Why You Should Ditch the Short-Haul Flight for an Overnight Train

Some railcar warriors just appreciate the simple charms of this mode of travel. For instance, Sandra Mayernik and her husband are retiree nomads who, since selling everything they owned last spring, have become acolytes of train travel, recently journeying from Lisbon to Faro on Comboios de Portugal, from Seville to Barcelona on TGV Renfe, and from Barcelona to Paris on TGV SNCF.

“For us, it’s not just getting from point A to B,” Mayernik tells Condé Nast Traveler. “It’s about the experience. Traveling by train allows us to see the countryside, rather than just flying overhead. Our flexible schedule and budget allow us to prioritize the journey itself, not just the destination.”

When it comes to air travel, she doesn’t enjoy waiting in airport security lines or jockeying for space to place her carry-ons. It’s a paradigm shift.

“Once aboard the train, it’s a chance to truly unwind,” she says, touting the extra leg-room compared to most airplanes and the porousness of the train, allowing passengers to move between cars without the confines of an aluminum tube flying through the air. “As the landscape unfolds, we have the opportunity to relax, watch the scenery, and enjoy a leisurely lunch together.”

Two summers ago Alicia Cintron, an American consultant based in Mexico City, opted to take a train solo from Barcelona Sants to Dijon Ville, France via SNCF instead of flying, despite the $175 price tag and eleven-hour journey (including a two-hour stop-over in Lyon).

“Train travel is more relaxed, more free, more humane,” she says. She didn’t have to worry about bringing her liquids on board and showed up just half-an-hour before departure. There was another clear advantage: “I wanted to see the French countryside.”

That provided Cintron with the perfect blood-pressure lowering backdrop to decompress after five busy weeks in Paris, a hectic day in Barcelona, and a week-long Mediterranean cruise with her family.

“I wanted to slow things down, even if just for a few hours,” she says. “And I wanted to be alone in my thoughts and back on my laptop. I tried catching up on the work I ignored while on holiday but that was a pipe dream. I spent most of the ride staring out the window, watching the world go by, and reflecting on life, work, family, everything. The picturesque countryside was relaxing and helped me reset and refocus. I remember the sky being so big and blue; the earth was green and mostly flat in this part of France.”

Norm Bour and his wife have embraced train travel since became full-time nomads in their mid-60s in 2019—whether on overnight train from Luxor to Cairo or Rome to Ancona. “From zipping along between Barcelona and Madrid at 300 kph, to slower trains that took us from Budapest, Hungary to Brasov, Romania—which took 15 hours over just 400 or so miles—the Iron Horse has become a device that I employ whenever possible,” Bour says.