Five Capitals by Rail: Paris to Prague
A five-day rail loop through Western and Central Europe — sleeper-train mornings, neighbourhood lunches, and every city's headline museum before sundown. Built around the Eurostar, Thalys, ICE, and EC corridors so you sleep in five different beds without ever touching an airport.
Map
Itinerary
Day 1 · Wednesday, June 10, 2026
1
08:30 - 09:30
Breakfast
Du Pain et des Idées
Pistachio escargot pastry and a strong café crème at the cult 10e bakery — go early before the queue forms on rue Yves Toudic.
2
10:00 - 10:45
Check-in
Hôtel Particulier Montmartre
Drop bags at the discreet five-suite hideaway off avenue Junot — Montmartre's quiet side, two minutes from Sacré-Cœur.
3
11:00 - 12:30
Walking Tour
Montmartre + Sacré-Cœur
Climb to the basilica steps for the city panorama, then weave back down past Place du Tertre and the Bateau-Lavoir studios where Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
4
13:00 - 14:30
Lunch
Marché des Enfants Rouges
Paris's oldest covered market (1615). Skip the queue at Chez Alain Miam Miam and grab Moroccan tagine at Chez Taeko or a Japanese bento at Le Studio.
5
15:00 - 17:30
Museum Visit
Louvre Museum
Enter via the Carrousel passage (faster than the pyramid). Three-room itinerary: Denon wing for Mona Lisa + Venus de Milo, then escape upstairs to the Napoleon III apartments most visitors never find.
6
18:00 - 20:00
Landmark Visit
Eiffel Tower at sunset
Pre-book the second-floor lift slot 30 min before golden hour. For the cleanest photo: cross to Trocadéro before climbing, then double back.
7
20:30 - 22:30
Dinner
Le Comptoir du Relais
Yves Camdeborde's Saint-Germain bistrot — no reservations for dinner, walk in 7:45 sharp. Order the foie de veau and the Saint-Marcellin cheese course.
Day 2 · Thursday, June 11, 2026
8
07:30 - 08:15
Breakfast
Hotel checkout + coffee
Quick espresso and a viennoiserie at the hotel — full meal on the train.
9
08:55 - 10:20
Train
Eurostar Paris Gare du Nord → Brussels-Midi
85 minutes city-centre to city-centre. Book Standard Premier for breakfast included; coach 11 has the quietest carriages.
10
11:00 - 11:45
Check-in
Hôtel Amigo
Rocco Forte property on the same block as the Grand Place — drop bags, take the Magritte-lined elevator up.
11
12:00 - 13:30
Lunch
Fin de Siècle
Cash-only, no-reservations brasserie. Order the carbonnade flamande (beer-braised beef) and a Westmalle Tripel.
12
13:45 - 15:15
Walking Tour
Grand Place + Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert
Five minutes from Fin de Siècle. Detour through Europe's oldest covered shopping arcade and pick up a praline box at Mary or Neuhaus.
13
15:30 - 16:15
Landmark Visit
Manneken Pis + Île-de-Sait-Louis chocolatiers
Yes, the statue is small. Use the walk as cover to hit Pierre Marcolini around the corner — his 70% Cuba single-origin is the city's best chocolate bar.
14
16:45 - 18:30
Museum Visit
Magritte Museum
Three floors of surrealism in the Royal Museums complex on Mont des Arts. The early-period 1920s wallpaper-inspired works are the hidden gem most visitors skip on their way to the bowler-hat icons.
15
19:30 - 21:30
Dinner
Bia Mara
Better than Belgium's tourist mussels-and-fries: this Irish-Belgian fish-and-chips hybrid serves panko-crusted cod with samphire mayo. Sit at the bar.
Day 3 · Friday, June 12, 2026
16
07:45 - 08:45
Breakfast
Hôtel Amigo breakfast room
Decent buffet — load up on the Comté and Belgian pastries before the train.
17
09:15 - 11:20
Train
Intercity Brussels-Midi → Amsterdam Centraal
Two hours flat on the IC Direct. Sit on the left for the Antwerp cathedral as you pull in.
18
12:00 - 13:15
Lunch
Foodhallen
Indoor food court in a converted Oud-West tram depot. Bitterballen at De Ballenbar + a Dutch craft IPA at Brewdog before the museums.
