Ticket to Ride Marathon Edition: Leeds to Vienna
- Dr Grace Roberts
- Jul 14
- 15 min read
Updated: Jul 15
This is a long blog so buckle up - or read the TL:DR - up to you!
TL:DR – We went on a trip to Vienna from Leeds via train for us to run the Vienna marathon 2025:
Pros: it’s a far more sustainable, more fun, and more relaxing than flying, you get to see lots of sights of the countries you’re travelling through, visit new stations and go really fast on trains – up to 300km/h!
Cons: it was a long journey (~43h total travel time – but I also think this is a pro!), it was more expensive than flying (by over 2x), thorough planning was needed (I enjoyed this though!) and sometimes it was confusing navigating foreign train stations.
Overall, a great adventure that I’d definitely recommend, and I’d do it again!
First off – why?!
Simple: I really love trains and train stations.
I think this stems from relying on trains to get about during my uni years. As I didn’t learn to drive until my mid-twenties, trains were how I visited home and have day trips.
In addition, sustainability is always an increasing weight on my mind! I try to live as sustainably as possible: buying second hand rather than new, reducing consumption of plastics, trying to buy locally sourced food, cycling or using public transport where possible … the list goes on!
So, when I was thinking I wanted to attempt another marathon, I thought let’s choose an exciting location that we can get to in a sustainable way.
This was inspired by Jed and Rob – who went on the Hyde Park Harriers trip to Munich in 2023 via train rather than flying. I think in our modern world, we all default to thinking flying is the only way to get to places abroad – but this trip has taught me that Europe is so accessible by train!
The planning
Ok, so I won’t lie – there was a lot of planning that went into this trip. But I actually found this really fun – like a puzzle we had to solve.
It was great to have Jed on board as he has a lot of knowledge about routes and experience of booking with train companies abroad (I’ll touch on some of those nuances later). I would have found this a whole lot tougher if it weren’t for Jed taking the lead on a lot of the logistics.
We made a shared spreadsheet looking at all the options. When you’re travelling such a long distance, there are so many options to chose from. The routes vary significantly in times and prices – and made more difficult as some train companies release their timetables earlier than others.
Once we finalised our route (thanks to a shared Excel spreadsheet) we then got booking. Some things were easier to book for ourselves, other things (like the German Deutsche Bahn trains) Jed sorted for the group as they are a bit trickier to navigate.
Another part of the planning was having everything prepped: the plan written out, the tickets all printed - placed in chronological order in folders: one set for me, and another for Darren (my other half), each with a ‘spare’ copy of each others’ tickets just in case any got lost. I love digital tickets when travelling in the UK, but I didn’t want to rely on these abroad– especially abroad when roaming can be a pain!
Other aspects of planning included buying some earplugs for sleeping – I got some Loop earplugs which were invaluable on this trip! And getting some luggage organises to make packing easier. In hindsight, I wish I’d invested in a sturdier suitcase: mine is over 10 years old now, and the wheels broke on the outbound trip!
The sustainability bit
I used an online tool to estimate the ‘carbon footprint’ of our trip, breaking down each stage of the journey. Return flights would’ve been 1.21 tonnes of CO2, whereas our entire trip is estimated to be 0.08 tonnes of CO2 – a pretty significant reduction of ~ 93%!
I want to make it really clear that there’s obviously a lot more to sustainability than just CO2 emissions, and that the concept of ‘carbon footprint’ was invented by the oil industry to shift the blame from companies to consumers. Globally, 100 companies are responsible for 71% of the worlds’ emissions – the thing we do as individuals to do to help are all great, but they’re not much use if companies don’t take action!
The travel – outbound journey
Our outbound route ended up as (cost per person & duration):
· Train: 17:45 Leeds > 20:01 London Kings Cross (£22.50, 2:16)
· Overnight stay at YHA St Paul’s (£29.33)
· Train: 06:16 London St Pancras > 09:13 Brussels Midi (£54, 2:57)
· Train: 10:34 Brussels Nord > 13:31 Frankfurt (£67 for both trains Brussels > Vienna, 2:57)
· Train: 14:41 Frankfurt > 20:47 Vienna (£see above, 6:06)
For a train travel time of 14h22m, total door-to-door time of roughly 30h, and a total cost of £172.83 (not including small costs e.g. tube fairs & snacks). We booked the majority of the trip around February time – making some of the fares a lot cheaper.
