27.05.2026
From Finnish Lapland, you can now travel by train to the coast of Portugal, there are three times more trains departing from Lithuania to Poland than before, and a new daily direct train has just been opened from Stockholm to mainland Europe via Denmark, which also allows you to travel to Legoland! A few years ago, such connections seemed utopian in our region, but now they are happening almost unnoticed. For Estonian travelers, this means something very concrete: the most exciting holiday trips no longer have to start at the airport.
15000 kilometers by rail from Kolar in Lapland to Lagos in Portugal
This summer's craziest train journey in Europe will undoubtedly take you from Finland to Portugal, right across Europe. It sounds incredible that it took until the 21st century for this connection to be made and Finland to be integrated into the European rail network.
This change – and probably one of the most memorable train journeys of your life – is made possible by a small reorganization at the unknown Haparanda railway station. It is a small station on the border of Finland and Sweden, where a passenger does something seemingly insignificant: they get off one train, walk through the station building and get on another. This is exactly the opportunity that has been awaited for decades!
Finland is not on the same track gauge as the rest of Europe – just like the Baltic states before the completion of Rail Baltica – and walking is necessary to move from the Finnish railway system to the European one.
From Haparanda, the train travels through the landscape of northern Sweden. If you continue without stopping, you will reach Stockholm by evening. (The train journey from Helsinki to Stockholm takes almost a full day.) There is an inevitable change here, and there are of course quite a few more on the journey. The road then leads to Copenhagen in Denmark, which is the logical next stop. From there, the train journey becomes a European classic: Hamburg, Paris, Madrid – although the passenger can also make smaller stops: Strasbourg, Lyon, Bordeaux. The train gives you the luxury of jumping off at any place with an exciting-sounding name.
The last leg of the journey takes you to the cities of the southern coast of Portugal, such as Lagos. Cliffs, the ocean, a pleasant rhythm of beach life. This train journey is an experience that budget flights cannot offer.
2. Three times more trains from Lithuania to Poland
Compared to last summer, Lithuania has tripled the number of trains to Poland. The new lines connect Vilnius with Warsaw and Kraków, Szczecin and Suwałki, making train travel to Central Europe from the Baltic States much easier and faster – from Tallinn and Tartu, you can reach Vilnius with one change in either Valga or Riga, and you have to spend one night in the Lithuanian capital before continuing your journey.
The most significant change concerns the travel time. The journey between Vilnius and Warsaw has been shortened by about an hour, and the journey to Kraków is more than two hours faster than before.
According to the new timetable, the journey from Vilnius to Warsaw will take approximately seven and a half hours and from Krakow a little over ten hours. It is true that when the new high-speed railway Rail Baltica between Tallinn and Warsaw opens for traffic, international high-speed trains will travel from Tallinn to the Polish capital in less than seven hours, but before the new high-speed railway is completed, it is also pleasing to see the improvement of the currently very poor existing connections.
In addition, the midday Vilnius-Warsaw-Kraków connection will continue, but an early morning train to Szczecin, near the German border, will also be added. This will open up much better connections for Lithuania with major Polish cities, including Poznań.
The journey between Vilnius and Warsaw has been shortened by about an hour, and you can reach Kraków more than two hours faster than before.
Thus, passengers can now travel faster and more comfortably not only between Lithuania and Poland, but also to other European cities. This is the main meaning of the change. In Warsaw, good opportunities will open up for travel to Berlin, Vienna, Prague and even Kiev after a transfer.
Although passengers still have to change trains between Lithuania and Poland at the Mockava border station because the countries use different track gauges, the transfer has been made as smooth as possible. Trains wait for delayed connections if necessary, and transfers take place on the same platform.
3. A new daily direct train connection on the Hamburg-Copenhagen-Stockholm route is open, you can also travel to Legoland!
The Swedish private train company Snälltåget launched a new daily train connection between Hamburg, Copenhagen and Stockholm as of May 4th of this year. The train departs from both Hamburg and Stockholm in the morning and arrives at its destination in the evening of the same day.
The new daytime train also brings three new stops to Snälltåget's lines in Denmark: Padborg, Kolding and Odense stations. From Kolding, the company will offer a bus service to Legoland Billund Resort from June 22 to August 2, which is connected to the train schedule.
Travel packages are also available for sale, including train travel, transfers, accommodation, and entrance to Legoland and Lalandia amusement parks.
The new direct train stops at the following stations: Hamburg Hbf, Neumünster, Padborg, Kolding, Odense, Copenhagen South, Malmö, Lund, Eslöv, Hässleholm, Alvesta, Nässjö, Linköping, Norrköping, Södertälje and Stockholm C. The Krogen restaurant car is open throughout the journey.
From Kolding, the company offers a bus service to Legoland Billund Resort from June 22 to August 2, which is connected to the train schedule.
The price of a one-way ticket between Stockholm and Hamburg starts at 45 euros for an adult. Discounts apply to children under 16 traveling with parents, young people under 26, students, over 60s and groups of at least two people. Interrail passes are also valid on Snälltåget trains, but a seat reservation is required, the price of which starts at five euros.
Article first published on 8.05.2026 As a content marketing story for Õhtuleht.
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