Train Routes

Yorkshire caters for every holiday desire with major cities such as Leeds and York offering shopping and culture, and the Yorkshire Dales offering long walks in idyllic countryside.

If you’re planning a trip to the county this summer, here’s some inspiration for your caravanning break.

Visit the Yorkshire DalesHome to the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes. Take a tour around the factory and see how the cheese is made. Sample some of the different cheeses for yourself before visiting the gift shop where you can buy some to take home for friends and family.

Middleham Castle is also situated in the Yorkshire Dales and offers a perfect place to stop for a bite to eat with designated picnic areas. Dogs are welcome too! The castle was once the childhood home of Richard III.

Pitch your caravan at Bainbridge Ings Caravan and Campsite, Hawes.

Visit HaworthHaworth village, in West Yorkshire, is home to the Brontë Parsonage, which has been preserved as it was when the Brontë sisters lived there and wrote their famous novels. The Parsonage is open to visitors who can take a tour around the home of the Brontës which still contains many of their original belongings.

Take a walk across Haworth moor to Top Withens which was said to be the inspiration behind Emily Brontë’s novel, Wuthering Heights. Haworth also has many shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants.

The railway station in Haworth is on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway route from Keighley through Oakworth where the film, The Railway Children was filmed. Steam trains run at various times throughout the year.

Pitch your caravan at Upwood Holiday Park, Blackmoor Road, Haworth.

Visit the Yorkshire CoastThe coastal villages of Yorkshire offer the perfect day out for all the family. Whitby is home to the famous Abbey and the 199 steps leading up to St Mary’s Church. For sandy beaches, visit Bridlington or Scarborough. Further north, Robin Hoods Bay has many shops and cafes down its steep winding road down to the sea.

Pitch your caravan at Cayton Village Caravan Park, Cayton Bay, Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Yorkshire has many attractions across the county so there’s bound to be something to suit everyone in your party. So hitch up your touring caravan and head to Yorkshire!

You are in a comfortable, climate controlled coach bus meandering down the hills of Tuscany. Surrounded by vineyards and while comfortably in your seat, you bask in the calm atmosphere. A half an hour later you stop outside a small village marketplace. Your tour guide gives you some handy tips on where to go, you grab a snack, maybe some wine and take a little bit of the country’s glow in for yourself. Then it’s back to the comfortable coach bus, and on to another stop.

This pattern repeats itself for a few more stops, and next thing you know, you are in Rome. Your bus stops outside the Coliseum and your tour guide informs you that you will be seeing this one as a group. However, instead of just wandering around, and maybe getting a tour that runs periodically, your guide has set up a special tour just for your group. You spend the afternoon enjoying ancient buildings, and retiring back to the bus just before dusk. Then it is on to a stunning hotel with a room that you could never afford without the group rate that was arranged in advance, and perhaps a visit to a gourmet restaurant or whatever other eating establishment meets your approval. Imagine this stress free bliss for your entire vacation. Imagine having all of Europe just outside the door of your bus, and an experienced guide who knows all of the destinations just waiting to reveal the secrets of the cities you will visit.

On an escorted tour through Europe you can expect to see cities such as Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Paris, Marseille, Madrid, Rome and countless others. You may spend a day or two at each destination, and time will be given for you to enjoy the thrills as either a group or on your own. During that day you will have access to your tour guide. He or she will be able to tell you more than just the basics. It’s pretty well understood that if you are going to London, then you will want to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. But your guide can reveal for you all of the lesser known attractions that the city offers. The location truly does get unlocked by your travel operator, and you are given access to so many things that you otherwise would either not know about, or not be able to afford.

Speaking of that aspect, affordability is the best part about the escorted tour of Europe. Traveling in a group is one benefit that makes an escorted tour of Europe affordable. While in Europe, your tour will visit many different locations. Your operator is able to negotiate group rates for almost anyplace you may eat, sleep or visit.

Another feature to expect on a European tour is the number of transportation options. The ample supply of railroad tracks and water routes allows tour guides to be more creative in their methods of transportation. River cruises and train trips are common. Indeed, they can be some of the most popular escorted tours offered. Imagine floating through Europe’s major rivers, and in the process enjoying all of the cities that you pass by along the way. River cruises can truly be vacation bliss. When visiting Italy, your tour guide will provide you with a ride on a gondola. The gondola is an important aspect of Italian culture which was widely used in the 18th century. A gondola ride is very relaxing and allows you to experience the rivers of Venice, Italy.

All in all there is one thing you can expect to see of more than anything else on an escorted tour of Europe. That sight is the continent itself. You will not spend your days wasting away over maps. You won’t be constantly staring at the road in front as you try and navigate through areas that you don’t know. Instead, you will be free to experience Europe to its fullest under the watch and care of an experienced, well informed guide. On an escorted tour of Europe you will actually get to relax and enjoy your destinations. That, in and of itself, makes the prospect of an escorted European tour an attractive one.

