Travel in Europe by train is covered very well elsewhere, but just putting some links here

• www.seat61.com is a fantastic train-travel guide website which covers train travel in detail, including Ireland, Britain and continental Europe

• Interrail www.interrail.eu – while Rail and Sail is cheapest way of getting from Ireland through Britain by train, once when you are in continental Europe, Interrail is a really great way of getting around.  You buy an interrail pass which covers you for x travel days within a certain period (e.g. a month).  On the travel days (which you activate via your interrail app) you get rail tickets for free through the app  – you can travel on the dense and frequent network of regional trains impromptu.  For night trains, a travel day includes departures for that day (you don’t need to activate a travel day for the next morning). For high speed trains, night trains and the Eurostar, you will still need to do seat reservations in advance and for an extra fee on top of the interrail pass, but it still works out better value for money.   There is also a Erasmus interrail pass which is valid for 6 months instead of 1 month www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/erasmus . Also great if you have children – under 12s get free interrail tickets!

• Trains with beds to sleep in!  back-on-track.eu includes a great map of night trains in Europe.

See also our page on bringing a bike on trains in Europe.