In May of this year I gave a lecture about sustainable travel. The main message of traveling sustainable is quite simple. As long as you don’t fly and try to drive by car as little as possible, you have a good base. The only option for far destinations which then remains is traveling by public transportation. And when I give tips to people about traveling by public transportation, I always tell them about Seat61.com. Seat61.com is the ultimate guide for train travel. Today I’ll tell you more about it.
Seat61.com: the ultimate guide for train travel
Seat61.com is a website with very detailed and precise information about train travel anywhere. I use it like a sort of search machine. It’s like a holy bible for train travel. Everything you need to know around a certain train ride is on there. If you know how to use the website, it works perfectly. Then you can just type in where you are located right now and where you want to go. The website then shows you the rest. You can eventually find any destination on it, but sometimes you need some creativity (and dedication) for it. That’s because Seat61.com can’t show a map of the entire world, it’s divided into continents. But ultimately the website does guide you to a vast majority of places in the world, mostly big cities. And from those big cities, you can get anywhere.
I am not kidding when I say that you can find a route for the entire world by train. I used it for my holiday to Albufeira years ago, but I’ve also looked up how I can get to China, India or Australia by train. People seem to think that traveling from Amsterdam to India is not possible and that you have to fly, but this is not true. You can get anywhere by train, it just takes a lot of time and more effort to plan the trip. Below I’ll tell you how to use the website.
How to use Seat61.com in Europe
When you type in Seat61.com, you get on the main page. I have personally only used one option from this main list. That’s ‘Train travel in Europe’. That’s because I live in Europe, in the Netherlands. So far, I’ve only traveled in Europe by train. After you’ve clicked on ‘Train travel in Europe’, you then select ‘Train times, fares & tickets between European cities’. A selection opens and you select the city you want to leave from. I personally always use Amsterdam, even though I don’t live there anymore. I know how to get to Amsterdam Central station on my own. Once you’ve selected your starting point, you can then select your destination. For example, Albufeira. The site then leads you to the discription of this journey. Sometimes there are multiple route options, sometimes there is only one. Amsterdam to Albufeira has two options.
Once you’ve followed the steps I just listed and you see the route options, you have all the information you need. The route, the transits, sometimes the departure and arrival times, sometimes the price and always the links as to where to book the tickets. But once you know the route, you can also find out most things yourself when you try to book the tickets. The website is still up-to-date, because routes keep changing when there are new trains available.
If you can’t find a destination in any of the lists, find the closest one from where you want to go and then search how to get from there to your end destination.
How to use Seat61.com in Asia & Australia
If you want to go further than Europe, the most accessible options by train is Asia. You use the ‘Train travel worldwide’ option when you visit the homepage. You then click on ‘Other long haul routes’. This lists again more options, for Asia you use the options ‘Europe to India overland via Istanbul-Iran-Pakistan’, ‘Europe & Moscow – Central Asia – Urumqi – Beijn’ and ‘Map of train routes in Southeast Asia’. With these 3 options, you can get to a big share of the world already, because these routes will get you to places in Europe and Asia and everything in between. Turkey or Russia for example.
For Australia, you select ‘Train travel worldwide’, then ‘Other long haul routes’ and last ‘Europe to Australia without flying’. There are two options listed at this moment, but unfortunately the first one is not possible because of the war in Russia and Ukraine. But once that is over, and I hope it will be soon, you see that you can get all the way from Europe to Austrlia by train. Fantastic, right?
How to use Seat61.com in Africa
Europe, Asia and Australia are very well accessible by train. But now we get to the continents that are difficult. First, Africa. Seat61.com offers a grand map of Africa, under ‘Train travel worldwide’, then ‘Other long haul routes’ and lastly ‘Map of train routes in southern Africa’. You can compliment this map by the maps of the individual countries in Africa. These can be find via ‘Train travel worldwide’ and then ‘Train travel by country’. However, the train network in Africa is not that good yet. Especially the connection to the rest of the world is a problem. If I (or you) ever want to go there, I hope the network is better.
However, if you want to do so now, I would advise to go via Morrocco. If you select ‘Train travel worldwide’ and then ‘Train travel by country’, select ‘Morroco (UK to..)’. I think this is the fastest option to get into the continent of Africa. From there on you’d have to use the map of Morroco and then the maps of surrounding countries to get further. If you want to go to South-Africa, then I think it’s best you use the route from Kenya onwards (on the map ‘Train routes in southern Africa’). So the trick is to get from Morocco to Kenya through the countries in between.
From Amsterdam to Morocco takes 3 days now (in 2025 this will be cut significantly by a night train to Barcelona), so getting to Africa is very well doable. Getting to the South is the harder part.
How to use Seat61.com in the America’s
Last are the America’s. Two continents that are not accessible by train from Europe onwards. Seat61.com describes the option of Europe to North-America by a boat. This is not a cruise, but a passenger service offering a crossing. It takes a week and the boat goes once a month. It’s an option, but I don’t know if it’s sustainable. The only sustainable option that I know of is sailing from Europe to South-America. I know it’s possible via fairferry.com (Seat61.com does not offer this information). It takes a month, but it’s without emissions. Information for traveling in South-America or North-America itself is also available on Seat61.com, in the sidebar under ‘Train travel in America’. I find the information quite extensive. How to travel from South-America to North-America is not on seat61.com, so you’ll have to research that yourself.
I am postponing a travel to the America’s right now. I am hoping for electric flights being available the coming decade(s). Until then, I have more than enough to explore in Europe, Asia, Australia and at last Africa. By the time I want to go to the America’s I hope I can fly there on an electric plane. If not, it’s on my bucket list to sail there via fairferry.com. We’ll see. For now, the America’s are not very accessible in a sustainable way from Europe onwards.
Seat61.com is mostly for Europeans
I have to admit that Seat61.com is the ultimate guide for train travel for people living in Europe. It offers the most information for train travel in Europe. You can of course also use it if you live in Asia or Australia (or even Africa or the America’s), but I’d say it’s a bit harder to use. I believe this does not have to be a bad thing, since it’s mostly rich Europeans who are flying the world are causing the climate crisis to become much worse this way. Europeans are the ones who need to change.
The truth is that Europe, Asia and Australia are very well accessible by train. The connection between them is good. When it comes to Africa, it gets a lot harder. And getting to the America’s is nearly impossible in a sustainable way. But like I said, Europe, Asia and Australia have a lot to offer. Give them a good chance.
Train travel is about the journey itself
Last I want to say that train travel is beautiful. It is also a sustainable alternative to flying, but please don’t try to compare it too much to flying. You have to see it as a seperate experience. If you’re going to compare flying to Turkey or traveling there by train just by comparing how much time it takes, the plane is always going to win. Look at the entire experience. Going to Turkey by train is a special experience, and you see the entire route on your way. If you love travel, this should matter to you. And also compare the climate impact. Then the train always win and is the compassionate option to choose.
I hope you’ll use Seat61.com, the ultimate guide for travel, with just as much fun as I do.
Yours sincerely,
Romee