The area around the cape itself near the lighthouse used to be military and prohibited, but was demilitarized a few years ago and is now approachable.The description given here starts with a brief account of the route westwards to Vouni, then gives the site details starting from Vouni and working eastwards back towards Girne. As throughout North Cyprus, the roads are in good condition, and there is blissfully little traffic. The towns are clearly signposted, as are the sights.The road first follows the thin coastal strip for 20 km (12miles) or so, before it then begins to climb as it winds inland through wooded hillsides.

Leaving the valleys behind, you have a fine view below to a new dam, one of many which the north Cypriots are now building to harness the water that is lost in a flash after a heavy downpour: no river in Cyprus flows all year round and water is a scarce resource. For most of the year it comes from the mains for only two hours a day, and in July and August sometimes not at all. Residents and hotels get round this by having extremely large tanks on the roof.

At the top of the climb you arrive at Çaml?bel, a heavily garrisoned town, where there is a major fork in the road: straight on to Lefko?a, and right to Güzelyurt and Lefke. The road straight on is the one you need to take to visit Pighades, just 2km(1mile or so) away, on the return journey, but for now, you fork right.

Leaving Çaml?bel on its hilltop, the road drops down into the adjacent valley. Güzelyurt is set in the heart of this vast and fertile river plain, the centre for the island’s citrus plantations and a fine pink steam engine just to the left of the road heralds your arrival at Güzelyut. This curiosity is a leftover of the line built by the British that used to run from Gazima?usa via Lefko?a to Morphou.

The last train ran in 1951. Continuing straight along the main road, you reach the centre of town with the unmistakable Byzantine dome of the Ayias Mamas church and the m?nicipal museum beside it, both set in the centre of a huge roundabout. The forks to the left from the roundabout lead back towards Lefko?a, but you continue straight on, following signs for Lefke.

From Güzelyurt the drive on, through lush plantations, takes a further half hour to reach the sweep of Güzelyurt Körfezi(Marphou Bay) with its distinctive iron jetties, relics of the copper-mining operations. Ships would tie up alongside these jetties and be loaded with copper for export, mainly to West Germany. Copper was Cyprus’s most important natural resource, and the Greek name for it, kupros, is even thought to be taken from the name of the island.

Cyprus was known throughout ancient times for its copper, supplying the Egyptian pharaohs and producting more than any other Mediterranean country. The rich mines here of Skouriotissa and Mavrovouni were first worked by the ancient Greeks and then the Romans, but after that lay disused for centuries until they were reopened in 1923. The Cyprus Mines Corporation, an American outfit, worked the mines until partition, when the ore was nearly exhausted anyway. Their supervisors marveled at the extent of the Roman diggings, and the depth of their galleries and shafts, especially in view of the lack of ventilation. Slaves were used, of course, to work the mines, so safety standard were hardly a consideration. In Roman times Christians from Palestine who refused to renounce their faith were also sent down the mines.

Careful observation of the landscape will reveal it to be largely composed of Roman slagheaps, for they are said to have left more than a million tons of slag behind. ‘Our Lady of the Slag Heaps’ is one rough translation of Skouriotissa.

Shorty after the mining sites, but before the village of Yedidalga, the Roman theatre and basilica of Soli lie on a hillside just 200 m inland from the road, signposted as usual with one of the tourist service’s clear yellow signs. Vouni, too, about 8km(5 miles) further west along the coast road, is clearly signposted.

First the road passes a cl?ster of beach restaurants west of Soli, where you can eat and swim, before a steep winding ascent begins of a colossal hilly outcrop on the sea edge. Vouni Palace lies on the summit of this outcrop. The last three minutes are along a narrow track. If you don’t have a strong nerve but do have reasonably strong legs, it’s only a 15-minute walk to the ruins from the turn-off, where you can leave your car.

Near the foot of the hill, incidentally, about halfway between Soli and Vouni, is the shell of a modern Greek church built in a sheltered nook too the right of the road, but badly destroyed inside. It appears never to have been completed and is covered inside and out with the vain exhortation ‘Please keep tidy’. Most mosque in Greek Cyprus are, by contract, kept locked and clean, but the record for tolerance is poor on both sides: 117 mosques were destroyed between 1955 and 1974 by zealous Greek Cypriots.

At the foot of the Vouni hill, the main road continues westwards to the village of Ye?il?rmak, just beyond which is another simple beach restaurant. This is the westernmost point you can reach before the edge of North Cypriot territory, though some 8 km(5miles) further west, inaccessible and surrounded by Greek Cypriot territory, is the curios Turkish cypriot pocket of Erenköy. Today only troops live in this fiercely Turkish Cypriot enclave, all the original villagers having been evacuated to Yem Erenköy on the Karpas Peninsula. These villagers had bravely resisted an attack by General Grivas and 3,000 Greek soldiers in 1964 and were supported in their struggle by student volunteers who included a young Rauf Denktash, the current TRNC president.

