into the river to symbolise everlasting love. My version of displaying everlasting love is going shoe shopping with Livvy, and hers is sitting watching me quaff beer.
After last night’s Italian, we were determined to go down the local cuisine route, and after a bit of research we found a restaurant ‘Max Stark’, not far from our hotel. Well, this place was just wonderful. One large room absolutely packed with people enjoying traditional German food. Beer was served in small glasses from a large barrel and ordering a beer resulted in a tick written on your beer mat. I had a hearty mushroom stew with home-made fried potatoes and gathered quite a few ticks on my beermat. This is a must-visit if you go to Cologne, but book in advance, we had to wait around 20 minutes for a table, and when we left, people were queueing down the street.
Day 6 – Cologne to Basel
After a delicious breakfast we took the short stroll to the main station and caught the 08:54 ICE to Basel, which was on time. This took around four hours and reached Basel at 12:48. I’d already booked the Gaia Hotel, more or less opposite the station. We had an odd shaped little room just about big enough for the two of us plus luggage but equipped with the best aircon I’d ever experienced. It was very hot outside, but our room was like a refrigerator, and very welcome that was. On checking in, we were given a Basel transport card for free transport around the city. I thought this was a really good idea, and in my opinion lots more places should do the same.
We took the free tram to our art destination, the Kunstmuseum, famous for its Holbein collection and a reasonable collection of other works by Monet, Gaugin and Picasso. It is famous for being the oldest public art collection in the world. Livvy particularly like the works by Giacometti, both father and son, and the ‘Seated Harlequin’ by Picasso, plus the very striking still life ‘vanitas’. As usual, I finished my tour earlier than Livvy and spent a pleasant hour nursing a very expensive beer in the courtyard bar.
When we lived in London, we used to go regularly to Tibits in Heddon Street, just off Regent Street. Incidentally, Heddon Street was famous as the location for the David Bowie Ziggy Stardust album cover, anyway I digress. Tibits was a big favourite of ours, and their system of paying for food by weight led to many accusations by Livvy of how much greedier I was than her! Sadly, Tibits in London closed down in 2020, so you can imagine our joy to discover the Basel Tibits was still going strong. We enjoyed a lovely selection from their buffet, and, as usual, my food weight was 50% more than Livvy’s.
Day 7 – Basel to Chur
Breakfast at Gaia was excellent, with a nice selection of cold cuts and excellent coffee. I can really recommend this hotel. A two-minute walk took us to the station in plenty of time for our 10:04 train direct to Chur via Zurich. This was showing as 10:07 in the Rail planner app. On the wonderful ‘Interrailing for the older crowd’ Facebook group I’d read that the Rail planner app is not always to be trusted for times, and it’s always best to check directly, even a quick double-check with Google maps is worth it.
The two-hour journey to Chur was quite picturesque, and Chur itself is a very pleasant Alpine town. Livvy had arranged for us to stay at the Ibis, which is a short bus ride from the station. As in Basel, the hotel gave us a free travel pass for the town, such a good idea. Usually, Ibis hotels aren’t renowned for their architecture, but I loved this pyramid shaped building. Another place I definitely recommend, despite the five-minute bus ride required.
We had two art destinations today, the Forum Wurth and the Bundner Kunstmuseum. The Forum Wurth is basically an admin office for the giant tool and construction supplier. Reinhold Wurth has amassed a collection of over 20,000 works and these are displayed at various locations, including that in Chur. Unfortunately for us, there wasn’t much of interest on display inside the gallery on the day we went, but outside there are some interesting sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle.
The second destination, the Bundner Kunstmuseum, is housed in a 19th century villa and quite a striking extension building, not far from the main station. It includes a wonderful collection of Giacometti works, again by father and sons. There is also a very nice outdoor cafe next to the villa, where I enjoyed a very expensive iced coffee, but it was so good I forgave them for the £10 price tag.
Dinner was at the Franziskaner restaurant in Chur old town. This is a traditional Swiss restaurant with pine walls and wooden floors. I had the almond dressed Perch which was excellent and reasonably priced for Switzerland.
