An Achilles heel, and not one I\u2019ve read much about in web sites geared toward tourists. I am immensely fond of these rail trips, but would have been fonder still if I hadn\u2019t had to learn about the punctuality problems through unpleasant personal experience.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll start with a best case:<\/p>\n
The Swiss Federal Railways transit planner<\/a> informs me that at 8:05 a.m. on a Wednesday I can travel cross-country from Geneva to Appenzell aboard four trains, with transfer times of four minutes in Renens, twelve minutes in Zurich, and seven minutes in Gossau. Just under five hours total.<\/p>\n I believe<\/span> the Swiss Transit Planner. The sbb.ch<\/a> data center — undoubtedly tucked among bell-swinging cows on an Alpine meadow, and monitored by lederhosen-clad sysadmins who yodel their way through rootkit scans; we all know how accurate these stereotypes are — can see into the future, decrees that at 13:00 that Wednesday Appenzell station security cameras shall record me toting my rollaboard up Platform 4a. I\u2019ll betcha they\u2019re right.<\/p>\n But: that\u2019s in Switzerland, in a trip aboard all-Swiss trains. Not everywhere in Europe. In Switzerland.<\/p>\n On to a less-agreeable example:<\/p>\n Last October the sweet-talking German Deutsche Bahn<\/a> transit planner suckered me into thinking that at 7:25 on a Friday I could board a Slovenian D214 in Ljubljana for a three train, seven-and-a-half hour trip to Bratislava, with a seven minute transfer at the Villach station in Austria. And, maybe I could have!! … on most days, or on some days, perhaps, or maybe when the moon was full and Sagittarius was ascendant and Jupiter was in the eighth house. But I certainly couldn\u2019t last October 31. The 214 arrived in Ljubljana eight minutes late, was twenty minutes behind schedule by the time it reached Villach. I can be a spry old duffer, but have never gotten the hang of time travel, couldn\u2019t slip into the past to board a Vienna-bound train that had already left. Adios, travel itinerary.<\/p>\n European train service, you see, is not created equal. An online graphic<\/a> uses 2019 data to rate for efficiency, predictably awards first place to Switzerland, and ranks Albania dead last. In September Spain transport minister \u00d3scar Puente raised eyebrows by awarding<\/a> the continent\u2019s second place to my expat homeland. Not quite, answers a Euronews article<\/a>: Spain is indeed up there, but in the fifth spot, not second, a nose ahead of France and far ahead of Italy and the now embarrassingly stink-o Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\n Happily, I can offer two reasons that these punctuality issues shouldn\u2019t party poop a straphanger\u2019s dream trip to Europe:<\/p>\n (♦<\/span>) If the missed connection is their fault, you\u2019ll likely have the right to get on the next train.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what the ticket agent promptly told me when I sought help in Villach. An online<\/a> \u201cAgreement on Journey Continuation\u201d says as much. I am TOO OLD AND LAZY to investigate which Europe countries follow this practice, or to Sherlock potential \u2018gotchas,\u2019 but I\u2019d be surprised if it\u2019s not the norm. In Villach, I wound up eyeballing a lot of attractive scenery I wish I hadn\u2019t had the chance to see, and boarded another train about an hour later.<\/p>\n (This second train, incidentally, was also late, pulled into Vienna more than forty minutes behind schedule. I missed my connection there, too … and would miss it the next morning as well, as the EC 280 departing Bratislava would arrive too late in Kol\u00edn for my hoped-for transfer to Kutn\u00e1 Hora.)<\/p>\n (♦<\/span>) You can finagle settings in the online trip planner to book a more generous transit time.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll find the option at int.bahn.de<\/a>, cd.cz<\/a>, oebb.at<\/a>, sncf<\/a> and even sbb.ch<\/a>. Snoop around, see for yourself. I discovered the option while prepping this post, will be a frequent future user.<\/p>\n MANY OPTIONS FOR TICKET PURCHASE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n European train operators have figured out that international tourists want to give them \u20ac$\u00a5\u00a3\u0e3f to frolic about the continent in Old World trains. They might not always be able to operate those trains punctually, but the \u2018giving them \u20ac$\u00a5\u00a3\u0e3f\u2019 part they\u2019ve figured out. Buying advance tickets online seems to get a little easier every year.<\/p>\n If one rail operator won\u2019t sell you the tix, visit the web site of another operator on the same route. I couldn\u2019t book my Ljubljana-to-Bratislava rides on Slovenia\u2019s web page<\/a> , but the stop at Villach encouraged me to check Austria\u2019s excellent OBB Scotty<\/a>, which was only too happy to trade PDF\u2019d fare media for euros.