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Europe is graced with countless natural wonders, from national parks to UNESCO biosphere reserves.
Given their remoteness, it’s common to assume that the only way to reach them is by car.
In fact, many are serviced by railway stations, meaning you can hop on a relaxing train ride in the smug knowledge you are also helping the environment.
Plus, many protected natural landscapes have now introduced measures to manage car access – from traffic restrictions to reservation systems – in order to protect fragile ecosystems and better control visitor flows.
“In these destinations, rail is not an alternative mode of transport: it can be the defining way in, enabling access while supporting long-term conservation,” says ticket booking platform Rail Europe.
Here are four national parks you can visit by train.
Explore the creeks and cliffs of France’s Calanques National Park
The Calanques National Park is located on the southern Mediterranean coast in Bouches-du-Rhône. Combining both land and sea, the protected area is famous for its rugged limestone cliffs, rocky creeks and crystalline waters. It’s a prime spot for hiking, boat rides and scuba diving.
One of the most visited national parks in France, the Calanques receive up to three million visitors each year, according to the Marseille Tourism authorities.
In response to overtourism pressures, vehicle quotas and parking reservation systems have been introduced in certain areas, alongside efforts to discourage car-based access.
Especially in summer when the park is at its busiest, arriving by train can be much less stressful.
The eastern calanques can be reached from Cassis station. Port-Miou is the closest calanque, a roughly 30-minute walk which Rail Europe describes as “particularly scenic and very much part of the experience, especially outside peak summer heat”.
Cassis station has direct or easy connections to cities such as Paris, Lyon, Nice and across southern France. There are also frequent local trains to Marseille-Saint-Charles, which acts as the main high-speed hub nearby.
Find an alpine paradise in Austria’s Hohe Tauern National Park
Austria’s largest national park spans a high-alpine landscape of glaciers, waterfalls, wildflower meadows and 3,000-metre peaks.
Road infrastructure is deliberately limited and access points are spread across three federal states. This makes taking a train one of the easiest and most direct ways to reach the park.
Three stations located along key Alpine rail corridors act as natural gateways to this protected environment.
Mallnitz-Obervellach (Carinthia) station is about a 15-minute walk from the BIOS National Park Centre and provides direct access to the Mallnitz valley. The station sits on a major north–south rail corridor, with direct connections to Salzburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne and Vienna. From mid-June, direct daytime services will also run from Zagreb and Ljubljana.
Zell am See (SalzburgerLand) station is around 20-30 minutes by bus from the park boundary and has strong rail connections to Salzburg, Munich, Innsbruck and Vienna.
Lienz (East Tyrol) is located just outside the southern perimeter of the park, which can be reached within 10-20 minutes by public transport. The station is connected via regional and cross-border services to Salzburg and northern Italy.
Hike through sandstone landscapes in Germany’s Saxon Switzerland National Park
Located in the heart of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, Saxon Switzerland National Park attracts over 1.7 million visitors annually. To protect its majestic sandstone formations and fragile habitats, car access is restricted in several areas.
Bad Schandau station, referred to as the ‘national park station’, provides direct rail access to its natural treasures, including several hiking trails that start within walking distance.
Trains from here connect to several major cities in Germany, including Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden, as well as over the border to Prague.
Ride the Bernina Express through an alpine wonderland
If you want to stay in the comfort of the train and feast on scenes of natural wonders from the window, take the Bernina Express linking Switzerland and Italy.
Riding along the UNESCO-listed Rhaetian Railway, the journey between St Moritz and Tirano takes around 2.5 hours, travelling through an alpine wonderland of frozen lakes in winter, lush meadows in summer and golden larch forests in autumn.
The train crosses the Bernina Pass at an altitude of 2,253 metres, where passengers can gaze at lofty views of the Lago Bianco and surrounding glaciers.
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