Day 8 – Chur to Milan
Today was a day we had really been looking forward to, a trip on the famous Bernina Express from Chur to Tirano. We had pushed the boat out and opted for reserved seats on a panoramic carriage. The panoramic carriages have huge viewing windows, which don’t open, and groups of four seats on one side and two on the other. I’d booked the two-seat side, seats 51 and 52 at the end of the carriage. These were next to the interconnecting door, which was handy, as the doors there have windows which slide down, useful for taking pics. If we did it again, I’d probably save the £40 each seat reservation fees and plump for the free first-class normal carriage, but as a first time experience, I’m glad we did the panoramic version.
The train trundles its way around four hours through some of the best scenery you’ll ever see, lots of tunnels and viaducts. I managed to get some nice video of the train entering the famous tunnel entrance just after the Landwasser Viaduct. We were presented with little boxes of Swiss chocolate in a replica Bernina train box, very nice. The train stops for a few minutes at the Alp Grum station, where you can stretch your legs and get pics of the glacier. Weirdly, one of my favourite bits were when the train actually goes through the streets of Tirano.
We should probably have explored Tirano when we arrived, but an earlier than we planned train to Milan was due to depart in five minutes and we wanted to get there as soon as possible. Having read about Tirano, we would definitely stay over next time.
The Hotel Mythos is a five-minute walk from Milan Central, and it had a lovely feel to it. Quite a posh lounge area, and a nicely sized room, with the much-needed aircon. Also, recommended is the Osteria Papa Nicola, a few steps from the hotel, where I quaffed the best wine of the tour, the house red, served in a jug and very reasonably priced, the food and ice cream were pretty good too.
Day 9 – Milan
We hadn’t booked breakfast at the hotel. Around the station area there’s dozens of places to get a decent coffee and croissant, and much cheaper than a hotel. Today’s art was going to be the Pinacoteca di Brera, a few metro stops from the hotel. It’s a beautiful building, but quite confusing to find the entrance to the gallery. There’s supposed to be a lift, but we couldn’t find it, so we tramped up quite a lot of steps and eventually found the small entrance.
This famous gallery has a wonderful collection of Italian Renaissance, Venetian, and Baroque masterpieces. I imagine it’s quite often overlooked in favour of the Leonardo ‘Last Supper’ fresco, for which there’s always a big queue. If you do go to Milan, then don’t miss this place. Also don’t miss the Bar Brera on the corner outside the gallery, in which I amused myself for an hour, whilst Livvy was still art gazing.
This was my second time in Milan this year. On the lads’ Interrail trip (see https://www.paulandlivvy.com/corfu-by-rail-and-ferry/) we’d spent a couple of nights here, which included a bizarre stalking incident. Fortunately, no weirdos this time as we made our way to the Duomo. We’ve done the rooftop of the Duomo before, so didn’t bother this time, plus it was very hot, so instead we looked at the rooftop from one of our favourite places, the cafe on the top floor of the department store, Rinascente. A nice, albeit expensive, late lunch under our belts, we went shopping along the famous Via Montenapoleone. As Livvy says, you can never have enough shoes.
A bit boring of us, but as Osteria Papa Nicola had been so good last night, we went back again, probably the lure of the jug of red.
Day 10 – Milan to Nice
Milan Central station was pretty chaotic, but at least the train we were catching was on the departures board. It’s very easy to miss your train in Italy if you read the departures incorrectly. You must use the train number, not your destination. On the lads trip we nearly missed our train to Brindisi when it just disappeared from the board and then reappeared on another board with five minutes to go. Today was easy, our final destination was Ventimiglia, the old border town between France and Italy, where the 09:53 Intercity train terminates. It was a reasonable, if slow, journey and improved greatly when the train started its run along the Mediterranean coast. At Ventimiglia we had to change to the regional train to Nice. I’m not sure this has a first class, but if it does, we couldn’t find it, so slummed it in second. It was empty at first then became busier and busier at each of the ten stops. Also, there was a long delay at Menton whilst the police did a walkthrough of the train.
