Travel Essentials — Good Anywhere

The four-hour rule

Europeans have a rough rule that travellers rarely hear about, and it is worth knowing. If the train takes under about four hours from city centre to city centre, take the train. Paris to London, Paris to Lyon, Madrid to Barcelona, Rome to Florence, Cologne to Frankfurt, Vienna to Salzburg — on every one of those the train gets you there sooner once you count honestly. And most people do not count honestly. A ninety-minute flight is not ninety minutes. It is the taxi out to the airport, the two hours before departure that the airline asks for, the security queue, the walk to the gate, the wait for the bag, and then a second journey back into the city at the far end. Add it up and a Paris to Lyon flight is most of a day. The train is one hour fifty-five, from a station eight minutes from the Marais.

Above roughly five or six hours the aeroplane starts to win, with two exceptions worth remembering. A night train — Vienna to Venice, Paris to Nice, Stockholm to the Arctic — converts a travel day into a hotel night you did not have to pay for, and for many older travellers a proper sleeper berth beats a budget-airline seat by a distance. And a scenic line is not really transport at all; the Bernina Express through the Swiss Alps or the Flam railway in Norway is the day out, and treating it as a way of getting somewhere misses the point.

The comfort argument is the one that matters most to our readers, and it is lopsided. Trains have wide seats with real legroom, no weight limit worth worrying about, a lavatory you can reach without a seatbelt sign, a buffet car you can walk to, luggage you keep beside you instead of surrendering, and a window that shows you the country instead of the top of a cloud. Stations are in the middle of town, they are level or lift-served in most of western Europe, and nobody asks you to take your shoes off.

Japan, where the trains are the reason to go

Japan is the strongest case for rail anywhere on earth. The shinkansen runs Tokyo to Kyoto in a shade over two hours, leaves within seconds of the advertised minute, and is cleaned between runs by a team who bow to the carriage. There is no comparable flight experience. Reserved seats are bookable roughly a month ahead, which is worth doing in cherry-blossom season and around the autumn colours, and worth doing in any season if you are travelling as a group of four and want to sit together.

Two honest cautions about luggage and about stations. Large suitcases now need a reserved oversized-baggage space on the busiest shinkansen lines, so book that at the same time as the seat rather than discovering it on the platform. And Tokyo's big stations — Shinjuku above all — are enormous, multi-level and busy. Allow twenty minutes to get from the entrance to the platform the first few times, and use the lifts, which exist everywhere but are not always signed where you would expect.

What a rail pass does and does not cover

This is where money gets wasted. A Eurail pass (the version sold to non-Europeans) buys you travel on the national railways of the participating countries. It does not buy you a seat. On high-speed and long-distance services in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Sweden, a seat reservation is compulsory, is bought separately, and is not free — commonly in the range of ten to thirty euros a journey, and higher on some French TGV routes, especially at busy times. On a two-week pass hopping between those countries, reservations alone can add well over a hundred euros. Confirm the fee for your particular route when booking, because it varies by train and by how full it is.

In the pass-friendly half of Europe the picture is much kinder. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and most of central Europe let you walk on to a great many trains without a reservation at all, or offer one for a few euros if you would rather be certain of a seat. If your itinerary is Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a pass is genuinely close to the freedom it promises. If it is France, Italy and Spain, it is a discount card with paperwork.

A pass also does not cover city metros, trams or local buses, and it excludes some private operators outright — Italo in Italy and Ouigo in France run on the same tracks but are not part of the scheme. The Japan Rail Pass has its own well-known gap: it covers most JR trains and most shinkansen, but not the fastest Nozomi and Mizuho services unless you buy a supplementary ticket before boarding, roughly four to six and a half thousand yen a leg. It also does not cover the Tokyo Metro and Toei subway lines, which is the bulk of Tokyo's underground, nor the private railways such as Hankyu and Keihan. After the steep price rise in 2023 the Japan pass no longer pays for itself on a simple Tokyo–Kyoto return, so price your actual route before you buy.

Booking windows — when tickets go on sale

Advance fares on European railways behave like airline fares: a limited number of cheap seats are released when booking opens, and the price climbs as they sell. Booking early on a fixed route can cut the fare by half or more. The horizons differ by country, and they shift, so treat these as guidance and check the operator on the day.