Leeds > London
We set off from home on Thurs 3rd April at 16:30 to get the bus into town and the train to London. The train was quite pleasant, and we chatted for most of the way down - given the length of the trains we had coming up, a 2h train really didn't seem that long!
We arrived in London on time and hopped on the tube to get to our hostel. I highly recommend using YHAs for quick overnight stops. They’re cheap and you know what you’re getting: a bed, bathroom and a warm welcome every time. For an overnight stay in London, I’m not sure you can do much better than £30!
A lot of YHAs are in beautiful historic buildings, often gifted to the charity for them to turn into hostels. YHA St Paul’s is an old boarding school – it was a beautiful building, but it had pretty rubbish insulation. The noise from the bustling London street was really loud – we lost count of how many road sweepers went past in one night, and Jed’s Garmin reckoned he’d got 44 minutes of sleep! This was one of many times on this trip that I was glad I invested in the good earplugs for sleeping.
London > Brussels
It was a very early start the next day, as we had to check in for the Eurostar by 5:45 – we opted to get an uber to St Pancras, which although wasn’t quite in-keeping with the public transport theme, it was the most convenient. The tube at that time would’ve got use there either crazy early or cutting it extremely fine.
This was my first time on the Eurostar – which I found very exciting – and it was… odd? You can clearly tell it was designed for use in pre-Brexit days, which was quite sad in a way. Due to passport control and luggage checks, the queue to check in was quite long, but it was constantly moving. I was very excited to get my train stamp in my passport – first ever passport stamp for me!
There was quite a bit of waiting, and one enormous queue for coffee, but once the boarding call was out, I was very excited to finally go up the escalator - to the part of St Pancras I’d never been to before! Boarding was super easy – most of the trains we got from this point onwards are pre-booked, reserved seating only, so were never overcrowded or felt rushed. The seats were really comfortable, and we were right next to the café car.
Despite the excitement of the Eurostar, I’ll admit, I put my sunglasses on and earplugs in and had a nap – it was still so very early! I was awoken the second we came out of the tunnel in France as the sunlight hit so suddenly!
Brussels > Frankfurt
It seemed like no time at all before we arrived at Brussels midi. This was a lovely modern train station, with lots of little shops and cafes to chose from. We had over an hour until our next train, so we got our obligatory train station picture, grabbed a drink and chilled out for a bit.
It was only when trains appeared on the board for departure after our train, we realised our train wasn’t on the board. Jed double checked the tickets and we realised we were in the wrong station – we were meant to be at Brussels Nord, not Midi. After a short panic, I decided to just go to the ticket station and ask for the quickest way for Nord – 4.50EU later, we’re on a 10-minute train and all was fine!
We get to the platform and Jed does some checking… only to inform us that our booking is from Brussels Nord to Frankfurt, but the train originated in Brussels Midi… where we’d just frantically travelled from! Not going to lie, after the panic of the last 30 mins, this information sent me into a bit of a hysterical laughing fit. But all was fine. Onto the next train.
Now we’re with the infamously tardy Deutsche Bahn trains. They may be the poorest performers in terms of time, but the train themselves were super comfortable and clean. This train was quite busy, and we had three seats spanning across the aisle so we mostly did our own thing – reading or listening to podcasts. The only thing of note was when the German police boarded the train on entry to the country where they can demand to see your passport. Seemed a bit worrying when the announcement came on, but they just walked straight down the train without any fuss.
Frankfurt > Vienna
We changed in Frankfurt, with roughly an hour to chill out and get a bite to eat before the next train. Frankfurt station was very beautiful – a classic Victorian hangar style station. It was very clearly laid out with all platforms coming off the main concourse in numerical order.
The next train was the last of the outbound trip – Frankfurt to Vienna for just over 6h. Due to a last-minute change of plans (thanks to DB cancelling trains!) we’d re-booked this train relatively last minute, so our seats were in the quiet carriage. This was actually quite a pleasant environment, but also quite funny when me and Jed started playing a game, then frantically (but silently) had scramble to prevent the tiles sliding off the table when the train braked very suddenly!
Six hours went by surprisingly quickly, and, although we arrived slightly delayed, it was really nice to have that time to watch the countryside go by, read, do crosswords, and play games.
Finally in Vienna, we popped outside for the obligatory train station photo, then hopped on the subway system there to the hotel. We’d pre-booked weekly passes for use of all Vienna transport. This made life so much easier getting about – although our tickets weren’t checked once!
