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About Rail Discoveries

Whether you are planning a holiday in the UK, mainland Europe or further afield, a Rail Discoveries tour offers you a superb way to experience some of the world's most beautiful destinations. You can watch the wonderful and ever-changing scenery glide past; after all, rail journeys often go where no ....more

Reasons to tour with Rail Discoveries

Over 30 years experience

Inclusive value

No hidden surprises


Rail Discoveries Reviews

Jan Walker (Google Reviewer)  

18-Jul-2023

We booked the Catalan holiday in January having been told that we would get an early booking discount of £50 each with the holiday costing £1049pp. I have just been sent an email offering a flash sale with the same holiday advertised at £849! I assume we will now be offered the same price and I look forward to a refund of £400.

John Skelton (Google Reviewer)  

18-May-2023

Very bad customer services. Cancelled one of the rail trip which was replaced by a trip by coach of Carisle, lovely that Carisle is!. So far no reason for the cancellation, no apology or compensation. Wrecked the holiday!. Company can't own up to their own mistakes and will blame someone else particularly their clients. Don't touch them with a barge pole!

Jeannette Elrick (Google Reviewer)  

30-Sep-2023

Very good tours, knowledgeable and friendly Tour Managers. The hotel was very good and the locations visited were excellent. The heritage railways are interesting and lovely to travel on whether hauled by steam or diesel.

Karen She (Google Reviewer)  

10-Aug-2022

A well-priced escorted tour of Switzerland with an excellent guide, Graham Carter. Hats off to Graham for his patience and cheerful leadership of our group of 36 with various levels of mobility and agility. A last minute change of hotel was a bit of a surprise and some of our group were disappointed with the substitution but we found it to be a nice tourist class 3 star with a good choice of buffet style meals. It needs to be remembered before you book that this is an active holiday. There are many train changes, steps and hills. Overall a good holiday but you need to be fairly agile to get the most out of the experience. Luckily we are!

Mike Martin (Google Reviewer)  

29-May-2019

Seeing so many negative reviews of Rail Discoveries makes you wonder if we have been travelling with the same company for the past 7 years or so! Excelent holidays, good hotels, superb tour managers-what else could you ask for? However it pays to look closely at the brochure -if there are a lot of coach trips, then we usually do NOT book ( please note ,the guy who complained about the Scottish holiday with little train-travel-it's there in the itinerary). Having said that, we ARE travelling to Scotland for just such a holiday this autumn, and we know exactly what to expect, and nothing more. The train-travel to Scotland we treat as part of our rail holiday. As for comments about the food in some hotels, we have been underwhelmed by some-and delighted with others. As someone said, if you want better food, spend more and go with sister company Great Rail-as we have done in the past, and will do again. And if you don't like a hotel( we had a ghastly one in America-now removed from the tour, thank heavens)-take your comments to the company. They do listen. So please be assured, thousands of happy travellers book with rail Discoveries, and we have only met one couple out of hundreds we have travelled with who were not happy( with the food)-ALL the others on the tour were delighted with it! You can't please everyone.....

Sandra Castle (Google Reviewer)  

23-Sep-2024

We thoroughly enjoyed The Charming Dordogne tour. A good tour manager 'Tony', lovely hotel with lots of space to relax and chat with fellow travellers and a nice sized swimming pool for a bit of excersise. The restaurant just a few steps down the road provided pleasant food, good service and wine and coffee thrown in aswell. Our coach driver for the week was very knowledgeable and helpful, pointing out sights of interest, plus we had a couple of free days to explore the village with it's interesting museum and exhibition centre. I would definitely recommend this holiday

David Tilston (Google Reviewer)  

17-Jan-2023

Very disappointed. Booked Isle of Man last year and dates got changed. Accepted the alternative dates offered and did enjoy the holiday. Booked the Glacier Express, Switzerland, this year for a special anniversary . Holiday was cancelled (despite being told that it would be very unlikely that it would be cancelled) and alternative dates offered unsuitable. If I wanted to go at a specific time I would not use this company again. There seem to be different companies offering these holidays but they are the same operator based in York.

Book With Confidence

  • Low Deposit

    Rail Discoveries requires a minimum deposit of 20% or the full booking value, whichever is less, with the final balance not due until 60 days before departure.

  • Secure payments

    All payments are held in a dedicated client account.