sncf – Carbon Conscious Travel

Rome by train

January 15, 2022Posted in train travelTagged sncf, paris, rome, torino, turin, roma, trenitaliaLeave a comment

Travel

Travel from Brussels to Rome by train can now be done in a single day. I still split it over 2 days: I left in the afternoon to arrive in Rome by 10 am the next morning. On the way I could enjoy the impressive views on the Alps, a stopover with a good diner and sleeping in a hotel in Torino and views on Tuscany.

Brussels – Paris Nord in 1h15 min and 25 EUR one way if you book well in advance, many options throughout the day to leave a buffer for a good lunch or some culture
Paris Gare de Lyon – Turin 5,5 h and 44 EUR with multiple trains per day that continue to Milano as well. You have to switch stations in Paris though, that’s why I love taking my folding bicycle along.
Turin – Rome 4 h the next early morning and 90 EUR with tons of options every day

If you take that second leg from Paris to Milan, there’s some really good connections to the rest of Italy with night trains and high-speed lines. A route that I want to try this summer, to go to a wedding in the South of Italy, is the following: take the Thalys from Brussels-South to Paris around lunch time, a high-speed train to Milan, the night train to Bari and get to my destination by 8am the next morning. It will cost me more or less 180 EUR one way. The additional cost compared to flying is largely compensated by a nice little adventure, lots of impressive views on the Alps and the Italian countryside, no need for a hotel the first night and a lower climate impact.

I went up on a Thursday, stayed for 3 days in Rome and returned on the Sunday afternoon. We were so lucky to know Cedric and Laura that welcomed us in their home and their city, so we had the perfect guides to show us around!

Rome

Day 1

On the first day we had breakfast together, a good vegi lunch in Ops! and visited the Vatican. On our way back we hiked up the hill with the Janiculum statue for some nice views. Going back down on the other side, we took a cocktail in Freni e Frizoni, based in a beautiful cosy quarter next to the Tiber. We finished the day in a local Italian restaurant. With Tine highly pregnant we’ve already overused our feet on the first day. Good that we got little August blessed while still in Tine’s belly, by a priest in the Saint Peter’s Basilica 😉

Day 2

Our second day in Rome was nicely filled with a good breakfast at our friends’ home, followed by a visit and lunch at the Campagna Amica farmers market. From there we strolled to the Colosseum for an extensive visit of a couple of hours. On our way back we watched the sunset from the terrace of Rhinoceros Entr’acte. A stroll on the Ponte Palatino and a short car ride later we had dinner next to the Piazza Navona in Cul de Sac – a very taste and affordable wine bar & restaurant.

Day 3

Tine’s belly became even more heavy so we wanted to limit the walking… while still visiting the Forum Romanum. We spent multiple hours with Laura and Cedric as our amazing historic guides strolling around in the ruins and the gardens. Since Ops! was so good, we went back for a late lunch before I caught my train back to Turin.

It was our first time in Rome and we were totally amazed by all the history and well conserved buildings. I would certainly travel there again by train, but would probably stay at least 4-5 days. There’s so much more that we would want to visit. So if you’re planning to make this trip, feel free to reach out to me if you’re figuring out the trains. If you’ve done this by train already, let me know how you liked it.

Dreaming of the Snow train

April 3, 2020April 3, 2020Posted in train travelTagged alps, antwerp, briançon, Brussels, France, hiking, nature, nighttrain, paris, serre chevalier, ski, sncf, snow, snowboard, snowtrain, thalys, tourism, train, trainlover, traintravel, traintrip, travel, weekend1 Comment

Just before the Corona crisis started to break through we took a train to the Alps. Let’s just dream away to what will be possible again after this is all over.

Leaving Belgium to go skiing was easy. Tickets for the Thalys from Brussels to Paris are sold as from 25 EUR (or 7 EUR with the Izy). Our friends took the direct Thalys from Antwerp to Paris. A nice bed in the night train from Paris to Briançon is sold as from 25 EUR as well… So if you’re really short on cash and flexible in the timing you can get to the Alps for 64 EUR going and back. That’s not bad, right?

