Frequently asked questions

We are a privately-owned company set up by a rail specialist in 2013.

We are proud to be bonded with the Travel Trust Association (TTA) – No. Q2542. This provides you with financial protection in the unlikely event of our insolvency, in the same manner as an ABTA bonding. For further information on the Travel Trust Association, please CLICK HERE.

Our website is our brochure! If you are interested in a particular trip and would like more details, we can put together a tailor made quotation for you. Alternatively, if you’re looking for inspiration, feel free to give us a call.

A relaxing, hassle-free and easy way to travel between city centres around the whole of Europe. No airport shuttle buses, long check-in queues and draconian luggage restrictions.

Yes. Passports are required for all travel into and out of the UK. Photocard driving licences are not sufficient.

Almost all of the holidays on our website are just suggestions to simply there to inspire you. You can travel on any day and tailor make any itinerary to your requirements. Only luxury trains such as the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express and the Blue Train have set departure dates. On rare occasions, there are also certain sleeper trains and flights which don’t run every day, but we will advise you of this when you enquire.

The prices we obtain for you from our rail and hotel suppliers are all confidential rates that can only be sold as part of a package.

Of course! We can book you to anywhere in Europe and often beyond. Where it is possible to travel overland, we will get you there in comfort and without undue hassle. Simply contact us with what you would like to do and we will tailor-make it for you – the clue is in the name!

No. They are simply used as a guideline to give you an idea of timings and package price. It is easy to add a night here, lose a night there, or maybe use a European overnight train to save on time and a hotel bill. Our experienced team will be delighted to assist and advise on the best possible holiday for you.

We cannot provide a ticket-only service as we only have access to fares that need to be packaged with a minimum of 3 nights’ hotel accommodation.

If you have any concerns about your mobility or any other medical condition which may impact your holiday, please tell us before you confirm so that we can help you assess the suitability of your chosen itinerary. In most cases, we are only able to book assistance (at stations) if you use a wheelchair.

We want our customers to have a safe and enjoyable holiday with us, so it is your responsibility to ensure that you are fit enough to take the trip that you have booked, bearing in mind that (with the exception of our escorted journeys) all our holidays are independent, with no in-destination representation.

Once you’re happy with your quotation and want to proceed, we can take payment from you over the phone or a bank transfer. If you would prefer us to call you, simply email info@tailormaderail.com and request a call-back. When payment has been completed, you will receive an email confirmation.

If you are booking further than 90 days before travel, a non-refundable deposit of 20% is due at the time of booking. Your accommodation will then be secured, and we will book the trains for you as and when they become available. If there is a flight or other non-refundable element to your trip, the deposit amount may be higher. The balance is due two months prior to travel when all your train tickets have been booked. For bookings including private trains such as the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, the balance is due three months prior to departure.

We can take all credit cards except for Diner’s Club.

No, postage is included in your package price. Documentation will be posted by Royal Mail – sometimes it will be necessary to use Recorded Delivery, but we will email you to advise that the tickets have been despatched.

It is a condition of booking that you have adequate travel insurance for your holiday. If you do not already have travel insurance, we recommend the Post Office, who offer comprehensive policies at a reasonable price.

Tickets are sent out in one pack, approximately 2 – 3 weeks prior to your departure. If not all tickets are bookable at this time, we will advise you when we expect to be despatching the documentation to you.

You will receive your rail tickets carefully placed in order of your journey, along with country information slips, hotel vouchers, transfer documentation and other snippets of help and advice.

Eurostar has a very generous luggage allowance of two large items of luggage (max 33” / 85 cm in height), plus an item of hand luggage. Other trains do not have luggage restrictions, but just remember that you will have to carry it! Luggage is stored at the end of each carriage (we provide luggage labels!) and in the overhead racks. Unlike planes, there are no restrictions for taking your own food and drink on board.

Only for Eurostar, which has a minimum 90-minute check-in. Some Spanish high-speed trains also have a check-in procedure. But otherwise, there’s no minimum check-in, although we obviously recommend that you arrive in plenty of time!

When we plan your itinerary, we will always leave you with enough time to complete changes of train, in line with the train operators’ approved connection times. If your inbound train was delayed and you missed your connection, you would be able to board the next train on that route. However, if you overslept or lost track of time thereby missing your train, unfortunately you would need to buy a new ticket at the station.

We are made aware of any industrial action that may affect our customers. We will contact you and advise on the necessary course of action to get you to your destination. This may involve arriving earlier at the station than you originally planned. Please keep your mobile phone switched on in case we need to get in touch.

The short answer to this is yes. Many high-speed trains have wheelchair slots (often in first class with a complimentary upgrade for you and a travelling companion). We simply need to book these in advance and advise stations if you need assistance. We’ll also need to know whether you use a manual or motorised wheelchair and often what the dimensions of this are so that we can book appropriate hotel rooms for you. If you can walk but need to take a wheelchair with you, this will need to be foldable. It’s worth mentioning that we are not a specialist in general travel for wheelchair users but what we don’t know, we will be happy to find out for you.

To give you an approximate guide, holidays are usually around a third more than the web price if you are looking to have single use of a room. So for example, a package of £999 per person might be £1,330 for single occupancy. However, hotel rates vary considerably for single rooms, especially if you are happy to stay in a room with a single bed, so it’s always worth checking.

Of course you can! There will usually be additional cost for this, depending on the journey, but we can certainly give you a price to travel by rail throughout your trip. All our holidays with flights include a handy symbol in the introduction at the top of the page, so you can see immediately whether or not it includes flights.

If this is the case, please drop us an email or give us a call!