The Rails Called Us Back — Again
Three years after our first rail odyssey through Europe, we laced up our travel shoes and did it all over again — only better.
In 2016, Mauricio and I discovered something that changed the way we travel: the European rail network is not just transportation — it is the journey itself. Three years later, we couldn’t stay away. This is the story of our second rail odyssey: ten days, four countries, four extraordinary cities, and one unforgettable tattoo that would carry a warning none of us could have anticipated.
Second European Rail Odyssey — Series Guide
- Introduction: The Route, The Plan, The Return
- Part 1: Milan — Fashion, Ink & Off-Menu Carpaccio
- Part 2: Lake Como — Two Nights on the Water
- Part 3: Lucerne — The Alpine Crossing
- Part 4: Salzburg — The Golden Hirsch & the Final Run
Why We Went Back
There are trips you take, and then there are trips that take something from you — a piece of your routine, your sense of what ordinary life should feel like. Our Inaugural Rail Odyssey in 2016 was the latter. By the time we stepped off the train in our final city, we knew we’d be back. The only question was when.
The answer turned out to be three years. Life has a way of filling the calendar — and ours shifted considerably in that period. We had moved from Washington State to Florida at the end of 2016, swapping the mountains we loved for a flat coastline and year-round sunshine. Anyone who has lived with mountains knows the particular ache of missing them. After having Mount Hood at our doorstep followed by Mount Rainier out our window for three years, that pull was stronger than ever. We were ready to leave that coastal humidity behind — even if only for a week. Europe, with its Alps and its passes and its trains that cut straight through the heart of all that elevation, was always going to be the antidote.
In the meantime, rail had become something of a habit. In 2017, a trip to Dublin turned into a spontaneous train ride to Galway — not a formal rail journey, just the most natural way to see more of Ireland in an afternoon. Later that year, we flew into Bilbao, took the train to San Sebastián, continued by train and bus to Biarritz, looped back across the Spanish border and on to Madrid by rail before flying home. Neither trip was a rail odyssey in the formal sense, but they kept the muscle memory alive.
By 2019 the planning instinct was fully awake. I knew two things going in: we wanted to revisit Italy, the country that had captured us in 2016, and I wanted to see more of Austria. This time we decided to give Milan a closer look — and instead of Venice (we saved that for a dedicated trip in 2022, which it deserved), we would travel north to Lake Como. I had always been intrigued by its draw of celebrities and socialites. The truth is, Lake Como is something else entirely: a beautiful, calm respite from the hustle of Milan and the crushing crowds of Venice.
Nothing says mountains like the Swiss Alps and, keeping to that mountain theme, I knew I wanted to make this our first visit to Switzerland. After poring over Rick Steves footage, Anthony Bourdain episodes, and every “best European rail journey” video YouTube could serve up, I landed on Lucerne. Bern and Zurich didn’t call to me on this trip — I was focused on smaller cities, and strategically, Lucerne made perfect sense as our Swiss stop.
Vienna was too far to trek on this particular route, so we decided to celebrate that milestone in Salzburg instead. Looking at the route laid out in front of me, I could barely contain my excitement. I dreamt of mountain passes, cool Alpine air, and crystal clear lakes until finally it was time to board our flight from Orlando.
“The train doesn’t just take you somewhere. It shows you the space between — the part most travelers never see.”
On why we keep coming back to European rail — ReviewTripThe Route
We flew into Milan Malpensa from Orlando via Amsterdam, arriving on the morning of September 26th. Our base for the first two nights was the Sheraton Diana Majestic in central Milan — a beautiful old-world property that, as we’d discover, was still buzzing from the tail end of Milan Fashion Week. From there, the route unfolded like a perfectly scheduled overture:
A note for readers: Sadly, the Sheraton Diana Majestic closed in 2025 after more than a century. The building’s future is uncertain. We’re glad we were there when we were.
| Leg | Train | Date | Hotel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milan → Lake Como | Regional / ~1 hr | Sat, Sep 28 | Sheraton Lake Como |
| Como → Lucerne | EuroCity 358 / 2h 50m | Mon, Sep 30 | Renaissance Lucerne |
| Lucerne → Salzburg | IR + EC + RJX / ~4h 40m | Wed, Oct 2 | Hotel Goldener Hirsch |
| Salzburg → Milan | RJ + EC / ~5h 20m | Fri, Oct 4 | Sheraton Malpensa |
That final night back in Milan deserves a note. After the Salzburg leg, we routed through Innsbruck and Verona — a beautiful journey through the Brenner Pass (more on that in Part 4) — arriving into Milan Centrale in the early evening. Rather than fight the city on departure eve, we stayed at the Sheraton Milan Malpensa Airport Hotel, right inside Terminal 1. It is not glamorous. It is exactly what it needs to be: effortless. Wake up, walk to the gate. No taxis, no stress, no Monday morning regrets. If you are ending a European rail trip with an early flight out of Malpensa, this is the move.
A Note on the Milan Canal District
On both this trip and our 2016 journey, the Navigli — Milan’s beautiful canal district — remained just out of reach. We always had somewhere to be. It wasn’t until a 2022 trip through Venice that we finally made it there, and it was worth every year of waiting. Read about that night at The Brisket on ReviewSteak.com →
How This Trip Differed From 2016
Our first rail odyssey was discovery. We were figuring out what European rail travel even meant for two people who had spent the better part of a decade far from anywhere with a proper train network — the booking systems, the transfer windows, the etiquette of the dining car, the difference between a Railjet and a regional train. There were lessons learned the hard way (you’ll find them in the original series).
The second time around, we came prepared. We had the bookings mapped months in advance — all Sheraton and Marriott properties to maximize points, all inter-city segments booked as a connected itinerary. The hotels were better. The trains were faster. And we were ready for the unexpected in ways we simply weren’t the first time around.
That said, we still left room for the trip to surprise us. It always does. The wool blankets laid out on every café terrace in Lucerne and Salzburg, a practice I have since adopted at home. A Christmas market materializing in Salzburg nearly two months before December, because the Austrians apparently do not wait. And two hard lessons in currency — the Swiss do not accept euros, and the Austrians do not accept francs — discovered this personally, in separate countries, on separate days.
And then there was the thing that turned out to matter most — the off-menu carpaccio, the mural in a Milan alley, the tattoo artist who would, five months later, send us a message that helped us prepare for something none of us saw coming.
That story is in Part 1 — Milan.
Continue the Journey
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Milan. Lake Como. Lucerne. Salzburg. Four cities, ten days, one extraordinary rail route through the heart of Europe. New posts publishing now.
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