On my visit to Europe this month I decided to use trains whenever possible.
Here's what I learned.
I took the following trains in Germany (Deutsche Bahn) and Poland (PKP): Hamburg to Flensburg. Berlin to Hamburg. Hamburg to Poznan. Poznan to Warsaw. All up, I probably spent about 20 hours on trains over the past few weeks, so I feel I've had enough experience to form some opinions — although I'm certainly not an expert.
Good things about train travel
• Trains are comfy and easy to use your laptop on them
• Train stations are central and easy to get to
• It's fast to get through a train station (no security screening, etc)
• Some stations have lounges (e.g Deutsche Bahn lounge, not really advertised!)
• Nice scenery to look at on the way 🌳 🚊 🏞️
Not so good things about train travel
• In my experience, trains were almost always late, by at least an hour
• Buying tickets (as a tourist, like me) requires queuing at a ticket office
• Central train stations are jammed with food store...