<\/p>\n Seat61<\/a> is fond of both Rail Europe<\/a> and the Train Line<\/a>. I have no personal experience with a Eurail<\/a> pass.<\/p>\n FLIXBUS ALTERNATIVE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I despaired of finding a reasonable rail itinerary from Zagreb to Ljubljana, finally let Rome2Rio<\/a> steer me to Flixbus<\/a>, despite dismal memories of U.S.A. Greyhound treks in the last millennium. I expected that Flixbus would inflict similar miseries.<\/p>\n Not at all! I easily booked a seat online, turned down the affordable option of reserving the adjacent seat to sprawl or snooze more extravagantly during the ride. Flixbus hosts a shiny-clean waiting room of its own at the not-so-shiny-clean Zagreb bus station, with pay toilet included. The spiffy bus departed and arrived on schedule. Worth a look.<\/p>\n BULGARIA CAVEAT EMPTOR<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The Euronews article ranks Bulgaria third for the punctuality of long-distance and high-speed train service. This might lead an innocent to expect Brussels or Amsterdam caliber service.<\/p>\n Alas, no<\/a>. A Sofia native later told me that she would have warned me about her homeland\u2019s trains if I\u2019d consulted her beforehand. \u201cA Soviet Bloc holdover,\u201d was her nutshell description. I don\u2019t expect to drip sweat in late June beside grimy curtains in the first class car, but did between Sofia and Plovdiv.<\/p>\n CONSIDER WINTER TOURISM<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Luxembourg is an expensive date<\/a> in spring, at least if staying overnight, but far less so in winter. Ditto Liechtenstein and, I don\u2019t doubt, many other bucket list tourist meccas. The off-season tourist needn\u2019t exchange sharp elbows and dirty looks with fellow travelers for those prized selfie angles on Charles Bridge or at St. Stephen\u2019s Basilica, likely\u00b9 can grab hassle-free reservations at the Michelin-rated whatever in Madrid, Paris, London, Rome.<\/p>\n (\u00b9Likely = a guess, without personal knowledge. I\u2019m not much of a foodie. My only \u2018Michelin\u2019 experiences were with their tires, in my car-owning days.\u00a0 [And what fond memories I have of those tires!\u00a0 They were round, black, rubbery, rolled intrepidly when I pressed the accelerator.\u00a0 Wow.])<\/p>\n Now, I know what you\u2019re thinking. Winter tourism is less popular for a reason. Rain. Cold. Ice, sleet, snow.<\/p>\n True, but I still think it\u2019s a good option, for already-based-in-Europe tourists who can travel on short notice. One can diligently and patiently check forecasts at a given target destination, grab a ticket when odds are good for tolerable weather.<\/p>\n The one unavoidable downside, at least in the Northern Hemisphere: shorter days.<\/p>\n A GREAT EXPERIENCE OVERALL<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Bulgaria aside, I remember only one bad train ride, when SNCF cancelled my TER 96220 out of Basel for reasons unknown and the next TER had to shoehorn in twice the usual passenger load to Mulhouse Ville. Other train treks have offered mostly agreeable memories, particularly as regard sightseeing. I heartily recommend these trips to others and plan to take others in the future … but will remember to select the \u2018longer transfer time\u2019 option in the trip planner when I do. Unless returning to Switzerland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve taken my share in the past several years, from or to Sofia, Plovdiv, Vaduz, Luxembourg City, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Bratislava and whistlestops inbetween. I write to share what I\u2019ve learned. PUNCTUALITY PROBLEMS An Achilles heel, and not one I\u2019ve read much about in web sites geared toward tourists. I am immensely fond of these rail… <\/p>\n![\"Christmas](\"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Christmas_2024_in_Luxembourg.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Charles](\"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/charles_buls_statue_in_Brussels_Belgium.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Hauptplatz](\"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Hauptplatz_in_Villach_Austria.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Halloween](\"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Halloween_celebrants_in_Bratislava_Slovakia.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Stjepan](\"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Stjepan_Radic_statue_and_tram_in_Zagreb.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Chermin](\"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/chermin_de_la_corniche_in_Luxembourg.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Overlook](\"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/vaduz_overlook_216_650_size.jpg\")
<\/a>