233: Mark Smith, 'The Man in Seat 61', on train travel to the Alps

Today is a special interview with Mark Smith – the train travel expert also known as ‘The Man in Seat 61’.

We discuss his background; how he came to set up his website seat61.com; his views on the best routes to the Alps by train; the trend towards night trains; plus whether there will ever be competition for Eurostar on the cross-channel line.

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If you’re heading to the Alps this winter, then you can save money on your ski hire by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ at intersportrent.com, or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied at the checkout.

SHOW NOTES

Seat61.com is a multiple award-winning website with more than 1m visitors per month (2:00)
Why is it called ‘Seat 61’? (2:30)
What prompted you to start the site in 2001? (4:15)
Mark has worked full time on Seat61.com since 2007 (7:00)
Iain took the ‘Flight Free Pledge’ to take no flights in 2024 (8:45)
Why should people travel by train? (9:00)
Come for the carbon savings, stay for the joy of travelling by train (9:15)

“We're in danger of creating a world where every single journey is an identical non-experience at 30,000 feet and life's too short not to grab every experience when you get the chance.” (11:30)

Listen to Iain’s report on the Eurostar Snow Train (13:00)
Will Eurostar ever bring back that direct service? (13:30)
Or that they might increase the number of rotations? (15:45)
Will we see competition to Eurostar on the cross-channel HS1 line? (18:00)
Virgin are interested in starting as a competitor to Eurostar (18:30)
When will the line from Paris to Turin open again? (21:00)
Taking the train to Italian ski resorts (23:00)
Taking the train to Austria (24:00)
Taking the train to Norway (25:00)
The Caledonian Sleeper is ‘Best train in the UK’ according to Mark (26:00)
Simon Calder and Mark raced to Edinburgh in a plane v. train race (27:30)
Night trains are becoming more popular (28:30)
OBB’s ‘Nightjet’ service is the biggest operator of night trains in Europe (29:30)
The Nightjet to Innsbruck departs from Amsterdam (31:00)
Listen to Iain’s interview with Chris Engelsman, co-founder of European Sleeper (31:30)
Mark will be on the inaugural European Sleeper service (32:30)
Boutique operators include Snälltåget and European Sleeper (33:30)
How do you keep the costs of train travel down? (35:00)
When is Interrail better value than point-to-point tickets? (37:00)
Why do you have to wait to three months beforehand until you can book trains? (38:30)
Iain will be travelling to Sicily on the only train ferry left in Europe (40:45)
Is it possible to travel from Portugal to Singapore by train? (42:00)
Take the plunge, you’ll love it! (44:00)

“Collectively we are racing through spectacular landscapes, covering a mile every 40 seconds, using Victorian infrastructure to the full and causing minimal environment harm. The rail traveller is in touch with the world.”

Feedback
I enjoy all feedback about the show, I’m always interested to hear what you think, so please do contact me on social @theskipodcast or by email theskipodcast@gmail.com

Dan Trapp: "Keep up the great work. And have a great season!"
Alex Nevill (BMAC): "Love this podcast, always gets me in the mood for the ski season"

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