Rail routes
Porto to San Sebastián without a plane, and why we stopped flying short-haul
An essay on giving up short flights, told through one slow route along the north of Iberia: five legs, four nights, what it cost and what it gave back.
Rail and routes editor
Inês Carvalho
Inês plans the overland routes and checks every leg twice. She has crossed Iberia by regional train more times than she can justify and keeps a notebook of station cafés that open before six.
Stories by Inês
Long stays
A month on the Alentejo coast, and why we went in June
Four weeks in a small Portuguese coastal town: getting there without a car, a week-by-week rhythm, the wind nobody warned us about and what the month cost.
Rail routes
How to book a European night train without losing an evening to it
Seats, couchettes and sleepers explained, when booking windows open, how to read a berth plan and what to do when the train you wanted is sold out.