• Eurostar (London–Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam) — opens as much as eleven months ahead, though schedules firm up within about six.
• France, SNCF and TGV — typically around four months ahead, released in blocks, with the Christmas and New Year period usually loaded in mid-October.
• Germany, Deutsche Bahn — up to twelve months ahead for domestic routes; most international services open about six months out.
• Italy, Trenitalia — roughly four months ahead, with high-speed services loading before regional and sleeper trains.
• Spain, Renfe — erratic, anywhere from about thirty days to several months depending on the route and the season.
• Japan — reserved seats generally open about a month before departure.

The practical advice: if your dates are firm, book the long journeys as soon as the window opens and accept that the cheap fares are usually non-refundable. If your dates are loose, buy flexible or walk-up fares in the pass-friendly countries and keep your freedom. What you should not do is assume that turning up at the station in France or Spain on the morning will produce anything but the full fare, if it produces a seat at all.

What an eSIM actually is

Start with what a SIM card is. It is the small plastic chip in your phone that tells the network who you are and which account to bill. Traditionally, using a foreign network meant physically swapping that chip for a local one — a paperclip, a tiny tray, a card the size of a fingernail that you then had to keep safe for three weeks so you could put your own back in.

An eSIM is the same thing without the plastic. Your phone already has one built in. You buy a data plan for the country you are visiting, an email arrives with a square barcode in it, you point your phone's camera at that barcode, and the phone quietly gains a second line. Nothing is posted to you. Nothing is collected at the airport. Nothing can be lost in a hotel room. When the trip is over you delete it in about four taps.

Here is the part that reassures most people: your own US number stays exactly where it is. The eSIM is an additional line, not a replacement. Your children can still ring your usual number, your bank's text messages still arrive, your contacts are untouched. You set the eSIM as the line that handles data — maps, email, the web, WhatsApp — and leave your American line for calls and texts, with roaming data switched off so it cannot quietly run up a bill.

Why it beats your carrier's daily fee

The big American carriers offer a simple, expensive convenience: pay a flat daily fee and use your home plan abroad. At the time of writing that is around twelve dollars a day for most of the world and about six dollars a day for Mexico and Canada on the main networks, charged per line, on each day you use the phone. Confirm the current rate with your own carrier, as these change.

Do the arithmetic on a real trip. Two people, fourteen days in Italy: fourteen days times twelve dollars times two lines is three hundred and thirty-six dollars. A travel eSIM with a generous data allowance for the same two weeks typically costs a small fraction of that, and you can buy one for each phone or share one by using the connected phone as a hotspot for the other. On a three-week trip the gap becomes the price of several good dinners.

The honest trade-off, stated plainly: most travel eSIMs sell you data only. They do not give you a phone number you can be called on, and you cannot dial a hotel from one in the ordinary way. In practice this matters much less than it sounds, because WhatsApp calls, FaceTime, Facebook Messenger and ordinary internet calling all run perfectly well over data, and your American number is still on the phone for anyone who rings it the old way. If you genuinely need a local number — for a landlord, a doctor, a taxi firm that texts back — some plans include one; check the description before you buy rather than after.

Will it work on my phone?

Two conditions, and both are easy to check sitting at your kitchen table.

One: the phone must be new enough. On the Apple side, eSIM works on the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR and everything since — effectively any iPhone sold from late 2018 onward. On the Android side, the recent Google Pixel phones, Samsung Galaxy S and Note models from roughly 2020 on, and many Motorola handsets support it. If your phone is older than that, an eSIM is not an option and a local physical SIM at the airport is your fallback.

Two: the phone must be carrier-unlocked. A locked phone refuses to use another network's SIM, physical or electronic. On an iPhone, go to Settings › General › About and scroll to Carrier Lock. If it says No SIM Restrictions, you are ready. If it says anything else, telephone your carrier and ask them to unlock the handset; if it is paid off and the account is in good standing they are generally obliged to do it, it is normally free, and it usually takes a day or two. Do this a couple of weeks before you fly, not the night before.

