A traditional Mediterranean holiday without flying? It is possible, says Rhiannon Batten. This is how (and why) she did it, taking the train and ferry all the way from London to Corfu
The sun was setting over Panagia Vlacherna monastery as we strolled from Pontikonisi beach to Kanoni peninsula, on the outskirts of Corfu Town. This spot is a gathering place for local plane-spotters, who flock to watch a jet stream of package holiday flights take off and land, but our eyes were drawn instead to the reedy wetlands around its base, and some circling herons. Like the birds, people from the town in small rowing boats were heading out to fish, the water dripping from their oars gilded rose gold by the evening light. Walking down to dinner is rarely this magical but then we’re rarely staying at Villa Icarus.
This slick four-bedroom bolthole in Perama, on the eastern coast of Corfu, comes with an espresso machine, a high-tech barbecue and a serene private pool that overlooks nothing but olive groves and herb-speckled hillsides. Proving that sustainable holidays don’t have to mean camping, it was also (crucially) reachable by train and ferry. Because while the siren call of sun-warmed sand and poolside snoozing is hard to resist when you live in a place where high summer still involves packing a ‘just in case’ anorak, in 2021 I swore off flying.
Six years earlier, signatory governments to the Paris Accord had agreed to limit global heating to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to prevent the catastrophic impact of climate change. To achieve that everyone on Earth needs to emit just 2.3 tons of CO2 per year by 2030 ― roughly half the average at the time. While some believe it is up to governments, and industries, to implement change, or hope that technological advances will save us, neither of these things are happening quickly enough. Instead I decided to limit my own carbon emissions.
This means that air travel is no longer an option. Though comparisons vary according to the fuel efficiency of different planes and trains, air travel accounts for around 70 percent of a typical holidaymaker’s carbon emissions; travelling by plane between London and Paris, for instance, emits about 10 times more carbon dioxide than travelling by Eurostar (emitting carbon dioxide at higher altitudes is also thought to have more of an effect on climate change).
There are myriad alternatives, from sail and rail, or sail and drive, to buying an Interrail pass (though beware that seat reservations can add significant costs to the price of the initial pass). Frustratingly, all cost more than the equivalent air fare; sign up for ticket release alerts on the services you intend to use, particularly for Eurostar where the cheaper seats sell at inter-stellar speed.
If you’re really on a shoestring budget, coach travel is a more affordable and lower-carbon way to cross Europe than train, something made easier, and more comfortable, by the meteoric recent rise of the Flixbus network.
Yearning for a villa holiday in Greece, we opted to travel in the October half term, meaning cheaper fares than those in midsummer but also a reduced number of possible routes. Travelling from London to Brindisi by train – via Paris, Zurich and Milan – we then took a ferry from Brindisi to Igoumenitsa and another across to Corfu. Leaving London in late afternoon and stopping overnight in Paris and Milan (on the way back an overnight bus worked better), the transport cost £200 and took 60 hours each way (though it’s do-able in just over 48 in high summer, when more services are operating).
As a comparison, a return flight from the UK to Corfu takes around 5.5 hours, including check-in time, and costs between £150 and £300 return, including hold baggage and fees. It’s hard to see Pontikonisi’s herons when you’re up at 30,000 feet though. Nor taste the buttery crackle of an oven-warm Parisian croissant, plunge into the yodel-inducing cool of a Swiss lake (as we did between trains in Zurich), hear the polyphonic tooting of rush hour drivers in the centre of Milan, or watch the Pindus mountains appear through the sea-misted dawn from the deck of an overnight ferry.
HOW SHE DID IT
Eurostar London to Paris £78 return (eurostar.com). Trains between Paris and Brindisi via Switzerland £80 one-way (thetrainline.com). Ferries from Brindisi to Corfu via Igoumenitsa, including a cabin one-way, £144 return (directferries.co.uk). Train from Brindisi to Turin £70 one-way (thetrainline.com). Coach from Turin to Paris £28.99 one-way (flixbus.co.uk).
WHERE SHE STAYED
Villa Icarus (sleeps 2-8) costs from £300 per night (minimum stay four nights). Like sister company Sunvil Holidays, GIC Villas now offer package holidays including accommodation and overland travel (gicthevillacollection.com).
HOW MUCH CARBON SHE SAVED
Return train between London and Brindisi via Switzerland 106.6kg. It's difficult to find exact emissions from the ferry via Igoumenitsa to Corfu but directferries.co.uk gives 7kg each way (based on similar journey - though direct - by ferry between Bari and Corfu), so total for the overland trip is 120.6kg. Return flight London to Corfu 503.2kg (949.2kg if you include the climate factor) - figures from ecopassenger.org.
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