Trains Instead of Planes: Why Rail Travel Is the Future of Slow Tourism

The low-cost flight democratised travel — that much is undeniable. But it also changed the way we move: we became consumers of destinations, not travellers. We fly to Barcelona for the weekend, return Sunday evening, and what remains of that trip is little more than a few photos and a carry-on bag.

The train tells a different story. You board, you sit down, and the landscape begins to unspool. You are not crossing a white void at ten thousand metres: you are crossing countryside, hills, provincial stations with geraniums in the windows. The journey is not dead time between home and destination: it is already the destination.

In Italy, regional trains are one of the best ways to discover the real country. The Faentina line that crosses the Tosco-Romagnolo Apennines, the Circumetnea that circles Mount Etna, the Transiberiana d'Italia between Sulmona and Isernia. These are routes that no flight can replace, because the value lies in the journey, not the arrival.

The numbers speak plainly. A regional train from Bologna to Florence costs less than ten euros. From Naples to Sapri along the coast, less than fifteen. These are figures that make the train competitive even with the cheapest flight, once you factor in the hidden costs of flying: the transfer to the airport, the hours of waiting, the paid luggage, the stress.

Then there is the environmental question. A Rome–Milan flight emits about 140 kg of CO2 per passenger. The same journey by train emits fewer than 30. For a frequent traveller, the difference is enormous. And it is not about giving up travel: it is about choosing how to do it.

For European journeys, the train has become competitive again. Night trains are reconnecting capitals: Vienna–Rome, Paris–Milan, Berlin–Zurich. You leave in the evening, sleep in a couchette, arrive in the morning. It is an experience that tastes of real travel, not mere transfer.

Planning a train journey requires a little more preparation, but the tools are there. Trainline, Omio, the national railway websites: enough to build a tailor-made itinerary. The advice is to book long-distance legs in advance (prices rise) and leave flexibility on regional services (tickets can be bought on the day).

The train also changes the kind of destination you choose. When you travel by rail, the places you can reach are different: not international airports, but provincial stations. And they are often the most interesting places — the ones where mass tourism never arrives because there is no direct flight.

This is not nostalgia: it is a conscious choice. The train is slower, yes. But in that time you gain something the plane cannot give you: the sense of distance, the perception of the territory, the discovery of what lies in between. And often, what lies in between is the best part of the journey.