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 2025. A total of 56 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in February 2026.
Last episode
50:00
50:00Great Continental Railway Journeys
Michael Portillo embarks on a scenic thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the Arctic Circle.
Catching up on Great Continental Railway Journeys?
Don't want to miss an episode anymore? Set up a free alarm and receive an email when new episodes are available. Handy!
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.
50:00On 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.
50:00Michael 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 6
50:00
50:00Michael Portillo takes in Georgia and Azerbaijan as he journeys through the former Russian empire. He visits a tea plantation and a museum dedicated to Joseph Stalin.
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.
50:00Michael 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.
50:00Michael 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.
50:00Armed 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.
50:00Michael Portillo travels through Israel and Palestine, visiting Jerusalem's Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters and Bethlehem in the West Bank.
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels through Spain and Portugal, meeting people from all over the world on the pilgrims' trail to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.
50:00Michael Portillo uses his 1913 copy of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide to explore Poland, visiting Warsaw, Lodz, Poznan, Wroclaw and Krakow along the way.
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels down the spine of Italy from Rome to Sicily, along the way visiting Naples to find out about the country's first railway.
50:00Michael Portillo ventures on to the European rail network once again with his 1913 Bradshaw's guide, travelling through Russia from Tula to St Petersburg.
Series 2 1:00:00
1:00:00Michael Portillo travels from Bordeaux to Bilbao, exploring the industrial ties between France and Spain and learning how to cook a traditional Basque dish.