Great Rail Journeys

Why travel with great rail journeys?

Great Rail Journeys is the UK's leading operator of holidays by rail. There is no-one who understands rail holidays like we do - and no other company offers a better choice of escorted holidays by rail anywhere else in the world.

We pride ourselves on providing you with a truly first class holiday experience, in every aspect of our tours:

The Best Rail Travel

We have been organising outstanding tours for more than 30 years. In that time, we have built on our detailed understanding of both UK and international networks, and are true rail experts. We ensure that we travel on the most convenient trains and (where applicable) the most comfortable sleeper trains.

On most of our holidays, rail journeys are made in the highest class available on the train - and this is included in the price of the holiday, rather than being offered as an upgrade option with more to pay. On the Eurostar we generally travel in Standard Premier Class, the first class option for leisure travellers, with a light meal, alcoholic drinks and tea/coffee served on board. On most holidays we continue in First Class on inter-city routes across Europe all the way to your destination.

Our New Departure Office At St Pancras International

Traveling on one of our European tours? To make sure your holiday gets off to a relaxing and stress-free start, we now have our own special dedicated departure office at St Pancras International station. From the very beginning, your Tour Manager will be there waiting to greet you. Then it's just a short step to your train and the start of your wonderful holiday experience.

Brilliant Hotels

In our three decades of experience, we have carefully selected our hotels based on their individual style, warm welcome and excellent service - ensuring that they meet the high standards our customers have come to expect. We have worked closely with several of our hoteliers for a number of years, and many of the hotels we use have become firm favourites with Great Rail Journeys' customers in that time; we use them year after year because our customers tell us how much they enjoyed their stay.

We know how important it is to stay in a hotel within easy reach of the attractions, and so our hotels are generally ideally located for the station and the places of interest. Each hotel boasts comfortable beds, spacious bathrooms and plenty of storage, whilst minibars, hairdryers, in-room safes and telephones are a feature in almost every hotel on our programme. The star rating of each hotel varies between 3 and 5 stars; we look for our hotels to have the perfect mix of excellent facilities, a great location, and which offer fantastic value for money to our customers.

Many Meals

We include many meals on our tours. These are served in the hotel - or sometimes in a popular local restaurant. As we dine together, meal times are often the most sociable times of the day. Included meals are clearly shown on each tour page.

Fantastic Excursions

Also included in the price of your holiday is the exciting programme of excursions listed in the itinerary. Our excursions have been meticulously planned, and have been carefully refined and tweaked over the years, to give you a wonderful balance of cultural, historical and social experiences of the regions you visit.

On most of our excursions, in addition to your Tour Manager, you will be accompanied by a local guide - enabling you to get a true insight into the area. In some cases, we include excursions to off-the-beaten-track destinations that simply would not be stumbled upon without this local knowledge.