The WORST episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys
Every episode of Great Continental Railway Journeys ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys!
All aboard! Armed with his trusty Bradshaw's guide, Michael Portillo explores Europe’s most beautiful, enchanting regions, uncovering how the railways have shaped the continent.
#1 - Aarhus to Odense
Season 8 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/20/2025
Michael Portillo’s Scandinavian rail adventure reaches Denmark’s second city, Aarhus, an architectural playground with dazzling contemporary buildings set alongside historic half-timbered houses.
#2 - Brest to St Brieuc
Season 8 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/1/2025
Michael Portillo’s railway journey reaches the naval port of Brest, home to France’s oceanographic fleet. He also learns how to make a sweet, buttery Breton cake called kouign-amann.
#3 - Nantes to Lorient
Season 8 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/31/2025
Michael Portillo’s rail travels take him to the north west corner of France, where he explores the beautiful regions of Brittany and Normandy and learns of their connections with Great Britain.
#4 - Zweisimmen to Lausanne
Season 8 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/28/2025
Aboard the Golden Pass Express, Michael Portillo wends his way in style down steep mountainsides from Interlaken to the Swiss Riviera. In Lausanne, he contends with a knife-wielding robotic arm.
#5 - Rotkreuz to Brienz
Season 8 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/27/2025
Michael Portillo scales the Swiss Alps on one of the the steepest cog railways in the world and visits the 19th-century fairy-tale Grand Hotel Giessbach.
#6 - Zurich
Season 8 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/26/2025
In Zurich, Michael has a brush with the absurd in the anarchic paintings of the Dadaists and visits the Grossmunster Church to learn about the rebellious pastor at the centre of the Swiss Reformation.
#7 - Sedrun to Schwyz
Season 8 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/25/2025
Michael Portillo ventures into the bowels of an immense hydroelectric dam to learn how the Swiss use their mountainous environment to power the country.
#8 - Maienfeld to the Rhine Gorge
Season 8 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/24/2025
Michael Portillo is transported back in time to the tiny Alpine village home of Switzerland’s most famous child, Heidi. He then heads to the Rhine Gorge, also known as the Swiss Grand Canyon.
#9 - Roskilde to Copenhagen
Season 8 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/21/2025
Michael Portillo concludes his epic rail journey across Norway and Denmark, crossing an 18-kilometre box girder bridge between the islands of Funen and Zealand, known as the Great Belt Bridge.
#10 - Rennes to Mont Saint-Michel
Season 8 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/2/2025
Michael Portillo’s railway adventure reaches Rennes, capital of Brittany. At the Lycee Emile Zola, he hears how the school was used as a military court for the second trial of Alfred Dreyfus.
#11 - Larvik to Holstebro
Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/19/2025
Michael’s saga resumes in Larvik on Norway’s southern coast, where he investigates the city’s prized natural resource, a distinctive blue rock named larvikite.
#12 - Myrdal to Heddal
Season 8 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/18/2025
Michael Portillo’s rail journey continues on the Bergen Line, heading towards the Norwegian capital of Oslo, with its fine modernist architecture and 19th-century parliament building.
#13 - Bergen to Flåm
Season 8 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/17/2025
Michael Portillo embarks on a Scandinavian railway adventure from the Norwegian port of Bergen to the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
#14 - Mostar to Dubrovnik
Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/14/2025
Michael Portillo enjoys a journey on the historic line from Sarajevo to Mostar, descending 600 metres through the Dinaric Alps, reflecting on the divisions which tour apart the old Yugoslavia.
#15 - Sarajevo
Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/13/2025
In Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Michael Portillo traces the fateful last journey in 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie.
#16 - Knin to Split
Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/12/2025
Michael Portillo’s railway adventure reaches the Dalmatian coastal city of Zadar, once an important Venetian trading hub and still a centre for the production of maraschino cherry liqueur.
#17 - Buzet to Pag
Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/11/2025
Ably assisted by Lila, an expert labrador, Michael Portillo hunts for truffles in the Istrian countryside near the hilltop town of Buzet.
#18 - Pula to Pazin
Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/10/2025
Michael Portillo mounts a valiant defence against fierce latter-day Roman gladiators in Pula's amphitheatre as he begins a journey across the Balkan countries of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
#19 - Brussels to Ghent
Season 9 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/2/2026
Michael Portillo’s Belgian rail journey continues in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders. He discovers Antwerp's historic diamond industry and visits a Van Eyck masterpiece in Ghent.
#20 - Eger to Hortobágy
Season 9 - Episode 15 - Aired 6/1/2026
On the last leg of his journey, Michael Portillo arrives in the historic city of Eger. At its famous castle, he discovers how Ottoman invaders were defeated by an outnumbered Hungarian force.
#21 - Szeged
Season 9 - Episode 14 - Aired 5/29/2026
At Budapest’s historic Nyugati station, Michael Portillo explores its sumptuous royal waiting room, built specially for the Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Joseph I and his empress, Elizabeth.
#22 - Huvösvölgy to Kobanya
Season 9 - Episode 13 - Aired 5/28/2026
Continuing his travels in Budapest, Michael Portillo begins in the small town of Huvösvölgy, where he encounters a surprising railway run almost entirely by children.
#23 - Budapest
Season 9 - Episode 12 - Aired 5/27/2026
Exploring Hungary's capital city of Budapest by tram, Michael Portillo travels to the extraordinary open-air museum of Memento Park in the suburbs.
#24 - Sopron to Keleti
Season 9 - Episode 11 - Aired 5/26/2026
Michael Portillo begins his Hungarian adventure in the far north west of the country in the town of Sopron.
#25 - Namur to Florenville
Season 9 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/5/2026
On the final leg of his Belgian journey, Michael Portillo travels to Namur, capital of Wallonia, to discover a citadel dating back to the 10th century.