by Jay Brunhouse

European railpasses continued their creeping inflation in 2006. New passes added to your plethora of options, and choosing the pass ideal for you became more and more complex. With the vast selection of passes now available, you need to study carefully to select the pass best suiting your plans. As many as seven different passes may cover your country or countries of choice. Your options include. . .

• single-country passes for Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech...

by Jay Brunhouse

While you feel the acceleration of your S220 Pendolino to Tampere leaving Hämeenlinna, Finland, look left for one of the most impressive sights you can see from a mainline train. The view across the narrow lake reveals the redbrick Hämeenlinna (linna meaning “castle”), dating from the 1260s. It was built by the Swedes to link the Häme region with the mother country and — you guessed it — to collect taxes from the relatively wealthy area.

Hämeenlinna was the...

There is a myth that travelers cannot visit small European villages and towns by train. It gratifies me that my e-mail shows that more and more readers are discovering the large number of less-well-known cities and villages that they easily reach by train. A case in point is Germany’s Rhine-Main S-Bahn, the rapid-transit system that takes them through the state of Hessen and beyond.

The S-Bahn (Schnellbahn, for fast train) network connects Frankfurt/Main and especially its airport,...