We left Brussels in the late afternoon around 17h starting with an apero in the train. At 20h10 the night train left Paris Austerlitz where we enjoyed our pick-nick dinner and a bottle of wine with friends. The next morning we woke up with the sun in our cabin and the mountains sliding by.

Arriving in Briançon you end up at a 10 minute walk from the telecabine and the ski slopes. There’s plenty of airbnb and hotel options around so that shouldn’t be a problem either.

And since Sofie and Bart were there for four days only we hit the slopes of Serre Chevalier the very same morning. If you go for skiing it doesn’t promise to be a cheap holidays: around 50 euros per day for the ski pass and 25 euros for the material.

The slopes of Serre Chevalier are maintained very well (or we were very lucky with the snow and weather conditions). Only minor point was that “due to the wind”, a crucial ski lift was closed multiple times, so at closure time we couldn’t go back to our starting point without taking the bus.

This must have been more or less the point where we washed our hands that often to avoid Corona, that it started to hurt.

With enough sun it was a pleasure to relax on the many chalet terraces. Contrary to the big après-ski scene in Austria or other resorts, we kind of had to stick to the “during”-ski terraces here.

Even though Brainçon might not be known for the après-ski, it has many good restaurants:

Chez Maria (always fully booked, so reserve in advance)
Le Pied de la Gargouille (an impressive menu based on local products only, from the close-by vegetable producers, wine makers, cheese makers, …)
Restaurant L’Etage
Maison de Catherine (Puy-Saint-Pierre, also the place where I stayed last time when I came to Briançon)

After four days our friends returned home with the night train and we spent another three days enjoying the Alps in a different way: relaxing, reading, hiking and some bathing.

On day 5 we hiked uphill from Puy-Saint-Pierre, through hiking trails into nature.

Day 6 we hiked next to a small canal on the hillside. From village to village in the direction of Le Monêtier-les-Bains. Hiking trails can be easily find online and most of the trails on the Komoot application are accessible also in winter. With the snow still there we went quite a bit slower then normal, so we didn’t make it all the way and took a bus for the last part.

In Les Grands Bains we enjoyed the natural hot-springs with all kinds of outside and inside pools and hammam’s. Three hours of pure relaxing after the hike.

On day 7 we did a bit of culture: We visited the cité Vauban (the old fortified city center) and hiked over the Pont d’Asfeld all the way up to the Fort des Têtes. If you want to visit the insides of the fortress you have to visit Briançon during summertime, but the just the surroundings and the views are already worth it.

Inside the cité Vauban you can go up into the Fort du Chateau to catch the last sun of the day before you dive into one of the local bars or restaurants.

Leaving Belgium to go skiing was easy. Taking the night train back to Belgium in Corona times was quite a mental challenge though. We were happy to be back home in our safe apartment. Washing hands. A lot.

We agreed with Tine that we will visit the Alps every single year. The relaxing train trip and nature in the mountains are the perfect mix for our holidays.

Barcelona by train

March 23, 2019March 24, 2019Posted in UncategorizedTagged barcelona, cablecar, citytrip, highspeed train, off hotel, off paris, paris, sncf, tgv, thalys, trainlover, traintravelLeave a comment

Last weekend we took a three day trip to Barcelona to visit a friend. Since flights are about 50-100 euro its not necesarilly an evidence to pay 260 euro per person to go by train, but we thought we’d give it a try and see if it’s worth its price. This post is not to convince you to visit Barcelona, but to consider travelling by train on longer distances in an easygoing and more comfortable way.

If you book well in advance with Thalys, or get an Izy ticket you can have a 19 or 25 euro ticket one way. So the trick is to find the Paris-Barcelona trip with the direct train at a reasonable price: in our case 105 euro one way.

There are multiple options to make your one-time transfer between Brussels and Barcelona: Paris (like we did), Valence-Perpignan-Montpellier (same direct line) or Lyon. Plenty of options to make a stopover or spend the night.

