See Europe by train: five great family summer holidays with no flying

Mountains or lakes, French forests or Dutch seaside, these fun breaks all start at a train station rather than the stress of an airport

Heading to Italy overland from the UK suits those looking to relish the journey and give kids a once-in-a-lifetime geography lesson. The most spectacular route is on the Treno Gottardo, a revamped 19th-century railway line that skirts Lake Lucerne and creeps through snow-capped mountains in the Ticino valley between Basel and Locarno, Switzerland’s warmest town, on Lake Maggiore.