Great Continental Railway Journeys
Great Continental Railway Journeys is a TV show on BBC2. Michael Portillo ventures onto the European rail network. The program has been available since 2024. A total of 45 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in January 2025.
Last episode
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1:00:00Great Continental Railway Journeys
Michael Portillo embarks on a scenic thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the Arctic Circle.
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1:00:00Michael Portillo travels by train through Austria and the Czech Republic, beginning in the northern Austrian city of Linz, where Adolf Hitler lived as a boy.
1:00:00On a railway journey from the capital Palermo to Europe's largest volcano, Mount Etna, Michael Portillo explores Sicilian life under Mussolini.
1:00:00Michael Portillo goes on a rail journey through Germany, beginning in the vibrant city of Berlin, where he visits the Museum of Modern Art in Kreuzberg.
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels from the chateaux of the Loire Valley to the heart of the Champagne region at Reims.
1:00:00Armed with a 1936 edition of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, Michael Portillo ventures onto the European rail network in Spain.
Series 5
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1:00:00Michael Portillo concludes his journey in the Netherlands, where he travels from Rotterdam to Utrecht, including a visit to the world's largest flower auction.
1:00:00Michael Portillo finds medieval knights in Tallinn, grills sausages in Helsinki and samples cloudberry liqueur while travelling in Latvia, Finland and Estonia.
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels from the Italian Riviera to the Austrian Alps, starting in Genoa, where he learns how football was introduced to the port.
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels from the Mediterranean port of Tangier to the Berber city of Marrakech, including a trip to the most famous gin joint in the world.
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels from the Swiss Alps to the shores of Lake Geneva. Along the way, he is caught in a war zone with the Red Cross and rescued from an 'avalanche'.
1:00:00Armed with his trusty 1913 Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, Michael Portillo ventures east through Romania to the shores of the Black Sea.
Series 4 1:00:00
1:00:00Travelling from Barcelona to Majorca, Michael Portillo traces the early roots of the Spanish Civil War, which divided his family and sent his father into exile.
1:00:00Michael Portillo goes deep into the Black Forest, and he discovers how Germany's reputation for making quality goods was established.
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels from the Athens port of Piraeus, north to the city of Thessaloniki, exploring the Acropolis and sampling moussaka and baklava.
1:00:00Michael Portillo experiences first-hand Italy's 'need for speed' in a Maserati sports car, and discovers how the leaning tower of Pisa was rescued from near collapse.
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels the Habsburg imperial line from Vienna across the impressive Semmering Pass, a railway line through the Alps, as he heads toward Trieste.
1:00:00Armed with his 1913 Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, Michael Portillo travels from Sofia to Istanbul along part of the route taken by the Orient Express.
Series 3 1:00:00
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels through France from Lyon down to Marseille on the Mediterranean coast, where he joins a pilot boat leading a supertanker to its berth.
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels through Israel and Palestine, visiting Jerusalem's Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters and Bethlehem in the West Bank.