As we mostly used Flixbus to get around Europe (more on that here), we didn’t get to experience much of Europes extensive train network. However, sometimes Flixbus didn’t do the route we needed, or the journey was simply much quicker by train, so we did have to turn to trains sometimes. We decided not to do an interrail pass simply because it’s so expensive and we knew we’d be using buses for most of our journeys, so it just wouldn’t have been worth it for us. But we learnt a lot about seeing Europe by train!

We’ve still decided to share the information we do have on trains around Europe. Here are the countries we did use trains in and what companies we went with:

In Italy, we used both Italo and TrenItalia to book trains. Both of these train companies in Italy are safe, comfortable, on time and easy to book online. We’d just recommend looking at both to see which has cheaper fares for your journey before booking. On Trenitalia you can also book Frecciarossa trains, which are fancier, high speed trains that are obviously much quicker. These are good if you need to get somewhere quickly, or if you’d just like to experience travelling through the countryside at 300km. Coming from Australia where we don’t have high speed trains, this was such a fun experience for us!

In Switzerland, we used SBB for all the train journeys we booked. The trains are comfortable and safe and run perfectly on time, and of course trains are some of the best ways to see the stunning Swiss scenery. If you ever have a train with a connection, it is possible the connection time will be incredibly quick (we once had a 7 minute connection).

However as the trains run on time, we never missed a connection and the stations are all well signed so as long as you’re prepared and can manage your luggage, you should be fine. Our biggest tip for SBB is that when you book tickets, it automatically assumes you have a half fare travel card. Make sure you change that to full fare before booking, unless you have a half fare travel card of course. It also means you need to be wary of the cost, as they may say a certain price, but it is then doubled once you change it from half fare.

In Spain, we used two companies for trains: Renfe and Iryo. Both these train companies were safe, comfortable, were on time and had toilets and wifi. We used both just because certain journeys were cheaper with each company but we’d recommend them both!

If you’re looking to compare timing or pricing of different train companies, or if you’re wanting to find which companies offer certain journeys, TrainLine will be your best friend. On TrainLine, you can search for a journey and it will give you all the options across different companies. We used this frequently to compare prices and to find the best train companies in each country.

While you can book your train tickets through TrainLine, we always opted to book directly through the company we had chosen. There is no extra fee to book through TrainLine, we just felt more comfortable going straight through the website of the company running the service, so we could be sure that everything was as it should be and we had a direct way of contacting the company if anything were to change.

Even though we liked to keep our costs down as much as we could when it came to transport in Europe, sometimes trains were our best (or only) option, and it really is a great way to travel Europe.

• FlixBus: The Best Budget Way to Travel Europe Easily
• How to See The UK and Ireland Without a Car
• Ferryhopper: The Easy Way to Book Ferries Around the Mediterranean