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The Best Episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8

Every episode of Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8!

Binge this in 9h 30m•Peaking at 8.4/10

Michael Portillo travels on the great train routes of Europe, as he retraces the journeys featured in George Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide.

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BBC Two
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Seasons8

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 1 - Pula to Pazin
    8.2/10(11 votes)

    #1 - Pula to Pazin

    S8:E1

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 2 - Buzet to Pag
    8.4/10(7 votes)

    #2 - Buzet to Pag

    S8:E2

    Ably assisted by Lila, an expert labrador, Michael Portillo hunts for truffles in the Istrian countryside near the hilltop town of Buzet.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 3 - Knin to Split
    8.1/10(10 votes)

    #3 - Knin to Split

    S8:E3

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 4 - Sarajevo
    8.0/10(6 votes)

    #4 - Sarajevo

    S8:E4

    In Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia, Michael Portillo traces the fateful last journey in 1914 of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 5 - Mostar to Dubrovnik
    8.1/10(8 votes)

    #5 - Mostar to Dubrovnik

    S8:E5

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 6 - Bergen to Flåm
    8.0/10(7 votes)

    #6 - Bergen to Flåm

    S8:E6

    Michael Portillo embarks on a Scandinavian railway adventure from the Norwegian port of Bergen to the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 7 - Myrdal to Heddal
    8.0/10(7 votes)

    #7 - Myrdal to Heddal

    S8:E7

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 8 - Larvik to Holstebro
    8.2/10(6 votes)

    #8 - Larvik to Holstebro

    S8:E8

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 9 - Aarhus to Odense
    7.8/10(6 votes)

    #9 - Aarhus to Odense

    S8:E9

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 10 - Roskilde to Copenhagen
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Roskilde to Copenhagen

    S8:E10

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 11 - Maienfeld to the Rhine Gorge
    7.8/10(6 votes)

    #11 - Maienfeld to the Rhine Gorge

    S8:E11

    Michael Portillo is transported 150 years back in time to the tiny Alpine village home of Switzerland’s most famous child, Heidi, and heads to the Rhine Gorge, also known as the Swiss Grand Canyon.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 12 - Sedrun to Schwyz
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Sedrun to Schwyz

    S8:E12

    Michael Portillo ventures into the bowels of an immense hydroelectric dam to learn how the Swiss use their mountainous environment to power the country.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 13 - Zurich
    7.3/10(6 votes)

    #13 - Zurich

    S8:E13

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 14 - Rotkreuz to Brienz
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Rotkreuz to Brienz

    S8:E14

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 15 - Zweisimmen to Lausanne
    7.2/10(5 votes)

    #15 - Zweisimmen to Lausanne

    S8:E15

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 16 - Nantes to Lorient
    7.2/10(5 votes)

    #16 - Nantes to Lorient

    S8:E16

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 17 - Brest to St Brieuc
    8.0/10(6 votes)

    #17 - Brest to St Brieuc

    S8:E17

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 18 - Rennes to Mont Saint-Michel
    7.6/10(5 votes)

    #18 - Rennes to Mont Saint-Michel

    S8:E18

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 19 - Bayeux to Argentan
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - Bayeux to Argentan

    S8:E19

    In Bayeux, Michael Portillo admires the Bayeux Tapestry, the 70-metre-long work of art commissioned to record William the Conqueror's conquest of England and the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Great Continental Railway Journeys Season 8 Episode 20 - Lisieux to Giverny
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Lisieux to Giverny

    S8:E20

    In the apple orchards of the Calvados region, Michael Portillo discovers how the classic digestif has been distilled since 1865 at the Pierre Huet estate.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 8 Ratings Summary

"Pula to Pazin" is the best rated episode of "Great Continental Railway Journeys" season 8. It scored 8.2/10 based on 11 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 3/10/2025. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Buzet to Pag".