Picture it – you’re setting out on a massive Interrailing trip. Two weeks of bombing around Europe with nothing more than a rucksack and a rail pass. But how to know which trains to take? The European rail network system is a complex beast; how can you be sure that you’ll make that connection in Berlin? Or, indeed, that you won’t bypass a must-see location along the way?.
Enter Byway. The B corp, which bills itself as a flight-free travel specialist, has just released a map-based route planner that will help customers discover the UK and Europe in a whole new way: that is, by any way that doesn’t involve planes. Currently, the site includes Byway’s top 160 most-loved places across 20 countries, with more locations set to come soon – ones which prioritise the company’s ethos of prioritising enjoyment over speed. The app has always been a champion of green travel: its founder, Cat Jones, has never owned a car and takes her annual family holidays by ferry, train and bus.
“My goal when I started Byway in lockdown 2020 was to help people easily create wonderful multi-stop journeys by land and sea, bringing flight-free travel to the mainstream,” Jones said in a statement accompanying Byway Maps’ launch. “Byway Maps makes that simpler than ever, helping you discover places that are both wonderful and feasible to visit overland based on where you’ve started, how long you’ve got, and where else you’re stopping. It combines our two million miles of expert knowledge with our cutting-edge routing tech.”.
Green travel is on the rise. The global ecotourism market is set to set £260.4bn in 2027, while, according to Booking.com, 87 per cent of travellers want to travel more sustainably. In this growing market, rail travel is becoming a winner: trains emit 70 per cent fewer emissions than planes over the same distance. All the more reason to book a train journey this coming summer.
