Europe to Asia without flight: How a train journey can make it possible in around 21 days

Do you love travel journeys? If your answer is yes, here we bring to you the ultimate train journey that will let you cross continents. To be more specific, you will board the train in Lisbon, Portugal’s sun-soaked, and after nearly three weeks later get off in in Singapore, after riding the rails across Europe and through Russia and China.
How does this sound? Exciting, right! Well, stretching across about 18,755 km and traversing through 13 countries, this epic route is often referred to as the longest train journey in the world. It’s not sold as a single ticket, and it’s not a single continuous journey, or service either. The Lisbon-to-Singapore rail journey can be achieved by combining multiple train networks, along with carefully planning border crossings. But with some extra effort and flexibility, the logistics can be managed.

This amazing route stitches together connecting railroads in Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia, China and onwards to south-east Asia through Laos and Thailand (and finally Malaysia before Singapore). En route you’ll get to witness landscapes and cultures changing gradually, from Atlantic coastlines and medieval European towns to the wilds of Siberia and tropical Southeast Asia.

The western European part of the journey starts with trains between Portugal and Spain, as well as from there to France and Germany. From the center of Europe the road arcs east into Poland, Belarus and ultimately Russia. This is where one of the most famous legs of the journey begins – the trans-Siberian railway and thousands of kilometres that dart through forests, plains and remote settlements. Some travellers go round via Mongolia, while others travel straight to China through Manchuria.
Asia is an abrupt change in climate and pace. From China the journey south proceeds in the new train lines onwards through Laos, with a connection by rail to Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore at the southern tip of Malay Peninsula.

This is not one long train ride. It consists of dozens of different segments, several border crossings and occasional interruptions where passengers’ train service is replaced by bus or short transfer. Tickets are sold on a country-by-country basis, and there is no single rail pass that will get you along the entire route.

One of the most important things to plan ahead are visas. Travellers need to arrange permissions well ahead of time for countries like Russia, Belarus and China, which have strict rules about entering and with what paperwork. Connections in the backcountry can be infrequent so it's important to do your homework in advance.
Overnight trains can be a lifesaver, particularly across Russia and parts of China, offering a way to save on the cost of accommodation. A few buffer days in major cities, such as Moscow or Beijing, are recommended both to recover from that long of a period on the rails and to compensate for potential delays.

The spring (April–May) and fall (September–October) are generally the best periods for making this trip. Europe and Asia are cooler, sceneries — Siberia and Mongolia in particular — are visually at their best. In winters, it can translate to bitter cold and scarce daylight; farther into the year, monsoon season in Southeast Asia could make travel a slog.
What sets this journey apart is not speed but immersion. In about 21 days, travellers get a rare chance to travel across continents, watching architecture and languages and food and landscapes change slowly instead of overnight.

This Lisbon-to-Singapore rail odyssey is as challenging a test of stamina as it is a tribute to slow travel. Snowy mountain ranges dissolve into deserts, megacities and tropical greenery, all seen from a train window. For railfans, or keen globetrotters looking for adventure on an epic scale, there are but few trips that can compare in size, variety and romance to the longest rail route in the world.