At one time, traveling by railroad was the best way for a first-class experience. Today, fewer people ride the rails, as it is often easier and more luxurious to fly. Did you know, though, that you can still find complete sightseeing vacation packages that have you travel via private railcar? These experiences can be quiet rewarding, allowing you to actually see the countryside and interesting tourist destinations without having to drive yourself. If you are interested in a private railcar journey, check out the following options for a unique travel experience:

The Orient Express

Contrary to its name, the famous Orient Express was actually a trans-Europe journey to the gateway of Asia: Istanbul, Turkey. You may be familiar with the romanticized tale of this famous journey from novels and movies such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Agatha Christie’s 1934 Murder on the Orient Express. Travellers could start in London, cross the English Channel and board the train in Paris, travelling through Munich, Vienna, and Budapest, Hungary. From Budapest they could choose the route from Belgrade (Serbia) to Athens, or alternately, through Bucarest, Romania, to Constantinople – what is now Istanbul, Turkey. From Turkey or Greece, world leisure travelers could opt to continue their journey by boat or other trains to destinations in the Middle East, India and beyond.

Today you can relive a taste of the past through at least one company that operates service along some of the same rail lines in restored vintage rail carriages. The Venice-Simplon Orient Express offers regular trips from London to Venice and less frequent trips between Venice and Istanbul. The same travel company also offers similarly-themed rail vacations in Malaysia/Thailand and across Australia.

The Trans-Siberian Railway

Another Europe to Asia rail journey is the Trans-Siberian Railway. This is the longest continuous rail line in the world, running over six thousand miles. You can start your seven-day journey in Moscow and see the countryside and a number of Russian and Asian cities on your way to Vladivostok, or you can opt for a much longer trip, with stops in locations like Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. Most people tend to think of a vacation as a trip to somewhere warm and sunny, but this railcar journey takes you into a beautiful winter paradise instead.

The Blue Train, Africa

Luxurious fine dining and unique African scenery come together on The Blue Train. Running through South Africa, this train is all about five-star luxury. The private cars are perfect for guests who like the finer things in life, and the dinner service, complete with fine local wines, is second to none. You can, of course, expect to pay more for a journey on The Blue Train, but overall, the experience is well worth the money.

Canada and the Canadian Rockies

VIA Rail of Canada likes to boast of “The Most Spectacular Train Trip in the World,” and they might be right. If you choose the full cross-continent journey across the world’s second largest country, you will experience a wide range of terrains from forests and farmland, rolling prairies and lake sides, to the majestic Canadian Rockies. On some trips you sleep on the train, while others you ride the train by day and stop for land tours and then stay overnight in a luxury hotel. The full-blown Coast to Coast vacation is 16 nights and 17 days – but well worth it if you have the time. Canada offers a rich variety of natural wonders and hospitality as well.

South America and the Andes

PeruRail is one of the highest railroad lines in the entire world, and these routes take travelers to a variety of destinations, including Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley, Lake Titicaca, and the historic city of Cuzco. The spectacular views from your railcar alone are worth the trip, and if you love culture, this is a great way to explore the ancient world of the Incas.

Almost all countries in the world, including India, Canada, Spain, Mexico, and, of course, the United States, offer railway tours. While some, like the Tran-Siberian and others listed above, can take up your entire one to two week vacation, others are great for simple day trips, or even just afternoon trips. For example, the scenic Stroudsburg Railroad on the east coast of the United States takes you into Pennsylvania farm country over just a short afternoon ride. Opportunities like this are available around the world. So, even if you do not want to spend your entire time on a train, you can add a railcar journey as part of your vacation.

When booking a trip by rail, keep in mind that not all trains offer private options. If you plan to make this the bulk of your journey, make sure that the railcar you are booking will allow for you to have a bit of privacy with your travel companions. Some trains only offer traditional seating, which can be uncomfortable and cramped on longer trips. Also, make sure you check on the accommodations for sleeping and eating. Although many lines offer eating and sleeping facilities, for some, this is about function not comfort. If you want a luxury vacation, make sure you do your research and choose a true five-star option.

The world is changing. With our fast-paced daily lives, most people are looking for the quickest way to get from point A to point B. Sometimes, though, the actual travel is the best part of the vacation. Do not overlook rail travel when planning your next vacation. If you are not sure which rail journey is right for you, work with a travel agent. Although we typically think of a travel agent as someone who plans cruises and resort vacations, they can also help you book a private railcar journey. These train trips can help you make memories that last a lifetime.