We’d opted to stay in a hotel out of the city, but very close to a subway stop which was a great tactic – it was always quite easy to get back to the hotel, and the area was quiet at night. The hotel reception was a really nice place to chill, and we got a welcome drink on arrival! We slept really well that night – the bed was so comfy and we were shattered from a long day of travelling.
The travel – inbound journey
The route on the way back was much simpler! As I always wanted to get a sleeper train and visit The Netherlands, we opted to get the sleeper all the way to Amsterdam, then the ferry back to Hull. It was just me and Darren for the return journey, as Jed had headed home earlier via a different route.
Here's the inbound trip (with cost per person & duration in brackets):
· Train: 20:08 Vienna > 11:51 Amsterdam (£149.81, 15:43)
· Coach: 17:00 Amsterdam > 18:30 Rotterdam port (£12.17, 1:30)
· Ferry: 21:00 Rotterdam > 7:00 Hull (£109.41, 10:00)
· Local bus: Port of Hull >Hull train station (£2, ~0:15)
· Train: 10:03 Hull > 10:57 Leeds (£11.40, 0:54)
Total travelling time 28h 22m (door to door approx. 40 h) and a total cost £274.79 per person – the sleeper train and overnight ferry were more expensive, but these also include bed for the night, so it’s travel and hotel in one.
Vienna > Amsterdam
We arrived at Vienna train station in plenty of time as, if you’re not in your cabin 15 mins before departure time, you forfeit your booking and it can be sold to others looking for an upgrade. We had a bite to eat and stocked up on snacks before getting to the platform. Then the problems began…
The sleeper train was operated by OBB, who are –statistically- the most punctual trains in Europe. We must have caught them on a bad day because, a week before the train, we’d been informed it would be an older version of the NightJet, so wouldn’t quite be the same as the one we’d booked. The departure board also started announcing it’d be 10 mins late, then 20, then 30...
We eventually boarded 50 minutes late. There was confusion as to which cabin everyone was in due to the reassignment of the train, which had different carriage numbers. There seemed to be a bit of a frantic energy from the staff, but we were given prosecco when we got settled – presumably to placate any annoyance!
Our cabin could sit/sleep 3, so it had 3 chairs and a long table all facing the same way. We had a small sink in a cupboard but had to use the communal bathroom at the end of the carriage for the loo. This was slightly annoying as our original booking would have included a private bathroom, and the shared loo was a bit gross.
We stayed up for a bit with the cabin in ‘seat mode’ – then you have to ask the staff to rearrange it to beds. This was a bit of a process as the cabins are quite small, and you obviously have all your luggage, it’s a bit of rearranging!
We also pre-ordered breakfast by filling out a card and handing it to the attendant so it arrives in the morning.
Overnight, we found it quite difficult to sleep. Especially as I was on the top bunk, every time the train slowed to stop, I felt like I was going to roll out. There was a safety net that you clip onto the edge of the bed to prevent this – but I didn’t want to find out how sturdy it was!
It was also a very noisy environment. Especially as the cabin next to ours was for the train guards; who were in and out throughout the night and the doors are not easy to close quietly. Again, I was grateful for investing in good earplugs!
The worst bit however, was when entering Germany at gone midnight, much like on our outbound trip, an announcement came on saying the police would board and demand to look at passports. We were instructed to unlock the cabin door in case they wanted to come in. We decided to get our passports ready, but left the door locked – we figured if they want to come in, they could knock! No one came, but it wasn’t clear how much time had passed, so we were both awake for ages, alert in case they came to the door.
The train trundled on, we managed to get a bit of sleep, but once the sun was up, we gave up on sleep, changed back to seat mode and requested breakfast.
It was great to watch the German countryside go by. At one point, we were following the river Rhine, where there were so many quaint villages and castles! Sadly, they were mostly on the other side to the train to where our window was, so we kept getting up to watch from the corridor.
Over the course of the journey, we kept losing more time. Presumably, once the train is late, they try to avoid it making other trains late, so we were frequently held for long times outside each train station. We eventually arrived in Amsterdam at 15:40 – almost 4 h later than planned, making it ~18h 40m journey!
Amsterdam > Hull
As we had to be on our coach for the ferry at 5pm, so we decided it wasn’t really worth exploring the city. We had originally planned to check our luggage in storage and have a wonder, but with so little time, we just got some snacks and walked to the bus stop.
The coach was a slightly hilarious experience – the driver checked each passenger off a paper list, but then kept forgetting who he’d checked off. He also had a really dry sense of humour – we hit traffic really early on this journey, and he said in a cheery tone: “folks, as you can see, we’re in a traffic jam!”
