Train Journeys

Connect with Kids through Slow Travel

We love the romance of train journeys - watching the world slowly pass by, the clack of the wheels on the rails, and feeling closer to the country we’re visiting. We’ve taken some great overnight trips before we had kids - London to Inverness and then driving down the whisky trail, a Vietnam hard sleeper during Tet, and the last leg of the Trans-Siberian between Ulaanbaatar and Beijing. But could we continue to enjoy train journeys after kids?

I’m happy to report we could - and you can, too! Our kids love anything with wheels, and that includes trains. They spend hours building train tracks and towns around them in their bedroom. So it shouldn’t have surprised us that they would be excited by the idea of traveling by train. If your kid also loves cars and trucks and things that go, it’s a good sign to try a train.

We started small. We are lucky enough to live in Switzerland, where train travel is not only reliable but also kid friendly. Most intercity trains in Switzerland have a playground in the Family Coach located in the last car. We took a couple multi-hour domestic trips, and they were very smooth. The playgrounds were safe for toddlers and up, and it provided a stress-free journey while we enjoyed stunning views of the Alps.

After the success of local travel, we decided to scale up. We had the opportunity to travel by overnight train in Kazakhstan and decided to go for it. We set ourselves up for success by taking a later train so that we could settle the kids in for the night and sleep for most of the journey. They woke up in time for us to enjoy a leisurely breakfast in the dining car and then watch for horses and other animals out the window until we arrived. We distracted them with the normal travel games when needed, and overall the trip was smooth, relaxed, and I loved seeing them enjoy watching the world go by as much as I did.

We’re excited to continue to travel by train. We’re always looking for inspiration and Simply Railway provides plenty of it. You can listen to an interview on the Zero to Travel podcast with Thibault Constant, the man behind Simply Railway who is now founding a sleeper train company in Europe. Of course, we love the OG train guru Man in Seat 61, who has the most extensive and practical advice for train travel out there.

And there are so many trips we want to take with our kids. There is a new route between Switzerland and Malmö stopping in Copenhagen, which we would want to combine with a trip to the Lego House in Billund. There’s a real-life Polar Express from Helsinki to Santa’s Village in Rovaniemi. There’s the step back in time on one of the last Soviet trains still in operation between Bucharest and Chișinău. We plan to travel by rail a lot while we are in China. And you can’t beat a trip to Paris by train!

Then there are the big, multi-day trips we’ve been dreaming about. There’s the Rovos Rail Pretoria to Victoria Falls journey, but based on their child policy, we are waiting for the kids to be a little older and more mature. The Silk Road train is returning, operated by Golden Eagle Luxury Trains, for an unforgettable journey across the ancient Silk Road. And Dream of the Desert has started the first luxury train in Saudia Arabia operating from Riyadh to Al Ula. We visited Riyadh and would love to go back.

Trains provide an opportunity for slow travel and a better alternative for the environment. They also provide an opportunity to connect with your kids and the country you’re visiting. So next time, consider traveling with kids by rail.