19
13:30 - 14:00
Check-in
Pulitzer Amsterdam
25 connected canal houses stitched into a hotel on the Prinsengracht. Ask for a room on the Keizersgracht side — quieter.
20
14:30 - 16:00
Museum Visit
Anne Frank House
Pre-booked timed ticket — released exactly six weeks in advance, set a calendar reminder. The original Secret Annex is more affecting in person than any school excerpt suggests.
21
16:30 - 18:00
Museum Visit
Van Gogh Museum
Two hundred paintings tracing Vincent's arc from Nuenen potato-eaters to Auvers wheatfields. Last entry 17:00 — go straight to the second floor for the Arles period.
22
18:30 - 20:30
Brewery Tour
Heineken Experience: Entry Ticket
Self-guided brewery walk through the original 1867 building. The stable visit (real Heineken dray horses) is the surprise highlight; tasting bar at the end.
23
21:00 - 23:00
Dinner
De Kas
Eight-course tasting in a 1926 greenhouse — most of what you eat was picked from the surrounding nursery beds that morning. Book the chef's counter seats if available.
Day 4 · Saturday, June 13, 2026
24
08:00 - 08:45
Breakfast
Hotel + checkout
Pulitzer's à la carte breakfast in the courtyard — eggs Royale and the in-house pastries hold up to anything in town.
25
09:25 - 15:45
Train
ICE Amsterdam Centraal → Berlin Hauptbahnhof
Six and a half hours direct — book a 1st-class quiet-car seat and bring a book. Restaurant car has decent wine, surprisingly.
26
16:15 - 16:45
Check-in
Michelberger Hotel
Indie design hotel in Friedrichshain across from the East Side Gallery — the design-y end of the spectrum but the bar is genuinely good. Loft Tiny room is the value pick.
27
17:15 - 18:30
Walking Tour
East Side Gallery
1.3 km of the Wall left painted by 118 artists in 1990. Skip the photo-op at Brezhnev/Honecker kiss and find Birgit Kinder's Trabant breaking through the wall — that one still hits.
28
19:00 - 19:45
Streetfood
Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap
Yes, the queue is real. Yes, it's worth it. Vegetable-loaded chicken kebap at Mehringdamm — eat it standing up by the bridge.
29
20:15 - 21:45
Landmark Visit
Brandenburg Gate + Reichstag dome
Free Reichstag dome visit — register online 2-3 days ahead. Time it for 21:00 sunset; the city below is at its best from the Norman Foster glass cone.
30
22:15 - 23:30
Wine Bar
Buck and Breck (cocktails)
Eleven seats around a marble bar in Mitte. No menu — talk to the bartender. The eponymous Buck and Breck is brandy + champagne + sugar; do not skip.
Day 5 · Sunday, June 14, 2026
31
07:30 - 08:30
Breakfast
Father Carpenter Coffee
Detour to Mitte before the train. Sourdough toast with house-cultured butter and the city's best filter coffee.
32
09:08 - 13:35
Train
EC Berlin Hauptbahnhof → Praha hl.n.
Four and a half hours through the Elbe valley. Sit on the right side past Dresden for the cliff-face sandstone gorges — best stretch of European rail scenery, hands down.
33
14:00 - 14:45
Check-in
Hotel Josef
Modernist Eva Jiřičná-designed hotel in the Old Town's Jewish Quarter — five minutes' walk to Old Town Square but on a quiet side street.
34
15:00 - 16:30
Walking Tour
Charles Bridge + Old Town Square
Cross the bridge eastbound at 15:00 — late enough that the cruise crowd is back on the buses but with the Castle still backlit. End at the Astronomical Clock as it strikes 16:00.
35
17:00 - 18:30
Castle Visit
Prague Castle + St Vitus Cathedral
Tram 22 to Pražský hrad, then walk down. Skip the long Circuit B ticket — Circuit A is enough for St Vitus, the Old Royal Palace, and the Golden Lane on the way out.
36
19:30 - 21:30
Dinner
U Fleků
Brewery and beer-hall continuously operated since 1499 — order the dark Flekovský ležák 13° (it's the only beer they make), the svíčková, and let the accordion player win you over by the second pour.
37
22:00 - 23:00
Walking Tour
Charles Bridge nightcap
Cross back over the Charles Bridge after dark — empty, lit by the wrought-iron lamps, with the Castle floodlit on the hill. The trip ends where the bridge meets the Old Town tower.