Nice is one of my favourite places and I know it well, having worked down the coast at Sophia Antipolis. It was super-hot, what the French call a ‘canicule’, and I was glad our hotel, the Hotel de Berne, was only a couple of minutes’ walk. I can definitely recommend this place, it’s reasonably priced, and very handy for the station and tram.
It had been a long train journey, nearly seven hours, and I was ready for a beer. After freshening up we worked out how to buy tram tickets, no free transport here, and made our way to the old town. After a welcome couple of pints of 1664 at Les Distilleries Ideales (an excellent but busy bar) we made our way to the restaurant arranged by Livvy, Chez Acchiardo. I knew this place was going to be good because of the queue of people to get in, and I wasn’t wrong. It’s a family-owned place, and it’s been open for nearly 100 years. I had the Salade Nicoise followed by an excellent sea bass. The home-made wine was, as in Italy, served in a jug. I like that because it’s just the right amount for me.
Day 11 – Nice and St Paul de Vence
Today was a day Livvy had been looking forward to, the Fondation Maeght in St Paul de Vence is one of her favourite art venues. It’s a train and bus ride from Nice and takes about an hour. The last bit of the journey is quite steep, but luckily there’s a small bus (navette) that connects the Matisse Chapel to the Fondation Maeght via St Paul de Vence. On a super-hot day like we had, it was a life saver. We had bought a Nice bus and tram pass, and this worked on the Navette.
The Fondation Maeght features many works by Giacometti and Miro, and I really enjoyed seeing these again, particularly the outdoor Miro sculpture trail. There was also an exhibition featuring works by Ellsworth Kelly, which I didn’t think much of. In my opinion it was very much in the school of thought fostered by Warhol, “Art is whatever you can get away with”.
We had timed our visit so we could catch the navette back to Vence. This is the bigger neighbour of St Paul and was utterly charming. Lots of twee shops and restaurants. We hadn’t booked anywhere so we trusted to serendipity and chose the Brasserie La Regence. This had a large outside seating area, nicely shaded, and we both had an Aperol Spritz, which they did in alcohol and non-alcohol versions. The plat du jour was fish, so an easy choice, and very reasonable.
We had planned to visit the famous Colombe d’Or hotel in St Paul, where artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Miro paid for their lodgings and food with original artworks, many of which are hung unceremoniously in the hotel. It is/was also the haunt of many film stars, and I love the picture of Roger Moore and Sean Connery together there. Unfortunately, after lunch we just didn’t have time, so that’s a pleasure postponed until our next visit.
Livvy had arranged for us to eat at another famous Nice restaurant, the Lu Fran Colin. This is in the shadow of the cathedral, and given the heat, we were grateful for the shadow. We ate in the courtyard outside and watched the queue to get in grow larger as the evening progressed. My fish was pretty good, but the home-made desserts were beyond excellent. Easily the best of the whole tour. It’s worth going there for those alone.
Day 12 – Nice to Paris
Today was a fairly simple journey, if long (just under six hours), from Nice-Ville to Paris Gare de Lyon on the 09:58 TGV. I had been looking forward to this journey but was sadly disappointed. We were in first class, and I’d made sure to book the upper deck. It was absolutely packed out and felt very warm when we boarded. No matter, I thought, it will cool down when on the move. It wasn’t to be. The first ominous indicator of something wrong was when the conductor entered the carriage and ordered everyone to close their blinds, “to keep the sun out”. It transpired that the aircon was broken on our coach, and there was nowhere else to go. We spent almost the entire six hours sweltering and the only view was a closed blind. To get relief from the heat now and again we would have to traipse down to the buffet car and cool down. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea, so it was also packed out.
There is a service on SNCF where a team of roving engineers will attend a train to fix the AC if required. You have to contact them on X (Twitter). Complete waste of time and our entreaties to the guard fell on deaf ears.