Install it at home, on your own wifi

This is the one piece of advice that saves the most grief. Buy and install the eSIM a day or two before departure, while you are at home on your own wifi. Scanning the QR code requires an internet connection, and the moment you least want to be hunting for a connection is standing in an arrivals hall at eleven at night with fourteen per cent battery and a driver you cannot telephone.

The sequence is straightforward. Buy the plan for the country you are visiting. Open the email, which contains a QR code. On the phone go to the mobile or cellular settings and choose to add an eSIM, then scan the code on the screen with the camera. The phone adds the line and asks you to label it — call it Italy or Japan so you know what it is. Most plans then let you choose when it starts: either the moment you first connect to a network in the destination country, or a date you set. Leave it switched off until you land.

When you arrive, do three things before you leave the terminal. Turn the eSIM line on. Set it as the line used for mobile data. Make sure data roaming is off on your American line — this is the step people forget, and it is what stops your home carrier billing you anyway. Then open a map and confirm you have a connection while you are still somewhere with staff and wifi. Total elapsed time, about two minutes.

When to book one

A pre-booked transfer is not really a way of saving money. It is a way of buying certainty, and there are arrivals where certainty is worth a great deal.

• Late arrivals. Anything landing after about ten at night. Taxi ranks thin out, airport trains stop running, and the last thing you want after eleven hours in a seat is to negotiate.
• Somewhere you cannot read the alphabet. Japan, Thailand, Greece, Israel, Morocco, much of eastern Europe. A driver holding a card with your name on it removes an entire category of problem.
• Serious luggage. Three or four large cases between two people will not go in a small European taxi, and you will be waiting for the second car while your bags sit on the pavement. Transfers let you specify the number of cases and get a vehicle that fits them.
• Mobility that is not what it was. A long queue in the heat, a scramble for a car boot, and a driver in a hurry all become genuinely difficult. A booked car waits, and the driver handles the bags.
• Airports with a reputation. Some arrival halls are known for touts and unmetered cars. A fixed price agreed in advance ends the argument before it starts.
• Cruise departures. This is the strongest case of all. If you miss the ship you lose the holiday, and cruise terminals are often a long way from the airport — Rome's port at Civitavecchia is well over an hour from Fiumicino, Venice and Barcelona are their own puzzles. Book the transfer, and where you can, fly in the day before and sleep near the port.

A booked transfer also tracks your flight number. If you land two hours late the driver knows, and most services include a period of free waiting time — commonly around an hour after an international arrival, though it varies. Confirm the included waiting time when booking; it is the detail that most often differs between operators.

When the taxi rank is the better answer

Be honest about the easy arrivals, because on those a transfer is simply money spent on nothing. A midday landing in a country you know, hand luggage only, a well-run official rank with a posted flat fare into town — take the taxi. Some airports make it even simpler than that. London Heathrow has the Piccadilly line and the Elizabeth line, Amsterdam Schiphol has trains from beneath the terminal into Centraal in about fifteen minutes, Zurich, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo all run fast rail links that are cheaper than any car and frequently quicker in traffic.

The general rule: where the rank is orderly, official and the fare is posted on a board, the taxi wins on value. Where the arrivals hall is chaotic, the meters are optional and the first price you hear is a negotiation, the transfer earns its fee. And in the ride-hailing cities — much of the United States, most of western Europe — the app on your phone is usually the cheapest of the three, provided your eSIM is working, which is one more reason to have installed it before you flew.

When is the train better than the flight in Europe?

The rule of thumb most Europeans use is that if the train journey is under about four hours city centre to city centre, the train wins. Paris to London, Paris to Lyon, Madrid to Barcelona, Rome to Florence, Cologne to Frankfurt: on all of these the train is quicker door to door once you count the trip out to the airport, the two hours before departure, the security queue and the trip back into town at the other end. Above roughly five or six hours the aeroplane usually pulls ahead, unless you take a night train and save a hotel night. Comfort is the other half of the argument — proper seats, no baggage weight limits, a buffet car you can walk to, and stations in the middle of the city rather than forty minutes outside it.

Does a rail pass cover everything, including seat reservations?

