New European Sleeper Train Route to Venice Lets You Cross Five Countries Overnight

Paris and Berlin will soon be connected by a new high-speed train service.

It’s that time of year again. Leaves are changing colors, shoulder season trips are in full swing, and international airlines are sharing what new routes travelers can expect next summer.

We’re well-practiced at carrying our driver’s licenses in the US, but it might surprise you that there are countries in Europe where it is illegal to venture out without your passport.

There are two types of train trip: The long, slow, and often luxurious train journey that takes you through beautiful scenery that you book specifically to spend time on the rails; and the speedy, no-nonsense, cheap train ride you take to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. In the first category, you’ll find grand trips like Australia’s The Ghan, South Africa’s Blue Train, and Britain’s Caledonian Sleeper. In the second, there are trips from London to Brussels in just two hours, from Rome to Venice in four hours, and from Miami to Orlando in three hours. And if you’re a train traveler who belongs to the second category and likes getting places fast without flying, there are plenty of trains in this world that do just that at speeds previously unimaginable on land, including the fastest train in the world and its closest competitors.

Amsterdam, like many other European cities, is facing an overtourism problem. The numbers don’t lie. In the year 2000, the Dutch capital broke a record when it welcomed over 4 million visitors. In 2019, the city’s enthusiasm for unbridled tourism had curbed: 10.2 million visitors came to Amsterdam, which has a population of about 820,000, that year and spent 21.8 million nights in the city.

I am so hungover when I board the Arlecchino that its myriad charms are, at first, as lost on me as an idiom in translation. We are at Rome Termini, and this train has been chartered to whisk us—several dozen strangers and me—to Perugia in celebration of that city’s grande dame, the legendary Sina Brufani hotel, and its 140th birthday. Already a casualty of the festivities on account of too many Negronis the previous night, I find myself a seat upholstered in emerald green velvet, sink into it with my sunglasses on, and let my head rest against the window. We pull out of the station, and for an hour or so, I pass in and out of bleary, slightly nauseous sleep.

GetYourGuide, an online travel agency for tours, activities, and experiences, has been the target of ongoing protests by World Animal Protection, an activist group.

A full slate of labor strikes are planned throughout Europe this month, which could impact both plane and train travel.Both flights and trains could be delayed as a result of the various labor actions in the coming weeks. Here’s a breakdown of the locations where strikes are expected to take place and when.

Normally, you don’t see Western European nations on a list of travel alerts issued by the State Department of the United States. But these aren’t normal times.

Two years since the death of Grammy Award winning singer and Grease star Olivia Newton-John, a never-before-heard song has been released.

Strikes are a regular occurrence in Europe, as employees withhold their labour to fight for better pay and conditions.

Etihad Airways is preparing to announce “around 10” new routes, according to Arik De, the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer, in an exclusive interview with Skift. De said the network additions will be revealed in late November.