Brussels – Paris

On Thursday afternoon we took the Thalys from Brussels-midi to Paris North station. We took our folding cycles that we attached to the rack at the entrance of the train and a backpack full of entertainment: apero, chess game, books,… The plan was to do part of the trip on Thursday, and continue to Barcelona on Friday morning to make the trainride feel a little shorter.

Paris

A super nice and “affordable” stay is the OFF Paris Seine hotel with rates starting at 160 euro per night. The hotel is a floating catamaran on the Seine river. The bar and breakfast room has impressive views and so do the rooms.

The hotel is at walking distance from the Marais neighbourhood where we went for dinner in an old classic restaurant “Le Dôme du Marais” with nice decors and good food (thx for the recommendation Filip!). After that we took a walk through the small streets, the Notre Dame and some of Paris highlights that are closeby.

Paris – Barcelona

On day 2 we head off with the 10am direct train from Paris Gare de Lyon. A six hour train ride takes you through the beautiful french countryside, along the Mont Ventoux (see picture below), passing the Mediterranean and through the Pyrenees into Spain.

You better take a good french picknick if you want to avoid the average overpriced train food. With some boiled eggs, french bread and cheese, chocolate, croissants, champagne and more we brunched our way through nature. We read a book, played some chess and got completely overwhelmed by the views on the way.

Barcelona Day 1

The ultimate sense of freedom was to get off the train, unfold our bikes and start roaming through Barcelona. Our first stop was to find our friend Mariska rowing through the yacht harbour.

A cosy tapas place with funny waiters is the Cerveceria Vaso de Oro, closeby to the harbour. The interior and vibe gets you straight into the Barcelona life.

Barcelona day 2

Waking up on the sunny terrace with a cup of coffee, couldn’t get better than this. Since this was not the first time in Barcelona we did not have a must see list but decided to stroll around, meet some friends and drink Vermouth.

A short detour over the electric stairs and through the Parc Güell, took us through Gracia for breakfast and lunch.

For lunch or diner you can go to Pepa Tomate, or for a very “Typical” Vermouth experience go to La Bodegueta de Gracia. The latter is a very basic place without a terrace, but the Vermouth and papas bravas will convince you to go back.

And a metro ride later we were standing on Montjuic to take the touristy cable car to the port. We never took it before, but the views are totaly worth it! A one way ticket is 11 euro and there is always a bit of a waiting line, but we found it worth its money.

The ride on the cable car takes about 10 min, but you can stay longer on the tower in the harbor to keep enjoying the 360° view. If the weather is nice the windows of the cabin are open so you can stick out your camera to take better pictures.

To enjoy sunset and apero, one of the nicest spots is the beach on Playa de la Barceloneta. Vendors sell you beer at a negotiable price (going down from 2-3 euros to 1 euro for a beer), so not needed to bring your own drinks.

And since non-natives living in Barcelona start to get sick of the typical spanish tapas, we tested an amazing asian alternative: L’Ôs Panda! Highly recommended if you want to skip the tapas for once. Best to reserve in advance though.

Barcelona day 3

On our final day in Barcelona we spent the morning having brunch at Llop. A “hipster brunchbar” on a small square in El Raval, with a longlist of breakfast dishes and great carrot pie and cheesecake.

Just around the corner are the gardens of Rubio y Lluch. A place to sit and read a book under the orange trees after over eating yourself at breakfast.

We finished our time in Barcelona like we started it: with a view on the harbor enjoying the sun. After that we cycled back to the Sants railway station where our train back to Paris left a little past 13h.

Barcelona – Brussels

On the way back, travelling in the opposite direction, you see things you didn’t notice on the first trip. So again: not boring at all.

But still, this trip felt a bit longer: we left at 13h in Barcelona Sants, straight to Paris Gare de Lyon. Than cycled to Paris Nord station and with the Thalys back to Brussels. We arrived back home around eleven o’clock in the evening after an overwhelming trainride.

So next time you are checking the flights to some citytrip location like Barcelona, Nice, Berlin, Amsterdam,… you name it… consider taking the train instead! With some good food, books and companion you’ll love it! (And the Planet will like it as well).