No, and this is the single most common misunderstanding. A Eurail or Interrail pass buys you travel on the national railways of the participating countries, but it does not buy you a seat. On high-speed and long-distance trains in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Sweden a reservation is compulsory and paid separately, typically somewhere in the region of ten to thirty euros per journey and more on some French TGV routes. In Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands reservations are usually optional and cheap, or unnecessary. Passes also do not cover city metros, trams or buses, and some private operators such as Italo in Italy and Ouigo in France are outside the scheme entirely. Confirm reservation fees when booking — they change, and they vary by route and by how full the train is.

Does the Japan Rail Pass cover the fastest bullet trains?

Not by default. The ordinary Japan Rail Pass covers the great majority of JR trains, including most shinkansen, but the two fastest services on the Tokyo–Osaka and Osaka–Kyushu lines, the Nozomi and the Mizuho, are excluded. Since 2023 you can ride them by buying a supplementary ticket before you board, roughly four to six and a half thousand yen per leg depending on distance. The pass also does not cover the Tokyo Metro and Toei subway lines — most of Tokyo's underground network — nor private railways such as Hankyu, Keihan and Tokyu. The pass rose sharply in price in 2023, so do the arithmetic against your actual itinerary rather than assuming it saves money. Confirm current prices when booking.

What exactly is an eSIM, in plain language?

An eSIM is a SIM card built into your phone that you load by scanning a code rather than by opening a little tray and slotting in a piece of plastic. You buy a data plan for the country you are visiting, you receive a QR code by email, you scan it, and your phone quietly gains a second line for data. Your usual US number stays exactly where it is, so calls and texts to it still arrive. Nothing is posted to you, nothing needs collecting at the airport, and there is no tiny plastic chip to lose in a hotel room. When the trip ends you delete it.

Will an eSIM work on my phone, and when should I install it?

Two conditions. First, the phone must be recent enough: on the Apple side that means an iPhone XS, XS Max, XR or anything newer, which covers everything sold since late 2018, and on the Android side most flagship Pixel, Samsung Galaxy and Motorola handsets from about 2020 onward. Second, the phone must be carrier-unlocked. On an iPhone you can check in Settings › General › About, where the Carrier Lock line should read No SIM Restrictions; if it does not, call your carrier and ask them to unlock it, which is usually free once the handset is paid off. Install the eSIM at home a day or two before you fly, while you are on your own wifi — scanning the QR code needs an internet connection, and doing it in an unfamiliar airport with a dead battery is nobody's idea of a good start.

Is an eSIM really cheaper than my carrier's daily roaming pass?

Usually, and often by a wide margin. The big US carriers charge a flat daily fee for using your home plan abroad — in the region of twelve dollars a day for most of the world and around six for Mexico and Canada — and that fee applies per line and per day. A fortnight in Europe for a couple therefore costs somewhere near three hundred and thirty-six dollars before you have bought a coffee. A travel eSIM with a sensible data allowance for the same fortnight typically costs a fraction of that. The trade-off is that most travel eSIMs give you data only, not your own phone number for voice calls — though WhatsApp, FaceTime and ordinary internet calling work perfectly well over that data. Confirm current carrier rates when booking, as they change.

When is a pre-booked airport transfer worth the money?

Book ahead when the arrival is difficult rather than merely long. A landing after about ten at night, a country whose language and alphabet you do not read, three or four heavy cases between two people, a mobility issue that makes a taxi queue in the heat genuinely unpleasant, a first night in a city with a reputation for airport taxi overcharging, or a cruise departure where missing the ship costs you the whole holiday. In all of those the fixed price and the person standing at arrivals with your name on a card are worth the modest premium. A pre-booked car also tracks the flight, so a delay does not leave you stranded.

When should I skip the transfer and just take a taxi?

When the arrival is easy. A daytime landing in a country you know, hand luggage only, a well-run official taxi rank with a posted flat fare to the centre, or an airport with a fast direct train into town. London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol, Zurich, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore all fall into this category, and in several of them the train is both quicker and a great deal cheaper than any car. The honest position is that a transfer buys certainty, not savings. Where the taxi rank is orderly and the fare is posted, the taxi is usually better value; where it is chaotic and unmetered, the transfer earns its keep. Confirm the total fare, the luggage allowance and the waiting time included when booking.