Liverpool to Rovaniemi by Train – Why the Challenge?

And by challenge, I mean the booking process! We’ve officially started planning our next big European adventure—traveling from Liverpool to Rovaniemi in Finland. Then making our way back home via Luleå in Sweden. Right now, I’m diving into Seat 61 for route ideas and schedules, checking out prices, and watching plenty of videos showcasing different trains. So far, so good! But when it comes to actually booking the tickets… well, that’s where the real adventure begins!

If we were flying to Rovaniemi, it would be a breeze! I’d simply hop onto my go-to booking site, enter our departure airport, destination, and dates—boom! Instantly, a list of route options and prices would appear. Pick one, hit buy, and 99.9% of the time, we’d have a ticket from A to B in minutes. Easy, right? If only train travel worked the same way!

According to Seat 61, booking a train journey from England to Finland isn’t exactly a one-stop shop! It takes at least three different websites just to secure the train tickets, plus another for the ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. And just when you think you’re done, there’s a fourth train site to sort out the train down to London. Then, for the grand finale, one more site to book the last stretch from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. Who knew just planning a trip from Liverpool to Rovaniemi could feel like a mini expedition in itself? And that’s all before we even start mapping out the journey home—another adventure in itself!

There are some handy sites like Trainline that can book trains across several countries, making life a bit easier. But—they don’t cover every railway network. So, depending on where your adventure is taking you, especially for longer or more complex trips, you might still need to hop between a few different websites to piece it all together. It’s a bit like building your own rail adventure—challenging, but part of the fun!

There’s still plenty of research to be done before we’re ready to book those tickets. But when the time comes, it’ll be a bit of a juggling act—hopping between websites, making sure all the schedules line up, and checking there’s space on each of our chosen trains. It might sound like a lot, but for us, it’s all part of the adventure. We love train travel, and the extra effort is always worth it. That said, if governments truly want to encourage more people to explore Europe by rail, a one-stop booking site for the whole continent would be a total game-changer. Here’s hoping someone makes it happen!

For a deeper look at the challenges, be sure to check out the piece by Jon Worth. A far more knowledgeable voice on the subject.