About Choo-Choo

You'd expect sustainable travel to be easy by now. Yet in practice, it's surprisingly hard. Why can you find a cheap flight to Rome, Budapest or Barcelona in minutes, while booking the train to the same city means hours of digging through times, connections and prices? That has to change. That's why we founded Choo-Choo in 2022: so you can travel through Europe by train without wasting time, without complicated hassle and at a fair price. That's our mission.

Travelling doesn't have to come at the expense of the world we love so much. The train is the best solution: comfortable, sustainable, and you travel right through the most beautiful parts of Europe. Our mission is to make booking a train journey as easy for you as booking a flight. Sustainable travel without the hassle, within everyone's reach.

We arrange your train journey via the best route, tailored to your wishes. And for us, "the best" is not an empty promise. For every destination, our platform calculates the optimal connection: the fewest changes, the sharpest price and the lowest risk of delays. And if things do go wrong on the way? We make sure you still reach your destination.

We are connected to all of Europe's major rail operators, so we can take you to almost any station in Europe, from a buzzing metropolis to a small mountain village. And as an authorised ticket seller for ÖBB, Deutsche Bahn and Trenitalia, among others, you book directly at the source through us.

We don't just book your tickets either. We also explain how your journey works and what to look out for, clearly and simply. On the way, we're available 24/7. So all you have to do is board the train and look out of the window, or open your laptop for a surprisingly productive working day.

Choo-Choo was born from a collaboration between two entrepreneurs with a big heart for travel, for Europe and for sustainability: Raphael Hunsucker and Manuela Talana. Since 2022 we have been helping private travellers, schools, businesses and tour operators travel sustainably across Europe. We love everything that makes Europe's countries unique, and just as much what connects them: remarkable architecture, rich culinary traditions and a shared history. From high mountains and wide rivers to long beaches and azure seas. And above all, the most beautiful way to discover it all: the train. From ultra-modern high-speed trains and idyllic little stations to classic dining cars and romantic night trains. From the tip of North Holland to the heel of the Italian boot, from Vlissingen to Istanbul: the railway takes you almost everywhere. We want you to experience that too, without it coming at the expense of all the beauty around us.

That's why we do it.

Manuela is an Italian entrepreneur who grew up in Sardinia and lives in Amsterdam. For years she has wholeheartedly promoted "Made in Italy" in all its forms: language, culture, history and tradition. In 2018 she founded Low Carbon Travels, offering luxury, sustainable and carbon-neutral trips in Italy and around the Mediterranean.

Raphael studied classics and history in Amsterdam, Bologna and Nijmegen, and began his career as a teacher and researcher. He divides his time between Amsterdam and Rome, where he gives guided tours and courses, and he prefers to travel there by his favourite means of transport: the train. In 2019 he founded Italië Centrale.

Together, Manuela and Raphael were already offering fully arranged sustainable trips, from Train & Drive packages to train journeys to Rome for schools. But more and more often they were asked the same question: can you also arrange individual train journeys in that same easy, fast way? They answered that call. The result is Choo-Choo: sustainable travel without the hassle.

The train isn't just for individual travellers. Want to send a class, a group or your employees on a sustainable trip, together or individually? Or are you a tour operator who wants to make the train an effortless part of your package holidays, while you focus on the hotels, transport and experiences on location? Then we take the entire rail part off your hands: the best route, the sharpest price, everything arranged down to the last detail.

Curious what we can do for your organisation?

By train, you travel up to five times more sustainably than by plane. Yet with us, sustainability never feels like a sacrifice: you travel more comfortably, your holiday starts the moment you board, and on the way you see the best of Europe pass by, from Milan and Rome to Vienna. That's Choo-Choo: your green travel buddy, who works out the whole journey for you, so all you have to do is get on board.