Six steps to DIY slow travel
Krzysztof
Behind the scenes of a Byway trip, there are complex rail timetables, hotel bookings, and years of expertise that ensure every trip delivers on our Love the Journey Guarantee.
As part of our mission to make slow travel mainstream, we want to help more people discover the joy of overland trips, whether they travel with us or try their hand at the planning themselves. If you are up for the challenge, this guide will walk you through every stage of planning so you can DIY your own overland adventure (but we are always here if you would prefer to book your trip with Byway and have all of this done for you).
To start your own rail trip through Europe, you will need to complete a few essential steps:
Contents:
Clarissa Watson
How to plan a train route through Europe
Once you're travelling overland, you're no longer tied to cities with an airport nearby. That's part of the joy, but it also means a bit more research to land on a route that suits the kind of trip you're after.
Our Maps tool is a good place to start: search by an interest, and you'll get curated route suggestions built around it, or browse some of our most popular trips for inspiration. If you'd rather talk it through, our team offers a 1:1 consultation for anyone planning to book with us. To do it yourself, our guide to planning a slow travel itinerary walks through the process in more detail.
There is also a growing repository of other helpful resources: The Man in Seat 61, run by Mark Smith, remains the most trusted independent source on European rail routes and the booking quirks that come with them. Hidden Europe, founded by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries, has spent years championing overland travel, border regions and towns that don't usually make a shortlist; the pair are also behind Europe by Rail, now in its nineteenth edition, one of the most thorough independent guides to rail travel on the continent. Our internal experts partner with other experts like Nicky, Susanne and Mark, so if you book with Byway, that knowledge is already folded into your itinerary.
Ben Cridge
Do I need a seat reservation or ticket?
Some trips are cheaper with an Interrail pass, while others work out cheaper when bought with point-to-point tickets. Within pass-eligible journeys, some require a seat reservation, some make it optional, and some don't offer them at all (meaning you can hop-on hop-off as much as you like along the way).
Working through each leg of your trip to establish which category it falls into is worth doing before you book anything else, since it affects both your pass and your budget. If you book with Byway, our system does this automatically, and we send you the right combination of tickets, reservations and pass advice. To do it yourself, see our guide.
How do I book an Interrail pass?
An Interrail pass often considerably reduces the cost of European train travel compared to buying tickets individually, and it also makes your journey to and from the station on departure and return days in your home country completely free.
Working out the right number of travel days takes a little arithmetic, since it depends on how many legs of your route require a pass day, whether with or without a reservation, and whether any individual legs are actually cheaper to buy outright. If you book with Byway, we calculate your route and book the most cost-effective pass as standard. To do it yourself, our guide below will help you determine which pass to buy.
How to book train tickets and seat reservations in Europe
To book train tickets and seat reservations in Europe, start by gathering passenger passport details, birthdates, and Interrail pass numbers. Tickets generally go on sale 60 to 180 days in advance; you should book high-demand routes (like the Eurostar, sleeper trains, and Swiss scenic lines) directly on official operator sites, or All Aboard for seat reservations. Or make your single booking with Byway, and we’ll manage this complexity.
Jennifer Latuperisa-Andresen
How to pick accommodation
At the heart of slow travel is connection to local communities. Locally owned stays keep tourist spending local, helping it benefit the community. It’s also good to consider accommodation near your arrival or departure station, in a part of town that feels safe and easy to explore.
When booking your own accommodation, non-refundable options tend to be cheaper, but they can be risky on a slow travel trip, since a delay can mean losing the cost of a room. Where possible, opt for refundable hotels (even these aren't entirely risk-free; some hotels’ cancellation cut-offs can be up to two weeks before arrival. Booking through Byway means you’re protected from needing to cover additional hotel costs due to delays - we rearrange anything needed at no extra cost to you. To do it yourself, read our guide below.
How do I set up the Interrail app?
The Interrail Rail Planner app is where your pass and reservations live, and getting to grips with it before you travel is highly advisable! Setting it up involves loading your pass, creating a trip, and adding each journey manually, which takes a bit of time the first go but becomes second nature after a leg or two. Make sure you understand the basics of activating a journey before boarding and showing the QR code at the gate.
If you book with Byway, a 45-minute Interrail set-up workshop and Q&A is included as part of your trip as well as our usual on-demand support. To do it yourself, read more below.
Read the DIY slow travel blog series
This guide is an overview of planning a slow travel trip. You can read the full guides on each step below:
Or, if you'd rather leave the logistics to the experts, book with Byway and we’ll handle everything for you. Each booking includes all transport, hotels and personal trip guide, all wrapped up with ABTA-protection, free disruption replanning and in-trip support from our experts while you’re away
Course: How to plan a train trip across Europe
You can watch our DIY video tutorials here or sign up below for our full DIY video course delivered straight into your inbox.
Video course: How to plan a train trip across Europe
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