After six hours, we were glad to arrive and get out of the TGV hellhole, only to find ourselves at the mercy of the Paris bus system. After our horrible journey I should have just called a cab to our hotel, but I was determined to get the bus. After waiting 15 minutes for the 91 bus, some kindly soul approached us and told us the bus was on divert and our stop was 400 meters up the road. At that point I should have called a cab, but with that doggedness that only an annoyed Englishman has, I was determined to see it through. Eventually, the bus arrived, and the driver, no doubt in a desperate hurry to get his next break, decided to close the doors with Livvy halfway on, and those bus doors “bloody hurt” according to her. She still had the bruise a week later. Then after five stops, the driver announced that he wasn’t going any further and ordered everyone off, assuring us another bus was one minute away. After more like 15 minutes, a 91 trundled up and we eventually arrived at our Ibis Styles Hotel (Gare de l’Est Magenta), which, after we had sorted out the wrong booking info where they had assumed we were staying in the broom cupboard, we gratefully collapsed.
After the day we’d had we didn’t feel like travelling far for dinner, so we walked a few steps to Packiams Bistro, which was reasonably priced and served excellent food. As the beer was on a happy hour offer of two-for-one I quite possibly over-indulged whilst trying to recall a few French expletives, which I was sure would come in useful for the next day.
Day 13 – Paris
After an excellent Ibis breakfast, we ventured out on the bus again to the Musee D’Orsay. As predicted, the expletives came in very handy, when yet again, the bus just stopped randomly and the driver announced we were going no further, and another bus would be along “tout suite”. Of course, it wasn’t “tout suite”, it was the usual “quinze minutes”.
The Musee D’Orsay is a converted railway station containing the world’s largest collection of impressionist works, including Van Gogh, Renoir and Monet. It’s an absolutely wonderful experience and I much prefer it to the Louvre. It was quite fitting that our Interrail art adventure should end at an old railway station.
We would have loved to visit the Notre Dame, but the queues were crazy, so we just wandered around Paris, and surely there’s hardly anywhere better for aimless wandering. I was disappointed to see that the Place de la Concorde has been partly pedestrianised. I’d really been looking forward to trying to cross the 14 lanes of traffic as I used to for devilment back in the 1970s. We popped into the Musee de l’Orangerie to see the Monet works, but I felt it was a bit overpriced, and was very crowded.
Boringly, we ate at Packiams again, but we’d had enough excitement for the day.
Day 14 – Paris to London
We took the walkway and lift from Gare de l’Est to the Gare du Nord, a few minutes. I had stayed near the Gare du Nord in my younger days, but now it was unrecognisable, although there were still a few ne’er do wells mooching about. I didn’t think St Pancras Eurostar could be exceeded in terms of lack of facilities, but Gare du Nord does a pretty good job of lowering the bar. There’s hardly anywhere to sit and the food and service could be massively improved. We were glad to board the 13:32 and settle into our lovely first-class coach with air conditioning that actually worked.
Conclusion
We had visited six countries, travelled 4,100 km on 25 trains. Every single one of our trains had been on time, or within five minutes or so. We had no missed connections, and with the exception of the TGV from Nice to Paris, all our journeys had been very pleasant, with wonderful views and meeting a variety of interesting people. I would do the trip again a heartbeat, in fact we are planning already, albeit with a change of route to take in more of Italy and a tour through Spain. There’s no better way to get around Europe than the train, and for flexibility and price, the Interrail pass cannot be beaten.
Travel Tips and Links
Get Interrail passes at https://www.interrail.eu/en – there’s usually a sale of 25% off around Black Friday in November. Sometimes they have a spring/summer sale too. It’s definitely worth spending a bit extra on the first-class upgrade. Remember there will be seat reservation fees to pay on top of the pass cost. For more info see the site and Facebook group below.
Brilliant site for rail info – https://www.seat61.com/
One of my favourite Facebook Groups – Interrailing for the older crowd – https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BP6RV4QBX/