Our very best wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year !
December 2009
We are currently restructuring our website in order to improve navigation - please bear with us if you encounter temporary anomalies.
We wish everybody a very Merry Christmas
November 2009
The month of November was spent finalising important partnership agreements which give us the opportunity to offer more than 40 railway journeys and holidays in 2010. From 15-day tours to short 3 or 4 day breaks, in Europe, Scandinavia, North Africa and Asia Minor, the choice will be vast !
October 2009
It was a pleasure meeting with past and, we hope, future clients at the exhibitions we attended in September. The open days organised by both Ajecta near Paris and CF3V in Mariembourg were well attended and perfectly managed by the organisers - even the weather was perfect on both occasions !
Our winter/spring 2010 programme is now online and we are currently finalising our ambitious 2010 progamme which will offer a wide variety of tours in Europe, Scandinavia, Asia Minor and North Africa.
September 2009
The exhibition season ...we are attending :
- The Heritage Weekend of PFT in St Ghislain (Belgium) on 12th et 13th September
- Group Leisure Travel Exhibition at the CNIT (La Défense, Paris) from 15th to 17 th September
- The Heritage Weekend of l'Ajecta in Longueville (near Paris) on 19th and 20th September
- The Steam Weekend of CF3V in Mariembourg (Belgium) on 26th et 27th September
From now on our programmes will be downloadable in pdf format only. If you would like to use a lighter and faster pdf reader than Acrobat, you can download a free one here.
August 2009
Both our trips to Lapland this summer benefited from sunshine and pleasant weather. It was surprising to see the waters off Narvik full of jellyfish... more about climate change soon on this site.
We are finalising our Winter/Spring programme - lots of new tours and a wide choice of destinations.
July 2009
We are currently working on a new version of our website which will better reflect our offering and give you an enhanced navigation experience. Our offering currently comprises escorted rail tours (in Europe and soon in North Africa) , bespoke rail holidays and the sale of InterRail passes and European rail tickets, notably Trenitalia. We'll shortly be proposing other rail passes such as Amtrak, BritRail etc. and inaugurating European short-stays with the train. Meantime we will update our current site as new products and tours are finalised.
A new 120 km long railway line has just opened in Morocco. It runs from Taourirt on the Fez-Oujda line to Béni Ensar on the mediterranean coast, a handy port for ferries to Spain. Three trains a day give good connections to Fez, Casablanca Oujda and Rabat.
June 2009
After an in-situ visit, we are currently studying the project of a Morrocan desert train tour in the eastern part of the country. We are also progressing our future autumn/winter/spring programme and details will be put on line as this progresses.
Some of the destinations we are currently studying : Morocco, Austria, Tunisia, Lapland, Turkey and Syria.....
May 2009
Our ticketing service is expanding and we will soon have other European destinations to offer. In the autumn a new presentation of the offering will be made to give you better information on all the possibilities.
April 2009
Our rail related offering has been increased and you can now buy directly from us your overnight sleeper tickets to the following destinations :
You can also buy all your tickets for the national network of Italian State Railways. Just call us or send an email and we will be happy to advise you.
In addition we'll soon be introducing online purchasing of InterRail Passes, which allow you to explore Europe with great savings on normal tariffs - you can already purchase from them from us, just call or send an email.
March 2009
Our journey to the Arctic Circle and beyond was wonderful and we were able to admire fantastic scenery and learn about the lifestyles and customs of people living in this extraordinary environment. Our group voted the visit to the Ice Hotel near Kiruna, a dazzling highlight - literally ! Several photos are on line in the "Our train journeys" section.
February 2009
We are currently working on several projects designed to increase our rail related services; on-line purchase of InterRail Passes and international ticketing.
We were very pleased to welcome many visitors to our stand at Festirail near Lille. It was a very busy weekend in the charming village of Pont à Marcq, with some bright sunshine and a few snow flurries.
January 2009
Our 2009 preliminary programme is now online in the "Accompanied Tours 2009" section. We expect to be adding to the programme in the course of the year so please check for updates from time to time.
We hope to have the pleasure of meeting you on our stand at the Salon International du Chemin du Fer - "Festirail" - which is taking place on 31st January and 1st February in the town of Pont à Marcq, situated some 15 kilometres south of Lille, northern France.
This is an important rendez-vous for all railway enthusiasts and we hope it will give us the opportunity to meet you and to present our 2009 railtour programme and our projects for 2010.
The "Festirail" exhibition will house exhibitors from tourist railways, railway musuems, model railway clubs and will also include a model railway fair.
Opening hours : Saturday 31st January 10am-7pm
Sunday 1st February 10am-6pm
Address: Salle des Sports , rue de la Gare, 59000 PONT A MARCQ
The town doesn't have a direct rail service, the nearest station is Templeuve on the Lille-Orchies line. Three "TER" lines run through there and you can consult timetables (choose "Fiche Horaire") 16, 16 bis et 17 here.
Three bus lines go through Pont à Marcq, and you can consult timetables 317, 318 et 318329 here.
We hope to see you soon !
December 2008
If you'd like to see some photos of our December trip to Cologne, please click on the "Photos" menu.
We are currently finalising our Spring/Summer 2009 programme and hope to have it online towards the end of the month.
November 2008
We have programmed a weekend in Cologne on 21/22 December including a special excursion using preserved Rheingold stock. See"Selected Tours" for more information.
October 2008
We have now finalised our winter programme and our tours are planned for January, February and March 2009.
September 2008
We were present for the duration of the Steam Festival organised in a very professional manner by the "Chemin de Fer des Trois Vallées" in Mariembourg, a town situated in a beautiful part of Belgium amid lush valleys and forests.
In addition to the excellent organisation by CF3V and the large range of steam and diesel stock, the sun shone all weekend enhancing the success of the two-day event.
Our pictures also illustrate the arrival of steam loco 64.169 in Mariembourg on a special charter from Brussels organised by "Patrimoine Ferroviaire et Tourisme" who are also the owners of the diesel loco 202020 pictured above. PFT are the only mainline heritage operator in Belgium.
We were able to enjoy the weekend and welcome approximately 300 persons on our stand.
We are currently finalising our Winter Programme which will include exciting train journeys through the winter wonderlands of Northern Europe - giving the opportunity to experience silent snowscapes, northern lights and the unique lifestyles of the region's inhabitants.
Our company's membership of the "Syndicat National des Agences de Voyage" - the French National Federation of Travel Agencies - has been accepted.
See some phtos on our home page of the Lapland Explorer trip which took place end of August.
July 2008
Book online now for our journey through Lapland - reservations close on 30/07/08 for this small group tour.
June 2008
Opinion Poll. We would like to get your view on the organisation of our tours. We currently plan land-only tours, leaving you the choice of organising your trip to the departure point.
If you've a few seconds, please vote for your preference on the poll in the left-hand corner of this page - would you prefer to see a flight included in the package or not ?
