New booking data from Virgin Trains Ticketing has revealed the UK destinations that saw the biggest spike in train arrivals during summer 2025, with the data pointing to four clear seasonal travel trends: sporting events, airport journeys, seaside escapes and tourist towns.

Rail tour specialist Ffestiniog Travel has unveiled its new Rail Holidays of the World 2027 brochure, showcasing almost 40 escorted rail holidays across the UK, Europe and worldwide destinations. The latest programme continues the company's long-standing commitment to providing expertly curated rail-based travel experiences that combine scenic journeys, railway heritage, culture, history and authentic local experiences. The 2027 collection features a host of exciting new itineraries alongside customer favourites, taking travellers from Christmas markets around Lake Constance and the hidden corners of Slovakia to the railways of Japan and South Korea. Each escorted holiday has been carefully designed to provide a rich programme of insightful travel and rail experiences

Flix, the global travel-tech company behind FlixBus and FlixTrain, today announced its integration with ChatGPT, enabling users to discover and plan bus and train journeys through natural conversation. With the integration, ChatGPT users can search for routes, compare travel options and seamlessly access Flix connections across Europe, North America, Türkiye, South America and Asia-Pacific. The experience combines conversational AI with Flix's real-time travel network and booking platform to make travel planning faster and more intuitive.

Rail Europe, the global platform for European train booking, has added Leo Express to its growing network of rail partners, further expanding access to Central Europe for international travellers and distribution partners. Founded in 2010, Leo Express is a private Czech rail operator offering modern, affordable travel across the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Germany. Through this new integration, Rail Europe customers can now book journeys connecting cities including Prague, Krakow, Warsaw, Ostrava and Olomouc directly through the platform.

The result stands up because the ranking draws on verified traveler activity, combining volume and satisfaction, rather than soft travel sentiment. Rome’s center works on foot because the key distances are short and the street pattern still carries the logic of an older city. Piazza Venezia, the Imperial Fora, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps can be connected through routes where movement matters as much as the stop.

New research reveals that almost one in four (23%) avoid reading their spicy novels in the open over fears of judgemental glances from strangers, with almost half (48%) admitting they feel stigma over it. Despite the nation’s obsession with romantasy novels being hotter than ever, with the category dominating the inaugural #BookTok Bestseller List, 59% of Brits feel people can be dismissive about romantasy as ‘serious’ reading. As a result, the nation’s favourite genre is still being kept under wraps, with 27% of readers skipping or skimming a romance scene and 3 in 10 (29%) even admitting to abandoning a book over fear of judgement.