Easy train holidays, part 1

March 16, 2023

Easy train holidays, part 1

I´m thrilled about the renaissance of train holidays in Europe and elsewhere in the world (sadly not yet in South Africa where I live). I used to be an adventurous inter-railer in the 1980´s and early 90´s. I mostly travelled in Eastern Europe, on the other side of the iron curtain, with very little comfort.

In this past year, I did two shorter train holidays with my children Nils and Tindra. I was inspired by Facebook groups for train enthusiasts doing the most amazing journeys. But I wanted to re-start easy; Travel for maximum five or six hours at a go, sleep in a proper bed and be able to book seats etc. I, too, wrote about my experiences on Facebook and got a surprisingly big response from mainly parents and elderly people who are longing to travel by train, but, like me, are looking for a lighter version of inter-railing. I thought I would share our journeys here as well, hoping that it could assist and inspire more people to take the train to a few wonderful destinations.

Trip 1:

Östersund (Sweden) to Trondheim (Norway)

This train is operated by the Swedish Norrtåg (but can be booked through SJ, the state railway company).

It Östersund at 16:31 and arrives in Trondheim the same evening at 20:28. There's a change of train in Storlien at 18:49 close to the Norwegian border. Only second class tickets are available. The train is clean and comfortable, and there's a bistro for snacks and coffee.

Before I continue, I should mention that it's well worth spending one or two days in Östersund. You can:

1) Visit Jamtli, an excellent regional open-air museum and one of the most popular tourist attractions in the area.

2) Go on a monster safari on Lake Storsjön. Legend has it that a sea monster resides here, much like the Loch Ness monster in Scotland. By the way, my son (then 10) loved this cruise so much that it inspired me to write a children's book about the monster. It's called Napoleon & T-kex and is available in Swedish, Danish, German and Serbian.

3) Relax in the sweet city center, visiting coffee houses and shops.

I know I said I was looking easy traveling, but it doesn't mean that this was an adventure free trip. Norrtåg has the function of a commuter train. We didn't know this. The main railway company SJ only stops in bigger towns whilst Norrtåg stops basically everywhere. When the time was 18:45, we were about to get ready to disembark in Storlien to change train. But we were running 15 minutes late (we didn't know this either). Just then the train kind of tilted and a piece of luggage fell down from the shelf on my sons head.

We jumped off - and in the confusion we didn't realize that we had gotten off at the wrong station, the one before Storlien. The sign on the deserted station house read "Enafors". Although I'm Swedish, I had never heard of this place. The train had left, there was no information on the internet or at the station about the next train and the village was deserted. My daughter Tindra pointed out that this would be an excellent start to a horror movie.

After some googling, we found out that there are some impressive mountain ranges nearby, popular with seasoned hikers. The train didn't use to stop here before, but it's now part of an initiative to encourage hiking tourism in the area. Fair enough. We also found out that there's a mountaineers guest house (Enafors Fjällstation) in the vicinity. We tried calling, but it closes at 4pm. We decided to walk there anyway - and we were lucky. The managers lived next door and they provided us with both dinner, pep talk and accommodation. They area is beautiful, by the way. The silence, the wast nature and the cold, fresh air (it was only 9 degrees Celsius although it was in July, i.e in the height of Swedish summer). I'm not a keen hiker, but I can imagine myself going on day trips from here, or just stay at the guest house and write another book. Had it not been for Norrtåg's poor communication and the falling bag, we would never had known that there's a place called Enafors in this world.

The following morning, we caught the next train (09:16) to Storlien and Trondheim. The scenery is breathtaking: Forests, mountains, rivers - and very few signs of human civilization. Storlien is a major center in this area for hiking, fishing and in winter skiing.

Trondheim is one of the most interesting towns in Northern Scandinavia. It has a rich history of both vikings and early Christianity. Whatever you do, don't miss the Nidaros dome, the oldest and most impressive Catholic Cathedral this far north. Construction started in the 10th century. We spent 4 hours here, exploring, listening to a concert, climbing up to the top and finally having ice cream in the souvenir shop.

Walk over the old, red bridge to the pretty Bakklandet with its many wooden houses and coffee shops. There are plenty of restaurants, too, and the fish, especially salmon, is to die for.

There are also a number of shorter excursions available, like taking the tram to Lian (catch it on St. Olavs Gate) or a ferry to The Monks Island (Munkholmen). Ferries leave from the Ravnkloa Fish market. You can rent a bike and if you are brave, swim in the fjord. I recommend you spend three days in Trondheim.

A return trip for three people (one adult, one student and one child) was 832 SEK or about 78 US dollars.