The coach was also delayed, taking ~ 1h longer than it should’ve. This meant we were late for check-in, but as it is P&O’s own transfer, they have to wait for us– one of the benefits of booking the ‘official’ connection, and it was surprisingly cheap at £12pp.
It was a bit of a wait checking in, but once we were through, it was plain sailing (pun intended!). Security was very quick and the Dutch border force were very impressed that we’d gone to Vienna by train to run a marathon - they were asking me all about the race. Also happy to get another stamp in my passport – this time with a boat on it!
Once on board, we found our cabin, got dinner and chilled out playing board games in the bar. We slept so well on the ferry. It was bunk beds again, but they were so much more comfortable than the train – not only because ferries don’t make regular stationary stops!
We arrived in Hull bright and early, but being foot passengers, you tend to disembark last, so there’s no rush. You just hang around in the bar until they call you forward to go down to the lower deck to get on a bus to drive you through the port. Plenty of time for a coffee and croissant whilst people watching.
We had to wait a little while to get to border force on this side. The contrast of the border staff in Hull compared to Rotterdam was hilarious. The guy asked us where we’d been (as a one-way ferry trip is unusual!), so we explained our outbound route all the way to Vienna. His response (in a strong Hull accent) was “how much did that set you back then?”
Hull > Leeds
We walked for roughly 10 mins from the port, to the bus stop which I’d looked up in advance. We tapped on for the bus and someone asked us we’re we’d been on holiday – I wonder if they thought we were taking the mick when we said “Vienna!”
I’d actually never been to Hull before, and heard so many bad things about it, but the architecture was beautiful! It’s full of old buildings and has a draw bridge over the river. I'd definitely come back for a day trip.
I liked that the bus station is back to back with the train station - straight off the bus, into the train station for top efficiency!
The train station itself was another stunning Victorian hangar-style station. We grabbed some snacks from Greggs, I nerd-ed out taking pictures of the station (and post boxes!), and we hopped on our last train of the journey.
This train to Leeds was a mere 55 minutes – so quick! Ironically, there was a family sat across from us, moaning at how long the train was taking - even though it was perfectly on time! The view was also lovely, with the first ~10 mins looking out to the sea.
The conductor on this train was also hilarious – every announcement he said the regular script, but then, when saying the "no smoking, no vaping" part, he always threw in a random addition such as “no sherlock style pipes” which made me laugh.
Finally, back in Leeds, we walked from the station to the bus stop. It seemed like an apt end to such a journey – I was excited to be home, but also sad that the trip was almost over. I had really enjoyed the challenge and the adventure of getting around by public transport.
Overall
I really enjoyed taking the train on this trip – the travel time was long, but we rarely felt rushed and I quite enjoy the long switch off time of reading/puzzling on long journeys. You also see so much more of each place compared to being high up on a plane.
Planning ahead and being organised was key. Thorough planning in advance took away any anxieties about where and when we needed to be.
I also think the sense of adventure, having to concentrate on the route and exploring lots of new places really took the nerves away from the marathon. And I definitely felt like we had ‘earnt’ our trip there by significantly reducing our impact on the environment.
I'd highly recommend travelling to Europe by train and I'll certainly be doing it again in future!
If you got this far through the blog - thanks for reading!
Detailed Sustainability breakdown
Estimated using - https://www.carbonfootprint.com/sustraxvita.html, with distances roughly estimated via Google maps and The Train Line.
Total CO2 via flight route = 1.12 tonnes:
Return train Leeds > Manchester <0.00 tonnes CO2
Return flights Manchester > Vienna 1.21 tonnes CO2
Total CO2 via train route = 0.08 tonnes CO2:
Outbound - 0.03 tonnes CO2:
· Leeds > London (168 miles) - 0.02 tonnes CO2
· London > Brussels (197 miles) - <0.00 tonnes CO2
· Brussels > Frankfurt (196 miles) - <0.00 tonnes CO2
· Frankfurt to Vienna (373 miles) - 0.01 tonnes CO2
Inbound – 0.05 tonnes CO2:
· Vienna > Amsterdam (582 miles) – 0.01 tonnes CO2
· Amsterdam > Rotterdam coach (50 miles) – 0.01 tonnes CO2
· Rotterdam > Hull ferry (329 miles) – 0.02 tonnes CO2
· Hull port > train station (1 mile) – <0.00 tonnes CO2
· Hull > Leeds train (49 miles) – 0.01 tonnes CO2
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